With July 4, otherwise known as American Independence Day, having been fervently celebrated once again earlier this month, we thought now was as good a time as any to pay tribute to Uncle Sam with a list of…well… other Sams who have made an impact on the world. (Although, admittedly, perhaps ones not quite as significant.)

Of course, there are a lot of real life Sams who have made their contribution to our beloved genre, and we wouldn’t like you to think them entirely ignored. We love Sams Raimi, Worthington, Witwer, Neill and Rockwell, and totally dig on Samuels L. Jackson and R. Delaney. And the acronym SAM, when referring to a Surface to Air Missile, has certainly made its contribution to that subset of genre known as Military SF. But since Uncle Sam himself is but a figment of a vivid imagination (much like his Marvel Comics namesake), so too will we only be concentrating here on similarly fictional Sams.

Because the wider world may be full of Toms, Dicks and Harrys, but when it comes to genre, Sam is a very popular name indeed. (As is, it must be conceded, Harry.)

Thus:

1. Samantha “Sam” Carter
Stargate franchise
Played by Amanda Tapping

O'NEILL:	Carter, you are one of this country's great natural resources, if not national treasures.
	Stargate SG-1, "Lost City" (07.21)

Physicist. Pilot. Mathematician. Markswoman. Officer. Off-world ambassador. Intrepid explorer and all-around expert in the sciences. Captain of spaceships, defender of planets and blower up of suns. Beautiful, brilliant, and so very brave. If she weren’t so humble, so gracious, and so charmingly flawed, someone so unrelentingly perfect could easily get… well, more than a little annoying.

However, Sam Carter is all those things, without fuss, without ceremony. Need a code cracked, a breakthrough made, a polarity reversed? Sam’s your gal. Need a dignitary charmed, a child soothed, a belligerent instilled with the fear of the Tau’ri? She can often get that done, too. She’s charismatic and good humored without being overwhelming, sarcastic without being snide, kind and compassionate without being blinded to prosaic reality.

She really is kind of perfect. And come to think of it, maybe that is a little annoying. But we wouldn’t want her any other way, and it is this very fact that makes her the most honored Sam on this list.

2. Sam Winchester
Supernatural
Played by Jared Padalecki

DEAN:	Come on man. I know Sam, okay? Better than anyone. He's got more of a conscience than I do. I mean, the guy feels guilty searching the internet for porn.
	"Hunted" (02.10)

Demons have plagued the youngest Winchester since birth. Whether they’re killing his Mom, or afflicting him with painful psychic powers, or addicting him to their blood, or wanting to inhabit his body to bring about the Biblical End of Days, this young man has had it rough at their unclean hands. Add in a family quest to rid the world of fearsome beasties, a genetic propensity for quite literally going to Hell, and endless road-trips undertaken to a soundtrack of his brother Dean’s (Jensen Ackles) 80’s hair metal collection, and the fact that he is, after six seasons of terror, torture and picturesquely tousled hair, still remotely sane is something of a miracle. Of course, as established in Supernatural canon long since, God is no longer in His Heaven, and his angels are just as likely to bedevil Sam as is Lucifer himself, so maybe “miracle” isn’t quite the right word.

Nevertheless, the youngest Winchester earns his place here due to his talent for researching the lore, grace under pressure, dry wit, earnest need to protect the innocent (well, when he has a soul, at least), strength, fighting prowess, and -- not incidentally -- his general and abiding handsomeness.

3. Sam Beckett
Quantum Leap
Played by Scott Bakula

SAM:	I have something to tell you, my name isn't Tom McBride.
DIANE:	Oh, what is it?
SAM:	Beckett, it's Sam Beckett.
DIANE:	The playwright?
SAM:	... I don't think so.
DIANE:	Then who?
SAM:	Primarily, I'm a quantum physicist.
	-- “Honeymoon Express” (02.01)

The opening lines of Quantum Leap’s latter seasons explained the show thus: “Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator -- and vanished. He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better…”

This unknown force? It is strongly suggested that it’s God.

Which means that our brilliant, beautiful Sam Beckett -- castaway, conscience-ridden, often confused and constantly beset by the horn-dog laddishness of his only connection to his present, the luridly-dressed Al (Dean Stockwell) and the number crunching of oft-mentioned, rarely-seen semi-sentient computer, Ziggy -- is a messenger of God, in which capacity he spends four seasons solving crimes and righting wrongs and hanging out with the Kennedys and such. Occasionally, in a dress.

Essentially, Sam is kind of like an angel… but one fuelled by science.

Oh, boy.

4. Sam Axe
Burn Notice
Played by Bruce Campbell

MICHAEL:	If there's a situation that requires showing off your upper body and boozy flirting, you're my guy.
	"Fight or Flight" (01.03)

Once a Navy SEAL of skill and renown, the handsome and charismatic Sam Axe is now a man of a certain age, settled in Miami, happily living a life replete with a government pension, an abundance imported beer, an endless supply of vibrant Hawaiian shirts and the love of some grateful, wealthy ladies of… experience. But just to keep things exciting, Sam is also a gun for hire (or, more often, a gun for pro bono) assisting burned spy Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) in his pursuit of those who ruined his career, as well as the sundry Floridians who are being beset by the drug cartels, conmen, kidnappers and gun runners with which their hometown is so very -- one might even say unbelievably -- fraught.

Early on, it often seemed like Michael was the coolest kid in school and Sam the guy who was only allowed to hang around because he owned a car. However, despite his unfailing loyalty and clear case of hero worship, Sam soon proved to be more than merely Michael’s yes man. Enjoying an amusingly love/hate relationship with Michael’s girlfriend Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), Sam has ably demonstrated his importance as a key player in Team Westen, and uses his charm, swagger, extensive list of contacts and palpable air of trustworthiness to help pull off even the most insane of missions; but for all that it is really his entertaining quips and mischievous twinkle that earn this lethal Lothario his place here on this list.

Although, the less said about the prequel movie Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe, the better.

5. Samwise “Sam” Gamgee
The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien
Played by Sean Astin

“I believe you speak more wisely than any of us, Sam,” said Aragorn.

-- The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)

As written in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, faithful gardener-turned-manservant Sam Gamgee spends a fair amount of his time naked and wrapped in the arms of his nominal employer, Frodo Baggins. Now, look, don’t get funny about it. The books were written in a simpler time, it got cold on the way to Mordor, and let’s face it, none of us really know what went down between those two adorable Hobbits (forgive the awful, quite accidental, pun), and nor should we care. What matters is the very fact of Sam’s deep devotion to his master, even as the evilness of the One Ring begins to take hold; he’s Sancho Panza to Frodo’s Don Quixote, Smee to Frodo’s Hook, Snape to Frodo’s incipient Voldemort (before he killed the Potters, of course).

Frodo, for the most part, takes Sam’s at times obsessive loyalty as only his right (remember, simpler time: the aristocratic English tradition of noblesse oblige was still very much in force), but much like Bertie Wooster came to admire his man Jeeves, Frodo too came to see that his Sam was of much higher worth than anyone had ever suspected.

Of course, this soul-deep kinship has given rise (again, terrible pun) to thousands upon thousands of feverish fanfic outings in which the two… y’know. Stuff. And sometimes in a three-way with Aragorn. But we honor Sam here not for the love that dare not speak its name, but for the one that does: true friendship.

Even if maybe it did come with benefits.

6. Sam Merlotte
The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris/True Blood
Played by Sam Trammell (True Blood)

“Sam's eyes are Paul Newman blue, as opposed to my own hazy blue gray. Sam is blond, too, but his hair is wiry blond is almost a sort of hot red gold. He is always a little sunburned, and though he looks slight in his clothes, I have seen him unload trucks with his shirt off, and he has plenty of upper body strength. I never listen to Sam's thoughts. He's my boss.”

-- Sookie Stackhouse, Dead Until Dark (2001)

Bartender and owner of Merlotte’s Bar and Grill in Bon Temps, Louisiana, Sam is a shapeshifter who prefers to take the form of a friendly collie -- all the better to hop in bed with you, my dear. In a world where vampires are out and proud, shapeshifters took many years to follow suit, and in the meantime Sam provided -- and continues to provide -- a workplace, a sanctuary and a best-friend for telepathic waitress and magnet for mystical trouble, Sookie Stackhouse.

Kind, honest, steadfast and protective, Sam is just the kind of guy that should get the girl of his dreams… but doesn’t. In his live action incarnation, his romantic entanglements are even more complicated than those of his book counterpart, but one of the few consistent elements from page to small screen has been the development of the tender -- if on one side, strictly platonic – relationship between the stalwart Sam and the much-desired Sookie (Anna Paquin).

 

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