Beautiful ugly spaceships

[wautd]

Personally there are some ships I'll never find beautiful (I'm looking at you Millennium Falcon or Firefly's Serenity), but some designs are so ugly they're beautiful in their own way.

For me, I really like the bulldoggisch look of a Klingon D7/K'Tinga battlecruiser. What are the favorites of you guys?

[Stofsk]

The Defiant. Not as pretty, elegant or sophisticated as a lot of other starfleet ships, but goddamn one look at her and you know she means business.

[Cowl]

In my opinion the Millenium Falcon would fall exactly into this category, but I would have to agree with you on the Firefly ship. It really does nothing for the senses, and for some reason the design conjures up the image of a beast of burden -- a 'space horse'.

Anyway, my pick would be the Cardassian Galor class. Sturdy looking, ochre-colored and cobra-headed in appearance. It looks like a ship designed for a mining operation.

[El Moose Monstero]

Don't know about beautiful, but I always liked the original Red Dwarf, pre-CGI where they changed the engines from a rocket nozzle to some sort of flat panel with multiple exhausts and screwing with the lines.

[Gunhead]

FPA ships from LoGh, I think they're kinda clunky looking but in a functional way. But LoGH is pure starship porn anyway. It also contains the most awesome looking ships in all of Scifi too.

-Gunhead

[wautd]

FPA ships from LoGh

Yeah, I kind of like their sober, no-nonsense designs. Just a bunch of cannons taped together, a big engine strapped on the back and living quarters somewhere inbetween et voila, a pure killing machine has been born.

[charlemagne]

EVE Online is king of ugly ships. Some is just a matter of personal taste, like the asymmetry of ships like the Exequror cruiser, others like the whole Caldari line-up are pure, condensed ugly, I mean just look at the Moa:

[wautd]

EVE Online is king of ugly ships. Some is just a matter of personal taste, like the asymmetry of ships like the Exequror cruiser, others like the whole Caldari line-up are pure, condensed ugly, I mean just look at the Moa:

I always found the Scorpion a sexy beast

[Ted C]

In my opinion the Millenium Falcon would fall exactly into this category, but I would have to agree with you on the Firefly ship. It really does nothing for the senses, and for some reason the design conjures up the image of a beast of burden -- a 'space horse'.

I actually like Serenity for much the same reasons you dislike her. She's a small freighter, not a luxury yacht, and she looks pretty practical.

Imperial Star Destroyers, B5 Omega-class destroyers, and Colonial Battlestars also have designs that are meant to be functional, not pretty. Quite the opposite of Federation ships in Star Trek and Minbari ships in B5, which sometimes seem to be paying more attention to aesthetics than performance.

[Darksider]

*snip*
Imperial Star Destroyers, .*snip*

Bullshit. If they were designed purely for function they wouldn't have giant bridge towers sticking out begging to be shot off. Don't get me wrong. A Star Destroyer is an impressive bit of ship design, but it's pretty clearly designed to intimidate the Empire's enemies by being large and impressive rather than being purely practical.

In terms of SW designs, i'd actually say the Mon Calamari cruisers are more practical than Star Destroyer-variant ships. They're essentially one solid mass, with no obvious bits hanging off them. Which fits with in-universe descriptions of them being more durable than ISDs.

[The Romulan Republic]

The TARDIS. Something that looks like a police phone box should not make such a beautiful space ship.

[Eternal_Freedom]

The TARDIS. Something that looks like a police phone box should not make such a beautiful space ship.

Most definitely this.

[Simon_Jester]

Bullshit. If they were designed purely for function they wouldn't have giant bridge towers sticking out begging to be shot off. Don't get me wrong. A Star Destroyer is an impressive bit of ship design, but it's pretty clearly designed to intimidate the Empire's enemies by being large and impressive rather than being purely practical.

I don't think I agree.

The point about the aesthetic isn't "this is the most efficient ship design I or anyone else can imagine." It's a question of the look.

Take a Star Wars ship like the Naboo fighters and yacht. It's pretty obvious that the designer of a ship like that started by thinking "how do we want this to look," then figured out how to fit the necessary parts into the hullform he wanted.

Whereas the ISD looks like someone wanted a warship. It's got that exposed bridge tower, which is a weak point- but if we don't get all obsessive over EU details, we don't know why the bridge tower is there. The obvious design inspiration for the ISD is World War-era warships, which bristle with large and small weapon turrets... and have big exposed superstructures, because those superstructures are needed for the ship to fight effectively.

The first time someone sees an ISD, they won't think "ahha, weak exposed bridge tower, stupid flashy design." They see something big and blocky and ungraceful and heavily armed- it looks functionalist in design, even if there are some questionable choices made about how the ship is laid out.

[gigabytelord]

I always found the Scorpion a sexy beast

Good choice but I'm a big fan on the Rohk, after the last expansion all those rail guns not only look awesome but their actually useful now, not that I get to use them anymore

I always thought it looked like a big ass space shotgun, in fact I even named one my ships that.

[Cowl]

I actually like Serenity for much the same reasons you dislike her. She's a small freighter, not a luxury yacht, and she looks pretty practical.

The design of the ship is not very enticing, even from a purely utilitarian standpoint. Apparently the writers wanted a ship that would spark up when launching into FTL mode, hence the class description as 'Firefly'. That's more gimmicky, in opposed to practical.

Imperial Star Destroyers, B5 Omega-class destroyers, and Colonial Battlestars also have designs that are meant to be functional, not pretty. Quite the opposite of Federation ships in Star Trek and Minbari ships in B5, which sometimes seem to be paying more attention to aesthetics than performance.

Omega-class destroyers are indeed aesthetically pleasing.

Good choice but I'm a big fan on the Rohk, after the last expansion all those rail guns not only look awesome but their actually useful now, not that I get to use them anymore

Just watched two episodes of Legend of Galactic Heroes, and the ship design of the Rohk appears to be very similar. Of course it also looks like a train, so that isn't saying much.

[PREDATOR490]

Throw in Stargate X304s

Not really pretty but they do seem rather effective. Since EVE Online Rokh is brought up... the X304 could easily end up fitting right in with the Caldari Navy Pre-Plasma beams.

[Metahive]

Don't get me wrong. A Star Destroyer is an impressive bit of ship design, but it's pretty clearly designed to intimidate the Empire's enemies by being large and impressive rather than being purely practical.

All of its predecessors looked the same way, including the ones used by the Republic. I think it's just that KDY utilizes the "slice of cake"-setup for brand recognition.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Throw in Stargate X304s

Not really pretty but they do seem rather effective. Since EVE Online Rokh is brought up... the X304 could easily end up fitting right in with the Caldari Navy Pre-Plasma beams.

OH yes. The 304's have a definite vote. They have a wonderfully military look to them. The Ha'taks look showy bu the Daedalus and her sisters look all buisiness.

[Ahriman238]

More specifically on the Firefly example, they wanted Serenity to look vaguely like an insect. Something that could sting and annoy the mighty Alliance, but never deliver a decisive blow.

The X-wing games had a series of freighters that were basically frames for holding a number of generic and interchangeable cargo containers to an engine.

[Batman]

When did 'practical' enter the debate? Yes, the Star Destroyer exposed bridge isn't exactly the smartest design decision ever, but neither is the offset cockpit of the YT-1300 or any starship actually having bridge windows. I thought this was about looks.
I like the ISDs- 'Yeah, we're definitely the Bad Guys'-, the Battlestars (I still think nBSG stinks but visually, their Battlestars worked)-'Yeah, I'm ugly, but I'm a Valendamned vessel of war, and sometimes we're ugly'-and the B5 Omega-'Yes, I'm ugly, and the rotating section makes no rational sense, but tell me I don't look like I mean business.'
Also, Serenity. She's a working ship and she looks like it.

Heck prior to the PT there were no pretty Wars ships. With the possible exception of the A-Wing, name me one OT Wars ship that actually looks sleek.

[gigabytelord]

I'll throw a vote in for Galactica being a beautiful, mean looking ship that was clearly designed to hand out very large cans of pure unadulterated whoop-ass to all those who dared to stand against her, and she was designed fairly intelligently to boot
That being said, I simply can't say she was ugly.

[Terralthra]

With the possible exception of the A-Wing, name me one OT Wars ship that actually looks sleek.

The Lambda-class shuttles, the Nebulon-B escort frigate, the Slave I (modified Firespray 31-class patrol craft), hell, even the Gallofree medium transports (Hoth escape) and the Mon Cal cruisers from the Battle over Endor, especially the Liberty-type.

[Batman]

You gotta be kidding me. Have you looked at the belly of the Gallowfree? The top might look sleek but the bottom-not so much. I'll give you the Mon Cals, they're pretty sleek looking designs, but both the Lambdas and the Nebulon B look just as angular as the rest of the OT ships. And Slave I managed to create a whole new subset of ugly all on its own.

[Darth Tedious]

I've said it before and I'll say it again:
Old-school Borg cubes.
Simple geometry. Ugly as shit.

But... the... GREEBLIES.

"Oh my God, it's full of greeblies!"

And on that note, the Monoliths. Same concept, but the opposite extreme.

Just an aside: Does everyone remember the Spaceship of the Imagination (from Sagan's Cosmos TV series)? That was a pretty ship... DANDELION IN SPAAACE!!!

[Terralthra]

You gotta be kidding me. Have you looked at the belly of the Gallowfree? The top might look sleek but the bottom-not so much. I'll give you the Mon Cals, they're pretty sleek looking designs, but both the Lambdas and the Nebulon B look just as angular as the rest of the OT ships. And Slave I managed to create a whole new subset of ugly all on its own.

Maybe you and I mean something different by sleek. I mean definition 3b: having trim graceful lines. Something can have straight lines and angles on it while still being sleek. I'd call F-14 Tomcats, F-15 Eagles, and F-16 Fighting Falcons all "sleek" to varying degrees, despite a number of straight lines, angles, and hard edges.