The Most Memorable Mothers of Sci-Fi TV & Movies

Mother's Day is our big day for honoring our moms. No matter how much she drives us crazy during the year, the holiday is a fun time to reconnect with each other. Despite how overly commercial it can be - greeting cards, florists and gift shops demanding we spend money - mom still deserves recognition. Sci-Fi movies and TV like Star Trek, Lost In Space and Star Wars have given us brave moms, powerful moms, and even some scary moms.

The Borg Queen - Star Trek: First Contact

Borg Queen (Alice Krige) may have not actually given birth to her Borg brood, but she's no less a mother to billions of drones.

South African actress Alice Krige (Chariots Of Fire) brought this cybernetic matriarch to life in the feature film Star Trek: First Contact. Her performance, highlighted by an eye popping entrance created by technicians at Industrial Light & Magic, is why the movie works so well. The character was also played by actress Susanna Thompson in the TV series Star Trek: Voyager, then again by Krige in that show's finale, entitled Endgame. Here the Borg mommy tells Janeway she understands her motives, since they're both trying to protect their 'collectives' - or families. It's exactly how any good mother would try to safeguard her children.

Alien Queen - Aliens

James Cameron created huge blue aliens, the Navi, for his blockbuster Avatar. In his slam bang film Aliens (1986), he created another towering alien - the Alien Queen - who's also a mommy.

Stan Winston's FX wizards created the enormous filming puppet, which at fourteen feet tall may be the biggest, baddest mommy to ever grace the silver screen. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) rumbled with this acid spitting mom, and though we rooted for Ripley, the alien mom got our sympathy. After all, the corporation who sent Ripley and the space marines, may have settled the planet's colony, but the aliens were there first. Any good mother would protect her territory and babies, just as she did,

Captain Janeway - Star Trek: Voyager

Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) had no biological children of her own, when she took command of starship Voyager. By the time the show ended, she'd become protective mom to a crew of over one hundred starfleet officers, and aliens like Neelix.

Star Trek: Voyager is a special TV show for many reasons. It was Star Trek's third spin-off - which began on NBC in 1966 - and first with a female lead. It served as flagship series for UPN, Paramount Picture's TV network. It was also a first Star Trek series co-created by a woman - writer/producer Jeri Taylor. I was fortunate enough to be invited to pitch to Voyager in its first season, and had the honor of meeting Jeri Taylor in person for my pitch at Paramount in Hollywood. When I met her, it was clear Taylor had a real maternal sense over the show she'd created. Kate Mulgrew also strongly communicated a maternal vibe acting as Captain Janeway.

Dr. Maureen Robinson - Lost In Space

The Robot, Dr. Smith and young Will Robinson get most of the attention from Lost In Space fans. However, without Dr. Maureen Robinson (June Lockhart), they may never have survived those wacky, spacey adventures.

At 84, Lockhart has been a fixture in television and movies for decades. Before being matriarch of the space warping Robinson clan, and becoming lost among the stars, she was best known as the mom from the Lassie TV series. Mom Robinson didn't make cool sounds, had no blinking robot lights, nor the silly flamboyance of Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris), but she supplied sound advice, and acted as nurturing mother to them all.

Queen Amidala - Star Wars: The Revenge Of The Sith

Sadly, Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) would never actually raise her twin children - Luke and Leia. It's that kind of tragic destiny which makes the Star Wars saga so compelling.

Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) romanced royal monarch Amidala, but he inexorably traveled down a path to the dark side. Though his intentions were good, the fear and insecurity he felt over protecting his loved ones, ultimately consumed him. Loyal fans recall how Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda watched over Luke Skywalker via the force, after they'd passed over to the other side. They may take comfort that Amidala too watched over her children, as eternally vigilant mother.

Dr. Beverly Crusher - Star Trek: The Next Generation

Working as chief medical officer on a massive starship isn't easy. You oversee an advanced medical treatment center in your sickbay, and supervise a staff of crack doctors and nurses, but ultimately you're responsible for the health care of over one thousand men, women, children, and alien lifeforms. To top it all off, if you're Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), you're a single mom, raising an incredibly precocious child.

Crusher's son Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) may be a boy genius, but he's still a boy. Wesley's great intellect often got the Enterprise out of danger, though many a fan complained it was way too often and too convenient. When Crusher wasn't worrying about Wesley's social development, romantic relationships - or lack thereof - she spent quality time with Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Those intimate dates paid off later as the two got married, then divorced, as detailed in the time tripping finale episode All Good Things.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_%28film%29

www.imdb.com

www.memoryalpha.org