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

[Overmind One]

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.

Anywho, here she is with dark hair:

Dark hair is her NATURAL color.

 

[Bluce Ree]

Dark hair is her NATURAL color.

Yup. Buried in my sarcastic yet harmlessly humorous reply was that fact.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[YJ02]

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.



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



I look VERY deep before making final statements like this.

And this all matters how?

 

[Overmind One]

And this all matters how?

It doesnt! But when I stated that she was a brunette, you came back with another post claiming (again) that she was blonde. I just wanted the facts to be correct. You did too, but your facts were not correct, that's all. No harm done, and I really dont care what color her hair is.

 

[shavedape]

Jolene is a natural brunette, not a blonde.

Having found myself face-planted in Jolene Blalock's yammy on more than one occasion I can testify that she is a natural blonde. Who knew?

 

[Overmind One]

Having found myself face-planted in Jolene Blalock's yammy on more than one occasion I can testify that she is a natural blonde. Who knew?

Dye works EVERYWHERE, dude. Try an Asian chick with blue pubes....

 

[shavedape]

Okay.

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

Took awhile to find it and then when I wrote up a comment it went blank. Not sure where it ended up. Hopefully it didn't double post and/or get lost completely.

Did you publish the article fully yet? I think you need to do that first before we can comment on it. As it is there is no thread for it yet and if I understand correctly it has to be published publicly first and then the attending thread is automatically created.

 

[Overmind One]

Took awhile to find it and then when I wrote up a comment it went blank. Not sure where it ended up. Hopefully it didn't double post and/or get lost completely.

Did you publish the article fully yet? I think you need to do that first before we can comment on it. As it is there is no thread for it yet and if I understand correctly it has to be published publicly first and then the attending thread is automatically created.

Tis a tricky thing, publishing articles on there. I think that the moderation rules need to be removed, and a new group created which allows the author to publish publicly. That way, the publishing of articles is still controlled by membership to that group, and the author gets credit in the forums AND on the blog.

 

[Joelist]

Overmind One submitted a new blog post:

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

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 in only 13 episodes. That means that the writers were very efficient in their writing as they both...

Continue reading the Original Blog Post

 

[Joelist]

It looks fully published but I think the rebuild on the forum wiped the thread out.

Republish I guess?

 

[YJ02]

It doesnt! But when I stated that she was a brunette, you came back with another post claiming (again) that she was blonde. I just wanted the facts to be correct. You did too, but your facts were not correct, that's all. No harm done, and I really dont care what color her hair is.

Actually we are both correct-she has been both colors. Wonder what color she is today?

 

[Rac80]

I agree on the sgpoo. Voyager had me until they put jeri ryan in the catsuit- then it simply became exploitive like all the rest.

 

[Overmind One]

I agree on the sgpoo. Voyager had me until they put jeri ryan in the catsuit- then it simply became exploitive like all the rest.

You think so? Jeri Ryan is actually quite a good actress. They never really focused on her...um...assets like they did for T'Pol. No private massage sessions, no secret trysts with officers, no sweaty shower scenes. Only at the end of the last season did they ship her with Chakotay and I thought that was done well.

 

[Joelist]

True enough.

In a way the catsuit (which was altered shortly after it debuted because the original design was causing Jeri Ryan to pass out) was an afterthought. Seven as a character was well written (the outsider type of viewpoint) and had a true character development arc over the course of the show.

 

[Gatefan1976]

Oh no, Seven was there for pure sex appeal, the writers admitted as much, they wanted a "borg babe".
Whats impressive is that she was *still* a strong character.

 

[Overmind One]

Actually we are both correct-she has been both colors. Wonder what color she is today?

She has been LOTS of colors. She has even worn French braids.

 

[shavedape]

I tend to agree with your thesis. Your Firefly points were very discerning and highlight the greatness of the writing on that show.

As for the Star Trek universe, well, as I've pointed out before, that could be a thesis in itself. In the original series women were highly objectified. Fast forward to TNG, VOY, DS9, ENT and we find women in leadership roles. Objectification did continue in these later series, but not to the extent that it did in TOS.

As for SGU, yes, it was terrible! Pure dreck! The treatment of the female of the species by the SGU writers was ridiculously bad. The entire series exists as an example of how NOT to write female characters in a scifi setting.

Your three examples were of course correct, but don't forget how they wrote Lt. James also. The writers literally turned her into a Hooter's waitress in that horrible wedding episode. In fact, they treated the actress (and the character) as nothing more than a pair of large breasts to be aimed at the camera. It would have been comical if the show had been penned by teenage boys, but it hadn't. Hard to believe the writers of that show were actually grown adults.

Regarding DEFECATION -- I mean, DEFIANCE, yes, the female characters on that show are pretty horribly written. They definitely come a close second to those in SGU. The writing is so bad at times I burst out laughing. Like when the mayor's sister, the prostitute with the heart of gold, fried up some bacon and dumped the hot grease onto her john's naked chest. That scene was so absurd that it's a crime that someone got paid to write it.

And you nailed it with Tarr's wife. The incest gimmick is disgusting and a huge turn-off. Too bad Jaime Murray took that role as she is normally a very likable actress. Such a shame she got involved in this turd of a show.

The good news is that DEFIANCE should be cancelled after (or during)the second season airs. As we all know they got a two season guarantee, just like SGU did, which is a big part of the problem with these shows. The writers foolishly think they can screw around and write nonsensical characters and inane plots because they have a cushion of time. Well, that didn't work out so well for SGU and I predict the same will befall this sewer trout of a show. And good riddance to bad trash I say!

 

[Overmind One]

Oh no, Seven was there for pure sex appeal, the writers admitted as much, they wanted a "borg babe".
Whats impressive is that she was *still* a strong character.

True. But as you said, she was still a strong character and that balanced things out a lot. I would chuckle at those high heeled shoes they had her wearing most of the time!

 

[Gatefan1976]

Oh, and how come no one mentioned Farscape??
You want to compare writing and depictions of woman, Compare Aeryn Sun and Vala

 

[shavedape]

It looks fully published but I think the rebuild on the forum wiped the thread out.

Republish I guess?

I'm able to post a comment on the blog itself, but I don't see the attending forum thread here. (I assumed that this thread would not be the one as it was created before the article was published.)