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Top 10 Dads in Science Fiction and Fantasy
June 18, 2010
by Matt Blum
GeekDad


It really is kind of amazing how few good dads there are in geek fiction. In so many stories fathers are absent for one reason or another (death being fairly common), and in so many others the fathers are so emotionally distant they might as well not be there. And occasionally there are the stories where the father turns out to be one of the villains.

So where are the Cliff Huxtables of science fiction and fantasy? The Atticus Finches? You do happen upon dads of those stripes, or roughly equivalent ones, every now and then. Here’s our list of the top 10. (Warning: Possible spoilers ahead!)

10. Kyle Reese — A strange case, to be sure: He only knows his son, John Connor, as an adult, and at that time has no idea that Connor is his son. Despite not ever having the chance to be a real dad during his son’s life, he nonetheless earns his place on the list for literally giving his life to allow his son to be born.

9. Jor-El — He knows that he and pretty much every other inhabitant of his planet is going to die imminently. When he realizes that hope is pretty much lost, he puts all of his efforts into making sure his son survives the cataclysm. He even manages (depending on which version of the origin story you believe) to provide for his son’s education to some degree, making sure that in spite of Krypton’s destruction, Kal-El would have some idea of where he came from.

8. Bill Adama — He’s not the most conventional of parents, to be sure, and we never see what kind of dad he was when Zak and Lee were kids. But we see his anguish over Zak’s death, which he knows was in large part caused by Zak’s desire to follow in his dad’s footsteps. And, though we see his unhappiness with many of Lee’s choices (such as supporting Baltar during the trial), we can still see his pride in Lee’s accomplishments. And the way he becomes a surrogate father to Starbuck shows the tender side of his personality.

7. Mr. Incredible / Bob Parr — He doesn’t start out the movie as a very good dad, to be sure, but he figures it out along the way. By the time the movie ends, the Parrs are a happy family that fights crime together. Plus, y’know, it has to be pretty cool for a kid, knowing for an absolute fact that your dad can beat up, well, pretty much any other dad out there, right?

6. Ray Kinsella — Before anyone starts to claim that Field of Dreams doesn’t qualify for this list, let us just remind you that the story is about dead baseball players coming back to some form of life on an ex-corn field in Iowa — sounds like fantasy to us. You could argue that Ray isn’t the greatest dad in the world, seeing as how he spends a lot of the movie away from home, but the time he spends with his daughter makes it clear how much he loves her and wants to share the things he loves with her. And, given the guaranteed-to-make-grown-men-weepy ending, we had to put this on the list.