Ellen Ripley, the feisty heroine of the Alien films, will go head to head with the regenerating Doctor from Doctor Who to be named Britain's favourite sci-fi character.
Results from the first round of voting by 6,500 people in the poll organised by the British Film Institute as it celebrates sci-fi on screen in its days of Fear and Wonder season, presented with 02, have put the stars of film and television in top place.
A new round of voting opens today to determine which of the two finalists who gets the title with the result revealed on December 17.
Thousands of sci-fi-fans voted for figures including Han Solo from Star Wars, HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Spock from Star Trek. Heroes trumped villains although Darth Vader in Star Wars was in third place.
