What are your favorite spaceships from science fiction shows, movies, games, comics, anime or anything?
The Swordfish from Cowboy Bebop is probably my top favorite. I like the idea of small compact ships meant for a single person and going fast.
For that same reason I love the Razorback from The Expanse. Except the engine to ship ratio in this universe probably makes more sense realistically. The cockpit 360 swivel system is also really clever.
The Outlaw Star from… Outlaw Star is not a small ship. I just like it because it looks cool despite its goofy unrealistic grapple arms that hold weapons.
Maybe it’s because I’m old, but BSG’s vipers.
Oh, and the Lexx!
Lexx!
We need more bug-ships in modern sci-fi. Dune’s thopters don’t quite do it for me.
There are so many awesome ships, but my favorites by far are from Star Wars
Ebon Hawk from KOTOR:
Stinger Mantis from Fallen Order:
I think the reason I really love both if these is how they just feel intimate and cozy, like proper homes in space.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of bigger ships as well. For example, I love the Normandy from Mass Effect. But in the end, nothing can beat small crew ships for me.
I think the reason I really love both if these is how they just feel intimate and cozy, like proper homes in space.
Yes! I love these two for the same reason, along with Serenity from Firefly.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of bigger ships as well. For example, I love the Normandy from Mass Effect
What about the first Normandy, from ME1? That one was a lot smaller, and gives me similar vibes, even though it did have a much larger, less personal crew.
From Halo, my favorite ship is probably the Heart of Midlothian, followed by the Spirit of Fire. There’s something I like about the slabbed, angular bow.
From Mass Effect, the Tempest, bar none the most attractive ship I think I’ve ever laid eyes on. I think she looks better when you can walk around her, it’s hard to get a good angle on.
And an odd one out, the Taiidan Destroyers from Homeworld are particularly badass, even if their gun layout is objectively hot garbage. Could say the same about most Taiidan ships, they look less functional and more like the product of an unchallenged imperial navy. Kushan vessels feel comfortably realistic but aren’t visually distinct.
(HD artwork by Jayden Morris on Artstation)
I always liked the designs of the ships in Babylon 5 as each culture had a distinctive aesthetic that told you a bit about them - human craft were chunky and practical, Minbari ships were elegant, Vorlon vessels were organic, etc.
Honestly, it was always Picard’s Enterprise (D I think…?) from TNG.
I always really liked that take on a capital ship. They’re usually military vessels or logistics craft, what else do you need something that big for? The Enterprise was well-rounded though, and perfect for deep space serial adventures around more complex moral and ethical issues.
Also, it fucking splits into two ships!
I love the show, but the ship always felt too clean, too perfect, and too large. Voyager and even the Defiant cause more feelings and memories than the Enterprise does for me. But I agree that the ship design is perfect for what TNG is.
well-rounded
I see what you did there.
Moya from Farscape. Creepy, organic, but strangely lived in. Also very temperamental.
I’ve always liked just about any sentient/thinking ship. Oddly enough, I can’t think of any examples where a thinking ship has been paired with a wicked design. Although I might just be overlooking something.
But some examples from sci-fi fiction:
- Gay Deceiver (Robert A. Heinlein - he was using the term “gay” in its original sense)
- Helva, from Anne McCaffrey’s The Ship Who Sang (she’s technically a human “Brain” installed in a ship…but the series is written as if she’s the ship in many ways)
- Zora (Star Trek: Discovery . I really wish she’d gotten more time, a Star Trek ship that is sapient is something we should’ve been able to explore in lots of detail)
- ART - Asshole Research Transport, aka Perihelion, from Martha Well’s Murderbot Diaries
Edit: Sorry about the spam, all us social media lemmings are making things slow and buggy, poor lemmy.world can’t keep up with us.
The Culture ships. I’m sure at least a few of them look wicked.
The R-9A Arrowhead from the R-Type games. I remember thinking that the blue canopy looked so unexpected and elegant as kid.
I like the main ship from Battle Beyond the Stars
That is both sex’ reproductive organs in one ship.
The Normandy SR2 from Mass Effect.
The Defiant, Sovereign, and Akira classes from Star Trek.
The Pegasus from Battlestar Galactica.
Yes, I have a type. Big gun beauties who stomp into a fight not giving AF are my thing.
I’ve always been fond of the (seemingly) abandoned generation ship Thistledown from Greg Bear’s Eon.
Nostromo from Alien, it was such an awesome industrial looking design.
Maybe this says a little too much about me, but I love the personification and romanticism of Firefly’s Serenity. She’s a bucket of bolts, but she’s home.
Persepolis Rising (book 7 of The Expanse) the introduction of the Laconia magnetar-class ships were always really cool in my imagination, haha. They just seemed so powerful and impossible to take on.
