While strong female characters are gradually increasing, sci-fi TV, not all of them are reaching their potential…

Surely I can get an amen from my geek sisters when I point out that we watch sci-fi too?

So, why are there so few good female characters in science fiction television?

SPOILERS:just note, that inevitably we discuss plot points for the shows involved.

Dualla had the potential to be such a rich and empowering character.

At least her initial romance with Roslins chief of staff Billy felt natural.

Really, they should have let her take that terrorists bullet instead of Billy.

Shannon Rutherford Lost

Modelling a sci-fi character after Paris Hilton was always going to be a risky business.

Perhaps it is just another one to be tacked onto the long list of questions left unanswered byLost.

Boone and Shannon were clearly added to the initial cast ofLostin hopes of hooking in teenage audiences.

Not even aCruel Intensions-esque incest storyline could save them from being excess baggage, though.

Isabelle Tyler The 4400

Creepy babies with super powers are far more interesting than hormonal teenage girls.

That is the lesson all television writers should learn fromThe 4400s Isabelle Tyler.

The 4400started off with such promise.

When returnee guru Jordan Collier merely touches Lillys pregnant belly he is left crippled with pain.

There was just something not right about that baby and we wanted to know why.

After the birth of the baby, Isabelle Tyler, things continued to move in a promising direction.

What is not creepy and bad ass about that?

Game over as far as the character of Isabelle Tyler is concerned.

Im just not sure that I buy it myself.

Dawn Summers Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Buffyfans, put down your pitch forks and just listen!

Buffy The Vampire Slayeralso took a refreshingly brave approach to young female sexuality.

Willow and Taras lesbian relationship managed to be groundbreaking, and yet not feel forced into the show.

Instead, she whined her way through most episodes and is given an ever-so-enthralling kleptomania plot.

So, after we have had this little talk can we all agree that we didnt really need Dawn?

Even theBuffycomics only make her interesting by turning her first into a giant and then a centaur!

Why exactly did she need to have been married to Sheridan at some point the past?

Did anybody care about why her eyes were bleeding for more than two episodes?

Sure, the first time it was a bit creepy, but it became so repetitive.

No, you dont have to show us again for us to understand.

Once again, the failure of the female character isnt in the idea, but in the execution.

The time was even right for American television to introduce a kick-ass Latina heroine.

Instead, though, Maya was riddled with stereotypes.

The fugitive nature of the siblings story line had potential to be interesting too.

Did they really have to stick around for so long into the second season, though?

More frustrating are the inconsistencies in the character throughoutRed Dwarf.

At the start, when she was primarily a fantasy figure for Lister, she was a passable character.

Part of what madeRed Dwarfso entertaining was precisely because of the laddish nature of the group of male characters.

A female character to look down on their behaviour simply wasnt needed.

Diana Fowley The X-Files

The bitch is back.

Only we never heard of her before so why should we care?

So,The X-Filesshould have been able to avoid the female character cliches better than most shows.

Could have and should have, but in the case of Fowley they didnt.

That Scully had escaped this cliche was refreshing, but with Fowley it came back in spades.

What is that I smell?

A potential love triangle plot in development between Mulder, Scully and Fowely?

Say it aint so!

Martha Jones Doctor Who

File this one under what could have been.

Sure, Rose had street smarts but she still carried the teenage girl feeling with her.

Nope, instead we have to have her fall in love with the Doctor.

Then, nearly as quickly as Martha joined the Doctor, she was gone.

Almost as if the characterisation had just become too much for the shows writers to handle.

Instead, she was cast to the side as an afterthought.