This is a list that I did back in 2000 that I feel still holds up. There really have not been any major "oh mys" that have busted forth in the looks and designs of spaceships in science fiction since then. The 'new' Enterprise for the reboot movie just misses the mark and the Galactica from the reboot series looks like an adult toy gone wrong. That may change now with the new web series 'Buck Rogers' after looking at the ship in the teaser trailer. I do have a soft spot for those 'golden age' space craft designs. So without any further ado, here is my 10th post on 10 ships nearly 10 years after I wrote it for the first time. I love a theme.
In the visual world of science fiction in space (ie: television, movies and comics) the look of the starships that the hero's, and villains, fly around in is a very important thing to grab the viewers and convey the personality of the characters. Here is a list of ten vessels that I feel have been very successful in doing so. Feel free to agree or disagree, or even submit a list of your own.
#10. USS Enterprise, NCC-1701 (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
For fans of the television series Star Trek, it had been a long decade since they last saw the adventures of the crew of the Starship Enterprise, and lets face it the first movie outing was shall we say - DULL! But the one thing that stood out was the Enterprise herself. Seeing her all decked out and updated was like seeing ones high school sweetheart after ten years, and my god, she looks better then she did when you dated her in school! A little sleeker, more detailed, and better lighting, made you believe that the Enterprise was up there and ready to fly into the 'final frontier'.
#9. The TARDIS (Doctor Who)
Not very impressive looking, a blue police box sitting in a junk yard. That is the first view people saw of the TARDIS when watching the first episode of Doctor Who. Little did we know what laid behind those doors of that police box, and what a concept the BBC gave us for a space and time vessel on a children's show in the early 1960's. Larger on the inside then the outside, maybe the size of a small city. If working right, it can change shape to fit in its surroundings, and can travel anywheres in time and space at a blink of an eye. It is safe to say that the TARDIS is the longest serving cast member of Doctor Who, outlasting ten lead actors and a legion of supporting cast members. She had a personality that came off on screen, that made you believe that this might be more of a living entity then a machine, and has in its own way, burned its image into the minds of millions of people.
#8. Scanner One (Atari Force)
In the mid 1980's, DC comics tried to give it's readers a more adult science fiction comic with a story arc that lasted over several issue. It was a tie in with the ATARI computer game company with the first five issues offered in several game packs. But it showed enough interest to become a 20 issue series with one special and was named one of the 5 best comics for the year 1985. The ship looked like an off shoot of the stylized A that ATARI used as its logo, but it worked. It used a multi phased type of faster the light drive that took it into universes that existed next to ours (called the Multiverse) in such a way that it could "take off" in a closed off hanger. No heavy weapon, super shields, it was just a glorified taxi to take our hero's to their adventures. But that's all the heros needed to find adventure and save the universe.
#7. The Leonov (2010)
Bulky and ugly, the Leonov gave movie viewers a very realistic image of what a space vessel would look like in the near future more then any other film at that time. In fact, Arthur Clarke once said that the Discovery should have looked like the Leonov and the other way around to better show the natural "evolution" of space vessels. It was one of the first, if not the first, to show the rotating section on the outside of the ship that would produce gravity for its crew. Yes, the Discovery had one also, but it was all covered up inside its hull and could not be seen. There is also no doubt that the Leonov helped inspire the Omega-class destroyers seen in Babylon 5 almost 10 years later.
#6. USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-E (Star Trek: First Contact)
Again, another Star Trek vessel appears in these pages, and for good reason. This is the ship that should have been used for Star Trek: The Next Generation instead of the bulky ovals that was known in that series. Sleek and detailed, this is the type of ship that one could be seen taking over the legacy of the Enterprise line. The sad thing about it, though, is that it may have less screen time then the before mentioned for-runner (that having only been seen 6 times while the E model has been seen only three) because the producers wish not to share it with the other Star Trek franchises. This is a ship too good to waste on a dying franchise, and begs to be seen more often. Lets hope that it will, but with the new 'Star Trek' reboot, I doubt it.
#5. The Eagles (Space: 1999)
Gerry Anderson's big live action foray into science fiction after his UFO series had big potential, sadly it had a rather silly plot of the Moon being used as the space vehicle to transports the shows hero's to their adventure. But the one thing that burned into my mind was the Eagle space craft used by the Moonbase Alpha personnel to get from point A to point B. As a space craft used in low to zero gravity, it was very believable. Having sections able to be taken out and replaced with others for specific job duties is a idea that NASA has in mind for future space programs, and in fact, the space shuttles ability to take modular science modules in the cargo bay helps see this onscreen science fiction become science fact. But as a vessel used inside normal atmospheres, it became typical Hollywood (or in this case, British Television) crap. But maybe one day the Eagles will see their use on a future moon base.
#4. The El Dorado (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)
The only time I saw this ship was in a book of model making that a friend Charles Beardshear picked up. Inside they had ideas on what to do with your science fiction models, such as the Eagles from Space: 1999 or how to turn your AMT USS Enterprise model into a Federation Tug seen in the Star Fleet Technical Manuel by Franz Joseph. But inside those pages was a section on how to make the El Dorado used by Buck Rogers in the comic series. It was the typical sleek cigar shaped ship with the rivets running down the side and multi tubed engine, but with the golden paint job over her, she made the image of the "classic" 30's space ship. Makes me wish I had picked up a copy of the book that sat on the shelves of Hub Hobbies for years.
#3. War Cruiser Ajax (Flash Gordon)
To follow in the line of the El Dorado, the makers of the 1980 film Flash Gordon did allot of work in paying a campy homage to the 1930's serials about Flash Gordon. In that homage the Mongo War Cruiser Ajax stands out very much to me. Keeping to the style of those 30's space craft, it was 'cigar' shaped, sleek, had stylized fins and something new -- a deck for the soldiers to defend the ship from the Hawkmen. Plus, it had a convenient pike in the front to spear the bad guys when crashing a wedding. Yes, not good science, but fun science fantasy.
#2. Millennium Falcon (Star Wars Trilogy)
When one first saw this ship, you just didn't know what to make of it. It was a saucer with a cockpit off the side and a giant radar dish mounted on top. Then besides that, it was marred and dented- - nothing like a starship we had been shown until then. It was all part of George Lucas's view of a universe where things had that used look. The Falcon was a hot rod starship where things broke down at the wrong time, and in Episode IV: A New Hope had dice hanging in the cockpit. It didn't take fans of the movie series to fall in love with this ship, and I'm sure that a level of shock crossed them when word got out that the Falcon was destined to be destroyed in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Lets just be grateful that Lucas changed his mind on that idea.
And Now...
#1. The Excalibur (Babylon 5: A Call to Arms, Crusade)
As the television show Babylon 5 came to an end, TNT television green lighted a new series based in the same universe. To be based on a ship instead of a space station like Babylon 5, the creators of Crusade had to design a ship that would grab the attention of the viewers, and grab they did. The ship was a cross of Human/Mimbari/Vorlon technology to create the first in the series of White Star-class Destroyers to battle the forces that would try to destroy the alliance created after the Shadow War. About a mile and a half long and using a gravity drive to propel it through space, she made one sleek and mean looking ship that would have any hostile being thinking twice before taking her on. There is the Vorlon super weapon that is emitted from the upside down Y 'fins' at the aft of the ship that can stop just about anything that is thrown against her, but with one flaw. Firing the super weapon causes a major power drain that lasts about a minute before the ship is recharged. When the Crusade creators showed the design of the Excalibur to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, they exclaimed that they would love to take the ship on a 'ride around the block' if it really existed. So one could presume that in the future some NASA space ship designs might just bear some resemblance to this impressive ship. Its just sad that TNT had a major stupid moment and canceled the show at 13 episodes before it even aired because I would loved to have followed this ship on its "five year voyage".
Some Very Notable Mentions that we had no room for because 10 is still 10 and not 11 and so on:
#1. Planet Express Ship (Futurama)
When Simpsons/Futurama creator Matt Groening was a young lad, he was an avid science fiction reader. So needless to say that his comic homage to this genre had a blend of the old, with a mix of the new. He was able to take that classic look of the 30's space craft and blend it into the ones we are familiar with now today. The ship does not have a name, and the captain is a one eyed alien (really mutant). But this ship has found a way to be able to become a 'believable' entity to this viewer, and secretly would love to have a trip on it some day. (sigh)
#2. Imperial Star Destroyer (Star Wars Trilogy)
Lets face it, the opening moments of Episode IV: A New Hope blew people out of their seats when a fairly large starship (Leia's corvette) flew across the screen followed by a giant wedge shaped monster chasing after it. It's amazing that such a simple shaped starship (a wedge with a bridge tower on top) could imposed such an image of evil and fear to the viewer but the Star Destroyer did a great job. The only thing that came along to top it in the series was Darth Vader's Super Star Destroyer.
#3. Battlestar Galactica (Battlestar Galactica)
After Star Wars came out, every studio had to have their own "Star Wars". Universal tapped Glen Larson who had been working on his own idea Adam's Ark since 1974. Out of that idea came Battlestar Galactica. The Galactica was part of a fleet of 12 Battlestars designed to protect the 12 Colonies of Man from the forces of the cyborg lizard race known as the Cylons. The ship was a mile long (the same length as the Imperial Star Destroyer of Star Wars fame) with two giant fighter bays that hang off the side of the Battlestar that were almost the length of the ship. On the aft section, almost a quarter of the ships mass, sat the two giant engines that pushed the ship through the sea of stars. The show may have come from the "Star Wars" race, but the Galactica was an original of her own.
#4. The Klingon D-7 Battlecruiser (Star Trek Original Series)
If there was a ship that seemed to be more advanced then the original USS Enterprise of the original series, it was the D-7 Battlecruiser. Sleek and swift looking, the ship was a perfect complement to her "enemy" Enterprise. She had more compact engines then the Enterprise, making it seem like the Klingons might have been slightly more advanced then the Federation and a smaller silhouette that was ideal for a combat starship as not to make it too easy for the enemy to lock their weapons on it. Seen only in the series third season, a more updated version was seen in the movie series with a much added bonus - - rear firing torpedoes.
So this is my list of 10 (plus a few) of the coolest starship in science fiction.Let us hope that we will see more original designs in the future from our writers, film makers and artists.
Eirik Farwanderer
5 December, 2009 Anno Domini
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