Straight Dope Message Board

[Skald the Rhymer]

Public poll, no set ending date, one answer per respondent, blah blah blah. Bear in mind that we're not assessing the hotness of the actresses, but of the characters. Below you will find safe for work images of all the damsels in question. You may, of course, wish to add your own pics if you feel I've overlooked anyone.

Emily Deschanel (Temperance Brennan on Bones)
Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg on Buffy)
Amy Acker (Fred Burkle on Bones)
Jewel Staite (Kaylee Frye on Firefly) (hey that rhymes!)
Linda Park (Hoshi Sato on Enterprise) (and yes, I realize this particular image is cheating).
Pauley Perrette (Abby Sciuto on NCIS)
Maryn Lynn Rajskub (Chloe O'Brian from 24)
Allison Mack (Chloe Sullivan from Smallville)

[Tim R. Mortiss]

Gotta cast my vote for Abby Normal of NCIS. "Bones" Brennan would be smokin' hot, if she weren't such a cold fish.

[silenus]

Kaylee, now and forever.

[Skald the Rhymer]

Originally Posted by silenus

Kaylee, now and forever.

Oh, please. She couldn't repolarize the deflector dish to save her life.

[John DiFool]

Hmm I didn't know Amy Acker was on Bones (I usually catch it in reruns or one of those marathons). And she has the same first name that she had on Angel?

[Skald the Rhymer]

Originally Posted by John DiFool

Hmm I didn't know Amy Acker was on Bones (I usually catch it in reruns or one of those marathons). And she has the same first name that she had on Angel?

Rage, vengeance, exploding hamsters, yawn.

The sad part is that I proofread twice before posting.

RobotArms, the AH link works for me, so I don't know what to tell you.

[Robot Arm]

I'll have to think about this for a while. A long while. No hurry at all.

In the meantime, I don't think Amy Acker is on Bones, and the Alyson Hannigan link doesn't work directly.

[FriarTed]

My heart is now & always will be Alyson's!

[silenus]

Originally Posted by Skald the Rhymer

Oh, please. She couldn't repolarize the deflector dish to save her life.

Real geek girls don't need deflector dishes. They solve their Captain's problems with science, not technobabble.

Kaylee: "Shouldna be so clean. It's a dead giveaway you don't belong, you always gotta be tidy. Don't pay anybody in advance. And don't ride in anything with a Capasan-38 engine, they fall right outta the sky."

[Oakminster]

Tie: Willow and Dark Willow. Yeah, I have a thing for spell slinging redheads.

[DeafAngelboy23]

I voted for Kaylee.

[Barking Dog]

Can't there a multiple choice option?

[Ephemera]

I've declared my love for both Hoshi and Willow quite often on these boards, but I don't think either of them are hot so much as cute, and none of the rest of the women I'm familiar with in the OP are hot, either.

Though I'm actually a bigger fan of the later host, I'd say the hottest geek girl that I can think of without racking my brain would be Jadzia Dax.

[joebuck20]

What, no Kari Byron?

[Skald the Rhymer]

Originally Posted by Barking Dog

Can't there a multiple choice option?

Multiple choice is for people who don't have the courage to stand behind their irrational prejudices.

[well he's back]

I would vote for Sara Gilbert's "Leslie Winkel" character from The Big Bang Theory

[dnooman]

If hot chicks on Firefly are game, why no Morena Baccarin or Summer Glau? I would have picked either before Jewel.

I thought this was gonna be a Morgan Webb, Layla Kayleigh, Olivia Munn, Kari Byron kinda poll based on the title.

[Skald the Rhymer]

Originally Posted by dnooman

If hot chicks on Firefly are game, why no Morena Baccarin or Summer Glau?

Well, I was looking for fictional characters, for one thing. And neither Inara nor River was a geek, while Kaylee surely was. Admittedly, I would have been wiser to put the character names first and the actor names second, and to make certain that the pictures were all of the actors in character.

The poll isn't about hot girls beloved by geeks. The poll is about hot fictional female geeks.

I thought this was gonna be a Morgan Webb, Layla Kayleigh, Olivia Munn, Kari Byron kinda poll based on the title.

I don't think any of those women qualify as geeks in reality. Kari Byron has the brains, but she lacks the social awkwardness of the true geek. (Admittely, so does Hoshi Sato.)

[Quercus alba]

How did you leave Tina Fey (OK, Liz Lemon) off this list?

[Least Original User Name Ever]

So, wait, this is a poll about womens' hotness...except it's not and it's all about the characters? Why bother posting pictures?

[Bryan Ekers]

Originally Posted by Quercus alba

How did you leave Tina Fey (OK, Liz Lemon) off this list?

Exactly the question I was about to ask.

[Tanbarkie]

Originally Posted by Least Original User Name Ever

So, wait, this is a poll about womens' hotness...except it's not and it's all about the characters? Why bother posting pictures?

There's more to hot than mere looks.

[Horatio Hellpop]

Enterprise had two hot women, and the Asian one is the "plain" one? Television is broken.

[Least Original User Name Ever]

Originally Posted by Tanbarkie

There's more to hot than mere looks.

So then why even reference the looks? I dunno. It might just be me. I don't get the point of the thread, then.

[Boyo Jim]

Shit I'm old. I don't have any idea at all what any of the women on the OP list look like. Of all the others mentioned, Tina Fey, Kari Byron and Summer Glau are the only ones I can summon up a mental picture of.

I'll go with Tina.

[John DiFool]

Originally Posted by Robot Arm

In the meantime, I don't think Amy Acker is on Bones, and the Alyson Hannigan link doesn't work directly.

I was just giving Skald a hard time.

[Munch]

Originally Posted by Least Original User Name Ever

So then why even reference the looks? I dunno. It might just be me. I don't get the point of the thread, then.

Seriously?

This poll is about the hottest female characters that reside in the category "Nerd Character on a Television Show or Movie". Why wouldn't looks matter in such a thread?

[JThunder]

I voted for Temperance, but I wish that I could have voted for Chloe as well.

[TPWombat]

I'll be in my bunk.

[chrisk]

Kaylee and Chloe get honorable mentions, but I had to put my vote for Fred from Angel.

[Siam Sam]

I voted for Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe O'Brian, because 24 is the only one of those shows I've ever seen.

[Intergalactic Gladiator]

I voted for Jewel Staite, then I saw she already has 24% of the votes and I think Tina Fey is pretty hot too, so let me ammend my choice by nominating Sybil Danning in that one movie where she shows her breasts.

[Don Draper]

Originally Posted by Boyo Jim

Shit I'm old. I don't have any idea at all what any of the women on the OP list look like. Of all the others mentioned, Tina Fey, Kari Byron and Summer Glau are the only ones I can summon up a mental picture of.

I'll go with Tina.

If it'll make you feel better, I'll nominate some classic geeky hot babes from back in the day:

Eve Plumb / Jan Brady - At first, she was a glasses-wearing, brace-face, jealous middle child. But in the later years of the show, I'll bet more than a few young lads knocked Marcia on her face (and broke her nose again in the process) to get at her.

And of course, there is the archetypal "geeky hot babe" - Jan Smithers / Bailey Quarters.

[Bryan Ekers]

Originally Posted by The New and Improved Superman

And of course, there is the archetypal "geeky hot babe" - Jan Smithers / Bailey Quarters.

Yeah, but she was "college psychology-major" nerd, not "tech-gadget-loving sci-fi-watching" nerd.

[Maastricht]

And how about the uber geek (well, alien) girls from Star Trek, seven of nine and the Vulcan T'Pol from Enterprise?

[Ephemera]

Nitpick: Seven's human.

[Flip Pancake]

The first name that came to me when I read the thread title: Dana Scully.

You never forget your first love...

[Tangent]

A couple of others not yet mentioned who should be on the list:

Amanda Tapping as Samantha Carter in Stargate: SG1 (really a crime that she's not listed)

Zoe Saldana as Uhura in the new Star Trek movie - if Hoshi counts, so does Uhura

[Robot Arm]

Originally Posted by Maastricht

And how about the uber geek (well, alien) girls from Star Trek, seven of nine and the Vulcan T'Pol from Enterprise?

They're both too disdainful.^* It quite detracts from a woman's hotness when she looks at me like something she scraped off her shoe.⁺



* I want to say that disqualifies them from being geeks, but I know geeks who have disdainfullness in spades. Maybe it's a real-life/television thing, or a guy/gal thing.

+ Maybe that's just me.

[msmith537]

You forgot:
Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) from 30 Rock
Pam Beisley (Jena Fischer) from The Office
Kari Byron (self) from Mythbusters

[Tangent]

Originally Posted by Tangent

Zoe Saldana as Uhura in the new Star Trek movie - if Hoshi counts, so does Uhura

oops--that's not television

[Icerigger]

Would DynaGirl be considered a geek? I had the hots for her when I was a kid, it's the red hair and bangs.

[Chronos]

I would have put Kari on the list, too: She may not be fictional (which really, should be considered a plus), but she's on TV and she's definitely a nerd. Which still wouldn't have changed my final answer-- Kaylee's unsurpassable. Then again, though, while Kaylee is hotter than Kari, Kari is hotter than Jewel Staite, so it really comes down to whether we're primarily comparing characters or actresses.

Quoth well he's back:

I would vote for Sara Gilbert's "Leslie Winkel" character from The Big Bang Theory

First season Leslie, or second season Leslie? Her personality (and in particular, her libido) made a complete U-turn between seasons.

[Sir Prize]

I'm having a hard time picking but I did want to mention one thing that happened to me today.

I was walking my friends' dog. They just got him and are just starting to train him. He tends to greet people and other dogs by jumping on them. I stopped him from jumping on an older gentleman in the park. The attractive red head next to him said "Dad he wants to say hello." I realized it was Alyson Hannigan.

[kittenblue]

I may just be a middle-aged straight woman and totally incapable of judging female hotness, but I voted for Kaylee/Jewel because she seems like the girl most likely to enjoy herself when an opportunity arises! Some of those other actresses/characters are prettier, or geekier, or smarter, but many of them seem unapproachable, or have issues, or whatever...Kaylee hs always struck me as a wonderful mix of girlyness, technical ability and earthiness. She would enjoy herself without a lot of angst. And I figure a lot of guys find that hot.

[Cyberhwk]

I vote Navi Rawat (Amita) from Numb3rs. Doctor of Applied Mathematics.

[Least Original User Name Ever]

Originally Posted by Tangent

oops--that's not television

Whatever. It's worth having another picture of her, even in "Favorite Power Tool" threads. Rowr.

[Ají de Gallina]

Originally Posted by Quercus alba

How did you leave Tina Fey (OK, Liz Lemon) off this list?

Cuz she ain't hot? At all.

[unclviny]

Originally Posted by Ají de Gallina

Cuz she ain't hot? At all.

Tina Fey, not hot!?, your eye doctor called and said that you are nuts! (Tina was WAY hotter as Sara Palin than Palin was).

Unclviny

[Mojo Pin]

I've never seen any of these shows, and I voted for Jewel Staite...I think I'll get Firefly just to watch her...

e: Whoa who knew I had such typical taste for a doper?