Not that I'm biased...
Courtesy of our good friend Al Navarro comes a question for the ages, and one I’m amazed we haven’t asked before. But first, a little context.
One of the basic requirements of space-based science fiction is a good setting. Let’s face it, we’re talking about space here, and space sucks. Literally, actually, it’s a huge vacuum, devoid of almost everything. So a series set in this kind of exciting locale had better bring along something interesting, or it’s going to end up being pretty boring indeed. Enter the fictional starship.
Star Trek had the Enterprise, whether it’s the NX-01, the No-Bloody-A-B-C-or-D, the Galaxy- or Sovereign-class ships. Also the Defiant, my personal favourite. And that thing that carried Seven of Mine around. All noble steeds, but were they really the greatest? Others will choose the Millennium Falcon. Or Galactica. Or perhaps it’s Marvin the Martian’s ship, complete with running-shoe landing gear. In a way, it comes down to preference, but everyone’s going to have a favourite.
So, have at it. Battle it out, and let’s settle this once and for all: What is the greatest fictional space craft of all time?
["User Input" is the AtomicToasters Question of the Day™ asking you, the teeming millions, to answer our pressing questions.]
<img src="http://www.shockingimages.com/graphics/reviews/h/hardware_wars2.jpg" />
The 'Nostromo' from "Alien"
<img src="http://cdn.ablogtoread.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/nostromo1.jpg" width=”600”>
[youtube 7Kpnbl3tn58 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kpnbl3tn58 youtube]
The original lunar landing craft.
A few of my favorites:
<img src="http://mitglied.multimania.de/STARWARS_Blueprints/1imperial_battleships/executor.jpg" width="400/">
<img src="http://politicaljesus.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/serenity1.jpg" width="400/">
<img src="http://image.internetautoguide.com/f/celebrities/spaceballs-the-movie-1973-winnebago-eagle-v-spaceship/23181444%20w527%20st0/spaceballs-the-movie-1973-winnebago-eagle-v-spaceship.jpg" width="500/">
<img src="http://www.universeguide.com/Pictures/ColonialViper.jpg" width="500/">
<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lid8lbLhmy1qi9l3lo1_500.jpg">
Just because the whole thing is chrome.
<img src="http://slurmed.com/wall/087/087_planet-express-spaceship_0800.png" width="500/">
That chromed monstrosity from SW1 is kinda like a space-faring Bugatti. Pretty, but do you _really_ want to drive it?
You beat me to Serenity – she's not that good looking, really, but DAMN does she get it done.
Not to mention she comes with one heck of a mechanic to keep her going.
/I'llbeinmybunk
An amazing answer that really does make me sad. I can't describe how much I miss Calvin and Hobbes.
C&H has a two tone that I never really got when I was a kid reading it. I really enjpoyed it asa kid, it made complete sense to me. I did not understand that someday that imagination I had as a kid would be gone and this comic strip would have another way of being perceived for me when I grew-up. It is now a reminder that that way of thinking and seeing the world is now gone to me, forever. That makes me sad. My kids sometimes make me sad for the same reason, because I see that they still have that too. I can nurture that, I can encourage that, but I'll never have it again, oh well. So anyway back to the question at hand, which your comment made me change the answer to. I saw a film when I was young, "The Explorers" and I loved it. It had some kids build a space ship out of junk and a hurl and whirl ride, I mean how cool is that! I must have watched that film almost as many times as I watched "D.A.R.Y.L." I loved it that much. So one day I watched it with my kids, they loved it (except maybe for the boring slow part at the end), I did not enjoy[ it anymore. Drat it's all that part of me now being an adult and not being able to believe that the premise was at all believable getting in the way. Stupid growing-up!
<img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.moviefone.com/media/2009/10/junk_explorers-1256108966.jpg">
CaffeineFuelled and I have something of a mantra. At least once a day, I make her laugh at something stupid, and she'll ask me, "How old are you again?"
I hold up fwee fingers, and respond with "I'm DIS manies!"
It's one of the things that can be either endearing or irritating about myself, CaffeineFuelled, CardboardTube and TechieInHell when we all get together. We're quite intentionally maintaining the childlike mentality that we loved. I still get up on Saturday mornings and put on cartoons while I eat sugary cereals. Cardboard and I have played CalvinBall until we laughed ourselves stupid. I've given him a huge welt on his hand from fencing with cardboard tubes (not actually the source of his name, but pretty damn close). We've given each other toys for birthdays and Christmases for over 15 years now, some of which were silly and childish, and which we each liked all the more.
Good for you and your buddies! Maybe I'm not too far along yet and can go back a bit, I'll try at least. So then why does C&H make you sad? Is it just that there are no more?
here is a handy-dandy reference for some of the more well known ships.
http://www.reoiv.com/images/random/spaceship.jpg
That is brilliant. Took someone quite a bit of work to figure all that out, I'm sure.
Yes, that is fantastic. And who wouldn't want to tool around near space in an "Unknown Sub Light Waste Barge"?
It's a tossup for me. There is, of course, the Tardis…
<DIV style="OVERFLOW: auto"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/TARDIS2.jpg/220px-TARDIS2.jpg" width=500>
Somewhat more obscure is the Fesarius. Aboard the Fesarius, Balok would be pleased to serve you a glass of tranya. I hope you relish it as much as I…
<DIV style="OVERFLOW: auto"><img src="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/en/images/thumb/0/07/Balok_laughing.jpg/800px-Balok_laughing.jpg" width=500>
Unsafe vehicles, hills, and philosophy go hand in hand. – Randall Munroe
If anything, as we begin to understand jokes, rather than just repeating them because we've been trained to recognize a punchline, we should be able to inject bug-eyed monsters, superheros, and, my favorite, cynical private investigators, into our own storytelling amid endless ridiculous targets and contradictions.
SDF-1
<img src="http://www.igorstshirts.com/blog/conceptships/robotech_sdf1.jpg" width=600>
<img src="http://abuggedlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/sdf1.jpg">
Ya gotta love a ship that can sustain a city, turn into a Mecha, destroy a fleet in one shot and almost single-handedly hold off an entire race of warriors.
Fantastic choice. Rick Hunter approves.
<img src="http://www.angryzenmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/rick-hunter.jpg" width="500">
Is it too late to change my answer? Cause I need something a little more recognisable by silhouette.
<img src="http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/3200000/Planet-Express-Ship-futurama-3296119-1024-768.jpg" width="500">
It's the battleship from G-force. End of. I can't post a pic because my battery is croaking but WAVE MOTION GUN!
You do mean The Phoenix, right? The gang with the capes including the fat guy named Tiny? Not that fool hamster movie.
<img src="http://ardendesign.net/g-force/g5.gif" width="500">
In fact if you pop over to eBay you can get a nice papercraft model of it that the "assembly process may train the 3D space and the structure concept, promotes family members to interact, contribute to our peace of mind or inner tranquility." <a href="http://cgi.ebay.ca/GODPHOENIX-GATCHAMAN-G-FORCE-3D-PAPERMODEL-US-4-99-/140481049527?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20b552b3b7” target=”_blank”>http://cgi.ebay.ca/GODPHOENIX-GATCHAMAN-G-FORCE-3D-PAPERMODEL-US-4-99-/140481049527?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20b552b3b7
Nope- our Village resident up there refers to the pride of the
Imperial Japanese Navy, and the savior of all mankind, the
(space) battleship Yamato!
"We're off to outer space, protecting Mother Earth.."
(wanders off down the sidewalk, singing loudly)
Didja know the made a live-action remake about
two years ago?
I always liked the Eagles.
<img src="http://redeyerogue.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Eagle-2.jpg" width="500">
And Barbara Bain: so sessy!
A plastic one of those lurked in my grandma's basement throughout my childhood, and I never knew exactly what it was supposed to be (beyond it being a rocket with a neat truss-frame exoskeleton.) I'm guessing it belonged to my cousin who's about 9 years older than me.
I had the 1/50th scale(?) version, with the cargo hoist, growing up.
Cinched a 4th grade Show & Tell with that one.
I was always more partial to Maya, myself.
One ring to rule them all. (Originally it wasn't supposed to move, but then Niven decided to write Ringworld's Children…)
<img src="http://benchu.com/images/ringworld.jpg" width="500">
See, that never made any sense. You can use the sun as a great
flippin' laser (Meteor Defense). Now you wanna turn it into a fusion
pinch point for a flippin' Bussard Ramjet, Larry? What are we gonna
do about all the particles coming in at the edge of the ramscoop field?
It's the size of the Solar System, Larry; what's to keep all the nice folks
from getting bbq'd?
Or maybe he meant it to do/power both? I never figured that out.
About this time 2 years ago, the most stressful task for me at work was to learn Inventor, which would have been stressful for a 5-year veteran of Pro/E except we only had 5 Inventor licenses and there were at least 6 people doing production work in it. So off to SolidWorks I went, for what was the first and hopefully last time that I model up a spaceship from Wing Commander 3 while on the clock and using something other than my preferred CAD system.
<img src="http://i51.tinypic.com/1zlddzr.jpg" width="500"/>
Which was supposed to be this
<img src="http://wcmdf.solsector.net/main/pictures/1/arrow-white.jpg" width="500"/>
I think I got the body cross-section a little too square and heavy, but oh well.
I've
hacked my way throughpicked up 6 or so CAD packages in as many years, so I feel your pain.I have both Pro/E and Solidworks on my work machine. I have about 8 years Pro/E experience. Solidworks looks like it would be really good. I have taken 3 or 4 classes, but is always seems to come down to either dealing with a legacy design that was done in Pro/E or knowing that I can do things quicker in Pro/E. I just don't have the time to learn/relearn yet again Solidworks. The other ME I work with is even worse. I think he started using Pro/E at about release 11 or so.
I honestly like SolidWorks in part mode and for small assemblies, but I think it falls on its face with large assemblies and complex surfacing, and I spend better than half my time in large assemblies. I usually don't have to see the complete vehicle, but for an example when I'm doing something like routing the air conditioning hose from the evaporator back to the compressor through a loader (whether the skid steers I worked on before, or the articulated "payloader" type now) I do need to see almost everything that's along every path I might take. Fortunately for me, both places use Pro/E so I haven't had to endure SolidWorks with large assemblies in a real-life setting yet; I've just seen enough while watching over the shoulders of folks on other, SW-based projects that I'm scared away from it.
I'm doing small point of sale type terminals so big assemblies usually aren't too much of a problem, unless I get the PCB files that include every single component from the electrical guys.
Considering yesterday was Towel Day, I have to go with the Heart of Gold. It passes through every point in the universe at once!
<img src="http://files.myopera.com/demiphonic/albums/113789/I_think_I%27m_a_sofa.jpg" width="600">
"I think I'm a sofa."
"I know how you feel."
one of the better parts of that film
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Q82oWlgDxSE/TUHdaTm4zcI/AAAAAAAAACo/ZyknzfEL778/s640/flight-of-the-navigator.jpg">
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RuBCDW25bIU/TObU53DWh4I/AAAAAAAAAwc/FPLkpKVhYAk/s320/Navigator%2Bship.gif">
"We've been accused — most recently by Cardboard's ex — of being immature"
Hence the "ex".
There is a beautiful sense of justice in that sentence.
It wasn't actually intentional… but it's pretty damn accurate!
Most of my first picks have already been mentioned, but here are a couple that deserve honorable mention…
<img src="http://moebiusmodels.com/images/Jupiter2box.jpg" width="500">
<img src="http://www.culttvmanshop.com/thumbnail.asp?file=assets/images/products/pegasus/galaxyquest/pegprota0rt.jpg&maxx=300&maxy=0" with="500">
I heard the other day (maybe even here?) that the NTE in the registry number was an inside joke that it stood for "Not The Enterprise".
[...] interesting bit of conversation sprung up in yesterday’s User Input, and it’s one that has had me thinking about it for almost 24 hours now. Specifically, we [...]