Most of my friends will tell you that I’m a self confessed Sci Fi fanatic, and my love of all things quirky extends right the way back to the days when I believed that I too was harbouring a dark phoenix in my four year old body. No lie.

I had intended to explain this in some detail on YouTube, but since I’m still not feeling well enough to get back in the vlogging game, I figured that I had better put my homage to the ladies who made me the Sci Fi geek I am today down on electronic paper.

My love affair with Science Fiction began with Jean Grey, the telekinetic X-woman whose red hair I instantly gravitated towards at the tender age of 3 or 4. I’m a bit blurry on the specifics, but I do know I spent much of my early childhood trying to do a Dark Phoenix on it ala the kid from that fantastic SuperBowl commerical. Sadly, the closest I came to any Jean style telekinesis was bending a spoon or two with my fingers. My poor mother never could keep the cutlery safe from her young Uri Geller in training.

The torch was then passed to Pink Power Ranger Kimberley. She dragged me further into the realm of so called ‘boys’ TV shows, but the fact that I was pretty awful at the old gymnastics meant that my desire to be her soon faded. Well, there was that and my lack of interest in Tommy: Seriously, he just wasn’t my White Ranger, mmkay?

Commander Riker however, was soon to become my very own Number One, and bring the deadly Deanna Troi into my life. Between herself and Beverly Crusher (the redhead pattern strikes again), I was spoiled for choice when it came to Star Trek sirens, and it wasn’t long before I was dreaming of spending my time aboard the Enterprise. Wesley Crusher might have had something to do with that too, but 10 years later I was still boldly going where no girl in my class had gone before, and another decade down the line my HP laptop became known as Jean Luc.

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Back on the road to full blown geekdom, the redhead complex continued as I fell head over heels for Spider-Man, and jumped on the Mary Jane Watson bandwagon, before attaching myself to the Super Nintendo and losing my soul to Yoshi and Princess Peach. There’s nothing quite like beating 14 year olds at Mario Kart when you’re pushing 6 years old.

Then it was time to become obsessed with an old favourite as I discovered Star Wars, just before the prequel series hit the big screen. Now, I know what I have to say next won’t be too popular, but you have to remember I was still a baba. Princess Leia actually took a backseat for me, and it was her mammy, Queen Amidala, who drew me to the Galaxy Far Far Away. I eventually discovered that the original films were far better, but not before shoving my head into a vat of talcum powder in the hopes of looking like Naboo’s finest in time for Halloween.

Meanwhile, I was still waxing lyrical about the merits of Pokemon’s Misty, while collecting cards as far afield as Turkey on my summer holidays, and even starting to see some potential in CardCaptor Sakura, but it was wild wiccan Willow who cemented my love of all things geek.

Sure, Buffy was a valiant vampire slayer, but redheaded Willow and her werewolf boyfriend seemed to cast some sort of sci-fi spell on me. Lucky thing too, because if it hadn’t been for the canine connection, my poor dog would now be known as Xander instead of Oz. Trying to explain that one in the park would have been a scream.

When I look back now I realise that Rhianna and co never stood a chance. I was never going to shake my tailfeather on nightclub tables (that sofa dance in Coppers was just a once off), or spend my nights mooning over the likes of Usher and his brood. I was always the girl who felt more comfortable between the pages of a book, or glued to a decent Sci-Fi film or series on the telly.

Everything I am today, I owe to these ladies, so as YouTube pays homage to all things geeky this week, I give my own thanks to the girls who made me a geek.