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  • BC-304. The Prometheus was so ugly in comparison.

    Shout-out to the basic cable show that was giving us Hollywood-level visual effects effects as early as 2004.

    Atlantis gets visual effects Emmy nomination

    The Atlantis Effect: An Interview With Mark Breakspear

    GW: Visually, which is your favorite episode of Atlantis so far?

    MB: “The Eye.” The Rainmaker team created their own CG software to create the stormy water for the ocean. The level of detail and control has never been seen in TV effects before. Dan and Jose at Rainmaker pulled out all the stops and created mind-blowing shots. I think we went about 3.5 times over budget on that one — but you can’t get away with crap. You guys can spot that a mile away, and nothing kills a show quicker than cheap looking effects.

    • The Prometheus may have been ugly, but it was my favorite because it was Earth's first. It was kinda janky and totally experimental, but it was absolutely a necessary step in our advancement of science enabling better and cooler ships like Daedalus. It was usually outgunned and outsized by everything it went up against, but still managed to leave a mark. It saved the day in the battle of Antarctica enabling the discovery of Atlantis.

      Do I think it was a better ship? Of course not, it was totally inferior (and ugly). But it made for a better story. For a good portion of the show it was all we had and it was barely enough, but it became more of a character than a tool. The moment the Prometheus was blasted in half was just as serious as any character death (and not just because of Pendergast). It was a huge blow to us and let the viewers know the Ori were a real threat.

      • Earth's first

        The 302 would like a word 😅

        That doesn't count! It didn't work!

        It did, for very short periods of time. And from that, we got the epic scene where they opened a window through a ship's shield for a Death Star run shot at Anubis.

        Well the 303 worked!

        Sure, with a salvage hyperdrive from an Al'kesh. At least until that broke down and they had to upend an entire planet's beliefs to get home. The original hyperdrive had the same problem as the one from the 302. And the working one came from the Asgard.

        Idk. I just couldn't get over the captain doing his best James Carrey Kirk impression.

        Earth: Give us things!

        Asgard: lol no

        Earth: Give us things!

        Asgard: Give back the things you stole!

        Earth: sudo We saved your skinny butts from the Replicators! Give us thing!

        Asgard: Okay.

        Asgard: Aight imma head out. We'll leave the light on for you.

    • Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

      Hollywood-level visual effects effects

      2004

      Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

      I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

  • The Swordfish from Cowboy Bebop. I recently bought a rather expensive model of it. Totally worth it though.

  • Definitely the Soyuz, it's hard to beat the safest and most reliable spacecraft

    If we're talking fictional I'd say Serenity, I love what's essentially a tramp steamer in space with little nooks and crannies for less than legitimate cargo

  • The Hail Mary currently. Just such a cool ship from a fun book. To think about what would go into building it and what that means to humanity is humbling.

    Other notables:

    • Enterprise E from First Contact because it looks cool.
    • Cygnus from The Black Hole
    • Sulaco from Aliens
    • Trimaxion Drone Ship from Flight of the Navigator
    • The Abominator-class Offensive Unit Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints (my usual favourite lol)

  • The Rocinante is an obvious pick.

    I also really like the ships in Starfield, mainly because I'm a cassette futurism shill.

  • There's a lot of ships I like in sci-fi, but the one that comes to mind at the moment is the garfish-class cruiser in robotech

    Or if we're talking about real spacecraft here, I like the soyuz (and really the whole r-7 derived rocket family to be honest), as I like the look of it's side boosters and the four engine bells on each engine

  • I'll pick the Bowie from Guardians of the Galaxy.

    It's a fast ship that can flown solo, but also comfortably carry six people with their own quarters. It's fast, can cloak itself and defend itself from anything it can't outrun or hide from.

    I don't want a big starship that needs a big crew to fly. But, I don't want a small ship that can't carry guests.

  • I have real soft spots for the Ghost from Star Wars Rebels and the Normandy from Mass Effect.

    For the Ghost though, I really love its strange shape, the WW2 bomber tail gun, and the attached shuttle. It's both so typically Star Wars and yet still new.

178 comments