When you’re going through life, having an awesome sidekick or wingman makes things a lot more tolerable. Trouble getting a girl? Grab a wingman. Need some money for bail after the girl has you arrested for stalking? Call your sidekick, if he’s not already in jail right next to you. And this goes beyond real life and is true also in movies, television and books. Everyone needs a companion he or she can trust implicitly to always have his or her back no matter the situation. And throughout time there have been a lot of awesome sidekicks. We’ve picked a few of our favorites…
1.
Chewbacca
You knew that good ol’ Chewie, the walking carpet himself, was going to be on this list, so why make you wait in rapt anticipation to see his furry ass pop up somewhere down the line? Chewbacca is the ultimate wingman in more ways than one. He’s literally flying co-pilot for Han Solo from the moment we see him, and he’s got Han’s back through thick and thin, and even when he’s doing something ridiculously dumb like jumping down a garbage shoot or attacking a secret Empire base with a bunch of Care Bears.
Chewie is about as loyal sidekick as you’re going go find, which makes sense considering the fact that George Lucas based the character loosely on his own dog. Also noteworthy, of course, is the fact that the very same dog was named Indiana. We’re going to go ahead and guess you can connect the dots to figure out which other famous George Lucas character the dog inspired.
2.
Dr. Watson
Just like Chewbacca and the dude we’re going to talk to after this particular entry, you just knew that Dr. John Watson had to be on this list. There are just some people who are synonymous with the term “sidekick” and Dr. Watson is right near, or possibly at, the top of that list. He’s recently been popularized once again in both movies, played by Jude Law, and on TV in the BBC show Sherlock, where he’s played by Martin Freeman, also known as the man who would be Bilbo in the upcoming Hobbit movies.
Anyway, for all of the credit Sherlock Holmes gets, and deserves, Dr. Watson deserves just about as much credit for being with Holmes every step of the way. Sure, he doesn’t have the deductive skills of a Sherlock Holmes, but he puts himself in harms way nonetheless and is an ever faithful companion to the point where some have theorized that he and Holmes were secretly lovers. Hey, that’s an interesting thought. Heroes and sidekicks who were secretly lovers. Sounds familiar. Almost like our next awesome sidekick…
3.
Robin
Sure, Batman’s loyal sidekick takes a lot of flack. Maybe it’s the fact that he refuses to wear pants. Maybe it’s the bizarre nature of his relationship with the Caped Crusader. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s referred to as “the Boy Wonder” and we’re a little confused as to what makes him so wonderful. Or maybe it’s just the fact that his name is Dick Grayson, he used to work in the circus, and he took his superhero name from one of the least threatening animals on the planet.
In any event, what we’re taking a very roundabout way to say here is that Robin is one hell of a sidekick. He’s always charging into danger to help and often save Batman, and he doesn’t seem to mind the fact that he’s basically a sounding board for many of Batman’s horrendous one liners. In the comics, he actually even died for Batman. But hey, at least he got to drive the Batmobile, so that’s almost worth it, right?
4.
Samwise Gamgee
Few awesome sidekicks have taken more crap within the context of their own fictional universe without getting any semblance of credit for being awesome as Samwise Gamgee. Everyone is always heaping praise on Frodo for taking the ring to Mount Doom without stopping to think about the fact that Sam Gamgee was there every step of the way. It was Sam Gamgee who fought Shelob, and it was Sam Gamgee who rescued Frodo from orcs and protected the ring in the heart of Mordor.
But at the end of the day, no one ever really mentions or even recognizes his monumental role in the entire process except for Frodo, who rewards him by giving him his house and making him write the final chapter in the Lord of the Rings saga. No, literally, if you’ve never read the books, the whole thing is supposed to have been written by Frodo, with the exception of the final chapter, which is Sam’s to fill in. But don’t worry, Sam. We’ve got your back, because we know you’d have ours. You’re just awesome like that.
5.
Cameron Frye
We’re jumping ahead to our most recent and lighthearted entry on this list, and that’s the one and only Cameron Frye. As Ferris Bueller’s best friend and whipping boy, Cameron proves to be pretty much the most awesome best friend in modern movie history. Sure, there are some others who are awesome friends like Goose from Top Gun or Jay and Silent Bob from those overrated movies they were in, but none of those guys is going to let you borrow his dad’s half million dollar car for a day of playing hooky in Chicago.
For all of the whining Ferris does about what an uptight downer Cameron can be, our favorite teen comedy best friend proves time and again that he’s just plain awesome throughout the day off. By the way, we should note no one seemed to give half a crap about where Cameron was all day. If it was up to us, that water tower would have said “Save Cameron.”
6.
Mr. Spock
And we close our list out with another of the most famous sidekicks in television and movie history, our favorite Vulcan and wet blanket to James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock. The logical science officer and first officer on the starship Enterprise may not be the most fun wingman ever, but he’s awfully handy in a pinch, and we can’t ever imagine Kirk without Spock. They’re kind of like peanut butter and jelly in that regard; only the thought of a Kirk and Spock sandwich is something that should be left to erotic slash fan fiction.
One of the reasons Spock is one of our favorite sidekicks is the incredible longevity the character has enjoyed, starting out in the original Star Trek television series, spanning into the movies, where he even died and came back somehow. You know you’re an awesome sidekick when the writers figure out a way to bring you back after they’ve already killed you off. In the most recent Star Trek movie, we even had two Spocks, one young and one old. Which makes us wonder, if they went out to a bar to pick up chicks, which one would be the other’s wingman? Man, we could use a highly logical science officer to figure that one out for us.
Written by Jeff Kelly – Copyrighted © www.weirdworm.net Image Sources
Image sources:
- – Chewbacca: http://binarybonsai.com/images/chewpromolarge.jpeg
- – Dr. Watson: http://static.moviefanatic.com/images/gallery/sherlock-holmes-dr-watson_443x353.jpg
- – Robin: http://bloguin.com/thisgivensunday/images/stories/robinS.jpg
- – Samwise Gamgee: http://thetorchonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/sam-gamgee.jpg
- – Cameron Frye: http://materialgirlsblog.com/dallas/files/2009/05/cameron.jpg
- – Mr. Spock: http://www.startrek.com/legacy_media/images/200307/spock01/320×240.jpg
