Our own Top 10 Sci-Fi characters of all time

[Warrior Poet]

In addition to some of the great suggestions already listed (I'd like to second Severian from Wolfe, as well as the Red Dwarf characters), I would also submit:

The inimitable Felix from John Stakeley's Armor.

Hiro Protagonist, Raven, Y.T., and (oh, what the hell) Reason and the Rat Thing from Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash.

Ender Wiggin from Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and Speaker For The Dead.

The Shrike from Dan Simmon's Hyperion series.

Warden Dios, Angus Thermopyle, Morn Highland, and Hashi Lebwohl from Donaldson's Gap series. And singularity grenades, even though they're not really characters.

The Mule from Asimov's Foundation series.

The sentient plants from Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon The Deep.

More later if I can recall them ...

Thanks,

Warrior Poet

 

[Starman]

In no particular order:

Captain James T. Kirk - Star Trek
Spock - Star Trek
Leonard "Bones" McCoy - Star Trek
Luke Skywalker - Star Wars
Han Solo - Star Wars
Allanon - Shannara (Terry Brooks)
Garet Jax - Shannara (Terry Brooks)
Walker Boh - Shannara (Terry Brooks)
Raistlin Majere - Dragonlance (Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman)
Tanis Half-Elven - Dragonlance (Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman)
Silk - Belgariad, Mallorean (David Eddings)
Rand al'Thor - Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan)
Mat Cauthon - Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan)
Roland of Gilead - The Dark Tower (Stephen King)
Drizzt Do'Urden - Forgotten Realms (R.A. Salvatore)
Tyrion Lannister - A Song of Ice and Fire (George R.R. Martin)
Gandalf - Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Aragorn - Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)

 

[Wormwood]

I've limited my choices to ten, and I'm going to restrict myself to sci-fi. Discipline, people

1. The Doctor (Dr. Who)
2. Roy Baty (Blade Runner)
3. Herbert West (Herbert West: Re-Animator)
4. Darth Vader (Star Wars)
5. Han Solo (Star Wars)
6. Molly (Neuromancer, etc.)
7. Ender Wiggin (Ender's Game)
8. Spock (Star Trek)
9. Morpheus (The Matrix)
10. Valentine Michael Smith (Stranger in a Strange Land)
    [/list=1]

 

[KChagga]

My nominations

Louis Wu - Larry Niven's Ringworld novels

Vlad Taltos
Morrolan e'Drien
Sethra Lavode - all three from Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos novels

Jon Tom - Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series

Dr. Conway
Prilicla - both from James White's Sector General series

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Some of mine have been mentioned, but I'll repeat 'em:

Science Fiction (Literature)

Gully Foyle - The Stars, My Destination, by Alfred Bester

Louis Wu - Ringworld Series, by Larry Niven

the Mule - The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

any Lensman - the Lensmen series, by E.E. "Doc" Smith

Honor Harrington - Honor Harrington series by David Weber

Flash Gordon - Flash Gordon newspaper comic strip

Buck Rogers - Buck Rogers comic strip

Perry Rhodan (I mean, how can you not include him? There are, like, 1000 books about him)

Captain Nemo - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne


Science Fiction (Movies & TV)

HAL - 2001, A Space Odyssey

Londo Mollari - Babylon 5

G'Kar - Babylon 5

Han Solo - Star Wars

Luke Skywalker - Star Wars

Darth Vader - Star Wars

Spock - Star Trek

Captain Kirk - Star Trek

Dr. Who


Fantasy (Literature)

Aragorn - Lord of the Rings

Frodo Baggins - Lord of the Rings

Sam Gamgee - Lord of the Rings

Sir Ralph - The Well at the World's End

Ged/Sparrowhawk - Earthsea series by U.K. LeGuin

Conan - by Robert E. Howard

Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser - by Fritz Leiber

Goblin and One-Eye (they come as a set, like Fafhrd and the Mouser) - the Black Company series, by Glen Cook

Sir Lancelot - John Steinbeck's portrayal of Lancelot is my favorite


Fantasy (Movies & TV)

...

Weird. I can't think of any that stand out in this category.

 

[Black Omega]

A few come readily to mind as iconic SciFi.

The Doctor (Dr. Who)
Darth Vader (Star Wars)
James Kirk (Star Trek)
Spock (Star Trek)
Gandalf (LotR)
Godzilla (Various movies)

Other favorites:

Morrolan (Vlad Taltos books)
Aiken Drum (Pliocene Exile Series)
One Eye & Goblin (Black Company)
Londo and G'kar (Babylon 5)
Morden (Babylon 5)
Bester (Babylon 5)

 

[Umbran]

And now you see the problem. There are too darned many of them. You'll have slightly better luck, perhaps, if you segregate a bit - the SFX poll seemed to be limited to TV and movie characters. There are too darned many books out there to pick a decent top 10.

 

[Villano]

If we're including fantasy characters, perhaps we should use "genre" instead of "sci-fi" as part of the title of this poll?

Okay, for my choices, I decided to go with characters which were so original and/or innovative that they either became a part of pop culture or influenced future creations, or newer (or less known) characters which exhibited such depth they warrant mention.

Flash Gordon (comics, cartoons, serials, and films)

Fu Manchu (series of novels by Sax Rohmer)

Captain Kirk (ST: TOS)

Spock (ST: TOS)

Captain Benjamin Sisko (ST: DS9)

Gul Dukat (ST: DS9)

Quark (ST: DS9)

Superman (comics)

Spider-Man (comics)

Darth Vader (Star Wars trilogy)

Dracula (Dracula, novel)

Dr. Frankenstein (Frankenstein, novel).

Frankenstein's Monster (Frankenstein, novel)

Jason Vorhees (Friday The 13th films)

Conan (series of novels)

Chao Chi-Hao (5 Fingers Of Death, kung-fu film)

Zatoichi (series of samurai films)

Goku (DragonBall and DBZ)

Xena (Xena, tv)

Godzilla (series of films)

King Kong (King Kong, film)

G'Kar (Babylon 5, tv)

Tarzan (series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs)

 

[Mallus]

Zatoichi (series of samurai films)

The blind dice-playing masseuse swordsman!?

I caught a bunch of these on IFC last year and loved them. Which have you seen/do you recommend?

"Hello criminal boss/corrupt city official. Can I give you a massage?"

[Boss looks miffed. Henchman creep up and begin to draw swords.]

[Blind swordsman draws cane/sword w/blinding speed and knocks off anywhere between 3 and 30 henchmen...]

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

If you allow for novels & books:
Starwars, from the Zahn-Trilogy (Heir to the Empire and so on):
Grand Admiral Thrawn

One thing in regard to Fantasy characters - this seemed to be a "major problem" with the SFX list - they called it Favorite SciFi characters, but they primarily listed persons where from Fantasy series (especially Buffy).

In most series you will see that any charactery might be worth a mention.

Anyway, still some other characters:
DS9 Crew:
Basically everybody, special mention: Benjamin Sisko, Quark

TNG Crew:
Data, Picard. Most of the rest seemed less developed and interesting, unfortunately.

Voyager:
The Holodoc. The rest was.. bull. (Though most underused and unveralued character that should be mentioned - Harry Kim. In 7 years of perfect duty he was never promoted...)

Startrek Universe general:
Q

Babylon 5:
Londo Mollari
Garibaldi
Vir Coto (?) (he was quite well developed for a non-main actor)

Space 2063:
basically any of them - unfortunately, I can`t remember all the names... Let`s see... Vansen, Damphouse..

Andromeda (I wonder why I never hear anything about it here):
Tyr Anasazi

Buffyverse:
Wesley Winston Price (the development about the two series are great)
Giles

Earth - Final Conflict (I hope this was the English Name - In Germany, it is called "Mission Erde". It is about an alien species named Taelon slowly invading the Earth):
Doors (both)
William Boone

Stargate:
Jack O`Neill

Mustrum Ridcully