Whedonesque : Comments on 18716 : EW.com's 20 Black Sci-Fi Icons.

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January 19 2009

EW.com's 20 Black Sci-Fi Icons. Zoe Washburne, Shepherd Derrial Book and The Operative all make the list (spoilers if you haven't last Friday night's Battlestar Galactica).

For the benefit of our non-US posters, this was done in honour of Martin Luther King's birthday.

Simon | Firefly&Serenity | 08:30 CET | 16 comments total | tags: book, zoe, the operative, firefly

Hmm. Zoe & Book I kinda get, but...The Operative's an icon? Huh.

And...wow - I didn't even really realize the significance of the date of the official swearing in of our next President; two days after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday.

I'm...there are no words for my emotions right now.

ShadowQuest | January 19, 10:16 CET

Man, am I the only one who feels this feature/article is extremely depressing? I mean, really, for the most part a bunch of bit players. For some reason, sci-fi still has work to do in the black community. Its unfortunate literature wasn't included, cause I couldn't help thinking of Julian Delphinki and Luke Cage. Or Chasing Amy when I saw Lando. Cause of the cape.

Plus... poor Dualla. I cried like a little girl!

[ edited by slothrop-T on 2009-01-19 13:45 ]

slothrop-T | January 19, 11:01 CET

Martha deserved a better write-up than that! :(

Liam Mars | January 19, 13:29 CET

Marquis de Carabas on the other hand got a nice spot and write-up. A great character in a great miniseries.

Eerikki | January 19, 13:42 CET

Apart from the [not so] scary cow ;).

Saje | January 19, 14:06 CET

Excuse me, but did I read wrong, or does it say that Zoe is married to Mal!?!?!

ER... never mind... read "husband" for "captain"... nothing to see here... move along...

[ edited by Kirochka on 2009-01-19 14:38 ]

Kirochka | January 19, 14:37 CET

Cool about the Marquis de Carabas, incidentally - I've read the novel version of Neverwhere, but only a few days ago thought to put the series in my Netflix queue - I'd read some negative comments about it, but liked the book so much (and the book came later, yes?), I thought I'd give the miniseries a try.

Kirochka | January 19, 14:40 CET

Apart from the [not so] scary cow ;).

According to Gaiman, they originally wanted a wild boar, but when they started casting the beast it turned out all British boar are... *shudder* cute. At least the cow was big.

Agree with slothrop-T, though; as much as I love the Firefly/Serenity folks, the fact that they can't get to 20 without including several characters from the same canon and a bunch of minor characters is a bit depressing.

beergood | January 19, 17:57 CET

... it turned out all British boar are... *shudder* cute.

Yeesh ! ;)

(they must be pretty timid anyway, i'm a keen walker/wild camper and in 20+ years of doing it i've never seen one. Or maybe there just aren't very many around. Either way, they're not the size of a cow, that's fer sure ;)

Saje | January 19, 18:08 CET

Personally, after seeing BOTH Lawrence Fishburne and Gina Torres on the same list for being black (though Torres is of Cuban descent) sci-fi icons, I was kinda hoping for Will and Jada Pinkett Smith would help bookend the list...ya know...sci-fi couple on each end of the list! Cuz come on! Where's the Niobe love here, UGO?!

;)

Still...gotta say something when you got both halves of the Fishburne-Torres family making the cut :D

BlueEyedBrigadier | January 19, 19:35 CET

I'm sorta sad they missed Dr. Stephen Franklin, played by Richard Biggs, on Babylon 5.

k8cre8 | January 19, 20:13 CET

Some of it is show business casting practice, thus not the fault of science fiction writers. Among the many outrages of the inexcusable Scifi channel version of Earthsea (and yeah, it's fantasy, not science fiction, but it was on Scifi), is that almost all of the dark-skinned main characters were cast white. Including Ged. That was so wrong.

dreamlogic | January 20, 00:14 CET

...Gina Torres on the same list for being black (though Torres is of Cuban descent)...

The list wasn't necessarily talking about Black AMERICANS.
Torres is an American of Afro-Cuban descent, so she is definitely a Black actress representing in Sci-Fi.
Hell, the thing that made me eager to see Firefly at all was that Gina Torres, who I was a fan of since Hercules/Xena, was in it.

[ edited by AmazonGirl on 2009-01-20 02:42 ]

AmazonGirl | January 20, 02:39 CET

The list wasn't necessarily talking about Black AMERICANS.
Torres is an American of Afro-Cuban descent, so she is definitely a Black actress representing in Sci-Fi.

Wasn't my meaning at all, AmazonGirl...just trying to note that I was under the impression from other sources read in the past that Ms. Torres either didn't herself classify herself as black/solely black OR that others didn't do so. I personally am filled with much joy to see her on the list and for that specific character. And I am also happy there's wasn't a narrow focus of only characters played by Amercian actors and actresses on the list.

BlueEyedBrigadier | January 20, 05:47 CET

I adore Firefly, don't get me wrong, but I do have to say it is awfully sad that out of all of the countless sci-fi TV shows and films, in order to make a list of 20 black icons, they had to take 3 from a series that didn't even last a full season, from only a few years or so ago. Are there that few black icons in sci-fi film history?

Rob | January 20, 06:00 CET

Yeah . . . depressing . . . Firefly was great and all, but 3? Love to hear the Stephen Franklin ref, Babylon 5 - awesome. You should see my B5 commemorative plate collection . . .

slothrop-T | January 20, 11:37 CET

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