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Thursday, May 14, 2009
To Boldly Go Where Few Women Have Gone Before
Sigourney Weaver takes aim at J.J. Abrams

In Surf City there were 10 girls to every guy. In Star Trek, the ratio is the reverse, as Jen Weiner points out in this affectionate rant wondering where the girls are in J.J. Abrams' "reboot" of the franchise. While I greatly enjoyed the movie featuring Zoe Saldana as Uhura, I likewise wondered why there weren't more women in the 23rd century. Hey, J.J., movie history is rich with women in space. Think Sigourney Weaver in the Aliens series, Jodie Foster in Contact, Anne Francis in Forbidden Planet, Connie Nielsen in Mission to Mars, and of course, Zsa Zsa Gabor in The Queen of Outer Space. Should we send Sigourney to Abrams' office to raise consciousness and Cain? Your thoughts? Fave femme in space?

Posted by Carrie Rickey @ 12:48 PM  Permalink | 10 comments
Comments   
Posted 01:04 PM, 05/14/2009
bob ickes
awesome topic--and caption! while i was watching jane fonda onstage in broadway's "33 variations" and recalling her outer-space "barbarella." find it very interesting that maybe sigourney's character would not have been found believable by many unless she was in outer space. my fave original "star trek" episode, "turnabout intruder," addressed issues of gender and power, as a (female) lover kirk spurned seeks revenge by transplanting her spirit into his body. lots of campy "All of Me"-ish acting from Shatner. available via YouTube and TV.com etc--bob
Posted 01:13 PM, 05/14/2009
jonc
Dear Carrie, Why so few women in space? Well, these movies are written by guys (who probably read science fiction that was written by guys), directed by guys and get studio approval from executives who are guys; I wonder if that has anything to do with it? The big-screen version of "Lost in Space" had several women in the cast (Mimi Rodgers, Heather Graham, Lacey Chabert) but was a lousy movie. Best female role in a space movie? I'd vote for Alfre Woodard in "Star Trek: First Contact." She gave it right back to Capt. Picard.
Posted 01:19 PM, 05/14/2009
allison811
i have to say that i knew nothing about star trek before seeing the new film, and while i enjoyed it immensely one thing I noticed was how out of the way Abrams seemed to go to show how many different, er species? existed in this futuristic world. Maybe Abrams was more concerned about this kind of diversity and forgot about the whole gender thing. There were several points when he just had random shots of "alien" beings sitting amongst everyone else that had me laughing because they seemed so out of nowhere, but hey, maybe they often had randomly green people in the original and I just wasn't used to it?
Comment removed.
Posted 03:35 PM, 05/14/2009
Paul B
The Original Series was definitely a product of its time ... the only human female I remember being in a position of authority was "Number One", played in the 1st pilot episode by Majel Barrett (later Mrs. Roddenberry).
Posted 08:14 PM, 05/14/2009
ccjroberts
Anne Francis, Anne Francis and Anne Francis. Obviously, I needn't say more. But Sigourney Weaver WAS awesome (in a different vein).
Posted 07:51 AM, 05/15/2009
LRJ~
What did you expect ? The original series had two main characters ( Kirk and Spock) and five secondary ones ( Dr. McCoy, Scottie, Uhura, Sulu and Checkov). Of the five lesser characters, who gets the most screen time, is most intregral to the story ? Uhura....a woman.
Posted 12:48 PM, 05/15/2009
curtandsheila
I think I preferred Sigourney Weaver in Galaxy Quest. tongue-in-cheek for sure, but great fun.
Posted 04:03 PM, 05/16/2009
popwenttheculture
The characters are pretty iconic and as it was I heard some hard core fans complaining as they left the theater (something about the "unrealistic phasers" which frankly made me laugh). That said, Battlestar Galactica had a very successful TV reboot that recast a couple of the major roles as women and featured a woman president. So it's not impossible to recast.
Posted 07:01 AM, 05/18/2009
mick314
Marisa T in My Cousin Vinny trumps them all for spaciness.
10 comments
About Carrie Rickey

Carrie Rickey has been The Philadelphia Inquirer’s film critic for 21 years. She has reviewed films as diverse as Water and The Waterboy, profiled celebrities from Lillian Gish to Will Smith, and reported on technological breakthroughs from the video revolution to the rise of movies on demand. Her reviews are syndicated nationwide and she is a regular contributor to Entertainment Weekly. Rickey’s essays appear in numerous anthologies, including The Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll, The American Century, and the Library of America’s American Movie Critics.

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All blog items posted before May 23, 2008, can be accessed at http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/flickgrrl/.

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