The Romulan Commander

My #1 Badass Heroine of TOS, hands down.

Who she is: The commander of a Romulan fleet (duh) from whom Kirk and Spock steal technology in “The Enterprise Incident.” She and Spock seduce each other for political reasons.

Why she’s cool: You guys: I have a giant crush on the Romulan Commander. She is just so conspicuously awesome. Her entire bearing, her every mannerism, says, “I can have any man I want, and also I can blast your starship out of the fucking sky.” Sure, she’s an adversary, but she’s such a cool adversary that you’re almost a little sad when she is defeated. She is not defeated easily, and when she is, she goes down with amazing dignity.

And the dynamic between her and Spock is, well... fascinating. They both have ulterior motives in seducing each other, and I think they both realize that the other one has ulterior motives. But, coincidentally, they actually have an affinity for each other. They recognize each other as equals, and it seems like neither of them is used to meeting equals very often. During their sexy, sexy hand makeouts, Spock express a genuine emotion. You can tell it’s a genuine emotion because he sounds terrified and ashamed when he admits to it. Their conversation in the turbolift at the end of the episode can basically be summarized as, “You know, it’s really too bad that we’re on opposite sides of this war thing.”

(Don’t you love Vulcan hand kissing? I do.)

Of course, the Commander’s attraction to Spock isn’t going to prevent her from killing the bastard when she finds out he’s a traitor. She tries everything within her power to defeat the spies, including ordering her crew to destroy the Enterprise while she’s on it.

BAD. ASS.

I know that the Romulan Commander doesn’t really have green lips, but she should, so I gave them to her.