There’s no serenity for the Doctor as he’s been pipped to the post by Firefly’s Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) as the greatest icon in sci-fi.
The Captain of the Serenity – a ‘Firefly’ class spaceship heading out into the frontier of a brand new space system – gunslinged his way to the top thanks to the large cult following that had built up behind the space western since it was uncermoniously axed by Fox after one series.
The poll conducted by SFX magazine also saw Torchwood’s Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) coming in third place followed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer herself (Sarah Michelle Geller) and her co-star Spike (James Marsters).
Editor David Bradley saw the surprise victory for Captain Reynolds as a sign of the love that still exists for Joss Whedon’s cancelled before its prime show:
“Few people would have bet against Doctor Who topping this poll, but the surprise win for Mal Reynolds shows how much love there still is for Firefly.
Putting the top 100 icons to the vote really caught people’s imagination – sci-fi is more popular than ever before.”
The SFX Top 100 Icons Special is available to buy now.
I respectfully disagree with the results. But considering ‘Who’ has been running almost 50 years now, and ‘Firefly’ was axed after one season, I’ll let the browncoats have this victory.
Sounds like there was some Chicago style multi-voting. No way a one season blip like that character beats out the Doctor. Conversely, Captain Jack beating all the Star Trek characters? Come on….
I think the person who wrote the Captain Jack, Mr Spock, Gene Hunt and Number Six is an exceptionally talented writer.