Blog readers, we asked for your help in compiling the ultimate fembot list to accompany Annalee Newitz’s recent PopSci.com essay, and boy, did we ever receive it. After sifting through the mountain of comments and e-mails, we are prepared to make the following addendums:
1. The world of Japanese anime is full of buxom robo-babes (who knew?). Reader favorites are Major Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell and Bloodberry from Saber Marionette R. Seriously, when will American children’s cartoons be full of fembots named Bloodberry and have names like Saber Marionette R?
2. Cherry 2000 received numerous reader nods as the runaway pleasure ‘bot played by Pamela Gidley in the 1987 cult sci-fi flick of the same name, also starring Melanie Griffith and Laurence Fishburne (!). Other film ‘bots we missed include notorious Playmate Dorothy Stratten as Galaxina and Pris’s fellow replicant Rachael, played by Sean Young in Blade Runner.
3. Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager (actress Jeri Ryan) seems to be the most notable small-screen fembot we overlooked. As readers have pointed out, her presence on this list is contentious, considering she’s more of a human-cum-Borg, but all Borg/human dynamics aside, Seven’s silvery catsuit and Bluetooth-headset-from-the-future accessories more than qualify her for inclusion.
4. And finally, in the How Could We Possibly Have Missed This? category is the 1965 film Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine. Vincent Price—best known to some as the deep-voiced guy on the “Thriller” voiceover—stars as the conniving Dr. Goldfoot, who uses a brigade of hot fembots to siphon off the fortunes of wealthy single playboys. Also starring Frankie Avalon. Netflix queue: add!
5. Of the ‘bots that did make our list, it seems PopSci.com homepage girl Pris and Battlestar Galactica‘s Number Six were the reader faves.
Many thanks to our readers for filling in the gaps. And if you just can’t get enough (and happen to live in the NYC area), the New York Hall of Science in Queens is hosting “Alluring Androids, Robot Women, and Electronic Eves,” a multimedia exhibit chronicling the history of fembots. It runs through September 10. —John Mahoney
Related:
The Fembot Mystique
Fembot Fantasia