39,327
edits
Cool Starship: Difference between revisions
m
Mass update links
m (fix broken external links) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 5:
{{quote|''"The only thing between you and the vacuum of space is six feet of solid style."''|'''[[Spore]]'''}}
The cool ship can be a spaceship that other characters consider a [[What a Piece of Junk!|piece of junk]]. In fact, you get [[Used Future|extra points for junky]]. If you can't call it a rustbucket, though, it has to be the one and only latest, just-about-a-prototype, bleeding-edge [[Shiny-Looking Spaceships|techno-miracle]].
An ancient living [[Precursor]]-craft, retrofitted with the latest techno-miracle gadgetry ''disguised'' as a rustbucket, that can think for itself... Okay, dude, quit hogging the cool.
A form of [[Cool Ship]]. The [[Recycled in Space|Sci-Fi equivalent]] of the [[Cool Car]], [[Base On Wheels]], [[Cool Boat]], [[Cool Airship]], and other forms of [[Travel Cool]]. In fact, because [[Space Is an Ocean]], it is often heavily inspired by the [[Cool Boat]]; many spaceship types are named after equivalent water ship types. See the [[Standard Sci
Cool ships can even be single-seaters with no room to get up and walk around but capable of [[Faster
To be even cooler, the cool starship may also be a [[Face Ship]] or come with [[Escape Pod|escape pods]], [[Frickin' Laser Beams|lasers]], [[Faster
{{examples}}
Line 26:
** ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]'' -- Originally intended as a parody of ''Mobile Suit Gundam,'' and the ''Macross's'' is topologically similar to the ''White Base.''
** ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' -- Another topological homage to the ''White Base'', as well as a play on Uchuu Senkan Yamato. See [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] for more info.
* ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer (Anime)|UFO Robo Grendizer]]'': The titular [[Humongous Mecha]] was both a giant robot and a starship. Grendizer could [[Combining Mecha|combining]] with a flying device to form a [[Cool Starship]] allow [[Faster
* The ''Bebop'' from ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]''.
** Also, the personal fighter ships used by Spike (Swordfish), Faye (Redtail), and Jet (Hammerhead). Especially Jet's.
Line 95:
== Film ==
* The titular starship from the live action adaptation of[[Uchuu Senkan Yamato|Space Battleship Yamato]]. Built from the wreck of a [[World War II]] battleship giving it even more reason to be [[Rule of Cool|awesome]], comes complete with a [[Standard Sci
** Technically, since it carries a squadron of [[Space Fighter|starfighters]], can destroy fleets with it's [[Wave Motion Gun]] and has all the firepower of an actual battleship that attacks with [[Beam Spam|laser]] [[More Dakka|beams]] instead of bullets, the more accurate title would have been Space [[The Battlestar|Battlestar]] Yamato.
* Subverted in ''[[District 9 (Film)|District 9]]'', where a ship that looked freaking AMAZING hovering over Johannesburg turned out to be a (mostly) inoperable piece of junk.
Line 116:
** Vader's personal TIE Advanced x1. It managed to take a TIE Fighter, essentially the [[Star Wars]] version of [[Starcraft|Zerg]][[Zerg Rush|lings]], and actually ''make it a decent combatant''. Shields and a hyperdrive go a long way to making it the Imperial version of an X-wing or Y-wing. The only drawback is that it moves slightly slower than average TIE Fighters, although the fact that the only one we see in the films is ''flown by the greatest pilot in history'' tends to make up for this.
*** On that note, the TIE Interceptor. While still just as fragile as a typical TIE Fighter, it's [[Fragile Speedster|wicked-fast]] and has a dagger-like profile that absolutely ''screams'' "Evil" with a capital E.
*** TIE Fighters in general are [[
*** In the EU, the TIE line of ships eventually gets to the TIE Defender, which is more heavily armed, more heavily shielded, and faster than Vader's TIE Advanced model. "Trips", as the Rebels call them, made it into EU material outside of the TIE Fighter computer games and in the early days of the [[The Alliance|Alliance]]/[[Evil Empire|Empire]] war were generally considered a failure due to the massive pricetag, although the handful of times they saw deployment they certainly fit the criteria. As production became less expensive and the Imperials' military philosophies had to change with their shrinking territory, the Defender became more common.
*** There is also the slightly less powerful but more common [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tie_avenger Tie Advanced], a mass produced variant of Darth Vader's personal fighter. It was proven capable of outmaneuvering any Rebel starfighter, and experienced pilots were able to outwit renegade Tie Defender pilots. The thing's nickname? The [[Awesome McCoolname|TIE Avenger.]]
Line 139:
** Played with in ''[[Star Trek III the Search For Spock (Film)|Star Trek III the Search For Spock]]''. The ''[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090606201731/memoryalpha/en/images/6/6a/USS_Excelsior_in_Spacedock.jpg USS Excelsior]'' was intended to be an ''un''cool starship, an obnoxiously modernist contrast to the good old ''Enterprise'' we know and love. [[Rescued From the Scrappy Heap|We love her anyways.]]
** The ''Enterprise-B'' that appeared in ''[[Star Trek Generations (Film)|Star Trek Generations]]'' was also an ''Excelsior''-class starship, and proved to be as underprepared and bug-ridden as its class-type predecessor.
** Then there's the one that started it all, Zefram Cochrane's warp vessel, the ''[http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100605052031/memoryalpha/en/images/9/99/Phoenix_space.jpg Phoenix]''. At first it just looks like this [[What a Piece of Junk!|rickety, cobbled-together thing that's barely a step up from a 60's space capsule]]... ''Then'' the side panels come off, and ''[http://employees.csbsju.edu/rsorensen/modelcitizen/trekships/misc/phoenix-unfolding.jpg the warp nacelles unfold and lock into position].'' And that is when the discerning Trekkie knows [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|epic-ness is about to ensue.]]
** [http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/en/images/6/66/USS_Enterprise-E_in_nebula.jpg Enterprise-E]. Sovereign class, the most heavily armed starship in Starfleet in the regular ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' verse. In earlier (real life chronology) Star Trek they were hesitant to make the ships out to be more than exploration vessels with a reasonable armament needed for defense. After the introduction of The Defiant in ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'', they felt more comfortable with a genuine battlecruiser, which the Enterprise-E happily fulfilled.
** The aliens of the Trek movies? [http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:Valdore.jpg Valdore],[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:Sona_command_ship.jpg Ru'afo's ship] and [http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:Scimitar.jpg freakin' Scimitar.]
Line 249:
** Many of Starfleet's ships have a Fridge Coolness factor to them: before the ''Defiant'', Starfleet weren't really into actual warships<ref>That would be ''why'' the Defiant isn't officially classified as a warship</ref>, and so their ships had other primary purposes (exploration, mostly). Didn't keep them from going up against ''dedicated'' warships and winning...
* This was subverted in ''[[That 70s Show]]''. The camera moves underneath a chassis to display it as a huge behemoth flying in space, only to reveal that it's a Vista Cruiser with Eric and Donna sitting in it. Incidentally, it could be considered a [[Cool Car]].
* The ''[http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/White_Star_class White Star]''(s) from ''[[
** The Babylon 4 station had engines and was even bigger. It served as the base of operations for a war 1000 years <s>prior</s> before it was ''friggin built''.
** The ''Agamemnon'' and other Earth force destroyers. They may be ugly chunks of metal with no [[Artificial Gravity|gravity control]], but they can take on much more advanced civilization's warships on nearly equal terms.
** Especially the awesome [[One-Scene Wonder|Omega-X-class-destroyer]].
** The ''Excalibur'' from ''[[
** The Shadow's giant starfield colored spider monster warships. Very effective at evoking the utter hopelessness of fighting them.
** The ''Sharlin''-class War Cruiser from the Minbari Federation. It's a giant blue angel fish...and that doesn't ''sound'' particularly cool, until you see it...
Line 261:
** ''[[Andromeda]]'' actually has two, one of each kind: The ''Andromeda Ascendant'' as the hot technomiracle, and the ''Eureka Maru'' as the "rusty bucket of bolts".
** How about the ''Siege Perilous''-class Deep Stand-off Attack Ship II? It has 180 missile tubes, 24 35-megawatt [[Point Defenseless|PDL]] turrets, 4 [[Antimatter|anti-proton]] cannons. Built to destroy entire fleets. Out of 4 built, 3 were shown on-screen (''Wrath of Achilles'', ''Balance of Judgement'', and ''Resolution of Hector''), and they look amazing.
* The ''Liberator'' from ''[[Blake's Seven
* The Doctor's TARDIS on ''[[
** And have we mentioned that it's [[Bigger On the Inside]]?
** Aside from the TARDIS, the new series features the Daleks' badass [http://images.wikia.com/tardis/images/3/3d/Daleksaucer.jpg flying saucers], not to mention the beautiful ''[http://images.wikia.com/tardis/images/a/aa/Byz.png Byzantium]'' from ''The Time of Angels'' (pre-crash, of course). It has ''[[Rule of Cool|cyborg trees]]'' on board to generate oxygen! Freaking ''cool!''
Line 269:
** Speaking of Farscape... ''Talyn''. ''Moya'' was like a good [[Team Mom]], but ''Talyn'' was like that dangerous but cool kid everyone knew about but never really knew growing up.
** Lo'La. Period.
* Subversion: the new ''[[
** The Battlestar ''Pegasus'' is a straight up example. Likewise the Mk VII Vipers.
** To quote the commander of Pegasus, "Galactica's not a Relic, it's a Classic." And this "bucket"'s main defense are not crazy shiny looking shields but saturating the surrounding area of space with an absurd amount of explosions.
Line 344:
* The [[Global Airship]] in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]''. It's called the ''Ragnarok''. You find it in space. [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-Rq9vTcJ1IU&mode=related&search= It does this]. It, along with 3 other ships of the same model, were also used to lift the [[Sealed Evil in A Can]] into orbit, as seen [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HnjHoObHiy8&NR=1 here]
* Another [[Global Airship]], this time in ''[[Wild Arms 3 (Video Game)|Wild Arms 3]]'', called [[Mechanical Lifeforms|Lombardia]], is a ''[[Transforming Mecha]] [[Our Dragons Are Different|dragon]]'' which far outclasses any imitators you might meet in aerial [[Random Encounters]].
** The Lombardia returns in ''[[Wild Arms XF (Video Game)|Wild Arms XF]]'', although you only get to see it in cutscenes. As a [[Shout
** Its/his (her?) first appearance was in ''[[Wild Arms 2 (Video Game)|Wild Arms 2]]'', where it's explained to have traveled from another dimension full of biomechanical dragons. This was their excuse for putting a [[Transforming Mecha]] in a [[Desert Punk]] setting. Sadly, it didn't join the heroes until after the one mission that required them to actually go into space.
* Most space shooters feature a few of these - The Vic Viper from Gradius is a good example.
Line 482:
* The ''[http://conceptships.blogspot.com/ Concept Ships Blog]''. Your one-stop-shop for [[Travel Cool|obscenely awesome]] [[Expospeak Gag|transportation methodologies]].
* The [[Dominion and Duchy]] universe has had several in fourteen 'sections' of the story so far. The main government has a Senate Tower that converts into a starship, what might be a major religious group has the Cathedrum Valencia, which is a flying tower with alabaster wings and holographic clouds swirling around it. There are also the three Earth ships that while not described are the first Earth ships to travel faster-then-light. The majority of the examples on this page are trumped by the Bellacroix. While it is the 'Capital City Ship of the Monolith Group', it is massive. It is described as being the size of the '''''Soviet Union!'''''
* The Unconstant Lover in [[The Endless Night]] is frequently described as a [[What a Piece of Junk!|piece of junk]] but is also one of the most maneuverable cargo freighters in the galaxy due to the bizarre and dangerous modifications it has undergone, making it the perfect [[Space Pirates|pirate spaceship]].
* The setting of [http://www.countryshipyoors.wordpress.com The Countryship Yoors] qualifies for this. As the same suggests, it's a ship. The size of a country. Of course, which country is never specified...
* [[The Age of Dusk|The Idealist]], which is the first AI controlled ship created by the Tau Empire.
Line 498:
** And not to forget the Transformers that turn into spaceships: Cosmos, Sky Lynx, Omega Supreme, Blast Off, Astrotrain, Cyclonus, Scourge...
** Among the most unique ships is the Quintesson Cruiser, which is a spinning screw shaped ship. Mostly used by the Quintessons, and the Autobots used one and {{spoiler|[[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|impaled Unicrons eye with it.]]}}
** ''[[Transformers Armada]]'' got its name for a very good reason. Both the Autobots and Deceptions field [[Standard Sci
* The ships from ''[[Invader Zim]]''.
* Planet Express Ship in ''[[Futurama]]''.
Line 516:
* The Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne was an awesome little white epoxy rocketplane with a unique movable tail/wings combo and blue star decals. The still-being-constructed SpaceShipTwo ups the ante by being silver and black.
** SpaceShipTwo has now been revealed and, yes, it is still freaking cool.
* [
** ''Dawn'' and ''Hayabusa'' are also propelled by ion engines - the latter being the first spacecraft to collect samples form an asteroid and bring them back to Earth, and the former being the first double-orbiter probe - planned to orbit the asteroid Vesta, then leave under power once its done collecting data and fly to the dwarf planet Ceres. Ion engines accelerate much much more slowly than rockets<ref>at max. throttle, Deep Space 1's engine produced a third of an ''ounce'' of thrust</ref> so they can't be used as launch engines, but once in space, their ability to fire for a very, very long time means that they eventually hit velocities far greater than what a rocket with the same amount of propellant could manage.
* ''Voyager 1'' and ''Voyager 2'' -- so far, among humanity's ''only'' starships, together with Pioneers 10 and 11, as they've recently left the Solar System. Bonus coolness points for the fact that they're still working after ''thirty years'' in space, plus ''Voyager 2'' being the unique probe that has explored the four outer planets.
Line 538:
[[Category:Travel Cool]]
[[Category:Cool Starship]]
| |||