We talk to Moon designer about ULTIMATE sci-fi ship

Nice link to the Eagle

Always did like that one.

May I suggest Gavin has a gander at some of the ships in Eve-Online - some of those are beautifully designed ships.

Space 1999 Eagles

Got to be my favourite, despite the lack of any obvious fuel storage, or the fact that there's two big engines mounted in the passageway to the cockpit section, so there'd be no room for anyone to walk through.

They somehow just look right, would love to see a full size one.

Thunderbirds hover scooters - "no visual clues whatsoever to show how they worked"

Well, except when you could see the occasional string....

Shame - not even a mention for Dark Star. If ever a space ship looked 'lived in' that was it.

B5 ships are among the best ever!

Babylon5: The first TV series to use CGI for everything that was not a physical set with actors.

It may have only been a few years before Voyager, but computers were improving at an incredibal rate and B5 was on a fraction of the budget.

The Starfury was just so practical looking.

The Vorlon organic living ships, plus the Shadow vesals designed to just look nasty.

The earth destroyers though very much like the ship from Alians you saw a lot more of them in B5, and the spinning center sections for fake gravity.

The WhiteStars and other Mimbari ships were all excelent, though the WhiteStars always made me think a plicked chicken for some reasn. The hugh crusers that looked like giant Angel Fish were something special.

Also the idea behind the PPG (hand gun) was also excelent: fire a plasma bolt that can burn flesh but was very unlikely to puncture the hull. You don't want a lead slug thrower inside a space ship!

Iain M Banks in Excession

"[ each Affronter ship] looked vaguely as if it had been modelled by taking a free-fall aerial bomb from one age and welding on to it a profusion broad swords, scimitars and daggers from an even earlier time and then magnifying the result until each was a couple of of kilometres in length"

Though I like the 'Falling Outside The Normal Moral Constraints' General Offensive Unit (Abominator-class) in 'Surface Detail - though it itself brags about being more of a fleet than an individual ship.

PPG

Actually, that was always crap. Any decently designed hull for a station that size will laugh at a silly little lead bullet. What you do want a low penetration round for is so you don't punch through 30 internal partition walls and kill someone random a dozen or so rooms away, since except for internal bulkheads, those ARE likely to be really flimsy, there's no ground for bullets to embed themselves in before the travel too far.

Nell is gorgeous

clearly based on a naked lady and a rather well endowed one at that

Size isn't everything

In "Accelerando" Charlie Stross makes out a good case that if we ever build a starship in a c-limited universe, it'll probably be the size of a coke tin.

The ship from the Transcend in Vinge's "A fire upon the deep", which was causing the locals to be fretful and slightly fearful, was five feet long. Relay was destroyed a few weeks later, along with the Old One (a remarkable twelve years old) and his ship, by something much smaller, nastier, and older by billions of years.

(The sequel has just been published).

Moon Problems

Dear Regies:

--I enjoyed the movie some what, but it did have problems. Number one was gravity. Now I know 1/6 G is rather hard to film. But, can you think of anything more likely to show the absence of 1/6 G than using a jump rope. Secondly the ballistic trajectory from the far side, was not quite right, somehow. Thirdly the "Evil Corporation" motif showed a lack of imagination and a socialist bent.

Best Regards

Clear Ether

Had a 3ft Eagle

When I was a kid I had a plastic 3ft Eagle toy. I wish I knew what happened to it, it was fairly sturdy. The cabin and the rear engine would come off and fit together. Anon, of course!