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the ship, their home, as "she," rather than "it," and Serenity's personality is acknowledged by everyone aboard, as well as the show's extensive cult following.

Serenity is a junker, an oldie but a goodie; her body is sleek, her wings jet-powered, and her neck long and graceful. Her exhaust-end glows to suggest the name of her class: Firefly. She's tough but not wrathful, being a cargo ship rather than a battleship. She's as determined to survive as her crew, and in just as much danger of failing.

For a television show to gain such a huge fan base, and to be given a cinematic counterpart despite being canceled halfway into the first season, definitely speaks to its quality and fame. And hey, they named the movie after the ship, not the captain. It wouldn't have been the same without her.

Honorable Mention:

Darth Vader

You're probably wondering how the evil D. V. managed not to make it into the top ten. Everyone who is anyone knows who he is. The answer is simple: Star Wars is fantasy, not science fiction. The force is magic rather than technology, the story took place a long time ago rather than in the future, and Star Wars' non-philosophical, straightforward presentation of the war between good and evil all speak to this point. Don't agree? That's fine. A lot of other people do, making Vader's genre too widely contested to get him out of honorable mention.

The Black-Eyed Alien

This toothpick-limbed but classically sinister alien, with giant, black, almond-shaped eyes, made its first appearance not on a big screen, but in the minds of dozens of alien abduction enthusiasts half a century ago. While this creature didn't make the top ten because it's more a cultural archetype than a purely fictional character, it came to both the big and small screens later on, and is easily recognized by millions of people. This is also why Yoda's left out.

Xenu

Scientology is all the rage lately. Tom Cruise's leaked propaganda video was just recently parodied all over youtube, but years before that, the comedy cartoon South Park sprung the alarm and announced Scientology to not only be a crazy cult, but a silly crazy cult.

Most people know the story by now: Xenu was an intergalactic ruler who killed a bunch of aliens on earth and showed their souls movies, turning them into thetans which now terrorize human kind, causing all of our ills. That's a pretty tall order, a story told by a prolific, and now deceased, science fiction writer: L. Ron Hubbard.

So, why is Xenu not up in the top ten? The truth is, some people, somewhere, think he's real. Because his status as fictional is debated (however feebly), he forfeits his spot.

Learn more about this author, Currie Jean.
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