Folklore, Mythology, Lore, Legends, Culture, etc.

This list of women warriors in literature, and popular culture offers figures studied in fields such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, film studies, mass communication, cultural studies, and women’s studies.

Definition and scholarship

Joan of Arc statue at Place des Pyramides, Paris by Emmanuel Frémiet, 1874.

According to the Random House Dictionary, the term warrior has two meanings. The first literal use refers to “a person engaged or experienced in warfare.” The second figurative use refers to “a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics.” ^[1] Scholars explore both literal examples (such as in the text Joan of Arc: The Image of Female Heroism) as well as figurative ones. Professor Sherrie Inness in Tough Girls: Women Warriors and Wonder Women in Popular Culture and Frances Early and Kathleen Kennedy in Athena’s Daughters: Television’s New Women Warriors, for example, focus on figures such as Buffy Summers from the television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (who inspired the academic field, Buffy Studies). In the introduction to their text, Early and Kennedy discuss what they describe as a link between this “new” image of women warriors and girl power. ^[2]

Women warriors engaged in combat

Action films

Hong Kong action cinema and Samurai cinema

• Yu Shu-lien and Yù Jiāolóng in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• Moon and Flying Snow in Ying Xiong a.k.a. Hero
• Ching/San/Invisible Girl in The Heroic Trio
• Charlene Ching and Katherine, among others, in Chek law dak gung, a.k.a. Naked Weapon
• Inspector Jessica Yang in Supercop [1]
• Yim Wing-chun in Wing Chun
• Lulu Wong in Silver Hawk
• Lady Snowblood
• Beatrix Kiddo, O-Ren Ishii, and Gogo Yubari in Quentin Tarantino’s, Kill Bill, Vol. I (2003)
• Queen Lillian and parodies of Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty in Shrek the Third (with a satirical homage to Kill Bill^[3])

Anime and manga

• Almost the entire cast of Claymore
• Rukia Kuchiki, Yoruichi Shihouin, Soifon, Rangiku Matsumoto, Momo Hinamori, Neliel Tu Oderschvank, and Cirucci Thunderwitch in BLEACH
• Sakura Haruno, Tsunade, Hinata Hyuga, Ino Yamanaka, Temari, Tenten, Chiyo, and Kurenai Yuhi in Naruto
• Revy, Balalaika, Shenhua, Eda, Roberta, Fabiola Iglesias, Yolanda, and Sawyer the Cleaner in Black Lagoon
• Major Kusanagi in Ghost in The Shell series
• Kei in Akira.
• The Sailor Senshi from the manga and anime Sailor Moon
• Casca in Berserk

Games

• Ada Wong, Claire Redfield, and Jill Valentine from the Resident Evil series.
• Admiral Belleza, Aika, and Fina in Skies of Arcadia
• Agrias Oaks, a knight bodyguard from Final Fantasy Tactics
• Alicia, Elwen, and Ridley of Radiata Stories
• Alyx Vance in the Half-Life 2 series
• Amazon and Assassin classes from Diablo II
• Amy in Zanzarah: The Hidden Portal
• Anna Williams, Asuka Kazama, Lili Rochefort, Ling Xiaoyu, Nina Williams, and others from Tekken Series
• Annah of Planescape: Torment
• April Ryan in The Longest Journey and Dreamfall
• Beatrix of Final Fantasy IX
• Boss, The in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
• Cammy, Chun Li, and Elena and others from the Street Fighter series
• Cate Archer of No One Lives Forever
• Celes and Terra of Final Fantasy VI
• Felicia, Hsien-Ko, Morrigan, and others from the Dark Stalkers series
• General Beatrix and Freya Crescent in Final Fantasy IX
• Jade in Beyond Good & Evil (video game)
• Jaheira of the Baldur’s Gate series
• Joanna Dark of Perfect Dark
• Joan of Arc in computer games
• Kai and Nariko in Heavenly Sword
• Kitana, Mileena, Sonya, and others from the Mortal Kombat series.
• KOS-MOS in the Xenosaga series
• Lady from the Devil May Cry series.
• Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider series.
• Lenneth and Silmeria from the Valkyrie Profile series.
• Lise from the game Seiken Densetsu 3.
• Meru and Rose of Legend of Dragoon
• Meryl Silverburgh and Sniper Wolf in Metal Gear Solid
• Rikku and Yuna in Final Fantasy X, along with Paine in Final Fantasy X-2
• Rinoa Heartilly, Quistis Trepe, and Selphie Tilmitt in Final Fantasy VIII
• Rayne of the BloodRayne video game and movie series
• Robina the Hood and Keelia in DragonFable
• Samus Aran of the Metroid series
• Sarah Kerrigan in Starcraft
• Taki, Seung Mi-na, Sophitia, Ivy, Xianghua, Cassandra, Talim, Setsuka, Tira, Amy and Hilde as standard characters in the Soul series of fighting games
• Tifa Lockhart and Yuffie Kisaragi in Final Fantasy VII
• Vikki Grimm of 3DO’s Portal Runner

Historical fiction and folklore

• Red Sonja, a character of Conan the barbarian’s world of Hyboria
• Guinevere as interpreted in the 2004 film King Arthur [2]
• Eloïse d’Artagnan as a musketeer in La Fille de d’Artagnan
• Fa Mulan in the Disney film Mulan, an adaptation of the myth of Hua Mulan
• Xena, Gabrielle and Callisto in the television series Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

Literature

Oil painting on silk, “Hua Mulan Goes to War”

• Aeneid: Camilla
• Beowulf: Grendel’s mother. Grendel’s mother was a female warrior, a Valkyrie, or a Norse goddess according to some scholars.
• Conan the Barbarian: Valeria
• The Faerie Queene: Belphoebe and Britomart (Britomartis) (Edmund Spenser)
• Jerusalem Delivered: Clorinda (Torquato Tasso)
• Kendra Pacelli from the novel Freehold by Michael Z. Williamson
• Honor Harrington, heroine of the series by David Weber set in the Honorverse; a fleet admiral for Star Kingdom of Manticore.
• Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and its continuation Orlando furioso by Ariosto: Bradamante
• Joan of Arc in literature
• Shahnama (“The Book of Kings” or “The Epic of Kings”): Gordafarid, (Persian: گردآفريد) (Ferdowsi)
• The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts: Hua Mulan appears in the second chapter (”White Tigers”) as an imagined form of the narrator (Maxine Hong Kingston)
• “Lessa”, “Moretta” from Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series
• Lilith’s Brood: Lilith Iyapo (Octavia Butler)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Lucy and Susan Pevensie
• The Lord of the Rings: Éowyn
• Neuromancer: Molly Millions who also appeared in Johnny Mnemonic (William Gibson)^[4]
• Orlando Furioso: Bradamante and Marfisa (Ludovico Ariosto)

Science fiction and cyberpunk

• Æon Flux in the animated series of the same name
• The Bene Gesserit of the Dune universe can fight with nearly superhuman capability using the Weirding Way, a fighting technique which makes use of a trained Bene Gesseret’s absolute control of her body. Other all-female warrior societies which develop in the Dune series include the Fish Speakers and the Honored Matres.
• Aeryn Sun, a Sebacean warrior, a member of the Peacekeepers in the series Farscape, played by the actress Claudia Black
• Alice, Jill Valentine, and Claire Redfield in the films Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and Resident Evil: Extinction
• Ellen Ripley and Private First Class Jenette Vasquez in the Alien film series
• Pris, a replicant in Blade Runner
• Padmé Amidala portrayed by Natalie Portman in Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999 - 2005)
• Leia Organa portrayed by Carrie Fisher in Star Wars original trilogy (1977 - 1983)
• Max Guevara, a genetically enhanced transgenic super-soldier in Dark Angel
• Sarah Connor in The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and in the television series The Sarah Connor Chronicles
• Sara Pezzini in Witchblade (TV series), a TNT television series based on the manga comic book of the same name by Top Cow Productions. Sara, a New York homicide detective (portrayed by actress Yancy Butler in the series), is the chosen wielder of an ancient weapon called The Witchblade, which bestows its wearer with supernatural powers and also enhances the wielder’s combat skills. The series ran for two seasons, from July of 2001 to August of 2002.
• Cameron Phillips in The Sarah Connor Chronicles
• Trinity, Niobe, and minor characters in the Matrix film trilogy
• Princess Fiona in Shrek (with a satirical homage to The Matrix ^[5])

Superheroines

War films

• Joan of Arc in film
• Lt. Jordan O’Neil (Demi Moore) in G.I. Jane

Westerns

• Beatrix Kiddo, Vernita Green, and Elle Driver in Quentin Tarantino’s, Kill Bill Vol. II (2004)
• Calamity Jane in various productions
• Ellen aka “The Lady” (Sharon Stone) in The Quick and the Dead

Women warriors as archetype

Action films

Blaxploitation

• Sydney in Black Belt Jones
• Tamara Dobson in Cleopatra Jones and Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold
• Pam Grier in Coffy, Foxy Brown, and Jackie Brown (homage)
• Teresa Graves in Get Christie Love!
• Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers in Goldmember (parody)

Spy films and television, police drama, and the James Bond (film series)

• Sydney Bristow in Alias
• Mrs. Kensington in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (parody)
• Cathy Gale, Emma Peel and Tara King in The Avengers and its film remake. Purdy from The New Avengers.
• Charlie’s Angels (television and film)
• Agent April Dancer in The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
• Honey West in the television series of the same name
• Lara Croft from the films Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.
• Rosie Carver in Live and Let Die
• Modesty Blaise in various media
• Samantha Caine, AKA Charlie Baltimore (Geena Davis) in The Long Kiss Goodnight
• Julie Barnes in the The Mod Squad
• Nikita in the television series of the same name
• Sgt. Leann “Pepper” Anderson in Police Woman
• Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies
• Veronica Mars (character) in Veronica Mars

Animated cartoons

• Kim Possible and Shego from the Disney Channel animated show Kim Possible
• Turanga Leela and the Amazonian race from Futurama
• The Powerpuff Girls

Horror films and television

• Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Faith Lehane (or simply Faith), Cordelia Chase and Illyria in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
• Kirsty Cotton in the Hellraiser film series
• The Halliwell sisters (Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige) from Charmed
• Nancy Thompson, Kristen Parker, and Alice Johnson in the Nightmare on Elm Street film Series
• Cherry Darling in Planet Terror
• Alice, Jill Valentine, and Claire Redfield in the Resident Evil film series
• Sidney Prescott in the Scream trilogy^[6]
• Anna Valerious in Van Helsing
• Selene in the Underworld film series
• Laurie Strode in the Halloween film series
• Caroline Frye and Jack, two survivors of a crash and the main female protagonists in Pitch Black

Literature

• The Whale Rider: Paikea Apirana (”Pai”) who was portrayed by Keisha Castle-Hughes in the 2002 film (Witi Ihimaera)

Misc.

• “Rosie the Riveter” was a cultural icon of the United States during World War II. According to The Nation, “The ancient Amazon myths spawned Rosie the Riveter.” ^[7]

Science fiction and cyberpunk

• Anya Major as the nameless woman warrior in Ridley Scott’s 1984 Apple commercial, an homage to the novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four.
• Dana Scully in The X-Files
• Carman Ibanez and Dizzy Flores in Starship Troopers
• Violet Song jat Shariff portrayed by Milla Jovovich in Ultraviolet
• Selene portrayed by Kate Beckinsale in Underworld and Underworld: Evolution
• Delenn, Susan Ivanova, and Elizabeth Lochley in Babylon 5
• Captain Kara ‘Starbuck’ Thrace, Number Eight and Number Six in Battlestar Galactica
• Jaime Sommers in The Bionic Woman and its 2007 remake
• Cleopatra, Sarge and Hel From Cleopatra 2525
• Samantha Carter in Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, and Teyla Emmagan in Stargate Atlantis
• seaQuest DSV (1993-1996) with Lt.-Commander Katherine Hitchcock, L.t. J.G. Lonnie Henderson and L.t. J.J. Fredericks
• Star Trek Voyager (1995 - 2001) with Captain Kathryn Janeway, Lt.B’Elanna Torres, and Seven of Nine
• Star Trek Deep Space Nine (1993 - 9) with Kira Nerys and Jadzia Dax
• Star Trek The Next Generation (1987 - 1994) with Tasha Yar
• Star Trek: Enterprise (2001 - 5) with T’Pol
• Kate Austen from Lost (TV series)
• Leela and Sara Kingdom, two ‘companion’ characters from the TV series Doctor Who (1963-89; 2005-present); other female “warrior” archetypes have appeared in individual episodes
• Zoe Washburne from Firefly and Serenity

Sports films and television

• Anya Major as the nameless woman warrior in Ridley Scott’s 1984 Apple commercial, who is configured as an “Olympic athlete.” ^[8]
• Chak De Girls in Chak De India (2007)
• Gracie Bowen in Gracie (2007)
• Beth Phoenix “The Glamazon” - WWE Diva
• Jesminder ‘Jess’ Kaur Bhamra and Juliette ‘Jules’ Paxton in Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
• Maggie Fitzgerald in Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Notes

Further reading

• Alvarez, Maria. “Feminist icon in a catsuit (female lead character Emma Peel in defunct 1960s UK TV series The Avengers)”, New Statesman, 14 August 1998.
• Au, Wagner James. “Supercop as Woman Warrior.” Salon.com.
• Barr, Marleen S. Future Females, the Next Generation : New Voices and Velocities in Feminist Science Fiction Criticism. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000.
• Deuber-Mankowsky, Astrid and Dominic J. Bonfiglio (Translator). Lara Croft: Cyber Heroine. Minneapolis: University Of Minnesota Press, 2005.
• Early, Frances and Kathleen Kennedy, Athena’s Daughters: Television’s New Women Warriors, Syracuse University Press, 2003.
• Garner, Jack. “Strong women can be heroes, too.” Democrat and Chronicle. 15 June 2001.
• Heinecken, Dawn. Warrior Women of Television: A Feminist Cultural Analysis of the New Female Body in Popular Media, New York: P. Lang, 2003.
• Hopkins, Susan, Girl Heroes: the New Force in Popular Culture, Pluto Press Australia, 2002.
• Inness, Sherrie A. (ed.) Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in Popular Culture, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
• ———. Tough Girls : Women Warriors and Wonder Women in Popular Culture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.
• Karlyn, Kathleen Rowe. “Scream, Popular Culture, and Feminism’s Third Wave: ‘I’m Not My Mother’. Genders: Presenting Innovative Work in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences No. 38 (2003).
• Karras, Irene. “The Third Wave’s Final Girl: Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” thirdspace 1:2 (March 2002).
• Kennedy, Helen W. “Lara Croft: Feminist Icon or Cyberbimbo?: On the Limits of Textual Analysis”. Game Studies: The International Journal of Computer Game Research. 2:2 (December, 2002).
• Kim, L. S. “Making women warriors: a transnational reading of Asian female action heroes in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media. No. 48, Winter, 2006.
• Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. New York: Vintage, 1975.
• Magoulick, Mary. “Frustrating Female Heroism: Mixed Messages in Xena, Nikita, and Buffy.” The Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 39 Issue 5 (October 2006).
• Mainon, Dominique. The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women on Screen. Pompton Plains, N.J. : Limelight Editions, 2006.
• Osgerby, Bill, Anna Gough-Yates, and Marianne Wells. Action TV : Tough-Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks. London: Routledge, 2001.
• Rowland, Robin. “Warrior queens and blind critics.” Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 31 July 2004.
• Spicuzza, Mary. “Butt-Kicking Babes.” AlterNet. 27 March 2001.
• Tasker, Yvonne. Action and Adventure Cinema. New York: Routledge, 2004.
• ———.Working Girls: Gender and Sexuality in Popular Culture. London: Routledge 1998
• ———.Spectacular Bodies : Gender, Genre, and the Action Cinema. London and New York: Routledge, 1993.
• Trickey, Helyn. “Girls with Gauntlets.” Turner Network Television.
• Ventura, Michael. “Warrior Women.” Psychology Today. Nov/Dec 1998. 31 (6).

Transformers are fictional alien robots and the titular characters of a popular^[1] Hasbro toy line and its spin-offs. They come from the planet Cybertron and are divided into the heroic Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, and the evil Decepticons, led by Megatron. They are able to “transform”, rearranging their bodies into common or innocuous forms, including vehicles, devices or animals. Beyond that, they can displace mass (i.e. shrink and expand), combine with one another, and apply synthetic flesh (see: Transformers technology). This ability to transform is reflected in the programs’ taglines “More Than Meets the Eye” and “Robots in Disguise”. All Transformers stories and characters, in a range of media, have been based around this core concept since their debut in 1984.

The largest Transformers story arc, retroactively known as Transformers: Generation 1, includes both the TV series and Marvel comic, which further divided into Japanese and UK spin-offs respectively. Sequels followed, such as the Generation 2 comic book and Beast Wars TV series which became its own mini-universe. Generation 1 characters underwent two reboots with Dreamwave in 2002 and IDW Publishing in 2006. There have been other incarnations of the story based on different toy lines during the 2000s. The first was the Robots in Disguise series, followed by three shows that consist of the “Unicron Trilogy” (consisting of Armada, Energon, and Cybertron). A live-action film was also released in 2007, again distinct from previous incarnations, while the Transformers Animated series merged concepts of G1 and the film in the same year.

Generation One (1984–1992)

Spider-Man battles Megatron on the cover of The Transformers #3

Generation One (G1) is a retroactive term for the Transformers characters that appeared between 1984 and 1992. The Transformers began with the 1970s Japanese toy lines Microman and Diaclone. The former utilized varying humanoid-type figures while the middle presented robots able to transform into vehicular modes, with the latter robots mimicking everyday electronic items or replica weapons. Hasbro, fresh from the success of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, which utilised the Microman technology to great success, bought the Diaclone toys, and partnered with Takara.^[2] Jim Shooter and Dennis O’Neil were hired by Hasbro to create the backstory, the latter of whom christened Optimus Prime.^[3] Afterwards, Bob Budiansky created most of the Transformers characters, giving names and personalities to many unnamed Diaclone figures.^[4] The primary concept of G1 is that the heroic Optimus Prime, the villainous Megatron, and their finest soldiers crash land on pre-historic Earth in the Ark and the Nemesis before awakening in 1984. The Marvel comic was originally part of the main Marvel Universe, with an appearance from Spider-Man and Nick Fury^[5] as well as a visit to the Savage Land.^[6]

The Transformers TV series began around the same time. Produced by Sunbow Productions, from the start it contradicted Budiansky’s backstories. The TV series shows the Autobots looking for new energy sources, and crash landing as the Decepticons attack.^[7] Marvel interpreted the Autobots as destroying a rogue asteroid approaching Cybertron.^[8] Shockwave is loyal to Megatron in the TV series, keeping Cybertron in a stalemate during his absence,^[9] but in the comic book he attempts to take command of the Decepticons.^[10] The TV series would also differentiate wildly from the origins Budiansky had created for the Dinobots,^[11][12] the Decepticon turned Autobot Jetfire,^[13] known as Skyfire on TV,^[14] the Constructicons (who combine to form Devastator),^[15][16] and Omega Supreme.^[15][17] The Marvel comic establishes early on that Prime wields the Creation Matrix, which gives life to machines. In the second season, the two-part episode The Key to Vector Sigma introduced the ancient Vector Sigma computer, which served the same original purpose as the Creation Matrix (giving life to Transformers), and its guardian Alpha Trion.

In 1986, the cartoon became a film titled The Transformers: The Movie, which is set in the year 2005. It introduced the Matrix as the “Autobot Matrix of Leadership“, as a fatally wounded Prime gives it to Ultra Magnus. Unicron, a transformer who devours planets, fears its power and recreates a dying Megatron as Galvatron. Eventually, Rodimus Prime takes up the Matrix and destroys Unicron.^[18] In the United Kingdom, the weekly comic book interspliced original material to keep up with US reprints,^[19] and The Movie provided much new material. Writer Simon Furman proceeded to expand the continuity with movie spin-offs involving the time travelling Galvatron.^[20][21]

The third season followed up The Movie, with the revelation of the Quintessons having used Cybertron as a factory. Their robots rebel, and in time the workers become the Autobots and the soldiers become the Decepticons. It is the Autobots who develop transformation.^[22] Due to popular demand,^[23] Optimus Prime is resurrected at the conclusion of the third season,^[24] and the series ended with a three-episode story arc. However, the Japanese broadcast of the series was supplemented with a newly-produced OVA, Scramble City, before creating entirely new series to continue the storyline, ignoring the 1987 end of the American series. The extended Japanese run consisted of The Headmasters, Super-God Masterforce, Victory and Zone, then in illustrated magazine form as Battlestars: Return of Convoy and Operation: Combination. Just as the TV series was wrapping up, Marvel continued to expand its continuity. It followed The Movie’s example by killing Prime^[25] and Megatron,^[26] albeit in the present day. Dinobot leader Grimlock takes over as Autobot leader.^[27] There was a G.I. Joe crossover^[28] and the limited series The Transformers: Headmasters which further expanded the scope to the planet Nebulon.^[29] It led on to the main title resurrecting Prime as a Powermaster.^[30]

Over in the UK, the mythology continued to grow. Primus was introduced as the creator of the Transformers, to serve his material body that is planet Cybertron and fight his nemesis Unicron.^[31] Female Autobot Arcee also appeared, despite the comic book stating the Transformers had no concept of gender, with her backstory of being built by the Autobots to quell human accusations of sexism.^[32] Soundwave, Megatron’s second-in-command, also broke the fourth wall in the letters page, criticising the cartoon continuity as an inaccurate representation of history.^[33] The UK also had a crossover in Action Force, the UK counterpart to G.I. Joe.^[34] The comic book featured a resurrected Megatron,^[35] whom Furman retconned to be a clone^[36] when he took over the US comic book which depicted Megatron as still dead.^[37] The US comic would last for 80 issues until 1991, and the UK comic lasted 332 issues and several annuals.

Generation 2 (1992–1995)

It was five issues^[38] of the G.I. Joe comic in 1993 that would springboard a return for Marvel’s Transformers, with a new twelve-issue series entitled Transformers: Generation 2, to market a new toy line. The UK comic came back for five issues and an annual. This story revealed that the Transformers originally breed asexually, though it is stopped by Primus as it produced the evil Swarm.^[39] A new empire, neither Autobot or Decepticon, is bringing it back though. Though the year-long arc wrapped itself up with an alliance between Optimus Prime and Megatron, the final panel introduced the Liege Maximo, ancestor of the Decepticons.^[40] This minor cliffhanger was not resolved until 2001 and 2002’s Transforce convention when writer Simon Furman concluded his story in the exclusive novella Alignment.^[41]

Beast Wars/Machines (1996–2001)

Unlike the various contradictory and separate G1 universes, the 1996 TV series Beast Wars and its spin-offs form an extended and cohesive story. The story focused on a small group of Maximals (led by Optimus Primal) and Predacons (led by Megatron), 300 years after the “Great War”. They crash land on a planet similar to Earth, but with two moons and a dangerous level of energon, which forces them to take organic beast forms.^[42] After writing this first episode, Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio learned of the G1 Transformers, and began to use elements of it as a historical backstory to their scripts,^[43] establishing Beast Wars as a part of the Generation 1 universe through numerous callbacks to both the cartoon and Marvel comic. By the end of the first season, the second moon and the energon are revealed to have been constructed by the Vok.

Megatron attacks Optimus Prime, in a clash of generations.

The destruction of the second moon releases mysterious energies that make some of the characters “transmetal” and the planet is revealed to be prehistoric Earth, leading to the discovery of the Ark. Megatron attempts to kill the original Optimus Prime,^[44] but at the beginning of the third season, Primal manages to preserve his spark. In the two-season follow-up, Beast Machines, Cybertron is revealed to have organic origins, which Megatron attempts to stamp out. Although the organic origin of Cybertron, the presence of female characters and Starscream’s appearance hinting at his demise in The Transformers: The Movie brought the series closer to the G1 TV series, the appearance of Ravage’s intelligent Marvel incarnation^[44] and the comics only terms the Ark left the show in a gray area of “a” Generation 1.

Since then, the saga has been increased. After the first season of Beast Wars (comprising 26 episodes) aired in Japan, the Japanese were faced with a problem — the second Canadian season was only 13 episodes long, not enough to warrant airing on Japanese TV. So, while they waited for the third Canadian season to be completed (thereby making 26 episodes in total when added to season 2), they produced two exclusive cel-animated series of their own, Beast Wars II (also called Beast Wars Second) and Beast Wars Neo, to fill in the gap. Dreamwave retroactively revealed Beast Wars to be the future of their G1 universe,^[45] and the 2006 IDW comic book Beast Wars: The Gathering eventually confirmed the canonicity of the Japanese series with appearances of the Japanese characters^[46] within a story set during Season 3.^[47]

Dreamwave Productions (2002–2005)

In 2002, Dreamwave Productions began a new universe of comics adapted from Marvel, but also included elements of the cartoon. The Dreamwave stories followed the concept of the Autobots defeating the Decepticons on Earth, but their 1999 return journey to Cybertron on the Ark II^[48] is destroyed by Shockwave, now ruler of the planet.^[49] The story follows on from there, and was told in two six-issue limited series, then a ten-issue ongoing series. The series also added extra complexities such as not all Transformers believing in the existence of Primus,^[50] corruption in the Cybertronian government that first lead Megatron to begin his war^[51] and Earth having an unknown relevance to Cybertron.^[49][52]

Three Transformers: The War Within limited series were also published. These are set at the beginning of the Great War, and identify Prime as once being a clerk named Optronix.^[53] Beast Wars was also retroactively stated as the future of this continuity, with the profile series More than Meets the Eye showing the Predacon Megatron looking at historical files detailing Dreamwave’s characters and taking his name from the original Megatron.^[45] In 2004, this fictional universe also inspired three novels^[54] and a Dorling Kindersley guide, which focused on Dreamwave as the “true” continuity when discussing in-universe elements of the characters. In a new twist, Primus and Unicron are siblings, formerly a being known as The One. Transformers: Micromasters, set after the Ark’s disappearance, was also published. The fictional universe was disrupted when Dreamwave went bankrupt in 2005.^[55] This left the Generation One story hanging and the third volume of The War Within half finished. Plans for a comic book set between Beast Wars and Beast Machines were also left unrealized.^[56]

G.I. Joe crossovers (2003 onwards)

Throughout the years, the G1 characters have also starred in crossovers with fellow Hasbro property G.I. Joe, but whereas those crossovers published by Marvel were in continuity with their larger storyline, those released by Dreamwave and G.I. Joe publisher Devil’s Due Publishing occupy their own separate fictional universes. In Devil’s Due, the terrorist organization Cobra is responsible for finding and reactivating the Transformers. Dreamwave’s version remagines the familiar G1 and G.I. Joe characters in a World War II setting, and a second limited series was released set in the present day, though Dreamwave’s bankruptcy meant it was cancelled after a single issue. Devil’s Due had Cobra re-engineer the Transformers to turn into familiar Cobra vehicles, and released further mini-series that sent the characters travelling through time, battling Serpentor and being faced with the combined menace of Cobra-La and Unicron.

IDW Publishing have expressed interest in their own crossover.^[57]

IDW publishing (2005 onwards)

The following year, IDW Publishing rebooted the G1 series from scratch within various limited series and one shots. This allowed long-time writer of Marvel and Dreamwave comics, Simon Furman to create his own universe without continuity hindrance, similar to Ultimate Marvel.^[58] Furman’s story depicts a Cybertron that the rogue Pretender Thunderwing destroys,^[59] so the Autobots and Decepticons have to infiltrate various planets for their resources. Earth comes under particular scrutiny due to a particularly potent form of energon which Shockwave had seeded millions of years ago,^[60] with the Decepticons escalating political tensions by replacing people with clones.^[61] The Ark origin is absent in this series, and female Transformers do not exist either*, as Furman felt that “Every time I try and rationalize gender in giant robots it makes my head hurt.”^[62] The continuity was also the first to acknowledge the existence of mass displacementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers_technology#Mass_displacement in transformations, such as when Megatron downsizes himself into a gun.^[63]

• Note: Female Transformers were seen in The Transformers: Megatron Origin miniseries, so it remains to be seen if Furman will integrate them into the main universe.^[64]

Alternative stories

In January 2006, the Hasbro Transformers Collectors’ Club comic wrote a story based on the Transformers Classics toy line, set in the Marvel Comics universe, but excluding the Generation 2 comic. Fifteen years after Megatron crash lands in the Ark with Ratchet, the war continues with the characters in their Classics bodies.^[65]

IDW Publishing introduced The Transformers: Evolutions in 2006, a collection of mini-series that re-imagine and reinterpret the G1 characters in various ways. To date, only one miniseries has been published, Hearts of Steel, placing the characters in an Industrial Revolution-era setting. The series was delayed as Hasbro did not want to confuse newcomers with too many fictional universes before the release of the live-action film.^[66]

However, IDW and the original publisher Marvel Comics announced a crossover storyline with the Avengers to coincide with the film, entitled New Avengers/Transformers.^[67] The story is set on the borders of Symkaria and Latveria, and its fictional universe is set between the first two New Avengers storylines, as well in between the Infiltration and Escalation phase of IDW’s The Transformers.^[68] IDW editor-in-chief, Chris Ryall hinted at elements of it being carried over into the main continuities,^[69] and that a sequel is possible.^[70]

Robots in Disguise (2000–2002)

Broadcast in 2001, Robots in Disguise was a single animated series, imported from Japan (where it was broadcast the previous year), consisting of thirty-nine episodes. In this continuity, Megatron creates the Decepticons as a subfaction of the Predacons on Earth, a potential reference to the return to the vehicle-based characters following the previous dominance of the animal-based characters of the Beast eras. It is a stand-alone universe with no ties to any other Transformers fiction, though some of the characters from Robots in Disguise did eventually make appearances in Transformers: Universe, including Optimus Prime, Side Burn and Prowl.

The Unicron Trilogy (2002–2006)

These three lines, launched in 2002 and dubbed the “Unicron Trilogy” by Transformers designer Aaron Archer,^[71] are co-productions between Hasbro and Takara, simultaneously released in both countries, each lasting 52 episodes. Armada followed the Autobots and Decepticons discovering the powerful Mini-Cons on Earth, which are revealed by the end to be weapons of Unicron. Energon, set ten years later, followed the Autobots stopping the Decepticons from resurrecting Unicron with energon.

In Japan, the series Transformers: Cybertron showed no ties to the previous two series, telling its own story. This caused continuity problems when Hasbro sold Cybertron as a follow-up to Armada/Energon. Plot elements have been changed from the Japanese story into references to the previous shows to enhance continuity, but they largely only add up to mentioning Unicron once or twice.

Just as Marvel produced a companion comic to Generation One, Dreamwave Productions published a comic entitled Transformers Armada set in a different continuity to the cartoon. At #19, it became Transformers Energon. Dreamwave went bankrupt and ceased all publications before the storyline could be completed at #30. However, the Transformers Fan Club published a few stories it in the Cybertron era.^[72]

Transformers: Universe (2003–2006)

The storyline of Transformers: Universe, mainly set following Beast Machines, sees characters from many assorted alternate continuities, including existing and new ones, encountering each other. The story was told in an unfinished comic book exclusive to the Official Transformers Collectors’ Convention.

Film franchise (2007-present)

In 2007, a live action film of Transformers was directed by Michael Bay and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. The main focus of the film revolved around the creator of the Transformers, as well as Cybertron, which in the film is described as the Allspark. The film portrayed the Allspark as a large cube of energy that can create life from mechanical objects. During the Cybertronian Civil War, the Allspark was sent off the planet and eventually landed on Earth, where it was discovered by the U.S. government and the Hoover Dam was built over it as a top-secret research facility and government base. Megatron searched for the Allspark and eventually found Earth, but he crash-landed in the Arctic and was frozen. Many years later he was found and also brought to the same facility as the Allspark. With their homeworld ravaged by war, the Autobots were dispersed throughout space. But a group of autobots led by Optimus Prime traveled to Earth in search of the Allspark, in an attempt to revitalize their planet. However, the Decepticons also race towards Earth to find the Allspark, as well as their leader, Megatron. The film depicts the battle over the Allspark on Earth. The Transformers are depicted as mechanical beings that can reconstruct their outside appearance through scanning or touching a mechanical object of relative size to each Transformer’s body. ^[73]

To market the film, IDW Publishing published Transformers: Movie Prequel. The comic expanded upon Optimus Prime’s referral to Megatron as “brother”, revealing they co-ruled Cybertron before Megatron’s corruption. Furthermore, Optimus sent the All Spark into space in a last-ditch attempt to defeat Megatron. Megatron is responsible for Bumblebee’s muteness in the film, as a direct result of distracting him from the All Spark’s launch.^[74] Alan Dean Foster also wrote a prequel novel entitled Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday. The novel shows that Starscream hated Megatron and wanted him to never be found, so he could remain as leader, explaining Megatron’s line in the film: “You failed me, yet again, Starscream.” Blackout is also depicted as deeply loyal to Megatron, explaining his line “All hail Megatron!” However, the novel contradicts the film with Megatron’s body moved into the Hoover Dam in 1969, instead of the 1930s.^[75] IDW plans to continue the film’s fictional universe with additional prequels and sequels.^[76]

Transformers: Animated (200

The Cartoon Network-produced Transformers: Animated is a cartoon that aired in early 2008.^[77] Originally scheduled for late 2007 under the title of Transformers: Heroes,^[78] Transformers: Animated is set in the 22nd Century Detroit,^[77] when robots and humans live side-by-side.^[78] The Autobots come to Earth and assume superhero roles, battling evil humans with the Decepticons having a smaller role.^[79]

One Thousand and One Nights (Arabic: كتاب ألف ليلة وليلة‎ - kitāb ‘alf layla wa-layla; Persian: هزار و یک شب - Hezār-o yek šab) is a collection of stories collected over thousands of years by various authors, translators and scholars in various countries. These collections of tales trace their roots back to ancient Arabia and Yemen, ancient India, ancient Asia Minor, ancient Persia (especially the Sassanid Hazār Afsān Persian: هزار افسان, lit. Thousand Tales), ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamian Mythology, ancient Syria, and medieval Arabic folk stories from the Caliphate era. Though an original manuscript has never been found, several versions date the collection’s genesis to somewhere between AD 800-900.

What is common throughout all the editions of The Nights is the initial frame story of the ruler Shahryar (from Persian: شهريار generally meaning king or sovereign) and his wife Scheherazade (from Persian: شهرزاده generally meaning townswoman) and the framing device incorporated throughout the tales themselves. The stories proceed from this original tale; some are framed within other tales, while others begin and end of their own accord. Some editions contain only a few hundred nights, while others include 1001 or more “nights.”

The collection, or at least certain stories drawn from it (or purporting to be drawn from it) became widely known in the West during the nineteenth century, after it was translated - first into French and then English and other European languages. At this time it acquired the English name The Arabian Nights Entertainment or simply Arabian Nights. The best known stories from The Nights include “Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp,” “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” and “The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor.” Ironically these particular stories, while they are genuine Middle Eastern folk tales, were not part of the “Nights” in its Arabic versions, but were interpolated into the collection by its early European translators.

The Nights in World culture

Literature

The influence of the versions of the Nights on World Literature is immense. Writers as diverse as Henry Fielding to Naguib Mahfouz have alluded to the work by name in their own literature.

Examples of this influence include:

• Edgar Allan Poe wrote a “Thousand and Second Night” as a separate tale, called “The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade.” It depicts the 8th and final voyage of Sinbad the Sailor, along with the various mysteries Sinbad and his crew encounter; the anomalies are then described as footnotes to the story. While the king is uncertain—except in the case of the elephants carrying the world on the back of the turtle—that these mysteries are real, they are actual modern events that occurred in various places during, or before, Poe’s lifetime. The story ends with the king in such disgust at the tale Scheherazade has just woven, that he has her executed the very next day.

• Bill Willingham, creator of the comic book series Fables, used the story of The Nights as the basis of his Fables prequel, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall. In the book, Snow White tells the tales of the Fables, magical literary characters, to the sultan in order to avoid her impending death.

• Two notable novels loosely based on The Nights are Arabian Nights and Days by Naguib Mahfouz and When Dreams Travel by Githa Hariharan. The children’s book The Storyteller’s Daughter by Cameron Dokey is also loosely derived from The Nights.

• The Nights has also inspired poetry in English. Two examples are Alfred Tennyson’s poem, “Recollections of the Arabian Nights” (1830) and William Wordsworth’s “The Prelude” (1805).

• The Book of One Thousand and One Nights has an estranged cousin: The Manuscript Found in Saragossa, by Jan Potocki. A Polish noble of the late 18th century, he traveled the Orient looking for an original edition of The Nights, but never found it. Upon returning to Europe, he wrote his masterpiece, a multi-leveled frame tale.

• The book is often referenced in numerous works of Jorge Luis Borges.

• It also greatly influence famed horror and science fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft in his early years as a child in which he would imagine himself living the adventures of the heroes in the book. It also inspired him to come up with his famed Necronomicon.

• In his criticism of mainstream cinema in “Metaphors on Vision,” avant-garde filmmaker Stan Brakhage metaphorically compares Hollywood studio film making to Scheherazade’s tales, calling it the, “… heroine of a thousand and one nights (Scheherazade must surely be the muse of this art)…”

• In 2005 playwright Jason Grote used the literary device of “One Thousand and One Arabian Nights” to create 1001, combining the traditional Scheherazade story with literary and pop culture allusions ranging from Flaubert in Egypt, Jorge Luis Borges, Hitchcock’s Vertigo, and Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The main characters alternate between playing Scheherazade and Shahriyar and the Palestinian Dahna and the Jewish Alan, who are college students in love in modern New York. The play was premiered in Denver in 2006 and opened in New York City in October of 2007 to strong reviews.
• In 2005 novelist Joseph Covino Jr adapted tales from the classical 1001 Nights in two parts of an intended trilogy titled “Arabian Nights Lost: Celestial Verses 1&II.”[1], [2]

Film and television

Mili Avital as Scheherazade and Dougray Scott as Shahryar, in the ABC/BBC Miniseries Arabian Nights.

There have been many adaptations of The Nights for both television and cinema.

The atmosphere of The Nights influenced such films as Fritz Lang’s 1921 Der müde Tod, the 1924 Hollywood film The Thief of Bagdad starring Douglas Fairbanks, and its 1940 British remake. Several stories served as source material for The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), the oldest surviving feature-length animated film.

One of Hollywood’s first feature films to be based on The Nights was in 1942, with the movie called Arabian Nights. It starred Maria Montez as Scheherazade, Sabu Dastagir as Ali Ben Ali and Jon Hall as Harun al-Rashid. The storyline bears virtually no resemblance to the traditional version of the book. In the film, Scheherazade is a dancer who attempts to overthrow Caliph Harun al-Rashid and marry his brother. After Scheherazade’s initial coup attempt fails and she is sold into slavery, many adventures then ensue. Maria Montez and Jon Hall also starred in the 1944 film Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

In 1959 UPA released an animated feature about Mr. Magoo, based on 1001 Arabian Nights.

Osamu Tezuka worked on two (very loose) feature film adaptations, the children’s film Sinbad no Bōken in 1962 and then Senya Ichiya Monogatari in 1969, an adult-oriented animated feature film.

The most commercially successful movie based on The Nights was Aladdin, the 1992 animated movie by the Walt Disney Company, which starred the voices of Scott Weinger and Robin Williams. The film led to several sequels and a television series of the same name.

“The Voyages of Sinbad” has been adapted for television and film several times, most recently in the 2003 animated feature Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, featuring the voices of Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Perhaps the most famous Sinbad film was the 1958 movie The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, produced by the stop-motion animation pioneer Ray Harryhausen.

A recent well-received television adaptation was the Emmy award-winning miniseries Arabian Nights, directed by Steve Barron and starring Mili Avital as Scheherazade and Dougray Scott as Shahryar. It was originally shown over two nights on April 30, and May 1, 2000 on ABC in the United States and BBC One in the United Kingdom.

Other notable versions of The Nights include the famous 1974 Italian movie Il fiore delle mille e una notte by Pier Paolo Pasolini and the 1990 French movie Les 1001 nuits, in which Catherine Zeta-Jones made her debut playing Scheherazade. There are also numerous Bollywood movies inspired by the book, including Aladdin and Sinbad. In this version the two heroes meet and share in each other’s adventures; the djinn of the lamp is female, and Aladdin marries her rather than the princess.

Music

• In 1888, Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov completed his Op. 35 Scheherazade, in four movements, based upon four of the tales from The Nights: “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship,” “The Kalendar Prince,” “The Young Prince and The Young Princess,” and “Festival at Baghdad.”

• There have been several Arabian Nights musicals and operettas, either based on particular tales or drawing on the general atmosphere of the book. Most notable are Chu Chin Chow (1916) and Kismet (1953), not to mention several musicals and innumerable pantomimes on the story of “Aladdin.”

• 1990 saw the premiere of La Noche de las Noches, a work for string quartet and electronics by Ezequiel Viñao (based on a reading from Burton’s “Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night”)^[10]

• In 1975, the band Renaissance released an album called Scheherazade and Other Stories. The second half of this album consists entirely of the “Song of Scheherazade,” an orchestral-rock composition based on the The Nights.

• In 1999, power metal band Kamelot included a song on their album The Fourth Legacy called “Nights of Arabia”.

• In 2003, Nordic experimental indie pop group When released an album called Pearl Harvest with lyrics from The Nights.

• In 2007, Japanese pop duo BENNIE K released a single titled “1001 Nights,” also releasing a music video strongly based around the The Nights.

• In 2007, the Finnish Symphonic Metal band Nightwish wrote a song “Sahara” on their album Dark Passion Play which relates to the 1001 nights stories.^[11]

Games

• The Nights is the basis for the story of the video game Sonic and the Secret Rings. In the story, Sonic the Hedgehog is pulled in to the story by Shahra The Ring Genie in order to save the Arabian Nights which is being erased by the main villain Erazor Djinn. Djinn was once the “Genie of the Lamp” from the story “Aladdin,” who was also responsible for turning King Solomon into a skeleton. Other recurring Sonic characters turn up as characters from the Nights, such as Tails as Ali Baba, Knuckles as Sinbad, and Doctor Eggman as King Shahryar.

• The first expansion set for Magic: The Gathering was “Arabian Nights,” containing cards based on and inspired by One Thousand and One Nights. This included a card called “Scheherazade” which required the two players to play a separate game within the current game.

• Jordan Mechner stated that The Nights was an inspiration of his popular Prince of Persia series.

• The Magic of Scheherazade takes its title from the female protagonist.

• 1,001 Nights, a storytelling game by Meguey Baker, puts the players in the roles of courtiers in the Sultan’s palace who are forbidden to leave for various reasons. To pass the time, they take turns telling stories and casting each other as various characters in the tales as they attempt to earn enough favor in the court to win their freedom.

Notes