The Three Faces Of Cultdom

When a character (or series sometimes) can last for fifty years or more of active use or adoration, something happens to them and they become icons and sometimes even de facto real people. There are people who still believe that Sherlock Holmes was a real person, such has been his impact over more than one hundred and twenty years. Holmes and Watson and of course James Bond are the most important and widespread examples of the perennial character, but they're about to be joined by two sixties legends which will hopefully last just as long.

To explain, this year is the fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who, and in three years we will see the fiftieth anniversary of Star Trek and there don't seem to have been characters waiting to become the next icons that rival these archetypal figures. What has been created since Star Trek and Doctor Who that has appeared in practically every entertainment medium, lived on in print after cancellation on television, and still inspires people as did Sherlock Holmes and to a lesser extent James Bond?

I do question James Bond, since the character has on many levels been artificially prolonged in its life due to the sometimes ridiculous and often formulaic but financially successful movies. In terms of our subject he's much more of a zombie icon, no longer under active development or adoration, but rolled out for the same story still over and over. That's true to some extent of original Star Trek, except that there are still novels being written and that it's important just as Sherlock is as the founder of a new genre, of smart science fiction. James Bond is a fairly regular secret agent in comparison. Also, Star Trek blossomed from its beginnings to a huge and somewhat mercenary franchise that declined, and in its decline the original form is the one that's remembered. The original Star Trek has survived unaffected by its consequences, and despite the (frankly dubious) re-interpretation we have seen in the cinemas.

Where are the female icons? That's a tough question, and one I can not really answer. Has there been a female character who will live on in such a manner? There's a hard truth somewhere, perhaps, that audiences are reluctant to accept women as protagonists in adventure stories since by virtue (and vice) of peer pressure and tradition women were not supposed to be adventurers or travellers for any significant length of time. That attitude persists today and continues to annoy. Even worse for the likelihood of a female cross-medium icon is the fact that the Internet and non-traditional television suppliers have diffused entertainment consumption to the point where no one thing receives as much attentions as it used to and the entertainment landscape is homogeneous to a fault. There may not be new icons from here on in, just as there may not be sufficiently important presidents to go on Rushmore. Those times are done, or are dormant.

Doctor Who, Captain Kirk and Mr Spock, and Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. Are there any other comparable icons?
O.