Category: kick-ass women

kick-ass women TV shows I don’t know well (or at all)

Here’s another list for my ongoing kick-ass women project. (For your reference, I have an index to previous lists in the project.) I seem to be getting to the end of my lists, and soon I’ll be moving on to phase two: world domination. No, wait. That’s Starbucks. My next phase will be to start actually working at qualifying and quantifying what it means to be a kick-ass woman. Or at least what I mean when I say “kick-ass woman.” But first, a few more lists.

Anyhow, this list is following up on my last 2 lists of favorite kick-ass women TV shows (1 & 2). This time, the list is of shows I either never watched, or didn’t see much of, but that prominently feature (or at least appear to prominently feature) kick-ass women. And this list includes some of the glaring omissions from the previous lists. (Again, shows are listed chronologically by start date.)

Some kick-ass women TV shows I didn’t watch

  1. The New Avengers (1976-1977)
    Starred Joanna Lumley as Purdy. The most I have seen of this show was actually as a snip in an episode of Absolutely Fabulous. This show is supposed to bear little resemblance to the previous Avengers incarnations, aside from the presence of Patrick MacNee resuming his role of John Steed. But I’m still pretty curious.
  2. Cagney & Lacey (1982-1988)
    This cop series with Sharon Gless (Cagney) and Tyne Daly (Lacey) was on for quite a few years, but I’m not sure I ever saw a single episode.
  3. The X-files (1993-2002)
    I never watched this show, but I have, of course, heard of it. My spy network informs me that Gillian Anderson kicked ass as Dana Scully.
  4. Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001)
    I’ve seen maybe a couple of episodes of this, or possibly only parts of episodes, but actually had trouble getting into its particular flavor of campiness. (I realized many of the shows and movies I enjoy are definitely campy.) I think it was mostly the other characters that I found irritating. But I fully acknowledge the supreme kick-assedness of Xena.
  5. Dark Angel (2000-2002)
    Never saw it. Don’t know much about it. Jessica Alba stars as a “genetically enhanced superhuman prototype.” Which sounds like definite kick-ass potential.
  6. Kim Possible (2002-????)
    Don’t know much about this animated show. I understand it’s about a girl (voiced by Christy Carlson Romano) who can do anything. Which sounds appealing.
  7. She Spies (2002-2004)
    I know nothing about this beyond, well, the title. I’m guessing it’s a spy show. With females. Hence the feminine third person subject. Was somewhat short-lived. Starred Natasha Henstridge, Natashia Williams and Kristen Miller. (Funny –how often do you have 2 Natash(i)as in the same cast?)
  8. Commander in Chief (2005-2006)
    Geena Davis plays President of the US. (That is potentially an even cooler role than pirate.) I should probably see this. I’ve read that it’s good. And I like Geena Davis.
  9. Heroes (2006-????)
    A new show about superheroes. Haven’t seen it. I’ve heard it’s pretty good. I don’t know all the details, but there had better be at least one kick-ass woman on the show. (Anyone care to enlighten me?)

    10. One more item:

  10. Charlie’s Angels (1976-1981)
    I’m not sure what I think about this one. Strange as it may seem, I don’t really remember watching this show as a kid. It was certainly a presence, though. I must have seen a few episodes. And I remember kids playing Charlie’s Angels, etc. Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson played the brunettes, and a string of others (Farrah Fawcett, Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack & Tanya Roberts) play the blonde. But I’m not sure to what extent these women kicked ass. Isn’t this the show about which the expession “jiggle TV” was coined?

Some kicks

I stopped by my old Tae Kwon Do school for a bit this morning, with Phoebe in tow. They were having an open house and demo. (I haven’t been training there regularly for at least a couple of years, but I still keep in touch with some folks. In case you’re wondering, I was, and I guess technically still am, a blue belt…And in case you’re wondering, I wasn’t particularly good. Totally not athletic. Also not terribly coordinated. But I enjoyed it.) Anyhow, the demo was very cool, and Phoebe got to see some real-live martial arts action. Several of the instructors demonstrated some impressive breaking techniques. Mostly breaking boards. The chief instructor even broke a stack of 5 or 6 concrete slabs. Very impressive.

But I have to say that the high point of the demonstration for me was when one of the instructors called up some of the students to show some advanced kicks. He asked for a couple of young red belts to come up (those are students that are a couple of tests away from being black belts). He had them show some jumping and “flying” kicks. So they did a few flying side kicks and jumping crescent kicks, and it looked very cool. And then the instructor called up another red belt to join to the two in the demonstration. And he made the comment: “just so that everyone can see that boys can do these, too.” Because the first two students were girls. I hadn’t even thought about that fact until the instructor’s comment.

My TKD school is very supportive of women and girls who train in martial arts. In fact, it’s never even particularly been an issue there. And it was nice to be reminded of this. While most of the kids who train there are boys, four out of the maybe eight people who have become blackbelts training at the school are women. I never felt like my gender held me back. (Other things did. See aforementioned lack of athleticism and coordination. Also overcommitment to other things. While I’m not the only woman that’s trained there, I may possibly be the only grad student…) Anyhow, I’m hoping to try to get back into the training there soon. In my copious spare time.

I’m a Jedi Knight, apparently

You know how there are those formulas you can use to determine your Star Wars name? A bunch of them are available on the web. Most of them involve formulas along the lines of this:

For your new first name:
1. Take the first 3 letters of your 1st name & add
2. the first 2 letters of your last name
For your new last name:
3. Then take the first 2 letters of your Mom’s maiden name & add
4. the first 3 letters of the city you were born.

How to determine your Star Wars honorific name & title:
1. Take the last three letters of your last name & reverse them.
2. add the name of the first car you drove/owned.
3. insert the word “of”
4 Add the name of the last medication or supplement you took.

But you see, I don’t even need to do that. Because apparently, my name is already plenty starwarsesque. Behold!

Alejna ignited her yellow lightsaber and positioned herself in the Makashi form, Garden dropped into a Niman form and ignited his two blue lightsabers. Garden jumped into the air and started swinging at Alejna fueling every swing with force speed. She blocked hit after hit…

Yes, in the last few weeks, someone in the Star Wars role-playing universe has created a character named Alejna. Jedi Knight. And I’m happy to say that she can kick some ass. (What a relief.)

More kick-ass women TV shows

Here’s continuing my ongoing kick-ass women project. (Check out my index to previous posts in the project, if you like.) Following up on my last list of favorite kick-ass women TV shows, I offer up another list of TV shows. These are are shows that I’ve watched and loved, or at least enjoyed, that prominently feature kick-ass women (and girls). I do have some reservations about some of these, though…(And again, shows are listed chronologically by start date.)

9 more kick-ass women TV shows

  1. The Avengers (1962-1964)
    This incarnation of The Avengers starred Honor Blackman (who later gained more fame playing Bond girl Pussy Galore) as Cathy Gale. I didn’t get to know the Gale episodes until quite recently, when they were released on DVD. But they are well worth watching, in spite of the poor video-taped quality.
  2. Get Smart (1965-1970)
    Barbara Feldon was great as Agent 99, the competent foil to the bumbling agent Maxwell Smart. However, I was never too thrilled with the plots developing to woo and win Max. I don’t really buy her desire to get married, especially to him…
  3. The Avengers (1968-1969)
    I was mostly just going through the motions when I watched this incarnation of The Avengers. Linda Thorson played Tara King, a much softer, wimpier partner to Steed. But she still played a secret agent who could kick some moderate ass.
  4. Remington Steele (1982-1987)
    Stephanie Zimbalist plays Laura Holt, a brilliant private investigator who finds she gets more clients by operating under a man’s name, even a man’s name that she’s made up. Unfortunately, the whole premise of the show is that Pierce Brosnan comes along and usurps her success, and she has to go along with it.
  5. Teen Titans (2003-????)
    This Cartoon Network animated series featuring bunch of adolescents with superpowers has a couple of pretty kick-ass girls. Starfire (voiced by Hynden Walch) is a bit too needy-touchy-feely for my tastes, but I guess can kick some ass in a fight. I’m partial to Raven (voiced by Tara Strong), who is cranky and dark.
  6. Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)
    It’s been absolutely ages since I watched this. I didn’t even realize it was on the air that long. Anyhow, I seem to recall some pretty kick-ass women characters: Roxann Dawson as B’Elanna Torres and Jeri Ryan as the Borg Seven of Nine. There was also the kick-ass character Captain Kathryn Janeway, portrayed by Kate Mulgrew. (I am remembering a story about Kate Mulgrew publicly proclaiming that she wasn’t a feminist, though, which made me lose quite a bit of respect. Jenny, care to remind me of the details?)
  7. Futurama (1999-????)
    Leela (full name: Turanga Leela) as voiced by Katey Sagal shines with competence as a spaceship captain surrounded by dimwits in this animated series created by Matt Groening. (I never really bought her attraction to clueless Fry, and am suddenly noticing the parallels to 99’s infatuation with Max Smart…It’s a theme we’ve all seen too often…)
  8. Jackie Chan Adventures (2000-2005)
    Animated Jackie’s trouble-making little niece Jade (voiced by Stacie Chan) shows some potential to grow up into a kick-ass woman in this kid-oriented cartoon. She’s got some of the key ingredients: courage, daring and wit. (Forget sugar and spice.)
  9. The Tick (2001)
    This inpsired gem of a show, the live-action version of the zany superhero cartoon, only lasted 8 episodes. Liz Vassey was great as the tough-as-nails-in-her-shiny-gold-boots Captain Liberty, a character inspired by Wonder Woman.

9 of my favorite kick-ass women TV shows

Here is yet another installment of my ongoing project to collect, classify and critique movies, TV shows and other media that prominently feature kick-ass women. This is the first list of TV shows I’ve put together. I’ll probably have one or two more, and probably another movie list at some point. To recap the lists so far:

Kick-ass women project meta-list

  • movies I love or at least like moderately well (1, 2, 3, 4)
  • movies I need to see (5, 6)
  • movies I found disappointing (7)
  • movies I don’t expect to like (8)
  • another blogger has put together a related list of Hong Kong movies
  • I also started a consolidated list, for quick reference, but haven’t updated it recently.

    • So, here’s the first TV list. As in my previous lists, I’m ordering these chronologically, though in this case by year that the show began to air. (I considered ranking these differently, but since my favorite came first chronologically and gets to be at the top of the list this way anyhow, I’m going to avoid the tricky task of ranking the rest of my favorites.) (I also feel compelled to say that if you’re wondering why “Xena” and “X-files” aren’t on the list, it’s because I didn’t watch them. I’ll try to remedy that. One of these days.)

    9 of my favorite kick-ass women TV shows

    1. The Avengers (1965-1967)
      This is my all-time favorite kick-ass woman TV show. Emma Peel (as portrayed by Diana Rigg) is my idol. (By the way, the whole series ran from 1961-1969, but here I’m talking about the Mrs. Peel seasons.)
    2. The Bionic Woman (1976-1978) Lindsay Wagner plays Jamie Sommers, a woman with “bionic” (cybernetic) superpowers. It’s been absolutely ages since I watched this, but I enjoyed it as a kid. It may well have been the first kick-ass woman show I watched.
    3. Wonder Woman (1976-1979)
      Lynda Carter plays the quintessential woman superhero. A colorful show where good and evil are portrayed as black and white. (I vaguely remember watching this when I was little, and then got some of the DVDs recently. I don’t think I’d ever seen the first season before, though, which was set during World War II. It’s actually quite a bit better than the following seasons, which are set in the contemporaneous 1970s.)
    4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
      Sarah Michelle Gellar kicks ass as Buffy, as do a variety of regular cast members and guest stars. I also love the way this show interleaves the horrors of living in the midst of monsters and supernatural evils and the after-school-special-type horrors of being in high school. (This show is another one of my absolute favorites. A possible 2nd.)
    5. Stargate SG-1 (1997-????)
      I quite like Amanda Tapping as Samantha Carter, with her brilliant matter-of-fact geekiness. She was usually about brains more than brawn, but could hold her own in a fight scene.
    6. The Powerpuff Girls (1998-2004)
      Three cute little girls with big eyes and superpowers battle the forces of evil in this animated kids’ show. I’m partial to Buttercup, the angry one. I fear I’m probably more like Blossom, the annoyingly nerdy one. I don’t think I’m much like Bubble, the sweet one. (Though she’s John’s favorite. What does that mean?)
    7. Alias (2001-2006)
      Jennifer Garner plays secret agent Sydney Bristow in this flashy spy show. Lots of fun fight scenes and clever gadgets, combined with over-the-top cloak-and-dagger disguise scenarios. I’ve only seen the first 2 seasons, though. I liked the first (lower budget) season better.
    8. Firefly (2002-2003)
      A great, but sadly short-lived, sci fi masterpiece, which happily at least led to a movie. I love Gina Torres as Zoe, a warrior woman with a dry wit, steady hand and a sense of being in control.
    9. Battlestar Galactica(2004-????) (plus the 2003 miniseries)
      I was surprised at how much I like this reinterpretation of the cheesy 1980’s space opera. In this show, strong women are the norm, rather than the exception. Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck majorly kicks ass as an ace pilot. Other noteworthy strongwomen include Grace Park as Sharon(s) Valleri, Mary McDonnell as President Laura Roslin, and Tricia Helfer as the bad-ass cylon Number Six.

    Potentially kick-ass women movies that probably suck

    This is another installment of my ongoing project to collect, classify and critique movies, TV shows and other media that prominently feature kick-ass women. I started by putting together lists of my all-time favorite movies in this genre. (I also started a consolidated list, for quick reference, but have to update it.) A recent contribution to the project has come from another blogger, who put together a list of her 10 favorite Hong Kong kick-ass women movies. Other installments from me have included a couple of lists of movies that I haven’t yet seen, but would like to. I also recently made a list of movies with kick-ass women that I found disappointing. (Whether it was disapointment in the movie, or disappointment in the potentially kick-ass women.) This next list somewhat straddles the last two categories: movies with potentially kick-ass women that I haven’t seen, but don’t have high expectations for. In many cases, I’m (morbidly) curious about them, though.

    9 potential kick-ass women movies I haven’t seen, am not sure I want to see, but have some morbid curiosity about

    1. Barb Wire (1996)
      This is the one starring Pamela Anderson (Lee). I really don’t expect anything redeeming about this movie, though I did read a review on imdb saying the movie is fun in a campy way.
    2. Batman & Robin (1997)
      This looks awful. I’ve read that it’s awful. But I’m somewhat morbidly curious about Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy and Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl.
    3. Starship Troopers (1997)
      I stumbled across a mention of this one at some point in my “research,” but from a source I don’t have much trust in. Not sure the details on who the kick-ass woman is. It has Denise Richards and Dina Meyer. (Funny, I just typed Dina Richards and Denise Meyer…guess that reflects that I don’t really know either of their work.) Googling “Denise Richards” and the movie title brought up various mentions of breasts and sex scenes, which is not a good sign. Oh, and I did find this useful abridged version of the script, though.
    4. Out of Sight (1998)
      Jennifer Lopez plays a US Marshall. I vaguely recall that this is the movie where she lets her own ass get kicked due to mushiness for George Clooney.
    5. Entrapment (1999)
      I have very low expectations of this for 2 reasons: 1) Sean Connery, who is, as far as I can tell a misogynist. I blame him for some of the atrocities of The Avengers (1998). I don’t think he likes to have a character he plays bested by a woman. and 2) Catherine Zeta-Jones. I once read an interview with her in a magazine (I don’t even know which. I was probably in a waiting room somewhere) where she talked about the importance of the and the challenges associated with being…pretty.
    6. Miss Congeniality (2000)
      I have serious doubts about the kick-ass qualities of Sandra Bullock in this, but I’m curious. Looks to be a lightweight comedy.
    7. Lara Croft Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life (2003)
      Angelina Jolie, once more. The first one was moderately disappointing. What should I expect from the sequel of a moderately disappointing movie?
    8. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
      I just don’t know if I can stomach this one. What with Arnold and all. Kristanna Loken plays a female terminator. That Arnold presumably whoops.
    9. Catwoman (2004)
      I wanted this one to be fun, but I heard it was pretty bad. (Although one friend of mine said she enjoyed it.) Halle Berry wears the catsuit.

    Another list of kick-ass women movies

    Not one of my lists this time, though. I’m excited to share that another movie buff has put together a new list of some of her favorite kick-ass women movies on her site Webs of Significance. Check out her list of 10 kick-ass women movies, which features a selection of Hong Kong movies in the kick-ass women genre.

    My ability to talk with fish is of no help, Wonder Woman!

    I’m not sure what recently reminded me of this Cartoon Network interstitial (new word for me, by the way) featuring Aquaman, Wonder Woman and the Powerpuff Girls. I hadn’t seen it in ages. (We don’t actually get Cartoon Network now, sadly. Just bottom of the barrel basic cable. which means no Comedy Central or SciFi, either. Sigh.) But thanks to the marvels of YouTube, I was able to watch it once more. (Actually more than once.) And since it’s late and I don’t have much time to write, I thought I’d share it. Because it is just so damn funny.

    I particularly like the way Wonder Woman rolls her eyes in response to Aquaman’s statement.

    Interestingly, this clip seems to contain an oft misquoted line. (Actually, it’s one I remembered wrong.) Searching Google for the misquote (“my ability to talk to fish”) gets more hits (26) than the right version (“my ability to talk with fish”), which gets only 8 hits. Different pages on Wikipedia feature two versions of the misquote:

    “My ability to talk to fish is of no use to us, Wonder Woman!”

    and

    “My ability to talk to fish is of no help, Wonder Woman!”

    9 disappointing kick-ass women movies

    In my continuing quest to find media that prominently feature kick-ass women, I have come across examples of such that well…haven’t measured up. In some of these, a potentially kick-ass character was disappointingly wimpy. Or the actor/actress couldn’t pull off the role convincingly. In others, the movie was not great. In still other cases, the movie just plain sucked. Here’s the list of my biggest disappointments. As with previous lists, movies are ordered by year produced/released. With one big exception: I’m saving my all-time biggest disappointment for the end of the list.

    9 kick-ass women movies I hoped would be better:

    1. …coming up at the end of the post…
    2. Cutthroat Island (1995)
      I really want to like this movie, and it has its moments. Geena Davis plays a pirate. How cool is that? Lots of action, fight scenes, chase scenes, etc. And Geena Davis plays a pirate. But somehow, unfortunately, it’s just not that good a movie. But Geena Davis plays a pirate!
    3. The Fifth Element (1997)
      I remember looking forward to this one, since I’ve liked Besson’s other movies, and since it appeared to prominently feature a kick-ass woman. I saw it in the theater. However, I found the movie to be generally pretty forgettable. (As in, at this point, I don’t remember much beyond some bright colors and some irritation with Bruce Willis.)
    4. Star Wars: Episode I – the Phantom Menace (1999)
      This movie disappointed so many in so many ways. One of the ways in which it disappointed me was that I thought there was an opportunity for Natalie Portman to kick some ass. I was unimpressed. (And things just got worse in Episode II…)
    5. Rush Hour 2 (2001)
      Another movie I don’t remember too well. This one has Zhang Ziyi, playing a kick-ass villainous type. Problem is, she seems pretty unstrung, from what I remember. And of course, she’s not the star, so her character doesn’t get to win.
    6. Tomb Raider (2001)
      While Angelina Jolie did kick ass moderately well in this, the movie was pretty weak overall. I do remember a few cool fight scenes. I should probably give it another chance.
    7. Daredevil (2003)
      Another movie I really wanted to like. Probably because of Kevin Smith‘s involvement, as well as being a comic book/superhero movie. But let’s face it. Ben Affleck is just not convincing as a superhero. But Jennifer Garner kicked ass as Elektra in spite of things. At least in the fight scenes.
    8. Underworld (2003)
      I loved Kate Beckinsale in Cold Comfort Farm (one of my all-time favorite movies, though not in the kick-ass woman genre). However, this movie was…well…not great. And Kate was not terribly convincing in an action role.
    9. Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
      I’m not sure what was going on with this movie. I found the first one entertaining and funny. This one just pained me.

    And here it is. My all time biggest disappointment in a movie in the kick-ass women category:

    1. The Avengers (1998)
      How could they???

    To say that The Avengers (1998) movie disappointed me would be like saying Everest is a pretty big mountain. That eating the chicken salad sandwich you left in your car all one hot July day may lead to stomach upset. That the Hindenberg disaster was the result of an unfortunate mishap. What I’m saying is that this movie was a gigantic, mountainous gut-spewing fireball of a disaster.

    Okay, perhaps I exaggerate. In that my expectations were pretty low, so I supposed the disappointment level couldn’t have been that extreme. But please understand that I love the Avengers show, at least in its 1965-1967 incarnation. That I have idolized the character Emma Peel, as portrayed by Diana Rigg, since my formative teenage years.

    This movie had a variety of “flaws” (Ralph Fiennes’ cardboard performance as Steed, the inclusion of the character “Mother,” Sean Connery’s unconvincing role as a megavillain, to name a few), which could have been overlooked if only the portrayal of the character Emma Peel had been appropriately…like Emma Peel. But she just wasn’t. Uma didn’t cut it.

    I actually got a fair amount of enjoyment, after I saw the movie, just from ranting about how many things they got wrong. Believe it or not, I want to watch it again. So that I can relive those rants, and perhaps share them here.