Re:Top Five Characters in Sci-Fi
I wholeheartedly agree with you about giving reasons for your choices . It makes it much more interesting, and challenging. That said, I’m rushed for time right now and want to get in here quickly, so this post will be half-baked at best (will make an honest effort later when i have time to think things through).
I like your choices, certainly Avon and the good Doctor are two characters that immediately sprang to mind when I saw your topic-title. I enjoy morally ambiguous characters, antiheroes, and for a character to be intriguing, I also feel that a sense of mystery should be there. I like enigmatic characters.
Garek is interesting, but in a way I feel he owes a little too much to the international espionage John le Carre novels (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Tailor of Panama etc.).
As for Deckard, although Scott looked at him as a replicant, I never quite bought into that. Still, a favourite character from one of my fave movies. It’s Rachael that really gets me going though… I like ’em Young; Sean Young that is.
A couple favourite movie characters of mine are Sam Lowry and Alex deLarge, but that’s because of the black comedy aspects of the films, Brazil and Clockwork orange, primarily.
I’m going to, very insubstantially explanation-wise, stick with characters from TV sci-fi here… Really in no particular order of preference…
1. The Prisoner: I like the mystery behind the Number 6 character. Who is he exactly? Is he John Drake? Why did he resign? And who is Number 1? (I don’t want to offer spoilers here). Is he a schizoid man? Single-minded, but in two minds?
2. The Doctor (Pertwee particularly): wise, dapper, and enigmatic. Doctor who?
3. Avon: Pretty emotionless, cool, and calculating with a mysterious past, but there’s also humour there. He’d probably rank higher if it hadn’t been more than twenty years since I last saw the show. Must, must buy the DVDs.
4. Gor from First Born (a mini-mini): spiritual, conflicted. Will say more later.
5. Spock: Logical, but I like the human side of the equation too. It’s said that a good character usually has inner-struggle. His human-vulcan sides’ struggle makes for a very interestingly conflicted character Like the humour when it comes out too.