# 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:** 19\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/141 "2006-08-20T06:27:07Z")
[QUOTE=cerberus] **Space Cruiser Yamamoto** : Warp/Jump Engines, Space Fighters, Missiles, Wave-Freaking-Motion-Gun. [/QUOTE] And a holo deck that later was [del]stolen[/del] borrowed by Star Trek. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/142 "2006-08-21T13:24:41Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] (actually, now that I think about it, the Omega basically looks like a bigger, meaner, militarized version of the Discovery…) [/QUOTE] The [Omega class destroyer](http://www.b5tech.com/earthalliance/earthallianceshipsandvessels/earthcapships/omega/omega.html) is probably based on the [Alexei Leonov](http://www.cinespaceships.net/page.php?c=r&l=en&p=shippic&q=LEONOV) in _2010_. There are too many similarities to be a coincidence. I’m not complaining though, I like both. More logical than the _Discovery_ design, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/143 "2006-08-21T13:29:44Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] Well, it’s only SLIGHTLY more realistic than the Omega Destroyer, which ALSO uses a rotating section for gravity . . . [/QUOTE] Why? In the Bab5 universe they have artificial gravity. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/144 "2006-08-21T13:59:10Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Why? In the Bab5 universe they have artificial gravity. [/QUOTE] Some alien races had that technology, but not the humans. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/145 "2006-08-21T14:01:55Z")
[QUOTE=scr4] The [Omega class destroyer](http://www.b5tech.com/earthalliance/earthallianceshipsandvessels/earthcapships/omega/omega.html) is probably based on the [Alexei Leonov](http://www.cinespaceships.net/page.php?c=r&l=en&p=shippic&q=LEONOV) in _2010_. There are too many similarities to be a coincidence. I’m not complaining though, I like both. More logical than the _Discovery_ design, IMHO. [/QUOTE] I was thinking the exact same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/146 "2006-08-21T17:11:57Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Why? In the Bab5 universe they have artificial gravity. [/QUOTE] As **scr4** noted, the humans didn’t have that technology until very late in the show. Basically, the humans were more powerful than _most_ of the other alien races in the galaxy, but the few that were more powerful than the humans could basically kick the snot out of them (as the Minbari did during the Earth-Minbari War before the show takes place). The humans get most of their interstellar technology by buying it from the Centauri (a decadent interstellar empire who loved art and toys and trinkets, three things with the humans could produce in abundance), later augmenting it with weapons technology purchased from the Narn Regime (who in turn stole it from the Centauri). Throughout the show, Earth makes various attempts to aquire advanced alien technology, with varying degrees of sucess (or spectacular failure, hence there no longer being an Earth research station on Ganymede) At the end of the 4th season of the show, the Earth Alliance is bribed into joining the newly-formed Interstellar Alliance by being promised advanced artificial gravity technology, which they begin implementing on their newer ships some time after the 5th season of the show (the pilot movie for crusade featured two new Earth-built ships with artificial gravity, the [Warlock](http://www.b5tech.com/earthalliance/earthallianceshipsandvessels/earthcapships/warlock/warlock.html) and the Victory class destroyer. (I can’t provide a link for the Victory because Google and Wikipedia both randomly decided to take a break on me). ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/147 "2006-08-21T17:19:52Z")
Eh, incomplete thought: What I was getting at was that the human starships, before they got artificial gravity, either operated with the crew in constant free-fall (and secured at their stations by safety harnesses) or used rotating sections to generate artificial gravit with centrifigal force (which a NASA engineer once told me doesn’t work well for people in their experience because it induces uncontrolable nausea if the person tries to _move_ while in the spinning section, aside from the mechanical complexities of having a big spinning section on a space ship or space station.) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/148 "2006-08-21T17:34:13Z")
Does G.I. Joe count as sci-fi at all? Cause I wanna nominate the [Trubble Bubble](http://www.yojoe.com/vehicles/85/flightpod/flightpod_blueprints.shtml). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/149 "2006-08-21T17:36:41Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Wanderer] I am surprised no-one has mentioned “Discovery One”. Kewl spinning crew segment complete with cryo tanks, pod bay doors, explosive bolts, a malfunctioning AE-35 unit and a psychotic lipreading computer. What more do ya want? [/QUOTE] I thought the AE-35 unit was actually fine, and HAL was just using it as a pretext to get the astronauts to do an EVA. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/150 "2006-08-21T18:20:15Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] Eh, incomplete thought: What I was getting at was that the human starships, before they got artificial gravity, either operated with the crew in constant free-fall (and secured at their stations by safety harnesses) or used rotating sections to generate artificial gravit with centrifigal force (which a NASA engineer once told me doesn’t work well for people in their experience because it induces uncontrolable nausea if the person tries to _move_ while in the spinning section, aside from the mechanical complexities of having a big spinning section on a space ship or space station.) [/QUOTE] Why have a spinning “section”? Why not just spin the whole ship? (And don’t let anybody look out the windows – that would make them even more nauseous.) ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/151 "2006-08-21T18:41:18Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Why have a spinning “section”? Why not just spin the whole ship? (And don’t let anybody look out the windows – that would make them even more nauseous.) [/QUOTE] Duh, because while a ship with a rotating midsection is cool, a ship that just spins like a space dreidel would be goofy. 😃 Granted, if you make the ship badass enough, people will be AFRAID to mock you for your dreidel ship 😉 From a practical fanwank POV, I would say that having the whole ship rotate would make things like docking and fighter launch/recovery operations problematic. The hanger bay for the Omega Destroyer’s compliment of Starfuries, Thunderbolts, and Shuttles appears to be located in the forward non-rotating " Hammerhead" section. (We’ve never seen the inner workings of an Omega, aside from the bridge and some un-named compartment with a computer uplink, presumably near the cargo bay, wherever that is). It is worth pointing out that until the Omega Destroyer, Earth had no apparant interest in trying to generate artificial gravity on their ships, being perfectly happy to let everyone just strap themselves into seats placed at odd angles all around the ship. I think the explanation was that the Omegas were designed to go on explorations/patrols that could last as long as a year at a time, while the older ships tended to go on shorter missions. There’s an even bigger ship called the Explorer, nearly as big as Babylon 5 itself, which features a rotating section that takes up most of the ship (instead of the Omega’s non-rotating forward section, the hanger bay, or at least the exterior entrance to it, on the Explorer is in a non-rotating hub similar to Babylon 5’s landing bay ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/152 "2006-08-21T19:05:07Z")
The treeships from Dan Simmons’ _Hyperion_. ---
**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 21, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/153 "2006-08-21T19:16:52Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] Eh, incomplete thought: What I was getting at was that the human starships, before they got artificial gravity, either operated with the crew in constant free-fall (and secured at their stations by safety harnesses) or used rotating sections to generate artificial gravit with centrifigal force (which a NASA engineer once told me doesn’t work well for people in their experience because it induces uncontrolable nausea if the person tries to _move_ while in the spinning section, aside from the mechanical complexities of having a big spinning section on a space ship or space station.) [/QUOTE] As I understand it, the nausea comes from the Coriolis effect, which become weaker as the rotating section grows larger. Your NASA acquaintance is hampered by having to deal with real life, where we can’t yet build a rotating ring a kilometer across in space. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/154 "2006-08-21T19:55:32Z")
Pffth, give me some duck tape and a crapload of popsicle sticks, and I’ll build you a spinning ring a kilometer accross! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/155 "2006-08-21T20:01:53Z")
I’d love to nominate [Unicron,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicron) except he’d eat me (and my planet) for calling him a “vehicle.” ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/156 "2006-08-21T20:14:33Z")
I nominate the very first starship - The Skylark of Space (and its even larger successors.) The Pan Am spaceplane in 2001 is pretty cool too - mostly because it looks like it’s got decent legroom. ---
**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 22, 2006, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/157 "2006-08-22T04:51:55Z")
[http://www.merzo.net/index.html](http://www.merzo.net/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/158 "2006-08-22T21:50:26Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] 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! 🆒😃 [/QUOTE] 😕 Linky be blanky. ---
**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 22, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/159 "2006-08-22T22:51:43Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] 😕 Linky be blanky. [/QUOTE] CYBERDOODY! Well, try this one– [http://www.bwtf.com/newsarchive/ultimate/primelg.jpg](http://www.bwtf.com/newsarchive/ultimate/primelg.jpg) Ah. Much better! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553.md?page=7)