Beyond Robocop: The Top 5 Other Sci-Fi Heroes Worthy Of Memorial Statues0

by A.J. Focht

Omni Consumer Products is helping to ensure that the city of Detroit will always have a Robocop to watch over them. In lieu of an active cyborg patrolman, they are settling for erecting a statue of Robocop in Detroit. Omni Consumer Products is a real company, which takes its name from a company of the same name featured in the Robocop franchise. When Pete Hottelet, owner of OCP, discovered there was a fund-raising effort in the works to build the statue in Detroit, he matched the $25,000 already raised, bringing the grand total of funds to in excess of $50,000.

The entire thing started with a single message on Twitter to Detroit mayor Dave Bing. The tweet read: “Philadelphia has a statue of Rocky, RoboCop would kick Rocky’s butt. He’s a great ambassador for Detroit.” The mayor responded via a tweet saying: “There are not any plans to erect a statue of Robocop. Thank you for the suggestion.”

That wasn’t good enough for fans of the ’80s sci-fi movies. A group led by Detroit resident Brandon Walley, started raising money to fund the statue on their own. They haven’t gotten the backing of the city, but with enough money in the bank they should be able to build it anyways. They have even brought in a Hollywood robots expert to help.

But, why Robocop? Robocop is a great sci-fi movie, but it’s not my first choice of movies that should be memorialized. There are multi-verses full of sci-fi characters that deserve a statue as much as Robocop, if not more. Robocop does have a few things working in his favor, though. He is the definitive protector of future Detroit, most other sci-fi characters are from fictional cities, or not from earth at all.

Keeping that in mind, I started thinking up a list of other sci-fi characters that deserve statues and have a logical place here on Earth. This task was more difficult than expected however. First thing I decided was that the whole list couldn’t consist of characters played by Harrison Ford. While I would love to scatter the country with statues of Han Solo, Rick Deckard (Bladerunner), and Indiana Jones, there are other larger-then-life heros that have direct ties to places on Earth. I also had to take a look at geography, since most big name sci-fi characters that inhabit real cities end up in New York or LA. To just choose one person for these cities is also out of the question. (I mean who gets LA John Connor or Rick Deckard?) Finally, I tried to find characters who had logical ties to real locations, that weren’t over populated with sci-fi heroes.

After carefully considering, I have finished my list of the top five sci-fi characters who deserve a statue here on Earth. And the nominees are…

#5 Fox Mulder (X-Files) – Chilmark, Massachusetts

On most Top 10 sci-fi ranking lists, you’ll find Fox Mulder hanging out in the lower rungs, searching for the Truth. Mulder and his partner Dana Scully are FBI agents that work on paranormal cases. During the nine season run of the X-Files, Mulder tirelessly worked to uncover government conspiracies and expose the paranormal. Mulder was born in the small town of Chilmark, MA. While his birthplace is not a big element of the show, I feel it is a fitting locale to have his statue – a statue of Fox Mulder looking to the skies, with the engraving: “The Truth Is Out There.”

#4 Master Chief (Halo) – Mombasa, Kenya

Anyone who played Halo 2 knows just how screwed Mombasa was before Master Chief rolled in to save the day. In October 2552, Covenant forces captured the Earth city of Mombasa. The United Nations Space Command Army and Marines were deployed to help retake the Kenyan metropolis. Among the troops deployed was Master Chief. While his role in retaking Mombasa was important, it pails in comparison to his achievements on alien worlds. The world owes (or will owe) Master Chief their lives; Mombasa is the perfect location to build his memorial statue.

#3 Sarah Connor (Terminator) – Victorville, CA

John Connor might be our last hope against Skynet, but his mother, Sarah Connor, is the reason he is such a bad-ass. Sarah Connor spent the majority of her life fighting the Terminators and is the mother of the Resistance. Victorville, CA is the false burial place of Sarah Connor. She used it as a weapons cache to help her son in the event of Judgmental Day. In the interest of not over-crowding LA with sci-fi statues, I would suggest that hers be placed in Victorville (using the original likeness of Linda Hamilton). It can serve as a symbol of strength for the future Resistance (and another possible location for a cache if need be).

#2 Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation) – La Barre, France

Whether you fly the fan-boy flag for Kirk or Picard is irrelevant, both deserve to have statues in their memory. James T. Kirk already has a monument marking his future birthplace in Riverside, Iowa. Jean-Luc Picard on the other hand, does not have any such memorial (that I could find) in the region of La Barre, France from where he will hail. Picard spent seven years in command of the USS Enterprise-D and helped defeat the Borg invasion. He is more than deserving of having a statue built in his honor, at the very least he should get a memorial plaque commemorating the location as his future birthplace, much like Kirk’s; that or we could do it right and fashion both captains a statue to go with their monuments.

#1 Jayne Cobb (Firefly) – Jaynestown, CA

Okay, so this one is tricky as there is no Jaynestown, CA. There is however a Janesville, CA. If enough Brown Coats moved to Janesville, we could take it over and change the name. Then, as proud citizens of the newly renamed Jaynestown, we could raise a statue to our heroine. The only change I would suggest that would make it differ from the original statue on Canton would be to make Jane’s infamous hat out of sterner stuff than mud. While Jayne doesn’t meet most (or any) of the restrictions I placed on my list, I felt there was a lack of Whedonverse representation – and if we’re going to build a statue for anyone created by the Buffy mastermind, it should be Jayne.