Ugliest Starships!

[Cap'n Caveman]

- The Earth Alliance ships from Babylon 5. Absolutely no sense of style; they look like unfinished Erector Set projects.

- The Daedalus-class starship from Trek. I *hate* that globular primary hull.

- Serenity from FF.

To be fair, I don't think the Earth Alliance or Firefly-class ships are in any way meant to look good. The former are meant to look as realistic as possible (spinning segments for artificial gravity), and the latter is meant to look like an ugly, over-used working-class freighter -- the outer space equivalent of a pickup truck. And, personally, I love both of them for it.

The Eagles from Space:1999 are designed realistically and are meant to be workhorse space vehicles, but in my mind the Eagles are beautiful compared to those ships from B5 and Firefly. A good designer can work within those guidelines ("realistic" and "over-used working-class freighter") and still come up with something aesthetically pleasing.

Ugliest Trek ships? Of the hero ships, no doubt the Excelsior-, Galaxy-, and Sovereign-classes are butt-ugly (with apologies to ugly butts everywhere).

 

[blakbyrd]

Excelsior Class

 

[EnsignJulka]

Enterprise D is butt ugly!

 

[RAMA]

Honorabe mention goes to the Galaxy-class Enterprise-D, only because I never liked the swan-like neck and the saucer section appear too large when compared to the engineering hull and nacelles below.

You said it. Enterprise D is the ugliest ship I ever saw. Not only the swan-neck to saucer and swan-wings to nacelles, the saucer is way too bloated and ungainly. The unsightly use of clashing neon colors with the overabundance of too-large windows, makes it look like a red, white and blue Christmas tree. And when it does the goofy saucer separation, it gets even worse.

So swans are ugly?

RAMA

 

[RAMA]

A lot of kit bashes are ugly, but of the of them all, the Constellation from STNG is the worst!

RAMA

 

[Red Ranger]

Honorabe mention goes to the Galaxy-class Enterprise-D, only because I never liked the swan-like neck and the saucer section appear too large when compared to the engineering hull and nacelles below.

You said it. Enterprise D is the ugliest ship I ever saw. Not only the swan-neck to saucer and swan-wings to nacelles, the saucer is way too bloated and ungainly. The unsightly use of clashing neon colors with the overabundance of too-large windows, makes it look like a red, white and blue Christmas tree. And when it does the goofy saucer separation, it gets even worse.

So swans are ugly?

RAMA

Just swans with huge heads and little wings, aka big-ass saucer sections with truncated nacelles! -- RR

 

[RAMA]

You said it. Enterprise D is the ugliest ship I ever saw. Not only the swan-neck to saucer and swan-wings to nacelles, the saucer is way too bloated and ungainly. The unsightly use of clashing neon colors with the overabundance of too-large windows, makes it look like a red, white and blue Christmas tree. And when it does the goofy saucer separation, it gets even worse.

So swans are ugly?

RAMA

Just swans with huge heads and little wings, aka big-ass saucer sections with truncated nacelles! -- RR

Well the D is possibly the only Federation starship I would consider a "work of art". It DOES look more like a sculpture than the workmanlike design of the TOS era Enterprise. But then some people like name brand furniture and others like plastic patio tables.

RAMA

 

[Red Ranger]

So swans are ugly?

RAMA

Just swans with huge heads and little wings, aka big-ass saucer sections with truncated nacelles! -- RR

Well the D is possibly the only Federation starship I would consider a "work of art". It DOES look more like a sculpture than the workmanlike design of the TOS era Enterprise. But then some people like name brand furniture and others like plastic patio tables.

RAMA

Rama: Good points. At first, I didn't dislike the D. That happened over time. I prefer the Sovereign-class E over the D, partly because its design is a throwback of sorts to the good ole NCC-1701, no bloody A, B, C, D, or E! -- RR

 

[D'deridex]

I think the Ferengi Shuttles in DS9 are really uglie. They look like horned barrels.

 

[PointyHairedJedi]

You know, thinking about it, most of Trek's ships are ugly - the only designs I actually like are the Constitution, the Excelsior, and the Cardy Galor class. As to which of those ugly designs is the worst... well, there are so many to choose from, where does one possibly begin?

 

[Patrickivan]

Growing up watching the original ST in the 70's, I craved new ships so badly, that I didn't care what they looked like. I was just so excited to see another ship. I didn't like the E-D at first, though was still excited to see it when it came out, but then grew to love it.

It's sad, but I think when Generations came along with the E-B, Voyager with Voyager, and all the CGI ships from First Contact, I started being more critical. Including the E-E, it seems that the creators just started going for these really odd looking ships that I just never liked. There are just too many to list here.

But I'll say (as far as hero or main stream ships go- to narrow the field) the E-E, NX-E, Voyager, and Defiant are some of the ugliest ships.

What about other race ships? I hated the Kazon ships. And the Xindi stuff were just horrible. OH YEAH- Shinzon's ship from ST:N was like a metallic blossoming flower- ugh.

 

[HRHTheKING]

Federation ships started getting ugly when they ditched the Connie/Miranda/Oberth/Constellation types in favour of the "red bussard/blue nacelle" type.

 

[Keith1701]

Enterprise D is butt ugly!

I disagree!!!! Enterprise-D is a good looking ship, but I like Enterprise-E the best so far!!!

 

[Starbreaker]

I think the Galaxy Class is hideous.

 

[PhoenixIreland]

Federation ships started getting ugly when they ditched the Connie/Miranda/Oberth/Constellation types in favour of the "red bussard/blue nacelle" type.

The Miranda was the worst.
When I first saw the Enterprise E I despised it, but it's growing on me, it would look better with L shaped pylons though

 

[Sector 7]

I like the Enterprise-E... its design came after the Borg encounter, when StarFleet changed from diplomacy/exploration to more combat-readiness. Let's face it... the D is artistic (read: diplomatic) while the E is almost stealth-like (read: battle-ready).
Opinions are like belly buttons... some are in... some are out... but everybody's got one!

 

[Patrickivan]

I like the Enterprise-E... its design came after the Borg encounter, when StarFleet changed from diplomacy/exploration to more combat-readiness. Let's face it... the D is artistic (read: diplomatic) while the E is almost stealth-like (read: battle-ready).
Opinions are like belly buttons... some are in... some are out... but everybody's got one!

You make a decent argument for the E-E's design. I can see how a squat ship may offer a smaller sensor profile, or something of the futuristic equivalent. Maybe even the silly black colour patterns have a reason.

But do you like it from a practical point of view, or because of any aesthetic qualities?

The poster was seeking everyone's opinion, was he not?

 

[EEE]

Enterprise D for me. Hands down. Besides never liking the squished look of the entire ship, the over-abundance of lit windows was a turn off for me (even though they were probably more "realistic.").

In TOS, the Enterprise was just as important a "character" for me as the actors were. It was a major factor in my getting hooked on TOS at an early age during it's initial run. Elegance in combination with a VERY unique design for sci-fi to that point. (although I'm glad they did away with the TOS saucer separation for budgetary & timing reasons after seeing the secondary hull run around in TNG).

Not being a TNG fan, can anyone tell me how the design process of the D went? (as compared to the now famous process for designing the original).

 

[HRHTheKING]

Enterprise D for me. Hands down. Besides never liking the squished look of the entire ship, the over-abundance of lit windows was a turn off for me (even though they were probably more "realistic.").

In TOS, the Enterprise was just as important a "character" for me as the actors were. It was a major factor in my getting hooked on TOS at an early age during it's initial run. Elegance in combination with a VERY unique design for sci-fi to that point. (although I'm glad they did away with the TOS saucer separation for budgetary & timing reasons after seeing the secondary hull run around in TNG).

Not being a TNG fan, can anyone tell me how the design process of the D went? (as compared to the now famous process for designing the original).

http://www.ottens.co.uk/forgottentrek/tng_1.php

 

[Basill]

I have to go with the Prometheus. I simply hate that ship.
Honorable mentions must go to Sabre, and Norway, though I think their overall designs are not too bad, I hate their details, limited as they were. I'm not a big fan of the Sovereign either, but again, I think it is more an issue of detailing than overall design.

The Movie designs are my favorite and I actually like most kit bashes up through Wolf 359. I also like the concept of compact variants of more prominent designs, such as the Miranda and Nebula. Things like the Yeager and Curry however, were just silly in my mind, though the Centaur isn't too bad in shape despite the poor scaling of Miranda and Excelsior kit parts.