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15 Angel
From: Angel , Buffy The Vampire Slayer
We don’t need another hero
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Edward Cullen, Bill Compton, Stefan Salvatore… they all owe one hell of a debt to Angel, the original moping, lovestruck vampire, trying to resist the urge to chow down on his girlfriend. But that was only one phase of Angel’s life. A move to LA and a starring role in his own show revealed a whole new side to the vampire with a soul: rubbish karaoke singer.
Oh yeah, and a guilt-ridden avenger trying to find redemption through being a hero. He became rather obsessed with the whole hero thing; we think it may partly have been to compensate for a Buffy-sized hole in his life.
Because make no mistake. Angel was the eternal teenager. His new role as head of Angel Investigations may have made him feel all big and grown-up, but he still brooded and pouted like some pubescent boy. Somehow, that just made him all the more likeable, especially his hurt expressions when his colleagues took the mickey out of him for it.
Angel could have been a very one-dimensional character (like Edward and Stefan) but Whedon and Boreanaz between them created a character with a self-deprecating humour, tragic depths, petulant flaws and, underpinning it all, a desperate, almost monomaniacal urge to do the right thing. But he really couldn’t sing.
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14 Admiral Adama
From: Battlestar Galactica
BSG’s Big Daddy
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Great men are born from tragedy. No surprise, then, that the great Bill Adama lived through more than his fair share of life-changing catastrophes: named for his murdered brother, caught in the middle of not one but two devastating Cylon wars (the second of which claimed the life of his wife) and a mourner at his own child’s funeral, not to mention the fact his best mate was a skinjob. Kirk doesn’t know how easy he had it.
From a supremely gifted pilot in the Colonial Fleet (where he was christened with the call sign “Husker” on account of his husky voice) to the weary, battle-hardened admiral of humanity’s surviving population, Adama remained stoic, but refreshingly fallible and supremely human. He was the father figure everyone wishes they had, even if he could be a bit of a hard-ass, wily enough to give survivors something to live for (the mythical Earth of the scriptures) and, in his relationship with President Roslin, displayed a vulnerable side that made him much more loveable than balls-out bravado ever could. By forming an alliance with a splinter faction of Cylons, Adama ensured the survival of the human species. If Adama were to run for Prime Minister tomorrow, he’d kick Cleggeron into next Tuesday.
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