# All-time coolest SF vehicle ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 13, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553 "2006-08-13T15:32:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/21 "2006-08-13T19:11:02Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] The Landmasters from “Damnation Alley.” [/QUOTE] If your pocket’s deep enough, [you can probably buy it.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landmaster) (The wheel design puzzles me, though – what’s the function of the one on the top of each “tri-star”?) ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/22 "2006-08-13T19:13:41Z")
The Starship Heart of Gold; “As the ship’s drive reaches Infinite Improbability it passes through _EVERY CONCIEVABLE POINT_ in EVERY CONCIEVABLE UNIVERSE almost simultaneously, you select your own re-entry point, be the envy of other major governments” this is big league stuff here 😉 TARDIS and Moya also qualify ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/23 "2006-08-13T19:14:54Z")
IIRC, the whole tri-star revolves and propels the vehicle through water or loose sand. I think Gay Deceiver is cheating. As a multi-dimensional, self-aware entity, she is more “person” than “vehicle.” ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/24 "2006-08-13T19:18:18Z")
And let’s not forget the Puppeteer Homeworlds. Five planets and a mini star all travelling at a substantial percentage of C. Not much good for everyday use, but the horsepower sure beats my big block Ford! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/25 "2006-08-13T19:18:45Z")
There can be no cooler vehicle than the starship _Heart of Gold_, because it is the ship of the coolest person in existence - Zaphod, he’s just this guy, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/26 "2006-08-13T19:19:36Z")
[QUOTE=Rhiannon8404] Anything larger on the inside than on the outside wins. [/QUOTE] I feel obligated to point out that this would also be a point in favor of the _Nautilus_– aficionados of the movie have noted that there’s really no logical way the various interior sets could have all fit inside the vessel as depicted. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/27 "2006-08-13T19:22:29Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] IIRC, the whole tri-star revolves and propels the vehicle through water or loose sand. I think Gay Deceiver is cheating. As a multi-dimensional, self-aware entity, she is more “person” than “vehicle.” [/QUOTE] You can make the same argument against the Tardis I think. Check with the Whovian experts. I know Gay started as a powerful car and powerful computer programmed in Loglan and then got enhanced a few times. The biggest enhancement came from Ozma, but she was an intelligent machine first and foremost. Jim ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/28 "2006-08-13T19:24:37Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] IIRC, the whole tri-star revolves and propels the vehicle through water or loose sand. [/QUOTE] It reminded me of these [wheeled trucks](http://www.barloworld-ecat.co.uk/products/viewproduct.asp?productId=sas200) to move goods up&down stairs. Propably, it’s possible to use the tri-wheels to climb over higher obstacles. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/29 "2006-08-13T19:27:00Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] You can make the same argument against the Tardis I think. Check with the Whovian experts. I know Gay started as a powerful car and powerful computer programmed in Loglan and then got enhanced a few times. The biggest enhancement came from Ozma, but she was an intelligent machine first and foremost. Jim [/QUOTE] Correct on both points. Gay Deceiver was originally built as a machine. All the add ons, and esp the Oz add ons, turned her into a sentient machine. The TARDIS is actually alive and sentient, as the New Series of Doctor Who has shown us and the original series may have at times hinted at. Voidships (Frank Herbert’s Pandora Sequence) are also sentient. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/30 "2006-08-13T19:30:38Z")
[QUOTE=MostlyClueless] It reminded me of these [wheeled trucks](http://www.barloworld-ecat.co.uk/products/viewproduct.asp?productId=sas200) to move goods up&down stairs. Propably, it’s possible to use the tri-wheels to climb over higher obstacles. [/QUOTE] Yeah, but those are propelled by a human motor on feet, walking behind or ahead. If you’ve got these tri-wheels on a motor vehicle, where’s the drive axle? If it’s in the middle, then the whole arrangement would constantly be turning – which you wouldn’t want on a flat surface. And how could they be driven by three axles in a triangular arrangement? I see some mechanical problems there if the arrangement itself is (sometimes) going to rotate. Apparently the Landmaster actually exists and actually works, but I doubt it works at all like it would in the movie(s). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/31 "2006-08-13T20:21:18Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] what’s the function of the one on the top of each “tri-star”?) [/QUOTE] I think you could rotate the wheel assembly so that a damaged wheel could be replaced without stopping. Handy when you have to fend off radioactive monsters while changing a flat. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/32 "2006-08-13T21:40:03Z")
I vote for this yellow submarine that I once saw in some movie. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/33 "2006-08-13T21:47:20Z")
I think the Orbitals from Iain Banks’ Culture universe would work – they’re interstellar spacecraft, AND they’re the home of billions of sentients. I also like the warships from the same series because of the names – nothing like a spacecraft capable of planet-busting named: “I Blame The Parents” or “Of Course I Still Love You.” I’m also partial to some of the Mechs from Mechwarrior – sure, it gets hot sitting on top of a nuclear reactor after awhile, but a 70-ton fighting vehicle capable of moving at 60 kph and responding just like your body does while launching missiles and firing plasma cannons is sweet, and just the thing for rush hour. But I guess the vehicle that first fired up my imagination was Tom Swift’s Flying Lab, which I read as a child – possibly before I was a toddler. A humongous jet with VTOL capabilities and a fully equipped science lab for mad science, and some pretty nifty if compact living quarters. The only reason you ever had to land was to fight evildoers. Sweet! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/34 "2006-08-13T21:53:06Z")
My Nominees– [Thunderbird Two](http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/anderson/thunderbirds/gallery/images/340/thunderbird2.jpg) Anderson always pleased & suprised with his designs. T-Bird 2 is obviously the most versitile vehicle in science fiction. [The Space: 1999 Eagle](http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/models/eagle/imea02.jpg) for offering originality of design, while sustaining with continuity with RL vehicles. [COMPARE WITH REAL APOLLO LEM](http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/Images/StarChild/space_level1/apollo11.gif) And then, there is the coolest of **all** …the place where the Vehicle & the Hero…[OVERLAP!!!](http://finesse4ever.tripod.com/fotos/Optimus_Prime.jpg) More Than Meets The Eye, Baaaaaayyyyyybeee! 🆒😃 ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/35 "2006-08-13T21:55:37Z")
The Hooded Swan from Brian Stableford’s Grainger novels. Second choice, the Tardis. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/36 "2006-08-13T21:58:04Z")
K.I.T.T. He can even make Hasselhoff look cool. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/37 "2006-08-13T22:01:37Z")
[QUOTE=Ukulele Ike] Funny…I first thought “Jules Verne” too, but what popped into my mind was the **Terror** , from _Master of the World_. Zip along the Niagara River, reach the brink of the Falls, then engage the big wings to come out and start a-flappin’, and take off straight into the air…that’s _my_ idea of a good time. I’d also rather take a ride in the **Albatross** , the original _Clipper of the Clouds_, than the Nautilus. Just call me a Robur-rubber. Both vehicles are illustrated [here.](http://www.julesverne.ca/vernebooks/jvbkmaster.html) [/QUOTE] And yet I pitched the book after a single reading (practically unheard of, for me) because there was no plot to speak of - nothing to compare with _20,000 Leagues_ or even the film of MotW (which obviously owed more to _Robur, the Conqueror_, a book I’ve never read). ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/38 "2006-08-13T22:49:10Z")
[QUOTE=MostlyClueless] So… I’m the first to suggest Back to the future’s Delorean? Nuclear-powered, silver paintjob, it flies, and, er, time machine? [/QUOTE] Silver paint job? Dude, it was made out of \*stainless steel! \* And I’m morally obligated to mention **Serenity** as the coolest ship in _any_ 'verse. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/39 "2006-08-13T22:57:19Z")
Does the TARDIS even really count as a “vehicle,” though? I was under the impression that it dematerialized at one point in the spacetime continuum and rematerialized in another predesignated point, \*without traversing the intervening space. \* So, technically it could be described as remaining stationary, since it doesn’t actually “move through” space-- it’s more akin to a teleportation device in this respect. Okay, it’s a minor and probably indefensible point, but on the other hand, asking other vehicles to compete with TARDIS technology seems a bit like-- well, maybe not cheating exactly, but at the very least grossly unfair. I mean, the TARDIS’ ability to reconfigure itself internally and externally means that it could pretty much duplicate any other vehicle in existence. Although I suppose that doesn’t really count as far as the Doctor’s TARDIS is concerned, what with the dodgy chameleon cirucit and all… and its navigational ability has historically been famously unreliable as well. Come to think of it, the series went out of its way on numerous occasions to point out just how laughably obsolete the Doctor’s TARDIS was compared to later models. Can it really be argued that the TARDIS is the apotheosis of coolness, if its own creators are on record as considering it woefully _un_cool? Actually, now that I think of it, this same concern would also apply to the Millenium Falcon. It’s clear that pretty much everyone in the \*\*Star Wars \*\* universe regards the Falcon as just about the most shamefully crappy-looking vehicle in existence, the sort of ship you’d be embarrassed to be seen standing too close to-- kind of the **SW** equivalent of an AMC Pacer with simulated wood-grain paneling. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/40 "2006-08-13T22:58:01Z")
My first pick is easily the TARDIS. It has a roomy interior and travels in space AND time almost instantaneously. Second pick goes to just about any mech. Giant robots are too cool. Third pick is a bit tougher, but I guess I’d have to say it goes to the Delorean (Back to the Future) largely because it flies and has Mr. Fusion. I love Mr. Fusion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553.md?page=3)