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Science fiction is a unique and popular genre, with imaginative content, futuristic settings and parallel universes. There have been some incredible books written over the years from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, to Enders Game by Orson Scott Card and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

These books and films unravel different characters, enthralling you into their lives and exciting worlds, whether it’s Darth Vader’s wrath, or Optimus Prime’s fight for humanity, all of these characters are special in their own way. However, which science fiction characters stand out the most to you?

We’ve put together a top 10 list, in no particular order, of our favourite science fiction characters. Which one of these would make your top 10:

1. Darth Vader

There are so many characters we could pick, from Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Yoda or R2D2, but we had to go with the one and only Darth Vader! The commander of the galactic empire and faithful servant to the sith, this twisted former Jedi certainly sticks in anyone’s mind whether they are a fan of the Star Wars franchise or not. Who can forget that line, ‘Luke I am your father!’

2. Godzilla

The giant monster lizard is certainly a handful as it terrorises first the streets of Japan and then New York. Even though Godzilla was originally in Ishiro Honda's film in 1954, since then Godzilla can be found in comic books, novels and even video games. He’s known as the King of the Monsters, which definitely deserves a place in our list of best science fiction characters of all time.

3. Predator

Predator, also known as Yautja, is an extraterrestrial species who is probably best known for being friend and foe in the popular alien series. It has since appeared in a number of novels, video games, comic books and films. Its impressive cloaking camouflage and effective combat skills makes this an ultimate sci-fi creation, even if it is at the expense of the human race!

4. Terminator

The emotionless Terminator would come close to anyone’s top ten list of sci-fi greats! Famously portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Terminator is a machine disguised as a human, sent back to 1984 from the future to hunt down an unsuspecting Sarah Connor. Since then, Terminator has appeared in three other films and has been in a number of comic books and computer games.

5. Spock

The green blooded, half Vulcan half human, is the next character in our top ten. Spock plays the reliable and logical thinking ally of Captain James T. Kirk in the famous Star Trek series. Spock is well known for getting his friends out of tricky situations for getting under the skin of Dr Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy! Although coming across as quite a cold character, Spock captures the hearts of many fans as he executes his famous mantra ‘the needs of the many out way the needs of the one’ where he sacrifices his own life to save the crew of the Enterprise.

6. Frankenstein’s monster

Although not at the forefront of many people’s minds, Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, ‘Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus’ is perhaps one or if not the first ever ‘sci-fi’ novel. Victor Frankenstein’s monster does not actually have a name, with many taking the name of his creator to be his own. Other names include; ‘Adam’, ‘monster’, ‘thing’, ‘ogre’ and many more. The shear thought of this creation definitely makes it worthy of a top ten place!

7. Tron

Despite having a more selective following than some others in this list, the famous 1980’s film starring Jeff Bridges will always live in memory as a sci-fi great! Bridges plays software engineer Kevin Flynn who in an attempt to recover his programming rights, is catapulted inside a computer mainframe, threatening to taking over the world’s computer systems. Tron, a security programme designed by Flynn saves humankind by destroying the master control programme! Apart from its storyline, the visual effects in this film changed filmmaking forever.

8. Scully

Scully, or Dr Dana Katherine Scully, is an FBI agent based in Washington D.C. She is tasked with working the unsolved cases, which are known as the ‘X-files’. Scully definitely makes our list as she has had a turbulent time, not only has she been kidnapped by an ex-FBI mental patient, but she’s been seriously ill and hospitalised and has even undergone experimental medical treatments.

9. Buck Rogers

Buck Rogers first appears in ‘Armageddon 2419 A.D’ by Philip Francis Nowlan, written in Amazing Stories, the first magazine devoted to science fiction. However, at that time, this character was instead known as Anthony Rogers. When the article was made into a comic, Anthony’s name was changed to Buck Rogers. The popular TV series made in the 1980s has Captain Buck Rogers return to Earth after being frozen in his spaceship for 500 years. His experience of combat and pilot skills assists Buck in saving his friends time and time again.

10. Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime is a character from Transformers and is leader of the Autobots from planet Cybertron. Optimus is dedicated to protecting life and in particularly the inhabitants of Earth. He also leads the fight against the evil Decepticons and their leader Megatron who wishes to wipe out the human race and build a new Cybertron on Earth! Prime’s bravery and courage means he deserves a place in our top ten.

There you have it, our top 10 and there were so many more that we could have picked! So who would make your top 10? Let us know!