Female characters always seems to be more interesting than male ones, and then I haven't even had to figure in the fact female ones offer me eye-candy... So. It's more than fitting I now take a look at my favorite heroines from the television studios throughout.
1. Buffy Anne Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Long before Joss Whedon had Summer Glau go all ninja on Reavers, he created the most impressively complex and nuanced character in a young high school girl called to a mission. Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy carry the weight of the world on her shoulders as the chosen one, but there's so much more to her than first meet the eye. She isn't perfect either, which makes her far more interesting than most. Buffy is the ultimate heroine.
2. Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars)
Another high school heroine, but this one starts out by losing her best friend through murder, being raped herself and cast away as an outsider from the beginning of her story. Kristen Bell's Veronica is just another sassy and petite little girl, but with cultural references and allusions to throw around her for every situation she faces. She's equally tough and vulnerable, she hangs with criminals in more than one way, and have an itch or two to scratch herself.
3. Max (Dark Angel)
It isn't hard to believe that young Jessica Alba's Max was genetically engineered, and might I add perfectly so, but coming from test tubes, insemination and military brainwash/training she's got her work cut out for her in this post apocalyptic future of Seattle. Depending on pills to take of some problems and having to deal with a few periods of heat each year, thanks to the feline DNA in the mix, isn't even on the top of her problem list. You haven't seen family trouble until you've met a few of her so-called siblings... She kick's ass and fight like the best of heroines, but planning usually boils down to winging it. Oh, and she's really the shit riding that motorcycle of hers.
4. Echo (Dollhouse)
Yes. Another Joss Whedon creation. And Eliza Dushku's as well, as she's both the show's producer and the actress in question. Eliza was brilliant as Faith back in the Buffy-verse (and she even got the headline for this post to prove it), but here she really gets to step into the light as the shiny talent she is. Echo is evolving, too shortly as this show was axed too early, but more than enough to fall in love with the character. She gets to put on a lot of different faces. She's sexy, tough, funny, strong, motivated and all the other small things, but she's also molded from a past with darker corners and a scary potential future. Oh. The dominatrix outfit or the short skirts didn't hurt...
5. Sarah Walker (Chuck)
Hard core spy meets a nerdy shnook, and still, despite everything that follows, she manages to turn out as quite the heroine. Drawn between everything she's ever been and been trained for, and the new and softer sides influenced by Chuck; Yvonne Strahovski's Sarah is deliciously nuanced. They might have named the show after another character, but to me it's always Sarah who's the interesting one. She's sexy, skilled with everything from knives and guns to hand-to-hand combat, seductive as well as sensitive, fighting her own past and instincts, split between everything she thought was important and what she soon finds herself longing for and feeling. The Powers That Be didn't give her every opportunity to become what she could have been, and still I find her worthy of making the list.
Epilogue
Other characters that have either made an impression, are well qualified from their limited genres or are potentials for an expanded list some day down the line:
Audrey Parker (Haven), River Tam (Firefly), Sydney Anne Bristow (Alias), Emily Thorne/Amanda Clarke (Revenge), Samantha Spade (Without a Trace), Olivia Dunham(s) (Fringe), Claire Bennet (Heroes), Annie Frost (Chase)
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