# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/61 "2006-08-14T03:58:25Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] For generalized coolness, I like _Dahak_ from David Weber’s _Empire from the Ashes_ series. Impressive ? It’s the size of the Moon; in fact, it _is_ the Moon; the outer rock surface is camouflage. Fun ? It’s got everything you would ever need for the occassional voyage of a few centuries, from living quarters to parks, not to mention 100,000 + people, by design. Armed ? Yes, as in “basically, this ship could vaporise your planet”. [/QUOTE] Speaking of David Weber, I’m a huge fan of the Shrike LACs (Light Attack Craft, the equivilant of PT Boats) as fielded by the Royal Manticoran Navy at the Second Battle of Hancock. In a time when common strategic thought regarded LACs as underarmed, underprotected, and largely worthless against capital ships, the Manticorans designed a type of LAC that relied on a top-of-the-line stealth system to sneak up on enemy ships, and a Battlecruiser grade beam cannon and swarm tactics to pound on their enemies. At Hancock, a wing of these things tore a squadron of Havenite Battleships and their escorts to shreds, without the Havenites ever managing to figure out what they were even being attacked by until much later. Float like a butterfly, sting like a cruise missile. Also, I like the EarthForce Omega Destroyer from Babylon 5. What it lacked in technological superiority, it made up with in raw firepower and attitude. A combination between an aircraft carrier and a battleship, these things could hold their own against (or defeat) anything short of a Minbari War Cruiser. Aesthetic considerations? Let’s just say these things had a face only a mother could love… on Payday! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/62 "2006-08-14T04:11:44Z")
I’d have to go with the Millennium Falcon. “Star Wars” has unfortunately been marred by overexposure and a lot of horrible sequels, but the original film really did have some wonderful design touches, and I think its biggest appeal was the universe looked, well, lived in. So many other sci-fi universes - most of them up to that point - were sanitized and gave the appearance that everything was made of Tupperware. Star Wars presented a universe that looked old and used and like people actually lived in it. When you heard the backstory, that the Republic had been around for thousands of years, you could believe it. The Millennium Falcon was the best visual example of this. It looked, frankly, like the sci-fi equivalent of a transport truck with guns welded to it. It was old and a veteran of Christ knows how many battles and tight scrapes. Records of the modifications made to it have doubtlessly been lost, if in fact anyone bothered to write them down. You could believe that ship had a few light years on it. As preposterous as the physics of Star Wars is, that ship was perhaps the most believable ship I’ve ever seen in sci-fi, a cramped little tin can used by a half-assed criminal eking out an existence on whatever hellholes he could find where the cops didn’t know who he was. It looks like it’s had pathy repairs done to it. Maybe it would work on any given day and maybe not, but it was built really well so it would survive. By comparison, the various models of “USS Enterprise” just don’t look to me like humans live in them. They’re all conceptually awesome and externally fabulous, especially the mighty NCC-1701-E version that takes the traditional “Star Trek saucer-and-engines” look and actually makes it look like a _battleship_, something a great star empire really would send in flying the flag to kick twelve different kinds of ass; on the outside, that is a ship you’re best off avoiding because it looks like it will seriously fuck you up. But inside, they all look like meeting rooms in a new office building, carpeted and beige and sterile and absurd. After years of use they still look like a decorating show just walked through. Even people’s bedrooms don’t look like bedrooms; they should have shit strewn all over the place but instead they all look like show rooms at IKEA. Many sci-fi films since then have used Star Wars as the inspiration for a lived-in universe; “Serenity” from Firefly is just a bigger Falcon, for instance (Joss Whedon has said the Falcon partially inspired the idea for the show) and lots of other sci-fi universes since have chosen a gritty, realistic feel. ---
**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 14, 2006, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/63 "2006-08-14T04:17:58Z")
[QUOTE=DesertDog] I nominate the speeder bikes from **Empire Strikes Back**. [/QUOTE] [nitpick]They’re from **Return of the Jedi** , not **Empire Strikes Back**.[/nitpick] ---
**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 14, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/64 "2006-08-14T04:18:29Z")
All the airships in “Howl’s Moving Castle” were cool, and also the ones in Laputa. But Howl’s Moving Castle wasn’t all that cool. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/65 "2006-08-14T04:54:57Z")
My first choice is still the _TARDIS_, and I don’t think that after all these posts I need to explain why. Sure, _Gay Deceiver_ has a lot going for her, but she also starred in _Number of the Beast_, which is a big mark against her. If we’re going to go with a Heinlein ship, I’d much prefer 'Dorable _Dora_ (after whom the computer on which I’m typing is named). Another favorite of mine is the _Lying Bastard_, from _Ringworld_. Absolutely not a single weapon of any sort on her, I swear! It’s just purest coincidence that she has the capability to open fifteen different kinds of whupass on anything she might encounter. I’ll second the Shrike LACs as being cool, but I still prefer the good ol’ battlecruiser _Nike_. Armed to the teeth, and fast enough to run from the few things she can’t kill. Plus, unlike the LACs, she has the advantage of being hyper-capable, which I consider a must-have in any SF ship. And finally, for a retro touch, let me be the first to nominate Doc Smith’s _Skylark_. You’ve got to love machine guns with total-conversion bullets, and five foot thick armor of a material 500 times the strength of steel has to help your sense of security. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/66 "2006-08-14T04:59:04Z")
I can’t believe no-one’s nominated the Enterprise…motion picture refit version. THE ship I think of when I hear “starship”, and THE most beautiful starship of them all. [![](http://www.leestringer.com/Images/MotionPicture/Enterprise_01_hr.jpg) ](http://www.leestringer.com/Images/MotionPicture/Enterprise_01_hr.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/67 "2006-08-14T05:17:29Z")
Well, there’s the Culture ships, folks. Like I said, I’ve got a big stick Battleplates. As in, continental plate size, and _real_ high tech, like you get on the other side of a singularity. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/68 "2006-08-14T05:19:31Z")
66 posts and no one has mentioned Hyperdrive equipped Ringworlds? That would even make the Shadows think twice… ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/69 "2006-08-14T08:20:00Z")
For those whao want to know what the gay deceiver looks like; nobody has a clue. However, some fan of the books used his Lego collection to make [a model on how it could look](http://www.reasonablyclever.com/lego/gaydeceiver/index.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/70 "2006-08-14T09:00:42Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] Well, there’s the Culture ships, folks. Like I said, I’ve got a big stick Battleplates. As in, continental plate size, and _real_ high tech, like you get on the other side of a singularity. [/QUOTE] I don’t recall Culture having anything called a Battleplate. I’ve only heard the term used in the webcomic Schlock Mercenary, what I took my username from. I should have added them to my list, maybe. [QUOTE=The Vorlon] 66 posts and no one has mentioned Hyperdrive equipped Ringworlds? That would even make the Shadows think twice… [/QUOTE] I considered it, but _Taa II_ edged it out for being even bigger, or at least bulkier. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/71 "2006-08-14T10:35:56Z")
My apologies. I got the Continent Class GSVs backwards with the Schlock Battleplates. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/72 "2006-08-14T10:40:28Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] But could the Delorean go into space? Not as far as I know. Whereas the car we see at the beginning of The Last Starfighter ( [The Last Starfighter - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Starfighter) ) could instantly go from diving on a Terran road to interstellar travel. [/QUOTE] Funny you should say that, because my first thought was the GunStar. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/73 "2006-08-14T10:54:53Z")
Although it we’re going for large and gaudy, and uniquely equipped, in the vehicle department, at the end of Niven’s _Ringworld’s Children_, the Ringworld protectors have re-engineered the Ringworld’s superconducting meteor defense grid into a mesh that supports the Quantum II hyperdrive, making the _whole freaking Ringworld_ into one of the two fastest vehicles in that Universe. Nothing else can catch it; only the _Long Shot_ can keep up with it. By numerous multiples of _C_. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/74 "2006-08-14T11:21:17Z")
Tron light-cycle. Cut a guy off and he’s too busy exploding to give you the finger. ---
**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 14, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/75 "2006-08-14T13:16:22Z")
New York City itsself becomes a starship in James Blish’s _Cities In Flight_. > **[Cities in Flight by James Blish](https://www.amazon.com/Cities-Flight-James-Blish/dp/1585670081)** > > Cities in Flight \[James Blish, Betty Ballantine, Richard D. Mullen\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Cities in Flight I guess this takes the prize. ---
**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 14, 2006, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/76 "2006-08-14T13:22:27Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] New York City itsself becomes a starship in James Blish’s _Cities In Flight_. > **[Cities in Flight: Blish, James: 9781585670086: Amazon.com: Books](https://www.amazon.com/Cities-Flight-James-Blish/dp/1585670081)** > > Cities in Flight \[Blish, James\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Cities in Flight I guess this takes the prize. [/QUOTE] Cool, I would love it, but we have had posters mention entire worlds and Ring Worlds already. Of course NYC would provide, culture, Broadway, the Bronx Zoo, A subway series everyday 😉 . Jim ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/77 "2006-08-14T15:40:01Z")
[K-2001 Raider Command](http://www.vortx-productions.co.uk/adventure2000.html) best toy vehicle ever\*, and cross-over to the best comic book ever. (\* OK except for the good stuff made by Bandai back in the day ) ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/78 "2006-08-14T15:55:16Z")
No love for the [Starfury](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfury) one of the more logical fighter craft from TV SF and all the better looking for it too. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ecks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ecks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ecks)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/79 "2006-08-14T17:12:39Z")
How about the Seedship from Tuf Voyaging? Enormous, with the capablities of a battleship and enough bio-engineering equipment to grow an army from scratch in hours, terraform worlds, or engineer plagues-- and it’s user friendly enough that one person can run the whole thing without training. That was some ship. Did give the owner a bit of a god complex, but hey… ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/80 "2006-08-14T17:57:51Z")
Yeah, always like capatain Nemo’s submarine (Disney version). But I also liked those little capsule cars from Woody Allen’s “SLEEPER”-and the noise they made was cool. I tend to agree, spaceships (as envisioned by Victorian writers0 were much more interesting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553.md?page=5)