linda hamilton

There are a lot of news tidbits coming out of the San Diego Comic Con this past weekend. One of them is that the role of Chuck and Ellie's mother (a figure only seen in shadow at the conclusion of this past season) has been cast as a recurring character for the fourth season. She will be played by the original Sarah Connor, Linda Hamilton.

It's a terrific choice. She wasn't even on my list of five possibilities and I'm still beating myself up for her exclusion, particularly since she fulfills my three requirements: older, sexy and having geek cred.

Of course, the writers now have to deal with the herculean task of explaining how a terrific woman like Linda Hamilton who could probably kill you with her pinky could fall for a nebbishy guy like Scott Bakula (despite it mirroring the Chuck/Sarah relationship). I'm sure they'll think of something.

It's been nearly unavoidable. Even if the movie doesn't live up to the hype, Jennifer's Body has burned a new image into our subconscious: the murderous Megan Fox in a bloody white blouse, eager for more boys to kill. In the sci-fi realm, it's much more common to encounter men who murder than their homicidal female counterparts. When women kill on screen, it tends to be downplayed.

Thus, we have Carrie-Anne Moss in The Matrix, who identifies more strongly as a great action fighter and/or great and cool intellectual, rather than a murderous vixen. Likewise with Famke Janssen in X-Men: The Last Stand, who only wants to kill when she is transformed into the Dark Phoenix, and even then her homicidal inclinations seem less important than the outfit she's wearing. In honor of the intentionally wanton murderers, here's a list of my top ten killer sci-fi chicks.

1. Mathilda May as Space Girl in Lifeforce
If you call her nothing more than a space vampire, you've only hinted at her power. First is her power to distract, which is a given when you're talking about a beautiful woman who has a great body and is always naked. Next, though, is her power to desiccate, sucking more than blood from everyone she meets, or, at least, everyone she manages to grab hold of to give them the shock of their lives. And she refuses to stop! Unlike normal vampires, who just want a pint or two of blood before heading back to their coffins, Space Girl wants nothing less than everything -- which is why she's the #1 killer sci-fi chick in my book.