Top 20 Sci-Fi / Fantasy Dads

(Smallville, 2001-2006) It's an article of faith in the Superman mythology that the Kents get all the credit for teaching their adoptive son Clark the principles that Superman lives by -- things like integrity, compassion, and justice. And nowhere is this more true than with Smallville's take on Jonathan Kent: a proud and tough man who's practically made out of integrity. He's also a fierce protector of his son against all threats, be they human or extraterrestrial. But most of all he drives himself every day to build a home and hearth for his beloved family. In every appearance across 100 episodes, John Schneider brilliantly conveyed the rock-solid ideas of family and love that Clark and Superman would need after he was gone.

(Medium, 2005-present) It's demanding enough having three young girls, but if they can read minds and see the future, you're really in trouble. Not only that, your wife wakes up from a bizarre dream at 3 a.m. every morning -- and then half the time rushes off to some crime scene, leaving you to take the kids to school. Fortunately, Medium's Joe Dubois is even-keeled enough to handle whatever his women throw at him, and wordly enough to offer sage advice to his kids when they see ghosts or dream about multiple homicides in cartoon form. There's nothing he won't do to make sure his daughters turn out right -- and he's got the best hair, hands down, of any dad on the list.

(Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, 1993-1997) No version of Jonathan Kent gets a pass just on the name alone. And the one we get to know on Lois & Clark has his own strong points. He's as much the salt-of-the-earth American farmer as you ever get to see on television: the ordinary guy who finds himself building a farm and raising a family and dedicates himself beyond even what he thought he could do. This Clark's relationship with his Pa is very much not just about the guiding hand, but the firm foothold in honesty his worldview provides as Clark's life becomes increasingly strange. His father's voice, whether in memory or in person, reminds Clark of who he is and what he's willing to fight for -- not to mention providing a role model as the loving husband to a very independent woman.

(Kyle XY, 2006-2009) The Tragers had the standard suburban American life -- two professional jobs (he's a gifted computer engineer, she's a psychologist), a great house, nice neighbors, and two kids on the cusp of emotional and sexual maturity. And then the wife brings home a 15-year-old boy with no memory and no belly-button. Over the course of three years of teen crises mixed with the paranormal and dark conspiracies, Stephen Trager proves up to the challenge of providing shrewd advice, stern correction, and unconditional love, all at once -- not only for his own son and daughter but for the lost teenager he welcomed into both his home and heart.

(Jericho, 2006-2007) Fathers don't come much gruffer than Johnston Green, longtime mayor of Jericho, Kansas and seemingly an elemental part of the town itself. He relies on his youngest son Eric, who stands at his father's side as deputy mayor and seems poised to carry on his family's role in keeping Jericho together; but he's angry that his first son, Jake, has turned away from everything he'd been taught about responsibility, drifting through mysterious jobs far from home. After a nuclear apocalypse isolates the town, Jake reveals his true colors as a natural leader and fierce defender of Jericho and all its people, and Johnston realizes he'd taught Jake well after all.

(Journeyman, 2007) Busy reporter Dan Vasser's biggest fear is that he'll turn into his own father, a story-and-skirt-chasing newspaper cameraman who walked out on his family when he and his older brother were just kids. When Dan starts uncontrollably time-jumping into the past, his fears intensify -- what if he can't return, leaving his young son Zack without a father? Even worse, when a piece of technology lost in the past changes the future, he's horrified to return home to find a daughter instead of the son he desperately loves. After putting that right and meeting his own father in the past, Dan returns to his wife and son absolutely certain that he would never, ever be his father -- his family means more to him than anything, past, present, or future.

(Battlestar Galactica, 2005-2009) William Adama isn't just father to Lee Adama, the hotshot flyboy turned activist politician, and Zak, the would-be pilot who died in training (not to mention being foster-father to the willful Kara Thrace). He's father to the whole fleet, and sometimes those two responsibilities don't sit well together. Adama feels his paternal role keenly: he knows he must protect his children or die trying, he knows that he knows what's best for them despite their stubborn desire to do the opposite, and he knows that being a father means giving everything he has and more. Like his analogue from the original Battlestar Galactica, Lorne Greene's Adama, this Adama is as proud of his people for surviving as he is of his son for exceeding his own destiny.

(Angel, 1999-2004) Angel never expected to be a father. First of all, he's dead. Second of all, he's a vampire. And as if that weren't enough, making love holds the risk of exposing him to pure him to pure happiness, and, in consequence, the loss of his soul. So everyone's shocked, and none more than Angel, when old flame Darla turns up pregnant with Angel's kid. After his son, named Connor, is born, Angel devotes himself to the child, only to be betrayed (long story) with the result than Connor is sucked into a hell dimension. He turns up a few weeks later, 15 years old and bent on revenge against his own dad. Nonetheless, Angel crawls hand over fist across everything the Apocalypse throws at him to guide and protect his snarling son, ultimately making a deal with evil to ensure his son forgets his past and lives the normal life Angel could never have given him.

(Joan of Arcadia, 2003-2005) A good cop brought in to clean up a troubled police department in the town of Arcadia, Will Girardi has headaches and to spare at work. But taking on this job meant he could give a nice secure life to his teenaged kids Joan, who seems to have no direction, Kevin, the ex-jock crippled in a car accident, and Luke, the brainiac. He and his wife Helen work relentlessly to encourage and protect their children, and it's notable that Will's advice and support for his daughter, Joan, partner nicely with the secret weekly encounters she has with various random manifestations of God.

(The Dead Zone, 2002-2007) Try this on for size: you wake up from a six-year coma to find your girlfriend married to someone else, raising your son. Johnny Smith doesn't quite know how to handle the situation. Neither do his ex-fiancée, Sarah, or her husband, Walt -- who happens to be the sheriff, and the perfect dad to boot. Johnny nonetheless feels a need to be in his son's life, first as a stranger, then, after a few years, openly as John Jr.'s biological father. The gradual leeway allowed by the divided Sarah and the reluctant Walt gives Johnny and J.J. a chance to know each other almost as they might have without the coma, and Walt knows Sarah and J.J. will be cared for if he dies in the line of duty, which happens early in season 6. In the last scene of the show, J.J. casually calls Johnny "Dad" for the first time. Fade to black.