Starship porn?

[Warped9]

I once came across a reference to "starship porn" many years ago. At the time I understood it to refer to some people's fascination and interest with the hardware aspects of science fiction, more particularly SF in film and television.

I took the term as a joke. But it raises the question: why are so many of us interested in fictional science and technology and hardware? More particularly the science and tech of starships and other space vehicles.

It's prominent in relation to Star Trek, but I know there are fans of stuff from other shows and films although I'm not certain how extensive the following is there. And I'm reasonably certain it's not an interest that began with Trek, but perhaps became more popular there.

For Star Trek since the beginning I sensed something different. The science and technology and hardware seemed more credible than what I'd seen elsewhere. I got the sense that the producers seemed to take more care in making their ideas more believable. I'm fascinated with the starship Enterprise and other things related to it directly or indirectly. I devoured the technical references and illustrations in the book The Making Of Star Trek as well as the Franz Joseph materiel released in the early 1970s.

And I've noticed this interest in others extending throughout all the shows and films. The internet really let this interest explode although it was already quite broad even before the internet.

Although not as strongly I am interested in other SF hardware, such as stuff from Star Wars and Babylon 5 and others.

- the Seaview from Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea.
- the Proteus and the Voyager from both versions of Fantastic Voyage (1966 film and animated TV series).
- ships from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- the Jupiter II from Lost In Space (and I don't like the show).
- the Batmobile from the silly '60s Batman series.
- the Batmobile (Tumbler) and Batcycle (Batpod) from the modern Batman films.
- the Defiant from DS9.

I'm sure I'm overlooking something.

Anyone else interested in starship porn and why? And it doesn't have to be just Trek.

 

[O'Dib]

A bird of pray neck-deep in Enterprise's shuttle bay.

 

[TrekkieMonster]

I had to laugh, because my husband refers to TBBS as my "Star Trek Porn" site.

You raise a very interesting question. I'm right there along with you, in the fascination (just not the artistic talent part.) I've been fascinated with it all since I was young. I think some of it may have been sort a confluence of all the Trek stuff that was coming out in the '70s when I was really into it: The Making Of (which I must've ready at least 5 times), the FJ stuff .... Sort of like you said, I guess I just always felt with Trek in particular that there was some sort of desire to make the Tech seem, if not realistic, at least plausible ... and consistent. There was an effort to explain, if only in a general way, that A connected to B which made C happen, both among the fans and in the show itself.

And now I'm rambling. But, suffice to say, I'm one of those SciFi Tech heads, too. Interested in hearing what others have to say.

 

[Kaiser]

Well for me im 25 and i've been hooked to "starship Pron"
since i was 8 and my Dad let me read is 1976 copy of the Star Fleet Technical Manual ever since i've been hooked on everything regarding Starship design in Star Trek and in other sci-fi's i guess for us its like how some people admire
cars or boats and such as to why we do i dunno and its probably better we dont and just sit back and enjoy it all
and thank our Scienist friends or if your lucky Co-workers
trying to make what we love to see a reality

 

[Warped9]

A bird of pray neck-deep in Enterprise's shuttle bay.

A rather disturbing image.

 

[O'Dib]

I'm into kinky stuff.

ETA: Judging by some size comparisons, it'd be a tight fit.

 

[judexavier]

In my own case, I have always been interested in the technical "guts" of how things work...aircraft, ships, tanks, cars, jet engines, etc. Combining that - obsession? with the worlds of sci fi seems a natural - and quite fun -progression. It seems to me that trek in particular lends itself to more detailed analysis of "how things work"...I'm not sure other fan-genre's get into that much detail, say, for instance, "how the Millennium Falcon's engines work". I know there are Star Wars cut-away books and so forth, but they seem to more...loose-fun? (Not that Trek can't be fun, but there seems to be a more defined, seriousness to "Trek-Tech").
Another thing that made Trek more intriguing from the beginning was the "mystery" behind much of the tech. For instance, (like Jefferies wrote) "What the hell is "Warp Drive?" What were those wonderful spinning domes for?
So, we invented. (Or, smart fans did).

 

[Forbin]

Never heard it referred to as starship porn, but I've been a sci fi vehicle junky all my life, going way back to things like Space Angel's Starduster in 1962. Been building models of them and drawing them as long as I can remember.

 

[sojourner]

My own personal reason? NASA works too slow.

Star Trek is the only setting that seems to have enough internal consistency giving the illusion of a path of development in the designs. I have always liked seeing how technology progresses from say - small cloth wrapped bi-planes to edge of space jet fighters.

I also blame it on the coffee table books dad would buy as I grew up. He likes stuff on WW2, so we had lots of big glossy books like "Aircraft of WW2" and "Battleships of WW2" with lots of big fold out diagrams with top/side/front views of stuff. I love those books.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

My reason's pretty much like Sojourner's except without the battleships.

 

[Warped9]

Never heard it referred to as starship porn, but I've been a sci fi vehicle junky all my life, going way back to things like Space Angel's Starduster in 1962. Been building models of them and drawing them as long as I can remember.

Space Angel's Starduster in 1962(?)

I'm not familiar with this. Could you elaborate?

 

[Warped9]

Never heard it referred to as starship porn, but I've been a sci fi vehicle junky all my life, going way back to things like Space Angel's Starduster in 1962. Been building models of them and drawing them as long as I can remember.

Space Angel's Starduster in 1962(?)

I'm not familiar with this. Could you elaborate?

Okay, I looked it up. I get it.

Reminds me of being fascinated with the Phantom Cruiser from Space Ghost.

 

[Amaris]

I'm not certain why, but the design of the original Enterprise (particularly the TMP refit) seems to catch my breath nearly every time I see it. I can't explain it, but it does. I also like the designs of the Excelsior, the Galaxy and Ambassador classes, and a few other non-kitbashed starship designs. Aside from that, no other science fiction genre design has ever caught my attention in such a way.

 

[TrekkieMonster]

I'm not certain why, but the design of the original Enterprise (particularly the TMP refit) seems to catch my breath nearly every time I see it. I can't explain it, but it does. I also like the designs of the Excelsior, the Galaxy and Ambassador classes, and a few other non-kitbashed starship designs. Aside from that, no other science fiction genre design has ever caught my attention in such a way.

Interesting point. Now that you mention it, I suppose I would have to agree. When I was younger I remember friends being all about the Eagles from Space 1999 and I know some people are really into the ships from StarGate and B5, etc. And, while I find them interesting, I have to confess that none of those ever captivated me like the Trek ships. Intriguing ....

I also wanted to comment that my Starship Porn obsession has translated somewhat to real life. The Hubby and I have become sort of obsessed with cruise vacations, and as a side effect I've really gotten into knowing all the details of cruise ship engineering and design. A little over a year ago we got to do an "Ultimate Ship Tour" of the Ruby Princess: a 4 hour behind the scenes trip through the entire ship, including the engine control room (which was surprisingly similar to something you would see on TOS), up the funnel structure, through the galley, the laundry, and all in the inner workings, ending on the bridge. I was like a kid in a candy store, sucking it all in. And now I'm even more obsessed. On our last trip, as we were leaving the pier for our day ashore one lady walking ahead of us commented that she hoped she remembered which ship she was on (there were 3 in port that day) because they all looked alike to her. I was like They were all different classes of ship, from 3 different cruise lines, of wildly differing design and vastly different size.

Then again, The Hubby can't tell his Constitution Class from his Galaxy Class starships. To him, they all have a saucer, a thing that hangs down below, and things that stick up off of that. That's my cross to bear.

 

[Mary Ann]

I reckon that the attraction of the Trek ships is that they aren't twee or insult our intelligence (such as we have it; I'm a complete technomoron). Rodenberry strived for as much scientific accuracy as possible, and this, I believe, is the basis of what makes Trek's ships so appealing. The nifty explosions were an added bonus.

 

[Warped9]

I suspect it's less scientific accuracy and more seeming scientific plausibility.

 

[The Axeman]

Yeah, accuracy was never allowed to get in the way of the story. I think we are comfortable with the Trek ships precisely because we grew up with them (whichever series was yours during childhood) and throughout it's been pretty consistent internally with the tech. It might be a load of BS they made up, but it's all based on the same BS every time and we can believe we are in the know because we recognise and understand what it's meant to do. Because there were design rules and clear styles between species and eras we can be plane spotters as well as simple viewers.

 

[sojourner]

I'm not certain why, but the design of the original Enterprise (particularly the TMP refit) seems to catch my breath nearly every time I see it. I can't explain it, but it does. I also like the designs of the Excelsior, the Galaxy and Ambassador classes, and a few other non-kitbashed starship designs. Aside from that, no other science fiction genre design has ever caught my attention in such a way.

Interesting point. Now that you mention it, I suppose I would have to agree. When I was younger I remember friends being all about the Eagles from Space 1999 and I know some people are really into the ships from StarGate and B5, etc. And, while I find them interesting, I have to confess that none of those ever captivated me like the Trek ships. Intriguing ....

I also wanted to comment that my Starship Porn obsession has translated somewhat to real life. The Hubby and I have become sort of obsessed with cruise vacations, and as a side effect I've really gotten into knowing all the details of cruise ship engineering and design. A little over a year ago we got to do an "Ultimate Ship Tour" of the Ruby Princess: a 4 hour behind the scenes trip through the entire ship, including the engine control room (which was surprisingly similar to something you would see on TOS), up the funnel structure, through the galley, the laundry, and all in the inner workings, ending on the bridge. I was like a kid in a candy store, sucking it all in. And now I'm even more obsessed. On our last trip, as we were leaving the pier for our day ashore one lady walking ahead of us commented that she hoped she remembered which ship she was on (there were 3 in port that day) because they all looked alike to her. I was like They were all different classes of ship, from 3 different cruise lines, of wildly differing design and vastly different size.

Then again, The Hubby can't tell his Constitution Class from his Galaxy Class starships. To him, they all have a saucer, a thing that hangs down below, and things that stick up off of that. That's my cross to bear.

I took that one step further. I worked for Royal Caribbean for 7 years on the ships. It was probably the closest to being in starfleet as you can get in current times, hehe. I was onboard the ships for 8 months out of the year as the System Admin onboard. I even got to spend 2 months in the shipyard for the final fit out of the Navigator of the Seas.

 

[Forbin]

Never heard it referred to as starship porn, but I've been a sci fi vehicle junky all my life, going way back to things like Space Angel's Starduster in 1962. Been building models of them and drawing them as long as I can remember.

Space Angel's Starduster in 1962(?)

I'm not familiar with this. Could you elaborate?

Okay, I looked it up. I get it.

Reminds me of being fascinated with the Phantom Cruiser from Space Ghost.

...which I also loved!

 

[TrekkieMonster]

I'm not certain why, but the design of the original Enterprise (particularly the TMP refit) seems to catch my breath nearly every time I see it. I can't explain it, but it does. I also like the designs of the Excelsior, the Galaxy and Ambassador classes, and a few other non-kitbashed starship designs. Aside from that, no other science fiction genre design has ever caught my attention in such a way.

Interesting point. Now that you mention it, I suppose I would have to agree. When I was younger I remember friends being all about the Eagles from Space 1999 and I know some people are really into the ships from StarGate and B5, etc. And, while I find them interesting, I have to confess that none of those ever captivated me like the Trek ships. Intriguing ....

I also wanted to comment that my Starship Porn obsession has translated somewhat to real life. The Hubby and I have become sort of obsessed with cruise vacations, and as a side effect I've really gotten into knowing all the details of cruise ship engineering and design. A little over a year ago we got to do an "Ultimate Ship Tour" of the Ruby Princess: a 4 hour behind the scenes trip through the entire ship, including the engine control room (which was surprisingly similar to something you would see on TOS), up the funnel structure, through the galley, the laundry, and all in the inner workings, ending on the bridge. I was like a kid in a candy store, sucking it all in. And now I'm even more obsessed. On our last trip, as we were leaving the pier for our day ashore one lady walking ahead of us commented that she hoped she remembered which ship she was on (there were 3 in port that day) because they all looked alike to her. I was like They were all different classes of ship, from 3 different cruise lines, of wildly differing design and vastly different size.

Then again, The Hubby can't tell his Constitution Class from his Galaxy Class starships. To him, they all have a saucer, a thing that hangs down below, and things that stick up off of that. That's my cross to bear.

I took that one step further. I worked for Royal Caribbean for 7 years on the ships. It was probably the closest to being in starfleet as you can get in current times, hehe. I was onboard the ships for 8 months out of the year as the System Admin onboard. I even got to spend 2 months in the shipyard for the final fit out of the Navigator of the Seas.

I bow to you, sir.

I really have become sort of obsessed with cruise ships. I know Princess the best, as that's "our line", but am interested in them all. I followed the development of the Oasis of the Seas with extreme fascination. We have friends who work for cruise lines and, God love 'em -- and you -- for putting up with the nasty passengers.