Five favourite fictional spacecraft

[dewline]

Blame or praise fajrdrako for this one. She posted a list of her own this morning - or was it last night? - on the subject and it got me thinking. So, in no particular order of importance...

1. The Eagle Transporter, Space: 1999 - a classic workhorse design, it's a proper heir to the roles of the NASA space shuttles of these past three decades. One of the first fictional spacecraft I ever learned to recognize, much less attempted to draw as a kid. The "roll bar" spinal superstructure of the ship was something that always bugged me back then, as I was lazy enough to draw those roll bars as simple lines. I didn't start paying attention to their true nature until years later. Loved the multi-tasking, modular nature of those beasts, too.

2. USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D - The starship as work of art. The curves are a bearcat to draw, but it's like a swan or a Canada goose in flight on the TV or movie screen.

3. Millenium Falcon - easier to draw, with all its odd geometric shapes, nooks and crannies. Eccentric in its piratical tendencies, and a true reflection of her crew.

4. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 2010: Odyssey Two - a pragmatic design for long-range intra-system spacecraft. Loved how Syd Mead worked it out from Arthur Clarke's novel for the movie of the same ilk. One could understand quite easily why the Babylon 5 people cribbed/saluted the design for their Earth Alliance Omega-class battlecruisers.

5. Galactica, Battlestar Galactica(2004-2009). I don't know quite how to explain this one.

I wish I had at least one comics-related example to add in here...

Comments

[ebenstone.livejournal.com]

I always loved the Argo/Space Battleship Yamato growing up.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

A show I've yet to see. Captain Harlock in its French translation, Albator, le Corsair d'Espace and his flagship the Arcadia, though? That, I've seen and I have to admit that it's had an impact on my design thinking over the years, though perhaps too subtle.

[jackolantern.livejournal.com]

Still prefer the original Constitution-class, pre-refit Enterprise. It just seems more... balanced, somehow.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

There are days, I have to admit, with that edition of 1701.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Happy to take the blame.

I was trying to find better comic book spaceships, too. Arguably there's the rocket to the moon in which the Fantastic Four were zapped by cosmic rays, but it isn't the ship itself I feel sentimental about, it's the event. I don't much like any of the Shi'ar vessels. So... what?

I'm coming up with nothing much.

In Smallville I was rather fond of the ship Clark came to earth in and the associated special effects, but it didn't come to much of anything.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

The one comics-originated starship design that stands out for me would be Keith Giffen's Mk. 595 Legion Cruiser, with its variable sizes and all.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, the Giffen Legion ship was wonderful. A good choice. I like the Arcadia too, but haven't seen enough Albator to be very familiar with it.