this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2023
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The Event Horizon is great. So are the others that immediately come to mind. What's your favorite forgotten/lesser known ship. Here's the Cygnus from The Black Hole.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] DevCat 6 points 1 year ago

That was one seriously twisted show.

[–] Peculiar_One 4 points 1 year ago

Lexx is good but personally I prefer Moya.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've always loved the fighters (Starfury?) from Babylon 5:

I used to spend a lot of time modelling them in 3D software, just because! I love the aesthetic, how they have a hint of modern military (the cockpit is Apache helicopter-like), the way they're held then launched almost like missiles, and how agile their design inherently is. Plus, the design obviously has some nods to the ship in The Last Starfighter and of course the X-Wing from Star Wars - both of which are cool ships.

In the game Elite Dangerous, there's a ship called a Vulture that has similar elements (cockpit, size-ish, agility) and in VR is the closest I've come to feeling like I'm flying one!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Came to say these fighters. The forward/backward propulsion on each pylon just makes sense in space.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The GunStar from The Last Starfighter blew me away as a kid. Pretty good CG for the era as well, but the design felt sleek and believable.

I've always loved the Vipers from BattleStar Galactica as well as the Veritech from Macross (well... robotech since that's what it was called here when I was a kid lol) but I feel like those are both pretty mainstream now?

Always liked the Thunderfighter from Buck Rogers and his frienemy, Hawk's, fighter.

The morphing ship from Flight of the Navigator was pretty cool. In that same era, the bubble ship from Explorers was pretty awesome concept.

Do personal vehicles count? I always wanted to have a Light Cycle from tron. I loved that they just turned it on and their disk became the steering and it just formed around them. Plus it was cool af. The Cylcone from Macross / Robotech was pretty cool in that same vein.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm honestly a little bit flabbergasted to learn that CG was in use on the Last Starfighter (1984). I was about to get pedantic, but as I usually do when that's my instinct - I googled it. I would never have guessed.

Maybe I'll see if my husband wants to watch it later. He hates early CGI

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

There was definitely some terrible weird looking CG from back in the day... but some of the examples were really well done and still hold up ok. There are some moments in Last Starfighter where you're like "ouch... flat shaded cg" but some other moments where it looks great. I think a chunk of the ship was also practical, but there were some detailed CG in it.

When movies used it for something that wasn't meant to look realistic, back before it was feasible, it still holds up ok. For a sci-fi spaceship or things like the vehicles in TRON, you don't get that weird uncanny valley feel as much IMO.

[–] letter_d 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

These are all great. Loved all of these growing up.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I keep thinking of things I want to add to the list LOL.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

you had it at GunStar. That thing was so cool. Great movie too.

[–] Daisyifyoudo 8 points 1 year ago

Rocinate!! (It was a legitimate salvage)

[–] DevCat 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Thunderbird 2, and yes, I have the whole series. It was not technically a spacecraft, but it's my favorite of the craft they had.

[–] letter_d 4 points 1 year ago

Thunderbirds are go! Definitely fun designs.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

The "Eagle" ships from Space: 1999. Great workhorses, very realistic.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I'm gonna say the Nostalgia for Infinity from Alastair Reynolds's Revelation Space series. It's the size of a small city and was built centuries before the start of the series to carry 100k passengers, but now it's completely decrepit, crewed by 6 people, and the majority of the ship hasn't been explored by anyone in decades.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm thinking the shuttle from Interstellar, myself.

[–] letter_d 3 points 1 year ago

That's a good pull

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Moya from Farscape. She's a biological ship, and the writers did an amazing job giving her a personality and exploring her lifecycle, including having children. She becomes one of the main characters as the series evolves.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Plus Talon is a bad ass warship.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Without question it’s Serenity from Firefly. I know Firefly is relatively well known on the internet, but in general I’d say it’s off the beaten path. That ship is my friend.

[–] letter_d 3 points 1 year ago

Definitely a great ship

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

@RohanWillAnswer

@letter_d

Came here to mention Serenity.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The cylinder ship from clarke’s rendezvous with Rama.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yes! As a teen, I was so baffled by the description that I drew a cross-section of the ship to try to understand the layout. Love me some Rama

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

does the city from dark city count?

if not probably the Nightengale from Supernova

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Mmm... Dark City... don't sleep on this one. Great flick. Watch the directors cut, not the american release though... that intro spoiler was terrible.

[–] letter_d 1 points 1 year ago

It counts. Also a good call.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Oenone, a Voidhawk from The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton

[–] Thteven 3 points 1 year ago

Those books were a mindfuck lol, I love them.

[–] letter_d 2 points 1 year ago

Will have to check those out

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So many good ones named, but I'm going to go with

  1. The Hammerhead from "Space: Above & Beyond"

  2. Any/all of the fighter ships from the video game series "Wing Commander"

  3. How come nobody's mentioned the fantastic Eagle Transporter System from Space-1999??????

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Hello presumable fellow child-to-teen in the mid-90s. I will always upvote references to Space: Above and Beyond or Wing Commander.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Heh. Nope, 30something in the 90s. Just enjoyed good sci-fi then :D

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Then I shouldn't have presumed! Space 1999 ought to have been a clue...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The Eagles from Space:1999 as others have mentioned, and also the Liberator from Blake's Seven.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm not sure if this counts as sufficiently off-the-beaten-path, but I've always loved the Omega Class Destroyer from Babylon 5.

https://youtu.be/IPRY2rT-STU

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Starfury has a special place in my heart.

[–] letter_d 2 points 1 year ago

They all count. And it'll be new to somebody!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I've always loved The Phoenix from Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If I'm going by aesthetics, it's got to be the Baudo Star Yacht from Star Wars. The curvy version, not the Pulsar Skate version.

That said, Event Horizon is some legendary tier accidental 40K fanfic.

[–] letter_d 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yes. Yes it is. (And I'm not sure it was that accidental)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

For sheer hilarity, my vote has to go to the Ork Rok:

https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Rok

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Any of the ships from the Culture universe.. but I really liked " A Frank Exchange of Views".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

@letter_d

The Dragonfly, from the book "The Flight of the Dragonfly", by Robert L. Forward.

Epic ship from an #epic and under-rated book and author.

[–] Thteven 2 points 1 year ago

I'm a black templar player so I feel obligated to say the Eternal Crusader. It's a 10,000 year old ~20km long Gloriana class battleship that serves as the HQ for the black templar's never-ending crusade to purge the galaxy of xenos and heretics. I love all the ships in 40k, they're all just so over the top lol.

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