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.
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.
