I really like the design of the TIE series, especially the TIE-Interceptors. A lot of Star Wars ship designs, from both trilogies, are really visually pleasing. Even if the rest of Phantom Menace was poop, the Naboo Starfighter really helped to recapture some of the pulp scifi feel that the series seemed to’ve lacked since Cloud City.
The lack of the USS Defiant on your poll is a tragedy! Well, maybe not a tragedy. To be honest, I’ve always thought that the Federation ship designs left a lot to be desired. The Romulan D’deridex class Warbird, now that’s a sexy battlecruiser. Sleek and menacing in all the ways the various Enterprises never were. Most Klingon ships are pretty clunky and utilitarian, but the Romulan-inspired (or Romulan-borrowed, depending on the canon) B’rel class Bird-of-Prey is a hell of a nifty design. Though they were botched on TNG and substantially changed on DS9, the Ferengi D’kora class Marauder was also a neatly designed ship. And while it was basically just a big block in space, the plain geometry of the Borg Cube somehow terrified.
There can only be 20 options in a poll, and my back of the envelope list already had over 40. I personally picked the Discovery even though it’ snot in the poll, I didn’t put the Nostromo or the Sulaco, the Narn, Centarui, Minbari, or Vorlon Heavy Cruisers, The Nebulon-B Frigate, The Phoenix, the big ship of lights from Close Encounters, The Draconia, etc etc etc. :)
I decided not to include video game ships because I felt there were relatively few videogame spaceships that a really broad number of people would know and admire for their design (i.e., Eve Online has a lot of cool looking ships but it’s still a fairly niche game. I wanted stuff with a little more penetration into popular culture).
Star Wars and Star Trek and ost other well known sci-fi license ships in games are covered by their parent media franchises, and a really high percentage of other videogame ships are fighters, which I didn’t really want to get into much.
The Enterprise (all versions). The split-level saucer/fuselage/nacelles design is iconic, and anything in any sci-fi genre with even remotely that design is immediately recognized as an Enterprise clone.
The Millennium Falcon. Another iconic ship design, and one that makes SENSE for a spaceship. No silly concern for aerodynamics because they’re not applicable. It’s not a speedy gunship, it’s a boat.
The Yamato. It’s a boat. With the archetypical Beam Cannon. Starblazers defined Japanimation for me when I was a kid, so it goes on the list for sheer awesome.
The SDF-1. Never mind the fact that it was a rickety piece of shit in a horrible series about a war humanity totally deserved to lose because they were a bunch of useless cocks. It’s a spaceship that looks like a big-ass aircraft carrier and it turns into a giant rocket-spamming robot FOR NO GOOD REASON. Makes the list for its lifetime achievements in Maximum Ridiculosity.
Serenity - because like the Millennium Falcon, it’s not a speedy agile fighter, it’s a ship that’s rickety and practical. In a lot of ways, the portrayal of the ship in the context of the series reminds me of how the HMS Surprise is portrayed in the Aubrey/Maturin novels.
The U.S.S. Enterprise - Honestly every version has its own strengths, but my favorite has, since it was created anyway, always been Enterprise E. I love the more angular, darker design elements mixed with the classic saucer and nacelle motif.
Serenity - This might be a purely emotional pick, but there’s something I love about the aluminum foil duck look of Serenity. It’s unique and looks like the kind of ship that works for a living.
Millennium Falcon - Loved it as a kid. Love it as an adult. The bright band of blue that is the engine always gets me stoked.
I admire the Defiant’s kickassedness, but it always looked like a remote door unlock keychain for someone’s car to me.
JMS had the good grace to have one of his characters actually say, in one episode of Bab5 “The White Star always looked like a plucked chicken to me.”, which I thought was admirable of him.
I love the Defiant, but I don’t disagree that most Federation designs tend to look like something someone might make at home with toilet paper rolls and paper plates.
Well if we’re going to go that way, then I’m going to be a dissenting opinion and say that the klingon/romulan ship designs have always been vastly superior to the design of the enterprise itself. I always felt the enterprise design, while iconic, was pretty bland comparatively, to something like a klingon or romulan warbird.
The millenium falcon, again, is iconic, but was a weak design compared to, say, Boba Fett’s ship (though maybe this counts as a fighter for you?). And the Rebel Corvettes were way more interesting than the star destroyers. Lacks the wow factor, but just has more thought put in to the look.
Trying to stay away from fighters and stick to larger ships.
I’m sure the Honor Harrington novels would produce some impressive hardware as well.
And how about anything built on a General Products hull in any of Niven’s books?
Trying to stick to tv and movie ships. Ships where we have a decent number of pictures and video clips. The number of people familiar with the visual design/aesthetic of Niven’s ships is miniscule. And if we’re going to do literary spaceships we might as well go Iain Banks Culture ships and end the thread. :)
While we’re talking about The Black Hole, the Palomino arguably belongs near the top of the list of crappiest fictional spaceships…
Enterprise (any variant) - Probably the most iconic ship design in sci-fi history, also I love the way that it is tied in with real history to provide a sense of continuity from the now to the future.
Millenium Falcon - when I was a kid, the toy we all wanted was the big Millenium Falcon with the various sound effects and lights. Not an X-Wing or a TIE Fighter because even as kids we acknowledged that this ship was the star and the human actors were merely supporting roles.
The Death Star - One of the few ships that you can make oblique references to in normal conversation and expect people to pick up on them.
The original Liberator (not the wedge shaped second version) - made with a special effects budget of approximately £0, it still managed to look cool and futuristic.
TARDIS - I shouldn’t have to justify this one.
Could also have stuck in Nostromo, Red Dwarf, Valley Forge (Silent Running) and the Discovery One (2001: A Space Odyssey)
