Space Damsels [patched] -

For as long as humans have gazed at the stars, we have populated them with our own fears and fantasies. Among the most enduring of these is the . She is the lone figure in the escape pod, the scientist trapped in the alien hive, or the princess frozen in a crystal coffin. For decades, she was defined by a single action: waiting to be saved.

This led to the rise of the . In Star Trek: The Next Generation , Counselor Troi is frequently telepathically kidnapped, yet she nearly always uses her empathy to turn the captor's mind inside out before Riker even gets his boots on. Similarly, Princess Leia’s arc is the definitive deconstruction: she starts as a damsel, quickly takes charge of her own rescue ("Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?"), and ends the trilogy as a general choking the slimeball who captured her. space damsels