The Best and the Worst - Depictions of women in Science Fiction Television series.

Joelist

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Overmind One submitted a new blog post:

The Best and the Worst - Depictions of women in Science Fiction Television series.

I was just doing a bit of freethinking in regards to our past discussion on depictions of women in SciFi shows. Along those lines I thought about which of the shows I have seen did the best job and which did the worst.

The Best IMHO – Firefly (Star Trek Voyager would be a CLOSE second)

Why Firefly?

To me because it had four strong female characters who all had depth, and did it...
Continue reading the Original Blog Post
 
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Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
I was just doing a bit of freethinking in regards to our past discussion on depictions of women in SciFi shows. Along those lines I thought about which of the shows I have seen did the best job and which did the worst.

The Best IMHO - Firefly

I have to admit it is close between Firefly and a couple of others (for example Star Trek Voyager was very close as it had three strong female characters). But I do have to give Firefly the nod. Again based on the shows I have seen. Every female character was strong, not defined by their relationships (although they definitely had them) and had depth. And for a series that only shot 13 episodes that is quite the trick. It also helped that all of them (except YoSaffBridg) were people you would root for. And even YoSaffBridg (a truly excellent villain) was a well executed character acted marvelously by Christina Hendricks.

I would give an honorable mention to BBCs Survivors. The parts were well written to actually have good depth - even the "villain" who was a woman had motivations you could understand. And the characters grew in a logical manner during the series as well.

The worst IMHO - SGU

I have to give the razzie for worst female characterizations in SciFi to SGU. Still awful after all these years (I know it hasn't really been all that many years it just sounds more poetic that way). I think the term "misogynistic fantasy" applies well to SGU. All the women on the show were stupid, unlikeable soap opera stereotypes to the point of being offensive.

Coming in second would be Defiance. The female characters are both cardboard cutouts and actually creepy (at least the alien Mom who likes bathing nude with her son is). They also hookup with people for no apparent reason and "relationships" just spring into existence like Athena from the head of Zeus.

What would your choices be?

Star Trek! They took more intentional and obvious care in making certain that women, gays, minorities and children were depicted in a positive light with positive role models. :) To me, they did it better than Firefly or BSG or SGU
 

Joelist

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Do you mean TOS? With Star Trek there are multiple series to consider.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Do you mean TOS? With Star Trek there are multiple series to consider.

Not TOS. But no contemporaries were around for TOS. From TNG on, Im talking about.
 

Joelist

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Fair enough. Although I would dispute that Enterprise had well drawn female characters after what they did to T'Pol in Season 3. Even Jolene Blalock was angry over the writing, referring to her character as a "Vulcan crack whore".
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
Trying to figure out if we should exempt ST:TOS from the critique due to the time frame it originated in. :daniel_new004: But then again, the 60's were a time of (supposed) enlightenment so should it be given a pass? Women were certainly objectified on TOS, almost to the point of absurdity. Vestiges of that objectification continued ala Seven of Nine and, as Joelist pointed out, T'Pol.

Still, the ST objectification of women pales in comparison to the needlessly forced and totally pointless approach to the female of the species in SGU. The writing of female characters on SGU would have been laughable if it wasn't so pathetic. Even the "Hooters waitress" episode wasn't funny, it was just cringe inducing.

*By the way, this would be a good topic for a blog post. Might I suggest, if given the time, that it be turned into one with Joelist's original post used as the article?
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Good idea Shaved. We could kind of make it a "series" thing with discussion.

As to Seven of Nine, yes she was visually presented in a rather cheesecake fashion but interestingly the character was a pretty strong one, had an actual arc and provided a needed "outsider" type of viewpoint on the show. Plus Jeri Ryan did a good job acting in it.

T'Pol is a strange case - the Season 1 and Season 2 T'Pol was actually a good character, and Jolene Blaock played it well. Season 3 was disgusting for her (as Blalock's comment illustrated) and really Season 4 was total fanwankiness and her character didn't get to do much.
 

YJ02

Well Known GateFan
Fair enough. Although I would dispute that Enterprise had well drawn female characters after what they did to T'Pol in Season 3. Even Jolene Blalock was angry over the writing, referring to her character as a "Vulcan crack whore".

I read a similar article on her. It was a light hearted one with point to be made. In it, she was asked about her 'catsuits' or whatever you want to call them. She made mention of -to the effect= TPTB's were trying to ensure the male crowd from VOYAGER would follow-albeit for the shallowest of reasons.

She made jokes about wearing it and referred to T'Pol being the only trashy woman on Vulcan type of thing.

The thing is though, did she ever complain about the was they had her costumed in SG1? Tight pants, bustierre type top,etc?
 

Joelist

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Staff member
I suspect her only being in 2 episodes of SG-1 meant it didn't really come up.
 
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shavedape

Well Known GateFan
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Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Anyway. let me expand a touch on my original post.

Why Firefly?

To me because it had four strong female characters who all had depth, and did it in only 13 episodes. That means that the writers were very efficient in their writing as they both advanced the plot and advanced the characters at the same time. And even better the four characters were all pretty different one from another and none felt like fakes. The range from the very taciturn Zoe to the exotic Inara to the down to earth Kaylee gave the show good balance. And River was also well written as a teenage girl trying to deal with what the Alliance did to her.

Voyager as close second.

Voyager had three strong women characters - Janeway, B'elanna and Seven of Nine. What was nice is all three again were distinct people, had depth and were not defined by their relationaships (as tends to happen). Janeway is still my favorite Trek captain - strong with an ability to be soft. Seven was excellently written to present an "outsider" view and B'elanna had her struggle with her Klingon side. All three also had good character arcs - as did the Firefly women.


SGU as the worst

What can I say? Women who outside their relationships don't really exist and who seemed to be written to apply every bad soap opera stereotype (like Wray being a lesbian and how the "hot" thing in "adult" entertainment at the time was Asian lesbians) or the Clingy "medic" or possibly the worst of the lot - Chloe. Basically a vapid twit who shacks up almost instantly with Scott who just one day ago was having broom closet sex with James who also is on Destiny. One could go on and on but this turd got rightly flushed.

Defiance as the runner up for the razzie

Like SGU, the female characters in Defiance have all the depth of a sheet of paper. Also like them they just "hook up" with people for no apparent reason ( such as Irisa and the deputy - shipping out of the blue with zero relationship buildup). But then Defiance also introduces us to utter creepiness (like Datak Tarr's wife and her nude family baths). I fully expect Defiance will get canned after this upcoming season so it will join SGU in infamy.
 

shavedape

Well Known GateFan
JL -- are you going to morph your posts into a blog article? If you get a chance you really should. I think a topic like this is long overdue within the scifi community.
 

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
I could, once we get it all straightened out how to make it work - I'll just merge these two into a bigger initial article then others can respond.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
That same interview, Blalock stated that the T;Pol hair was a wig placed over her own long blond hair. If true, I wonder how they got that mass under that small wig?

Jolene is a natural brunette, not a blonde. :)
 

YJ02

Well Known GateFan
Jolene is a natural brunette, not a blonde. :)

I think its a matter of judgement and the blonde/brown line :

"Jolene Blalock with short hair, or her hair pulled up. Nice to see some pics of her as a blonde." from http://www.joleneblalockzone.com/htm/jolene-blalock-short-hair.shtml

Jolene-Blalock-short-hair-blackwhite-dress.jpg



From MEMORY ALPHA:

HairstyleEdit

Original hairstyle
  • Given that Jolene Blalock actually has curly blonde hair, hair designer Michael Moore decided, without question, that she would have a dark-haired wig for the role of T'Pol. However, choosing the type of wig proved difficult. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 152, p. 30) Indeed, the original hairstyle used for T'Pol was different; for several days of filming, Blalock wore a wig that was longer than the one eventually used. When it was decided that T'Pol's hairstyle should be changed, several scenes had to be reshot to eliminate the longer wig from appearing. The character's original look can be seen on the Season 1 DVD of Enterprise, in a deleted scene.
  • Typically, the wig for T'Pol covered Jolene Blalock's natural hair, which was wound in a flat wrap and covered in a cap before the wig was put on. Preparing the hairstyle in this way usually took thirty minutes, handled by Enterprise stylist Gloria Pasqua Casny. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 152, p. 31)
  • Even though T'Pol's short wig at the beginning of Enterprise seemed like a logical precursor to Spock's haircut in the original series (with somewhat irregular bangs that echoed Spock's rigidly straight bangs), further transformations in the hairstyle took place during the run of Enterprise. "[The producers] wanted a look that was a little bit softer compared to previous Vulcans," recalled Michael Moore. "The second year, we tried to make it even softer." From the start of the third season onwards, T'Pol's previously blockier and dark-brown hairstyle started to be toned with lighter-color highlights and became less puffy at the top. Shortly before production on the series' fourth season began, Moore declared, "I'm hoping that in the new year, we can soften her [hairstyle] even more. The humans tend to have an effect on her. She's becoming a product of her environment, even though Vulcans aren't supposed to do that. So, I'm hoping we can reflect that in her hair a little bit. But we still can't go too far from being Vulcan." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 152, pp. 30-31)
And---
notice the very blonde hair--

So, I guess she does have blonde hair --Seriously dude, do you have to argue about everything!:confused0076: :chuncky:
 
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Bluce Ree

Tech Admin / Council Member
I think its a matter of judgement and the blonde/brown line :

"Jolene Blalock with short hair, or her hair pulled up. Nice to see some pics of her as a blonde." from http://www.joleneblalockzone.com/htm/jolene-blalock-short-hair.shtml

Jolene-Blalock-short-hair-blackwhite-dress.jpg



From MEMORY ALPHA:

HairstyleEdit

Original hairstyle
  • Given that Jolene Blalock actually has curly blonde hair, hair designer Michael Moore decided, without question, that she would have a dark-haired wig for the role of T'Pol. However, choosing the type of wig proved difficult. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 152, p. 30) Indeed, the original hairstyle used for T'Pol was different; for several days of filming, Blalock wore a wig that was longer than the one eventually used. When it was decided that T'Pol's hairstyle should be changed, several scenes had to be reshot to eliminate the longer wig from appearing. The character's original look can be seen on the Season 1 DVD of Enterprise, in a deleted scene.
  • Typically, the wig for T'Pol covered Jolene Blalock's natural hair, which was wound in a flat wrap and covered in a cap before the wig was put on. Preparing the hairstyle in this way usually took thirty minutes, handled by Enterprise stylist Gloria Pasqua Casny. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 152, p. 31)
  • Even though T'Pol's short wig at the beginning of Enterprise seemed like a logical precursor to Spock's haircut in the original series (with somewhat irregular bangs that echoed Spock's rigidly straight bangs), further transformations in the hairstyle took place during the run of Enterprise. "[The producers] wanted a look that was a little bit softer compared to previous Vulcans," recalled Michael Moore. "The second year, we tried to make it even softer." From the start of the third season onwards, T'Pol's previously blockier and dark-brown hairstyle started to be toned with lighter-color highlights and became less puffy at the top. Shortly before production on the series' fourth season began, Moore declared, "I'm hoping that in the new year, we can soften her [hairstyle] even more. The humans tend to have an effect on her. She's becoming a product of her environment, even though Vulcans aren't supposed to do that. So, I'm hoping we can reflect that in her hair a little bit. But we still can't go too far from being Vulcan." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 152, pp. 30-31)
And---
notice the very blonde hair--

So, I guess she does have blonde hair --Seriously dude, do you have to argue about everything!:confused0076: :chuncky:

I know you live out in the sticks and life is simple but out here in the big city we have this magic stuff called "hair tint" that, through some kind of ungodly black magic, turns your hair into a different color. :icon_lol:

Anywho, here she is with dark hair:

jolene-blalock.jpg
images
images
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
I think its a matter of judgement and the blonde/brown line :

"Jolene Blalock with short hair, or her hair pulled up. Nice to see some pics of her as a blonde." from http://www.joleneblalockzone.com/htm/jolene-blalock-short-hair.shtml

Jolene-Blalock-short-hair-blackwhite-dress.jpg



From MEMORY ALPHA:

HairstyleEdit

Original hairstyle
  • Given that Jolene Blalock actually has curly blonde hair, hair designer Michael Moore decided, without question, that she would have a dark-haired wig for the role of T'Pol. However, choosing the type of wig proved difficult. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 152, p. 30) Indeed, the original hairstyle used for T'Pol was different; for several days of filming, Blalock wore a wig that was longer than the one eventually used. When it was decided that T'Pol's hairstyle should be changed, several scenes had to be reshot to eliminate the longer wig from appearing. The character's original look can be seen on the Season 1 DVD of Enterprise, in a deleted scene.
  • Typically, the wig for T'Pol covered Jolene Blalock's natural hair, which was wound in a flat wrap and covered in a cap before the wig was put on. Preparing the hairstyle in this way usually took thirty minutes, handled by Enterprise stylist Gloria Pasqua Casny. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 152, p. 31)
  • Even though T'Pol's short wig at the beginning of Enterprise seemed like a logical precursor to Spock's haircut in the original series (with somewhat irregular bangs that echoed Spock's rigidly straight bangs), further transformations in the hairstyle took place during the run of Enterprise. "[The producers] wanted a look that was a little bit softer compared to previous Vulcans," recalled Michael Moore. "The second year, we tried to make it even softer." From the start of the third season onwards, T'Pol's previously blockier and dark-brown hairstyle started to be toned with lighter-color highlights and became less puffy at the top. Shortly before production on the series' fourth season began, Moore declared, "I'm hoping that in the new year, we can soften her [hairstyle] even more. The humans tend to have an effect on her. She's becoming a product of her environment, even though Vulcans aren't supposed to do that. So, I'm hoping we can reflect that in her hair a little bit. But we still can't go too far from being Vulcan." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 152, pp. 30-31)
And---
notice the very blonde hair--

So, I guess she does have blonde hair --Seriously dude, do you have to argue about everything!:confused0076: :chuncky:

Im not arguing it, Im just stating the fact that Jolene Blalock is NATURALLY a brunette (as in born that way). I think she looks hot as a blonde too, but that is a dyed look. She has also done auburn and strawberry blonde. :)

Date of Birth:
March 5, 1975
Place of Birth:
San Diego, California, USA

Biography:
Blalock is a natural brunette who has dyed her hair blond. Her name is Scottish-Irish and before her ancestors came through Ellis Island, it was Black Lock, meaning "black hair." Avid surfer from childhood, she is also a skilled artist, whose preferred medium is crayon. She has a pierced navel.

http://metro.co.uk/2009/10/27/jolene-blalock-635383/

Would you have plastic surgery?
I saw Cher the other day and she looked fabulous, so I’m a believer. I’m not saying that I’d go out and have some but I think it’s a good thing for people who want to look better. It’s like my hair. The natural colour is brown but I’ve had it blonde, red … I’m a real colour whore.

I look VERY deep before making final statements like this. :)
 
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Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Okay.

I combined my two long posts into a single blog entry and submitted it. So now we can discuss it there.
 
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