What are your ~10 favorite sci-fi spaceships of all time? Why?

[jaqie]

I know this will get tons of different answers, but I thought this may be a good topic for discussion.

My list (NOT in order, just my ~10 favorite):
USS Defiant (DS9)
SSV Normandy 2 (mass effect series)
Millennium Falcon
Runabout class (DS9)
Klingon bird of prey
EAS Agamemnon (Babylon 5 series)
Valkyrie (Tiatan AE)
G'Quan class heavy cruiser (Babylon 5 series)
USS Voyager
last but not least...
the "star car" (the last starfighter)

I have no enterprises. Why? I almost listed the excelsior class, and almost listed the sovereign class, but the sovereign has that stupid joystick and argo-shuttle combo thing that just are incredibly stupid to me, and though the excelsior class is really awesome in my book these others just beat it out as my favorites.

 

[JujuFish]

First two that came to mind were USS Defiant and Moya. Don't know if I have a top 10.

 

[Arkaign]

10? Not sure I can name 10 lol

Come to think of it I can't name any. I lolled at the paper towel roll thing in Star Trek though, the Doomsday Machine I think it was?

 

[SolMiester]

Is there a site of famous fictional starships?

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Is there a site of famous fictional starships?

http://www.merzo.net/

 

[splat_ed]

Heart of Gold (Hitchhiker's Guide) - a ship that travels through everypoint in space, serves a drink nearly but not quite like tea, and has a paranoid android on board... and the doors are happy to open for you.

Moya (Farscape)

Most of the Star Trek ships naturally.

SS Normandy (Mass Effect)

A entire city from Cities in Flight (book, James Bish)

 

[gorobei]

chrome thingy from flight of the navigator
sulaco
the bebop
swordfish II
redtail
sdf macross DYRL
tardis coral desktop
nirvana from vandread
nadesico3

 

[tynopik]

Is there a site of famous fictional starships?

what about famous real starships?

 

[motsm]

Icarus II from Sunshine.

The Engineer's ships found on LV-426 and LV-223, in Alien and Prometheus.

The orb containing the tree of life, in The Fountain.

Then of course a few from Star Wars, others from the Alien universe, Close Encounters, and likely plenty I'm forgetting.

 

[tynopik]

Nike class battle-cruiser from Honorverse - small enough to be independent and not need a support fleet, strong enough to demolish everything in the way

 

[OCGuy]

lol

 

[Maximilian]

This bastard:

 

[Sinsear]

wow

 

[notposting]

Since many of these are from the same show/series:

Robotech (SDF-1, Veritech)
Star Wars (Star Destroyer, Blockade Runner, Millenium Falcon, X-Wing) (both original trilogy and the pre-NJO novels)
Prometheus from SG-1
Voidhawk/blackhawk from the Night's Dawn trilogy
Star Trek (most Enterprise variants)

 

[Murloc]

I don't think I even remember 10 ships.

But I agree that the normandy from mass effect is kinda cool and has a humane design.

 

[Gibsons]

White Stars from B5
One of the Enterprises, just because
Super Star Destroyer

the big guitar ship

 

[Puddle Jumper]

USAF Odyssey from Stargate
Normandy SR-2 from Mass Effect
NX-01 Enterprise from Star Trek USAF Prometheus from Stargate
Asguard O'Neill from Stargate
USS Defiant from DS9
UNSC Spirit of Fine from Halo
USS Kelvin from the Star Trek Reboot
Prometheus from Prometheus
Atlantis from Stargate

 

[diesbudt]

Red Dwarf

/thread

 

[BrokenVisage]

the big guitar ship

1000x this, also, Epoch from Chrono Trigger/Cross, the thing can travel through time, forget about it!

 

[Iron Woode]

SDF-1(2 and 3)
Space Battleship Yamato
Vorlon Planet Killers
Doomsday machine from Star Trek

 

[exdeath]

ISV Venture Star from Avatar.

I was HIGHLY impressed with its realistic design when I first saw Avatar.

Engines in front because a tensile structure is smaller and lighter, and in rocketry and space flight, mass is EVERYTHING.

Massive radiators for the nuclear fusion thermal engines due to lack of convective cooling in vacuum.

The proportion of engine and fuel mass dwarfing the rest of the ship relative to a very small habitable volume, very realistic for interstellar travel.

Massive fuel and oxidizer tanks (or just high density propellant for reaction mass to eject at high velocity in the case of this being a nuclear thermal rocket that requires no oxidizer or chemical combustion).

Engines angled slightly away off axis to protect habitable area from engine exhaust and radiation.

Multiple debris shields and early warning systems deployed ahead of the ship several thousand kilometers.

Habitable area protected by a very thin non metallic hull designed to minimize secondary radiation from the material itself when struck by cosmic rays. Previously mentioned debris shields protect from particle damage. And again, less mass.

Non aerodynamic and minimal mass design.

Combination photon sail and fusion rocket propulsion. Departure from Earth using massive laser (using the sun?) while engine burn begins half way point in the trip to start deceleration, hence engine radiators are red hot on arrival and remain that way for several weeks.

Mirror to protect habitable area from the laser source powering the photon sail. Not shown because its several kilometers ahead of the ship on tethers.

For all the crazy sci fi in that movie, that ship is one thing we could actually build today. I was impressed as hell in the opening just seeing a non aerodynamic space ship.

 

[Fingolfin269]

This should be moved to L&R.

 

[KidNiki1]

1. Serenity

2. Millennium Falcon

3. Heart of Gold

4. NSEA Protector

5. USS Enterprise - D

6. Boston's Guitar Ship

7. Ultra Black Frictionless Ship from Hitchhiker's guide

8. My Bounty hunter ship in SWTOR

that's all I can think of at the moment...

 

[Ventanni]

ISV Venture Star from Avatar.

I was HIGHLY impressed with its realistic design when I first saw Avatar.

Engines in front because a tensile structure is smaller and lighter, and in rocketry and space flight, mass is EVERYTHING.

Massive radiators for the engines due to lack of convective cooling in vacuum.

The proportion of engine and fuel mass dwarfing the rest of the ship relative to a very small habitable volume, very realistic for interstellar travel.

Massive fuel and oxidizer tanks (maybe just fuel for reaction mass in the case of a nuclear thermal rocket that requires no oxidizer).

Engines angled slightly away off axis to protect habitable area from engine exhaust and radiation.

Multiple debris shields and early warning systems deployed ahead of the ship several thousand kilometers.

Habitable area protected by a very thin non metallic hull designed to minimize secondary radiation from the material itself when struck by cosmic rays. Previously mentioned debris shields protect from particle damage. And again, less mass.

Non aerodynamic and minimal mass design.

Combination photon sail and fusion rocket propulsion. Departure from Earth using massive laser (using the sun?) while engine burn begins half way point in the trip to start deceleration, hence engine radiators are red hot on arrival and remain that way for several weeks.

Mirror to protect habitable area from the laser source powering the photon sail. Not shown because its several kilometers ahead of the ship on tethers.

For all the crazy sci fi in that movie, that ship is one thing we could actually build today. I was impressed as hell in the opening just seeing a non aerodynamic space ship.

I agree, it's an absolutely beautiful, even practically built ship, but don't get too excited. According to the movie, it was also a matter-antimatter propulsion powered ship that could travel at ~0.7 the speed of light. The amount of energy required to get a massed object up to that speed could probably crack the Earth in half if it were to detonate all at once, so we have a ways to go before we can reach the Alpha Centauri system in 6 years like this ship can. Still, definitely one of my favorite designs!

As for purely science fiction, non-realistic favorites:

1. USS Voyager (Star Trek) - Small, sleek, smart, and fast. These were the perfect explorer ships, and true to Starfleet designs, built with just enough firepower to be respected wherever they travelled.

2. USS Enterprise-D (Star Trek) - There's something about these Galaxy class starships that are absolutely gorgeous to me. The producers actually spent 4 years designing the ship for the show, and you can tell there was a lot of work and thought put into it. At the time of their release in Starfleet, Galaxy class starships were the largest, most advanced, and most militarily capable starships of their time.

3. The Avatar ship listed above. I love the old NASA vibe it has.

 

[Red Storm]

Serenity:

And the 300i from Star Citizen. Game isn't even out yet but I can't wait to fly this thing with the Oculus Rift: