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Sci-Fi Movie Women of the 80s

Big hair and big guns, laser guns were signature features of sci-fi women of the 80s.

By Glenn KennyPublished 8 years ago 13 min read
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While auditioning for the role of Ripley in Ridley Scott's Alien, Sigourney Weaver wore thigh-high boots. She wanted to look tall, strong, and imposing. It worked. From this, one of the most hardcore female characters in sci-fi was born. Too often, when we think “women in sci-fi” we think of what used to be called “scream queens,” or actresses who appeared in scores of latter-day B pictures, running from extraterrestrials on Earth or grappling with tentacled creatures on spaceships. In the 1980s the women of science fiction films broke this stereotype. From Star Wars' Carrie Fisher to Re-Animator's Barbara Crampton, these women held their own. Strong, smart, and funny, these women's characters played key roles in the films they were featured in and in shaping the women in the genre for generations to come.

We aim to pay homage, not necessarily to the genre regulars, but to those who made such iconic impressions in iconic roles that their names have become synonymous with the genre. Each of these women has contributed enormously to the universe of sci-fi films through their respective roles, and sci-fi fans far and wide should remember them.

Blair Brown

The red-headed beauty did the journey-person actor route in the late 70s, playing supporting turns on Kojak episodes and TV movies about the Roosevelts. Her breakthrough role was in a groundbreaking, still-controversial horror-science movie, Altered States. In this 1980 film, Blair Brown played the highly put-upon wife of William Hurt’s evolutionary experimentalist, whose sensory-deprivation tank and hormone treatments cause him to revert to an ape-like creature. And that’s only the tip of the post-psychedelic insanity. Scripted by Paddy Chayefsky, the Network writer demanded his name be taken off the picture after hellion director Ken Russell instructed his actors to burn through the dialogue while Russell concentrated on the bizarre visuals. One of the most memorable sights was from Altered States when a naked Blair, turning to stone and crumbling before Hurt’s hallucinating eyes.

Carrie Fisher

Hollywood royalty Carrie Fisher—the daughter of perky musical star Debbie Reynolds and petulant 50s pop singer Eddie Fisher—had a small role as a sexually precocious teen in Hal Ashby and Warren Beatty’s Shampoo in 1975 before landing the role of terrifically plucky Princess Leia in the 1977 movie that changed everything. The subsequent episodes of the Star Wars saga placed her in the center of what would become an uncomfortable love triangle, given that one of the participants would turn out to be her biological brother. And “Jedi” offered the scintillating sight of Leia in a bikini, as a pleasure slave to gross out king Jabba The Hutt. The Princess, Han, and Luke all made comebacks in Episode Seven, The Force Awakens.

Ornella Muti

The smoky-eyed Ornella Muti had been acting in Italian-made films since she was fifteen. For Dino Di Laurentiis’ mega-production of the low budget campy sci-fi extravaganza, Flash Gordon, Muti was but one component of the cast’s Italian contingent: Mariangela Melato, the busty shrew of Lina Wertmuller’s Swept Away played a space diva, as well. But it was the elaborately costumed Muti, playing Princess Aura, the enigmatic daughter of Max Von Sydow’s Ming The Merciless, who made the bigger impression. With her staggering beauty and her affectless delivery of such deathless dialogue as “No! Not the bore worms!” she is touch sci-fi queen to forget.

Sean Young

It isn’t every actress who gets to star in two of the biggest sci-fi movies of a decade, one a legendary cult picture, the other a still-controversial critical and box-office failure. But Sean Young, a kind of quiet bombshell beauty who would look entirely at home in an RKO film noir of the 1940s, is a pretty unusual case in a lot of ways. Her aloof affect made her perfect as the ideal replicant in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and also served her well in the role of regal warrior Chani in David Lynch’s insane adaptation of Dune. Young herself seemed to go a little off the rails later in her career: her abortive romance with volatile actor James Woods kept the tabloids busy for what seemed like years, and her unsuccessful lobbying for the Catwoman role in Batman Returns was a memorable hide-under-the-coach showbiz snafu.

Debbie Harry

The Blondie siren had made herself available to the indie movie makers of the punk-rock scene of the mid-70s, appearing in such films as Unmade Beds. Maverick Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg, intrigued by her edge, cast her in his super-bizarre tale of The New Flesh, Videodrome, in which emerging television technology apprehends the most perverse desires of its viewers. Harry plays Nicki Brand, a possible projection of the protagonist’s imagination, a mixed-media beauty who’s down for anything: the shot of her impassively sticking a pin through her nipple is one of the most arresting sights in Cronenberg’s work. Harry was set to star with guitar god Robert Fripp in a remake of Godard’s futuristic Alphaville, but that project fell apart. Harry has continued to act, in small roles, and still commands a stage effortlessly.

Sigourney Weaver

Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Fisher were the most iconic sci-fi babes of the late 70s. Weaver, a Yale Drama School alum whose first love is theater (she maintains a strong working relationship with playwright Christopher Durang, a schoolmate) was “final girl,” Ripley, in the ensemble cast of 1979’s Alien. While she was the newbie in a cast that included movie veterans such as Yaphet Kotto, Tom Skeritt, and Veronica Cartwright, as the survivor of the alien attack, she was the only one who got to carry on the franchise. She starred in the blockbuster sequel Aliens which began an association with mega-director James Cameron that continues with her participation in the 21st-century 3D Avatar movies. Her role in both Ghostbusters movies, as the lust object of an evil demon, gave her the chance to stretch her comic-fantastic chops.

Catherine Mary Stewart

After a less-than-auspicious debut in the bizarre Golan-Globus musical The Apple, girl-next-door type Catherine Mary Stewart wandered in the 80s TV and movie wilderness before achieving sci-fi cult stardom. She first took on the role of thankless girlfriend of the trailer-park-loser-turned-improbable-space-ace in The Last Starfighter (Star Wars meets Rocky, essentially) and then making more of an impression as a Valley Girl who has to save the world in Night of the Comet, still one of the more distinctive novelty sci-fi films of the decade.

Barbara Crampton

Put-upon girlfriends don’t come more put-upon than Barbara Crampton in this ultra-gross-out sci-fi horror classic, Re-Animator. Crampton stars as Megan, who's boyfriend Dan (Bruce Abbott) seems pretty normal. But his science-geek roommate is both disdainful and up to some pretty bizarre stuff. It all culminates with Megan strapped to a bed stark naked while the decapitated professor who started it all goes down on her by holding his own severed head between her legs. The gorgeous Crampton, who prior to collaborating with Re-Animator auteur Stuart Gordon, had appeared on the soap Days Of Our Lives, proved as game a scream queen as there ever was, moving on to S&M hijinks in Gordon’s subsequent From Beyond. Crampton still pays attention to her fanbase and appears at conventions.

Geena Davis

“Jeff [Goldblum] is a very particular and eccentric screen presence. I wanted a woman who could match him for that, and yet be attractive and sexy. Geena [Davis] is funny and sexy, and to me that is the most diabolical combination. You can’t beat it. [The producer] thought it was to obvious maybe, but I said, ‘The obvious thing is that they’re both tall. But it’s hard to line up the shots if one is much taller.'” Director David Cronenberg explains in both artistic and pragmatic terms why he cast Geena Davis in The Fly, until that time known mostly for comic roles. She starring opposite her, then, real-life boyfriend Jeff Goldblum in the grisly transformation/decay sci-fi classic. Davis and Goldblum took another sci-fi dance together in the underrated musical comedy Earth Girls Are Easy, with nominally nerdy Davis going all bombshell and Goldblum sporting blue skin and leading an alien contingent featuring Jim Carrey.

Traci Lords

The notorious underage porn star took a couple years off after the revelation that she had been, well, an underage porn star. Schlock-meister Roger Corman, always on the lookout for a sensational story as well as a sensational babe, tapped Traci Lords for the female lead in a sexed-up remake of one of his better early 60s sci-fi low-budgeters. Not Of This Earth is largely known as the only non-porn movie in which Lords gets naked (or, to be more precise, half-naked). On the DVD commentary, director Jim Wynorski makes much sport of the fact that Lords’ co-star, future Blind Date host Roger Lodge, refused to put himself forward during his love scenes with Lords, so as to avoid alienating his fiancée. The general consensus here is that Lodge was a dink.

Nichelle Nichols

Nichelle Nichols played Lt. Uhura, the Chief Communications Officer in the Star Trek crew both on TV and film from 1966 to 1991. She appeared in six of the franchise's films: Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: the Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Nichol’s role as Lt. Uhura broke the stereotypical barrier among African-American actresses, being the first female African–American to portray a strong, capable woman in a position of authority. She became the most recognized female character in the history of space exploration. Nichols became the only actress to be an inspiration for her peers in the science fiction community and for real life female astronauts in NASA. Following the end of the TV series, Nichols assisted NASA in recruiting females and minorities.

Daryl Hannah

Daryl Hannah’s portrayal of the sexy android replicant Pris in Blade Runner in 1982 really made this sci-fi classic other worldly. Her performance of Pris required her to portray an emotional range that went from innocence to manipulating femme fetal to killer rage. One of the highlights of the film is the scene where Deckard (Harrison Ford) tracks Pris down in Sebastion’s studio and an awesome fight scene ensues which has Daryl performing handstands and acrobatics that are pretty physically amazing. Daryl has appeared in 28 films in her career.

Linda Hamilton

Linda Hamilton is best know for her portrayal of the emotionally broken but fierce Sarah Conner in The Terminator in 1984 and The Terminator 2: Judgement Day in 1991. In The Terminator movies, a human-looking indestructible cyborg is sent from 2029 to 1984 to assassinate a waitress, whose unborn son will lead humanity in a war against the machines, while a soldier-machine from that war is sent to protect her at all costs. With her well sculpted physique, Hamilton became a pop culture symbol for her portrayal of a strong formidable female action hero in this futuristic thriller. She later starred in the TV series, Beauty and the Beast.

Francesca Annis

Francesca Annis is mesmerizing in the 1984 movie Dune as Lady Jessica, a member of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood who is also the beautiful concubine of Duke Leto of House Atreide. Lady Jessica is also the mother of Paul Atreides, the futuristic messiah who leads the Fremen to revolt again the balance of power in the universe. Her performance using the “weirding way’ voice on the space carrier to make the guards loosen the bonds on Paul’s hands is both sexy and other worldly. Although the film did not do well at the box office due to a disjointed presentation which was hard to follow, when the scenes that were edited out were put back in and the full length feature was re-released on video, the movie went on to become a sci-fi cult classic.

Lea Thompson

Lea Thompson is best known for her role as Marty McFly’s mother, Lorraine. She had to portray a wide range of ages in the pop culture classic trilogy Back to the Future, and as Biff’s unhappy middle aged love slave in the alternate world in Back to the Future Part II, and then an an old woman in Back to the Future Part III. In Back to the Future, even though she is Marty McFly’s mom, when he goes back in time to reunite his parents , she does a great job portraying a teenager that has a sexual urge for Marty. She has also starred in more than 30 films, 25 TV movies and four TV series.

Kelly Lebrock

When two nerdy boys decide to make a girl from a computer program in the cult classic Weird Science in 1985, Kelly Lebrock’s Lisa is beyond their wildest dreams. Scantily clad, intelligent and wild, Le Brock’s portrayal of Lisa made her a full-blown sex symbol in the 80s. The classic scene when former model LeBrock breaks through the door wearing boys underwear and a cut up sweatshirt that barely covers her breasts and says “So, what would you little maniacs like to do first?” in that sexy, breathless voice is every teen boy’s fantasy.

Tina Turner

Although, not really an actress, Tina Turner did an excellent job as Aunty Entity, the overlord of Bartertown in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome in 1985. Aunty Entity is a female Amazon warrior type who is ruthless and determined to rule Bartertown. As she tries to manipulate Mad Max into seizing control of Bartertown from Master, we see her cruel and brutal side. In contrast to that brutalness, Aunty Entity is smart and cultured and dreams of rebuilding society to what it used to be. Turner does a masterful job blending the two contrasting personalities together into the character of Auntie Entity.

Nancy Allen

Nancy Allen portrayed Officer Anne Lewis, (Alex Murphy/Robocop’s partner) in the science fiction action classic Robocop in 1987, Robocop 2 in 1990, and Robocop 3 in 1993. As Officer Anne Lewis, Allen shows the audience a straight arrow cop with a fierce loyalty to her partner and devotion to her duty as a police officer. One of her best scenes in the film is after she finds out about Lt. Hedgecock’s betrayal and involvement in the plot to kill Robocop, she returns to the police station and viciously kills Hedgekock. Allen symbolizes the strong, tough yet empathetic female in her role as Officer Lewis. Nancy Allen also had roles in sci-fi movies Strange Invaders, Poltergeist III, and The Philadelphia Experiment.

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio portrays Dr. Lindsay Brigman, designer of the oil rig to raise a submarine from the ocean floor and also the estranged wife of Bud (Ed Harris) in the underwater sci-fi film The Abyss (1989). In her role, she is smart, educated, strong and used to being in charge. She does a great job of showing the emotional tension between she and her husband Bud and the clash between their careers and their personal feelings. One of the best scenes in the film is when Lindsay actually drowns in order to save Bud’s life and they get her back on board the rig and are rippling her suit off and Bud begins a round of CPR while begging her to come back to him before she finally revives. Another awesome scene is when a water channel actually solidifies into a face and enters the lab on the rig and Mastrantonio reaches out her finger to touch it. Mastrantonio has appeared in 18 dramatic films and had roles on 12 TV series, including Grimm and Limitless.

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About the Creator

Glenn Kenny

Senior editor and chief film critic of Premiere magazine, 1998-2007. Appears as Dick Filth in David Foster Wallace's essay "Big Red Son." Author and Editor. New York Times Writer.

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