favorite spaceship design

[wyldpny]

I will also pick the USS Enterprise from Star Trek.
It actually was very different from any previous space ship design at the time.
Remember that this was created in and for a TV show in the 60's. If you think about previous sci-fi and the ships, this was very different and "out there" for a design.
But the designer of the ship, Matt Jefferies, put a lot of thought into the ship and not just how cool he thought he could or should make it.
And lets not just limit ourselves to just the look of the ship from the outside. Jefferies designed the inside with just as much thought. The panels and controls of the ships interior were designed in a way so if anything went wrong it was all very easy to get to...most of the time. This also eliminated the need for an outside spacewalk for repairs which was also great for a 60's TV show budget.
He gave all of the bridge an easy to use ergonomic design, something we ourselves of course wouldn't see in our own lives until many years later.
Some have said that the engine room was small compared to the overall size of the ship and have argued that it was due to budgeting. Actually, he designed it that way on purpose. He figured that a large state of the art ship of the future like that would probably be run by one or two control panels on the main bridge.
Knowing that the warp engines would be extremely powerful and so of course could also be very dangerous, he designed them to be further away from the main sections of the ship.
His most rewarding work though was on the design of it's main bridge. This was so unique and well thought out for it's time that officials from the U.S. Navy actually paid the Star Trek set a visit not long after it was first on the air. After getting a grand tour of the set the Navy officials were so impressed by the overall design of the USS Enterprise bridge that it became the main influence for the design of the U.S. Navy's Master Communications Center based in California.
So yeah, I pick the USS Enterprise :D

[HardyGirl]

I've always liked the flying saucer look; Lost In Space, The Lost Saucer, and pretty much any one you see in the old Sci-Fi B movies. And of course, The Enterprise!

[Brue]

If I had seen a fiction movie with the appollo moon rocket - I wouldda said that was stupid - it'll never work and it isn't very cool.

so i guess i'm not a good judge of ships.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

Here's one that I just thought of that if nothing else perfectly fit the end of the movie: The ship from Close Encounters...

[grayhank]

I've always kind of liked the Jupiter II from Lost In space. Simple but classic.

[Dr. Phibes]

I like the Sulaco from aliens and the interceptors from UFO.

[Seeker]

Taking this on a different spin I think the most realistic space craft would be ones that are shown to look like they would actually work in a space environment. (NO friction or gravity here folks a ship must accelerate in the opposite direction to slow down or stop) That being said......

The star fury from Babylon 5 . The pilot is centered with 4 outboard mulitivectored engines. The ship can accelerate in the opposite direction to stop or piviot on its axis.

The earth battleships from Babylon 5. The majority of the ship rotates on a centeral axis thus creating artificial gravity.


The Eagle from 1999. Designed realisticly. Apollo styled command pod, utlitarian spaceframe, multivectored jets on outboard landing pods.
(sure they wrongly showed it doing dogfight manuevers and NO it wouldnt be able to take off from a earth type planet. The moon has less gravity OK but other then that the Eagle has no lifting surfaces and therefor is as aerodynamic as a brick)



I like that the New Battlestar Galactic took this into account and added attitude control jets on the CGI models and show Vipers doing 0 G maneuvers

[DocDrako]

1 - USS Enterprise 1701-D
2 - Millenium Falcon
3 - Classic Colonial Viper

[The Bat]

Easy choice!! The U.S.S.Enterprise!!!!!!!!

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

No love for Captain Harlock's Arcadia? Or the Sattelite of Love?

I think my fave spaceships are the Imperial Navy battleships from "Battlefleet Gothic."

Don C.

[fallensaviour]

I have three in my top list;

1.)The Enterprise Original of course
2.)Serenity from Firefly
3.)The Millenium Falcon
All three cool designs.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

Jeff Russell's STARSHIP DIMENSIONS

Neat website. I do like how on one page he compares the real world landmark buildings to the stay-puft marshmallow man and Godzilla

[Mikey]

Gotta be The USS Cygnus from The Black Hole

Coolest but most unrealistic spaceship ever

http://www.kuto.de/images/galerie/cygnus_1.jpg

m

[toys2cool]

I'll take lone stars Winnebago from Spaceballs

[SUP-Ronin]

Tough call, for me. There are a lot of cool looking ships out there.
I always liked the Tie interceptor, but wouldn't pick it for my own, but Star Trek has some great looking ships too.

This website is cool. It compares lots of different ships from all sorts of movies and shows, and they are to scale. Good question. I'll have to think about it.

Jeff Russell's STARSHIP DIMENSIONS