20 Of The Coolest Female Robots In Science Fiction

Persis Khambatta as Lt. Ilia in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Screenshot image via Paramount Pictures)

14. Ilia (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)

Listen, I really love Star Trek in general. It’s typically a thoughtful, truly progressive franchise with a hopeful vision of the future. That doesn’t mean it always hits the mark, however. Look at the first Star Trek film, for instance. Star Trek: The Motion Picture suffers from weak writing and even weaker effects. It doesn’t help that, for some reason, designers decided to do away with the original series uniform and instead put everyone in their pajamas. Comfortable? Yes. Professional and dignified? Not so much.

There are a few bright spots in the film, however. The central idea – that an ancient Voyager probe managed to gain sentience after a run-in with mechanical lifeforms – is fascinating. The probe, which went by V’ger by the time of the film, also manages to convert a crew member to a cybernetic life form.

Let’s back up a bit. Said crew member is Lieutenant Ilia, a Deltan who’s secured a spot as a helm officer on the Enterprise. The bald Deltans take an oath of celibacy before joining Starfleet. They are highly sexualized (somehow; no one ever explains this in full, perhaps thankfully) and view humans as immature. Ouch. It’s also not a huge part of the plot, so points off for the unjustified sexualization.

In truth, this Ilia doesn’t stick around for too long. Soon after the arrival of V’ger, the probe kills her. V’ger creates a synthetic replica of Ilia, however, ostensibly to act as a liaison between V’ger and the “carbon unit” infestation of the Enterprise. Though this replica of the Lieutenant retains the memories and emotions of the carbon version and is a perfect replica down to the molecular level, she’s still a machine. Fascinating.