Meowt Of This World: Cats in Sci-Fi and Fantasy

There are many different types of creatures in science fiction and fantasy from humanoids, aliens, insect-like creatures, and viruses. But our favorite species is the feline-type. Here are just a few of our favorite cats in science fiction and fantasy. Did we include your favs?

Spoiler alert! Some descriptions below may contain spoilers. 

JONESY FROM ALIEN
 

In 1979’s ALIEN, actress Sigourney Weaver’s character Ripley battles an alien lifeform on the spaceship Nostromo. Spoilers: While the alien does kill the crew one-by-one, Ripley and the ships’ cat, Jonesy, are the only 2 members of the crew to survive the ordeal. In the film’s sequel, ALIENS, Jonesy also makes a brief showing as Ripley's house cat.

GOOSE THE CAT FROM THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

Making her debut in Captain Marvel, Goose is a female ginger kitty (a pretty rare occurrence)  that follows Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel) and Nick Fury into space on their quest to find a hidden laboratory. Goose is credited with saving alien refugees and even protecting an incredibly important relic from enemy soldiers ...by swallowing them whole. Okay, so it turns out that Goose is actually an extremely feared alien creature known as a Flerken. Thankfully, she was on Marvel's side!

SPOT FROM STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION

Star Trek: The Next Generation’s cherished cat, Spot, belonged to the series’ android Data (played by Brent Spiner). The female orange tabby appeared frequently in the final 4 seasons of the series and two Star Trek movies; Generations and Nemesis. Data and Spots’ relationship on the series was a close one with Spot being unfriendly to most of the rest of the crew with only a few exceptions.

And while talking about cats in space, we would have to include our own Milton the Cat. He graces a number of space-themed items including pins, bandanas, neck gaiters, Macbook Sleeve and notebooks. 

JAKE FROM THE CAT FROM OUTER SPACE

Disney’s 1978 movie, The Cat From Outer Space, starred Ken Barry and Sandy Duncan. But the main star was Jake/Zunar-J-5/9 Doric-4-7, voiced by actor Ronnie Schell and played by brother and sister Abyssinian cats, Rumpler and Amber. The film's plot follows a UFO captained by a cat-like extra-terrestrial that is intercepted by the U.S. Military. The spacecraft’s feline pilot, who goes by the human name Jake, reveals to his captors that he must locate a substance called “Org 12” (gold) to restore his battered spacecraft and reunite with his mothership - or should we saw meowthership?. Jake uses his collar’s technological capabilities to help retrieve the gold.

CROOKSHANKS FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES

The ginger cat belonging to Hermione Granger (played by Emma Watson), Crookshanks is no ordinary cat. In the series, he is able to recognize untrustworthy people, help others and has the ability to solve problems and might even be able to understand English.

MRS NORRIS FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES

Mrs Norris was the pet cat of the character Argus Filch, who was the caretaker of Hogwarts. In both the books and films, Mrs. Norris has a strong connection with Filch and would alert him to any students breaking the rules or misbehaving. She was described as resembling her master in appearance and personality (as some pets and owners are wont to do), but was affectionate and had a strong bond with her master, Filch. 

Mrs Norris was actually portrayed by four different cat actors in the various films, most notably were three Maine Coon cats: Maximus, Alanis, and Cornilus. Each cat was trained for different actions. Maximus would run beside Filch and leap onto his shoulders. Alanis' role was to be held in the actor's arms without squirming or fidgeting. Apparently, Alanis was so good at her part that she often fell asleep being held during shoots! 

MISS KITTY FANTASTICO FROM BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

Miss Kitty Fantastico is a black/grey kitten with some white areas like many tuxedo cats. She belonged to characters Tara and Willow on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and was introduced in Season 4.

SALEM SABERHAGEN FROM SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH

While the burgeoning teen witch, Sabrina, was the lead character on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Salem was pretty much the star of the show (if you ask us.) Salem Saberhagen is Sabrina's snarky BFF that also happens to be a black cat. Even though Salem's technically a male witch trapped in a cat's body, he is paws down the king of catitude. He's full of sass, sage advice dating back to the 1500s, and plenty of snark.  

Did we miss your favorite sci-fi or fantasy feline? Let us know in the comments!