Top 3 Favorite Non-Trek Spaceships

Don't know if this has been asked before (I didn't see a thread so titled) but I'd be curious what everyone thinks is the best designed or coolest looking spaceships in a non-Trek science fiction/fantasy movie or series and why.

For me, the first would be the Discovery One from 2001: A Space Odyssey. There's just something about the sheer scale and length of the thing when we first see it slowly glide across the screen in the third act of the film that (along with the accompanying musical score) always gave me goosebumps. Granted Freud might have had his own wacky theories as to why this scene strikes a subconscious chord, but I think it's just the suggestion that humans could build such a massive structure in space only a mere 33 years in the future (at least at the time the movie was released). I like that it looks more like a science fact then a science fiction design in that it unlike the average sci-fi spaceship it's believable that it actually could be built in the near future with current technology. As much as I loved it's appearance in the first film, watching the portrayal of it rotating end over end above Io in the sequel is still one of the all time best scenes in a space movie to me.

My second would be the Cygnus X-1 from the Black Hole. Like the Discovery, not only does it have the advantage of an enormous scale, but it is truly a beautiful and haunting design; resembling a sort of Victorian/Gothic Christmas tree the first time we see it fully lite up. Again, I found it fascinating to imagine that humans could engineer such a vast undertaking, especially compared to the tiny scaled-down Palomino (not a bad looking ship in itself) that is supposed to be a more modern and advanced ship. Seeing the Cygnus pummeled by meteors and ripped apart by the black hole I almost felt bad, as it was like the equivalent of destroying a fine piece of art.

My third ship is the Omega-Class Destroyer from Babylon 5. There was just something fascinating and tangible about the way the center section rotated along it's axis as it flew by, maybe because being so used to most ships in sci-fi having mysterious, never-explained forms of "artificial gravity" made Earth Force ships seem more "real". It also projected frightening lethality especially in scenes where it's forward beams carved apart other vessels. While the other races' ships in the show represented more a form of alien artistry, the human ships were pure crude militarism and that's what made them so cool.

While there are many other designs I think are beautiful and deserve honorable mention like the original Battlestar Galactica or the Valley Forge from Silent Running, these three above will definitely always arise to the top in my cool factor meter.

 

1. The TARDIS from Doctor Who.
2. Moya from Farscape.
3. Serenity from Firefly.

And honestly, they're my favorite ships including Star Trek. Most of those ships bore me with the minor exception of the Defiant.

What do all of those ships have in common? They're smaller (relatively...), more intimate spaces that feel lived in and unique. Even more so, the first two are also sentient beings (all three are if you believe River Tam...) with their own sense of character, feelings, and motives.

 

Another vote for Moya for me, Star Wars' Star Destroyers, and the Rocinante from The Expanse.
Moya was a rather simple design, but she's gorgeous.
The Star Destroys are just intimidating, especially once you see them in action.
The Roci might not be the prettiest design, but she's tough.

 

My top 3 would in no way include Star Trek anyway. Honestly, most of Trek's designs bore me.

1. Omega class destroyer from B5. It's utilitarian rather than aesthetic, and I love it. Also, as noted above, the rotating section gives it a very different feel that's suitable to the slightly lower tech Earth Alliance of that series. Honorable mention to the Warlock class destroyer, which is better looking but has virtually no screen time.

2. Moya. Such a well executed idea. If the ship is going to essentially be a character anyway, why not make it an actual character? Not the first time, nor the last, that the living ship idea will be used, but everything about Farscape was so well done. I loved this old girl.

3. The Bebop from Cowboy Bebop. Part space ship, part fishing trawler. It captures that grimy, gritty, "lived in" feel that the series goes for in just a glance, and it has a unique profile that you can't mistake for anything else out there.

 

The spaceship from Apollo 13 looked pretty cool.

 

Millennium Falcon
B-wing
Mark IX Hawk

 

A few of my choices have already been mentioned, but I'm still going to use them

1. TARDIS (Doctor Who)
2. Serenity (Firefly)
3. Victory Class Star Destroyer (Star Wars, still in canon because they're mentioned in Tarkin and shown in a Vader comic)

Runner up: Normandy SR-2 from Mass Effect 2 (this would have been in the number 3 spot, but its from a video game not a movie or TV series, so I'm putting it here)

 

No mention of Liberator yet?
http://smallspaceships.blogspot.com/2008/05/liberator-spotters-guide-part-1.html?m=1

 

Yamato/Argo from Space Cruiser Yamato/Star Blazers
Millennium Falcon from Star Wars
Eagle transport from Space: 1999

 

Gunstar from Last Starfighter.
Star Destroyer from Star Wars.
Lone Starr's Winnebago from Spaceballs.

 

Mine are pretty unoriginal:

Moya from Farscape
The Millennium Falcon from Star Wars
The Battlestar Galactica

 

Damn, this is hard.

White Star - Babylon 5
USS Sulaco - Aliens
Revenge - Transformers The Movie

But there are so many more I could add and probably I'll go back and forth on this list.

 

Do you keep that in your wallet?

 

Just small craft this time. I'll do the big boys and girls later. In no particular order ...

SA-23E Starfury


Earth Thunderfighter


Type-0 Cosmo Zero space fighter

 

Discovery One - 2001: A Space Odyssey
Moya - Farscape
Rocinante - The Expanse

 

Small(1 or 2 person)- Veritech Fighter- Macross. No question. If aliens gifted me one personal craft from my imagination it would be the Veritech fighter.

Spoiler

Medium sized - Millenium Falcon

Large sized - Archangel from Gundam Seed/Gundam Seed Destiny

Spoiler

 

The Liberator is a good one (and would kind of fit in with my sentient travel motif), but aside from the command deck, medical, and the teleportation room, you didn't get to see much of the interior (which is what I'm mostly judging on). The exterior design is nice though.

 

Excellent choice with the Sulaco. I was actually thinking of putting the Nostromo as one of mine, but then I realized the one thing that drove my ultimate selection of the three I decided on was that they had a certain aesthetic beauty. While I've always loved the lived-in, run-down industrial look of the Nostromo on the inside; externally it always seemed like something that could only be appreciated through the lenses of 3 AM beer googles. In fact, back in my days experimenting with sketching famous sci-fi ships, my attempt at the Nostromo was the most abysmal as it was very difficult due to the overall shape and unclean lines of the model. I think trying to draw the Sulaco I'd run into the same issues especially considering it was designed to merely look like an oversized Pulse Rifle.

 

Star Trek not allowed!

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Three was a hard cut, several of the things others have picked would be in my top ten.