Starfleet Jedi

So, clearly the main area of debate should be... Starship attractiveness. Which 'verse has the sexiest ships? Not that I find ships sexy... Though some of them, oooooooh.

Ahem. I'll start. The Falcon is a good-looking ship, despite being asymmetrical. The Defiant is a compact yet nicely formed number. What does the floor think?

I recently communicated a little with Probert on Twitter, largely ruining my childhood (I kid, sorta), and was reminded of some old thoughts on this.

See, I love the Runabout. But at the same time, it isn't quite in keeping with that "Starfleet Clean" look that usually typified TNG-era designs, like Probert's Enterprise-D. At the time, the ST:TNG magazine said some high-sounding gobbledygook about "aesthetics surpassing technology" or similar, resulting in machines man would be proud to fly. Hell, Ultramarine was doing that in the 1930's. Of Federation ships, perhaps the simple lines of the Ambassador Class best typify that sort of thing, if for some reason one doesn't count Probert's Enterprise-A.

All that prefacing is merely to say that, aesthetically, I do prefer uncluttered exteriors. The Runabout comes close but works hard to mess it up, even to the point of having a silly strap thing. The Type-7 shuttle, the early-TNG shuttlecraft, is generally superior, as is the Delta Flyer, to a lesser extent. Gotta give props to the speed boat shuttle, too.

Star Wars actually took this to 11 in the prequels. I'm pretty sure there is no more attractive vessel than those flown by Amidala, be it the shiny SR-71 clone or even the Northrop-y flying wing. Even the fighters, with their ridiculous yellow paint, are still a wonder, aesthetically-speaking.

So, the Naboo win this one for Star Wars, hands down.

2046 wrote:I recently communicated a little with Probert on Twitter, largely ruining my childhood (I kid, sorta), and was reminded of some old thoughts on this.

See, I love the Runabout. But at the same time, it isn't quite in keeping with that "Starfleet Clean" look that usually typified TNG-era designs, like Probert's Enterprise-D. At the time, the ST:TNG magazine said some high-sounding gobbledygook about "aesthetics surpassing technology" or similar, resulting in machines man would be proud to fly. Hell, Ultramarine was doing that in the 1930's. Of Federation ships, perhaps the simple lines of the Ambassador Class best typify that sort of thing, if for some reason one doesn't count Probert's Enterprise-A.

All that prefacing is merely to say that, aesthetically, I do prefer uncluttered exteriors. The Runabout comes close but works hard to mess it up, even to the point of having a silly strap thing. The Type-7 shuttle, the early-TNG shuttlecraft, is generally superior, as is the Delta Flyer, to a lesser extent. Gotta give props to the speed boat shuttle, too.

Star Wars actually took this to 11 in the prequels. I'm pretty sure there is no more attractive vessel than those flown by Amidala, be it the shiny SR-71 clone or even the Northrop-y flying wing. Even the fighters, with their ridiculous yellow paint, are still a wonder, aesthetically-speaking.

So, the Naboo win this one for Star Wars, hands down.

You know, I'd completely forgotten about the Naboo ships for Star Wars - certainly sleek, and a marker of wealth as much as anything - they looked expensive. The fighters are kina meh for me - give me an X-Wing any day.

Though, with the X-Wings, I can't quite decide between the original look, or the revised design they brought out for The Force Awakens... overall, the original look shades it.

Another Star Wars vehicle that to me is a nice looking number is the Republic Gunship. Also, though not actually a ship at all, the Super Battledroid design.

The B'rel class Bird of Prey is cool. The Sovereign class too - big and majestic.

The Classic Matt Jefferies Enterprise as realized by model builders Richard Datin, Vern Sion, Mel Keys, and Volmer Jenson. It is one of the great standard setters for all science fiction designs and models made since then.
-Mike

TBH, I was never really a fan of the original Constitution-class' look. I always MUCH preferred the Refit version, which is one of my top-5 favorite ship designs. In fact, here's the list right now:

1: Constitution-class (Refit)
2: X-Wing Fighter
3: Galaxy-class
4: Klingon Bird-of-Prey
5: Millennium Falcon


Most likely because these were some of the first starships I was ever introduced to.

I'll refrain from citing the classical, especially Star Wars, Stargate, Macross and so on. So, I have a guilty attraction towards designs that go for some kind of realism. I found the ship in Avatar to be of interest for example, including the large dropship too.
I also liked the dropship in ALIENS. The Falcons in Space 1999 were cool too.

Outside of this realm, you should also see the Earth warships and Zorg's personnal ZFX-200 in Fifth Element, they were quite stylish.
As weird as they looked, the Covenant ships in the Halo series were interesting.
In terms of clever blends of function and exotism, I really dug some the ships of the Advent, especially the capital ships. The Halcyon carrier is sweet.
V's original motherships and ID4's city destroyers were monolithic but pretty nonetheless. The one in Resurgence was a big ugly fat mama too. With moar lazorz.

In terms of my favorites, they are:

1. Sovereign-class starship
2. X-Wing starfighter
3. Defiant-class starship
4. Klingon BoP
5. Millenium Falcon

Man is it hard to choose, especially since I've built many of these as model kits.

For Trek, the Sovereign and Akira classes are up at the top.

For Wars, the Executor hands down, followed by the MC80.

Khas wrote:TBH, I was never really a fan of the original Constitution-class' look. I always MUCH preferred the Refit version, which is one of my top-5 favorite ship designs.

Yes, but without the iconic, innovative original, all of that and more that we love and take for granted today would not exist.
-Mike

2046 wrote:... aesthetically, I do prefer uncluttered exteriors. .... The Type-7 shuttle, the early-TNG shuttlecraft, is generally superior

At first I was like whuuuuhhh? There are people who actually like those sad little boxes that look like the love child of a golf cart and a minivan????

Fortunately I googled to make sure, and I see I got my types mixed up. Yeah, those are pretty swoopy.


But yes, with only a few exceptions, I'd say Star Trek takes this one, with so much variety from the different species managing to look varying degrees of artistic, functional, sleek and powerful all at once. They somehow managed to come up with very creative designs without looking too ridiculous, the Romulan D'deridex being one of the least practical looking designs I can think of, but I still love it, somehow it works. Really, there's a lot to love there (barring the afore mentioned Yugos in space and the Cardassian's strange affinity for flying fish).

Star Wars does have its fair share too though, I always liked the A-wing, and the Y-wing gets bonus points for sleek lines with the body panels on (props to the Clone Wars), and rugged muscularity with knobby mechanical bits sticking out with the fenders stripped off, like a 1930's hot rod. And it's hard to beat the Super Star Destroyer for brutish presence. (I refuse to give up that wallpaper, even if it is horribly outdated and stretched to heck.)


Outside of 'Trek and 'Wars, I always thought the Arwing from Star Fox was quite sharp.