Green-Skinned Alien Babes: Sexy Or Sexist?

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy gave audiences a lot of things they haven't seen before. For instance, there was a talking raccoon with a machine gun, a baby dancing tree and a respectable take on Howard the Duck. However, the film also had something we have seen before: a sexy green-skinned alien babe.

Green-skinned aliens have been a part of science fiction for over a century. Edgar Rice Boroughs prominently featured a green-skinned Martian alien race in the 1912 classic, A Princess of Mars. In the 1950s, pop culture was replete with tales of UFOs and little green men, but when the 1960s rolled around, these little green men became sexy green-skinned alien seductresses.

Star Trek, Lost In Space, and later Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, all introduced green-skinned sirens into their canons. In each of these representations, the green-skinned alien babe is a sex symbol. She's there to ensnare a male hero or be enslaved by him. In recent years, though, this trope has evolved. On Doctor Who, there is now a Silurian (aka a green reptilian alien from Mars) protagonist named Madame Vastra. The twist with her is that she is a detective, master warrior and lesbian. In Guardians of the Galaxy, Zoe Saldana's Gamora is valued as a master assassin, but she is also the target of Peter Quill's romantic overtures and Drax's misogynistic insults.

So, maybe the green-skinned alien babe trope is slowly evolving, and maybe we are reading too much into this. But then again, can you point out hot green-skinned alien dudes? And don't say Bib Fortuna — those rotting teeth are kind of a deal breaker.

Modal Trigger

Zoe Saldana looked gorgeous as the green-skinned alien, Gamora, in 'Guardians of the Galaxy.' However, she's not the first alien babe to make green look good.

Everett Collection

Green-skinned alien girls have been hip since 'Star Trek' debuted the Orions in 1966, and 'Lost In Space' soon followed suit. The classic sci-fi show featured "Athena the Lorelei" in two episodes, though she might be better known as "The Girl From The Green Dimension."

CBS

Fanboys have been salivating over Jabba the Hutt's doomed Twi'lek slave girl, Oola, since 'Return of the Jedi' debuted in 1983 and other Twi'leks have appeared in subsequent 'Star Wars' features.

Lucasfilm

'Doctor Who' has its own classic green-skinned alien race: the Silurians of Mars. Recent seasons of the campy time travel adventure show have introduced a new Silurian character: Madame Vastra. The modern twist? She lives in Victorian London and has a human wife.

BBC

In 2009's 'Star Trek,' Zoe Saldana played a human, but her character's Starfleet Academy roommate was an Orion named Gaila (Rachel Nichols). The character's overt sexuality served as a throwback to the original series, but it's interesting to see how far the green-skinned alien babe trope has (or has not) come in the last 50 years.

Paramount Pictures

Guardians of the Galaxy is in theaters now.
Doctor Who [Netflix] [Hulu Plus] [Amazon Prime Instant Video]
Star Trek (2009) [GoWatchIt]

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