Little old ladies of Sci Fi

Certain social groups are under represented in sci fi. Little old ladies are a prime example. Old ladies play a huge part in everyone's lives and we love 'em, but in our sci fi, they are scarcely seen. Remember that little old lady in star Wars? and Star Trek? Exactly! George Lucas famously said that Lando was written into TESB when he realised that the only black man was Darth Vader! Also he had had a queer couple in R2D2 and C3PO, but elderly female characters remained underrepresented to feature. So here's my list of my favourite little old ladies of sci fi:

Noranti (farscape). Mysterious space witch with three eyes from cult show Farscape (claimed to be) constructed out of storylines rejected for Star Trek. Also a nice amount of Henson muppetry in this show.

Peli Moto (The Mandalorian/Boba Fett), the wacky mechanic (whose name sounds suspiciously like a garage in Tunisia) runs a spaceship repair joint frequented by the Mandalorian. The Mandalorian is worth watching for Amy Sedaris' performance alone.

And while we are on the subject of star Wars, who can forget Bea Arthur's scene in the 1978 holiday special? Well, quite a lot of us, but for me it was the best part of the show. That's a pretty low bar, I know.

Aughra (The Dark Crystal. OK it's over in the realm of fantasy, where crone archetypes abound, but Aughra, the scary old hag with horns and a single, detechable eye and cantankerous personality was compelling viewing.

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