What is the most impressive, most inspiring spacecraft design you have ever seen, be it real or fictional?
Picture yourself in Earth orbit aboard another spacecraft or space station with a window affording you a view of your chosen spacecraft hanging serenly in space above the crystal blue and fluffy white globe beneath.
Now, which ship or craft of any sort would you place there, and can you identify in particular the design elements and forms which combine to make it the most inspiring spacecraft you've ever seen or imagined?
You have permission to wax lyrical as necessary.
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
After due reflection on just about every real-space and science-fiction design I'm aware of...
I think I'd have to go with the Excelsior. And I know that's not going to be too popular with some people here. It seems to me to embody a sort of brutal grace -- seen to best effect, I think, in Star Trek VI. The shapes of the various components and how they're put together implies in my mind a kind of sturdy strength, a kind of power contained, like the whole ship knows it can take on anything and doesn't need to boast about it.
I don't know if you want us to go into runners-up, but I got some...
--Jonah
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
After a long thought I chose the Errant Venture. I mean c'mon, what's cooler than a blood red Star Destroyer?
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Too many really cool ones to pick a favorite. But tops on my list include:
- The SDF-1 Macross from the anime of the same name. 1,200 meters long, contains a whole city full of people, and it justifyably transforms into a giant freaking ROBOT. 'Nuff said.
- The Alexei Leonov from 2010. One of the best "real SF" designs from the past few decades, right down to the rotating section, aerobraking, and massive nuclear engine. This was unceremoniously ripped off by Babylon 5, whose Omega-class destroyers get a lot of false credit for "new and different design". Schmendricks.
- Excelsior. See above.
- My favorite Star Wars ship, after the B-Wing, is the trusty Nebulon-B Frigate from the last two movies. It's graceful yet functional, and its very shape really emphasizes how stuff can AND can't look cool without the limitations of gravity.
- I'm a huge fan of the Valley Forge and her sister ships from the Starship Troopers Chronicles animated show for the same reason. These puppies have a LOT of power behind 'em, and it shows. They had a whole episode devoted to just how cool this ship is. The dropship from the same show is also wicked fictitious.
-And finally, I really, really like the original primary configuration of the International Space Station before all the cutbacks. Screw politics, this thing is a marvel of engineering, it looks awesome, and it's REAL.
Mark
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
"Impressive" can mean so many different things...
� The Executor is my definitive "oh, shit!" spaceship. � Have you guys seen those Shadow battleships lately? Those still freak me out, ten years later... � I like the Constitution refit as a great example of beauty and engineering, properly synthesized. (I'd say Excelsior as well, but that's been portrayed so differently over the years.) � The Andromeda Ascendant is one of my favorites because it's such a unique and distinctive shape, almost to the point of putting form over function... but not quite. � The original Starfury was an impressive fighter-type ship, because of its realistic maneuvering capabilities. � Watching a squadron of White Stars sweeping in on a target inspired awe, as well.
So next time, be more specific. Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
The Tiger Claw from the old Wind Commander game (Not the craptastic movie) Was pretty cool. The Rapier II fighter from WC1 is still one of the coolest looking fighters ever.
Here's a webpage with a pic of the Rapier II, It's pretty crappy because the games like 15 years old... Rapier II Posted by Lurker Emeritus (Member # 1888) on :
Impressive means you were impressed. Doesn't just have to mean you were impressed by it's size (penis envy?) or it's firepower (impotence cure?)
Ok, try this. Wistful. Which one would make you feel wistful and wish you could take a piece of it with you, live the life it promises, enjoy the company of exciting people, go anywhere, see incredible sights, do things terrestrial bums can only dream of and read novels about.
Clear enough? Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
I think there's some silent agreement about the refit Constitution (from STI:TMP) being the most aesthetically beautiful ship from evar which I'd probably go along with. Really pleasing lines, strength, speed, artful and yet functional. Even if we can't decide where the rec-deck or Officer's Lounge are. But since probably everyone is going to/has said that, the runner up for me at that same scale would likely be the Tantive IV Rebel Blockade Runner from Star Wars. Seems cluttered and complicated the way I imagine a real ship would be.
If we were going to include stationary objects, then the wagon-wheel station from 2001 would probably supercede my previous runner up, especially reflecting Earth blue. I'm a sucka for the wagon-wheels.
For wistful on a smaller scale, I think the Millenium Falcon edges out Serenity for me.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Spaceball-1. I'd honk to it.
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
In starship mode or Mega-Maid mode?
Nice pair of robo-tits on that mega-maid...
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
I'd hijack Mega-Maid and use her to lure Unicron away from Cybertron...
As for runners-up, since we seem to be mentioning them :
�The ORIGINAL Andromeda from Space Battleship Yamato. It's too bad Captain Gideon was such a prat. I also have a deep fondness for the Yamato herself.
�The venerable Millennium Falcon, but with all the errors due to hasty design ironed out. That'd be my ultimate RV.
�The interceptor from the Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, which I -- alas -- do not have pics of yet.
�And to round out my top five, I've always loved the Y-Wing starfighter and think it really got shafted in the Expanded Universe materials.
I also wholeheartedly agree on the early Wing Commander designs -- Terran and Kilrathi both.
--Jonah
Posted by Starship Freak (Member # 293) on :
I always liked the Buck Rogers fighters actually...
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Me too. And I also like the Event Horizon.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Impressive: the Defiant when she first fired those new pulse phasers and destroyed an oncoming Jem Hadar ship- made me love Trek all over.
Impressive and Wistful: the Gunstar 1: holy crap- the single baddest fighter of all time. Ever.
Posted by MrNeutron (Member # 524) on :
GUNSTAR! From which those B5 Starfuries are lovingly ripped off.
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
Yeah -- the Gunstar's only slightly further down my list, but still in my top 10.
--Jonah (proud owner of the 1:48 model kit of same)
P.S. Jen's vote is for the Imperial Star Destroyer. Scary, powerful, imposing, cold... Just big enough to make your mind gibber, but not so big your mind can't grasp the sheer enormity of it (like the Super Star Destroyers). She may be joining soon, too. Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
quote:Originally posted by Peregrinus: Yeah -- the Gunstar's only slightly further down my list, but still in my top 10.
--Jonah (proud owner of the 1:48 model kit of same)
P.S. Jen's vote is for the Imperial Star Destroyer. Scary, powerful, imposing, cold... Just big enough to make your mind gibber, but not so big your mind can't grasp the sheer enormity of it (like the Super Star Destroyers). She may be joining soon, too.
Ah, a woman after my own heart! You lucky bastard you!
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Excelsiors? Disproportionate pigs, is what they are.
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
FINALLY, the first of the anti-Excelsior crowd heard from. I'm amazed at the dearth of "pregnant guppy" jibes.
--Jonah
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Ahhh...
[zip]
Mark
Posted by Chris (Member # 71) on :
For most impressive spaceship, I would have to say the Beliskner the first time we see it in "Thor's Chariot"... Planet under attack, Goa'uld everywhere, and then along comes this huge ship that beams everything away....
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
Ya know, the Alien fighter from Independance Day was pretty cool looking as well.
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
Meh... I liked their troopships much better.
--Jonah
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Enterprise Refit [TMP] Red Dwarf (NOT the crappy CGI'd version) was pretty cool Deep Space Nine (although not technically a spaceship).
Posted by Zefram (Member # 1568) on :
The Sovereign-Class Enterprise-E. I like the sleek lines and the shape of the nacelles. The Voyager's and the Enterprise-D's nacelles always looked too small to me.
The Surak from Enteprise. In fact, I like all the Vulcan ships with the ring-shaped nacelle.
The TIE Interceptor. Fast and dangerous-looking, unlike the original TIE fighter.
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
I should also mention the various Jurai and Galaxy Police ships from Tenchi Muyo.
--Jonah
Posted by Idontlikeusernames (Member # 1925) on :
The Galaxy class Federation starship is definitely my favorite since IMHO it's got both comfort and style.
Posted by Chris_Johnston (Member # 2044) on :
Greetings, all! First post here!
My personal favorite is the American Airlines Space Freighter Valley Forge from Silent Running. Greatest FX miniature ever built, IMHO.
Posted by Josh (Member # 1884) on :
My favorite's run as so ;
The Excelsior class
The Pillar of Autumn from Halo (Interior design is awesome too)
The Sulaco from Aliens
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Well I recently played a mod for Freespace 2 called Blue Planet which had some real pretty Capital Ships.
GTD Raynor
GTD Titan
GTCv Chimera
GTCv Bellerophon
I like these ships because the possess a balance between a sense beauty and power.
Posted by aridas (Member # 1051) on :
I saw the Skylab/Saturn V combo on the pad at Cape Kennedy as it prepared for launch. Amazingly, it was even bigger than the Apollo/Saturn V. It was truly awe inspiring. Though it was a fraction of the size of say, the World Trade Center, and nowhere near the scale of a natural wonder like the Grand Canyon, the fact that this thing would explode in a giant ball of flame and rise into the air was more than ample reason for me to be very, very impressed.
GTCv Chimera kinda resembles the Pillar of Autumn from the Halo series.
I do like your choice of naval architecture there! Gotta love those WWII-style gun turrets!
Posted by Pensive's Wetness (Member # 1203) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mark Nguyen: - The SDF-1... (DAH!)
- The Alexei Leonov from 2010. One of the best "real SF" designs from the past few decades, right down to the rotating section, aerobraking, and massive nuclear engine. This was unceremoniously ripped off by Babylon 5, whose Omega-class destroyers get a lot of false credit for "new and different design". Schmendricks.
But what IF they didn't know about it, during developtment? I mean that court argument worked for Battletech's Unseen or Disney's The Lying King, right?
quote:Originally posted by Peregrinus: �The ORIGINAL Andromeda from Space Battleship Yamato. It's too bad Captain Gideon was such a prat. I also have a deep fondness for the Yamato herself.
--Jonah
*ahem* Macross of course. The EDF ships, of course. Most of the TMP designed, if not all of them...
Imagine a ACE's style senerio with EDF ships, with PPB's and Destroids for Point defence...
Wow, the legal rights alone would constrict the peni of mecha otaku everywhere...
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
Oooh... TIE Interceptor is still my favorite figher. Rakish, dangerous-looking. When I was but a wee bairn reading my first (and only, unfortunately) Star Wars novels, I always badly wanted to have a little Interceptor of my own. To crush my enemies and make them scream.
Also, I like the Protoss Corsairs from Starcraft Broodwar. And I have to repeat the Gunstar sentiment.
See the Corsair as in ST2 here; I couldn't find a good one for how it looks in-game in the first one. (Those Carriers aren't bad either - and a cool concept.)
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Regarding the Leonov/Omega connection. I think it has more to do with the fact that JPL were consulted on both projects (at least I think they were on 2010) and the simple fact is, given the technological restictions put in place for Earth tech, that is the most likely design for that type of craft. That is something reasonably large, slim profile and a gravity section. I'm sure they did look at the Leonov and at no point do I recall B5 claiming it was a particularly original concept (infact I'm pretty sure the Leonov was credited as inspiration) so to my mind it's not a rip off. Unless you think Star Trek ripped off Forbidden Planet for having a saucer shaped hull and circular bridge. Sometimes something is designed a certain way because it's the best solution to a given problem and there's not getting away from it.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
(I'm not sure you can say the Forbidden Planet ship had a bridge at all in that sense.)
Posted by HerbShrump (Member # 1230) on :
The Enterprise, NCC 1701.
No bloody A. No bloody B. No bloody C and no bloody D.
Yes, the TOS Enterprise. And here's why. From everything I've ever seen, the Enterprise broke the mold when it came to new designs for space ships.
Everywhere I look before Star Trek all of the space ships were rockets or saucers. The Enterprise was the first ship to break away from that entire way of thinking. It opened up a whole new approach to what a space ship, or star ship could look like.
Of course, there is still an element of the old style thinking in the Enterprise design. They couldn't completely get away from the flying saucer look. Still, I think Star Trek with the Enterprise, Romulan Warbird and Klingon D7 really opened the doors to style and creativity.
Posted by The Mighty Dwarf from Outer Space (Member # 2024) on :
1 Hiigaran Motership from Homeworld 2 with an escort of Battlecruisers and other ships 2Imperial Super Star Destroyer with a swarm of TIE Fighters and two or three ISD's
Aditionally those two fleets should be engaged in a battle.
Now that WOULD be cool!
Posted by Axeman 3D (Member # 1050) on :
There's no question the most impressive entrance of an on-screen spaceship was the Imperial Star Destroyer, no question at all. It gives me chills even to this day. In the old X-Wing games the minute a Star Destroyer showed up it was always the cue for everyone to run like hell in the opposite direction.
In Trek it has to be the movie refit, still one of the best miniatures ever made and a nice update of one of the most original starship designs ever.
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
I dunno, Axeman. The introduction of the Executor literally overshadowed that of the ISD.
--Jonah
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
...still, it didn't exactly roar onto the screen the way the Star Destroyer did.
Oh yeah and I think an honorable mentions should be given to The Great Harborship of Bentus and of course, this old chestnut. Yes, I know the music is silly. I like silly.
Posted by Chris_Johnston (Member # 2044) on :
quote:Originally posted by HerbShrump: Everywhere I look before Star Trek all of the space ships were rockets or saucers. The Enterprise was the first ship to break away from that entire way of thinking. It opened up a whole new approach to what a space ship, or star ship could look like.
Absolutely! The first thing I point out to anyone who bad-mouths Trek as being "cheesy"! I mean, using EM fields for propulsion rather than rockets shooting out the back was amazingly advanced thinking!
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Gunstar-1: it's be the ultimate weapon in a Star Wars setting...show those crappy X-Wings a thing or three...
I love the Breen ship- the first time on trek I had to say "What the hell was thst?1?"
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
Now that I've watched B5, I have to say - not the Whitestar which wasn't as sexy in my mind as it was apparently supposed to be...but the Earthforce Destroyer-class vessels. Big, functional, lots of weapons. Military ships aren't ever going to be made sexy just for the sake of aesthetics. IMHO.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
I'm in love with the Republic Star destroyer- it's not really "awe inspiring" or anything, but it is very sexy and it can land.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Is it me, or were they off with the scale of that thing. It seemed a lot smaller on land than it did in space.
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
Galaxy > Excelsior. I'm just sayin'.
Also, definitely the tall mothership from Homeworld. I'd thought for a long time before seeing it that a vertical ship made a lot of sense (the thinking being that big wide ships resulted in a lot of corridor-space), and to see that huge vertical slash in space (as if to say "We're here!") just has such a different effect than even SW's Executor.
I mean, you know the Executor is big, but there's something psychologically distinct about something being just utterly honkin' tall, at least when viewed on a 2-D screen.
When the time comes for hindsight, despite all the real and perceived problems, I think the shuttle will be viewed as a most impressive vessel. Soon everyone will pretty much be employing capsules, which have their merits to be sure . . . but they are so incredibly utilitarian. The shuttle was designed for utility, too . . . but there's just something about the tapered tips of a soaring spaceplane and the awe of its dive back into the mist that evokes far more romance than the ballistic, mechanical boredom of a capsule dropping to earth like a space turd into the toilet.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
I always though the Trade Federation Droid Control ship to be cool. That big sphere in the middle of that broken ring. Coolness.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
quote:I mean, you know the Executor is big, but there's something psychologically distinct about something being just utterly honkin' tall, at least when viewed on a 2-D screen.
That's one of the reasons why I loved the Alliance cruiser from Firefly...
Posted by OverRon (Member # 2036) on :
Well I'm not sure what the most impresive one I've seen is but a list of my favourites are:
From Trek my favourite has got to be the Excelsior or refit Ent-B version. It's just simple, and elegant.
The Executor was very damn impresive when you see it for the first time, it's just so damn huge! The Eclipse is pretty impressive design as well.
Those Omega Class Destroyers from B5 were just coolness too. With the big spinning bit, and a menacing look to it!
I loved the Prometheus, from Stargate, especially the first time we see it. It's impressive to think that only a few years before that Earth only had shuttles, and now it's got whopping great space battlecruisers.
As for fighters, I'm kinda torn between Starfurys, X-wings, Tie Interceptors, and Tie Defenders. Although I loved the Pak'than and Vak'toth fighters from Wing Commander.
And the Lexx for the sheer phalic-ness of it! Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
Two things in relation to Guardian's post: First, have you seen the X-whateverytheycallit, the surface-to-orbit vehicle they want to replace the shuttle fleet? Won't be around for awhile, but definitely not an ugly capsule. Also, what difference would a 'vertical' ship actually make? I mean I know TV SF likes to keep everything oriented on the same plane, and I guess near a gravity well that might make sense...maybe...but out in space there'd be no telling the relative attitudes of the ships. A horizontal ship could look like a big vertical slash in the sky, depending on which angle it came at you.
OverRon, I also liked the Ent-B when I first saw it as a youngun. I remember thinking it looked a hell of a lot less clunky than the Connies.. ;P Like I said before, I'm with you on the destroyers (although I thought the Omega class was too black for my taste - I like the lighter colors of the earlier ones), but not the starfuries, I dunno why. And I never liked the Prometheus cruiser nearly as much as the Daedalus-class battle cruisers. Although really they should be called battleships, shouldn't they? I mean I think they skipped a superclass in terms of size and weaponry...oh well...its the air force, what do they know Posted by OverRon (Member # 2036) on :
I always thought the small EF ships were a little too bright and "clean" looking, and I definetly prefferred the more grungy and darker ships. That ship that Sheridan takes command of (nova class?), to Nuke the Mimbari cruiser in "in the beginning" wouldn't look out of place in the Wing Commander 3 universe, with light greay and blue colour scheme. The shadow-tech Omega-X was just a little bit too much on the dark side for me though.
Well I never really thought of the Prometheus as good looking and pleasing design. But it was very impressive when you first see it, as before then, the Air Force had just been tinkering with Def gliders and 302s, then all of a sudden they've got this honking great battlecruiser sat in an underground hanger! And that scene in Antartica where the Prometheus is taking an insane number of hits from that fleet, and shaking it off pretty well.
The Daedalii look sleeker and nicer but they never really struck as me very impressive, coming after the Prometheus and all. Well not until the Odyssey got Asgard weapons and kicked some Ori arse, that was impressive. Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
Meh, I thought it was pretty silly, actually. Here the Asgard have weapons powerful enough to destroy Ori motherships in just a few hits - sometimes even one! - and yet they didn't just wipe them out of the sky when they first got there. Indeed, there were several O'Neill class Asgard cruisers present at the Battle of P3Y-229, and they got their tiny malformed asses kicked too. And now where the hell are the Asgard weapons that should be being installed all over the place over in Pegasus what with the Wraith and Replicators letting slip the dogs of war? It really bugs me...
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
Now that I've had my first taste of Firefly, vis a vis Serenity, I've gotta say that although the Alliance cruiser didn't strike me as very sexy, it conveyed a very firm sense of "Gentlemen, we mean some damn business."
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mars Needs Women: Is it me, or were they off with the scale of that thing. It seemed a lot smaller on land than it did in space.
It's a lot smaller than a Star Destroyer, so landing's not that crazy.... plus Lucas could care less about stuff like the speed required for that giant ship to break free of a planet's gravity (or any practical science stuff) so just sit back and enjoy the coolness factor.
I still plan on building one with an ISD-style bridge instead of those twin (and rather silly) towers. Love the Republic's laser turretts though!
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
Does anyone else think the shield domes on ISDs are just ... silly-looking?
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Nope. Looked like a radar dome to me. As for the Alliance Cruiser, are you referring to the ones in Serenity or the ones in the series? I ask because the series cruiser is VERY different and more interesting IMO.
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
Radar domes look silly to me. I don't know why. Giant geodesic domes on a stick just look....cheesy for some reason. I'm honestly mystified by my own dislike, but there are some things in real life that I just want to call up the SFX department and say "What the hell?"
Well, I'm a bit confused about Serenity to tell you the truth. I thought it was a movie made after Firefly was canceled? But the one I saw said (pilot movie) and had the Firefly opening music and sequence and everything after a teaser (although it was a full-length movie). Are there two movies called Serenity or what?
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Yeah, sounds like what you saw was the feature length pilot which was indeed called Serenity. Girl in a box, crazy Ivan, Kaylee's dead gag, that sound familiar?
The theatrical movie came later and yes, it was also called Serenity. If you've started with the pilot you might as well finish the series as a few things change and develop.
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
Yeah, that's it. That's a bit confusing.
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
Sorry for the double; edit window closed.
I just watched the ep where our boy Reynolds gets himself a wife. ..... This was on cable??
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Well, it was FOX, so....
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
lol Yeah but the FCC will generally fine a network for a hell of a lot less than "I swell at the thought of you inside me, and I see that you do too..."
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
Mmmm, Saffron...
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Well, that was nothing compared to the flashback to when Mal met Kaylee for the first time!
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by Daniel Butler: Two things in relation to Guardian's post: First, have you seen the X-whateverytheycallit, the surface-to-orbit vehicle they want to replace the shuttle fleet? Won't be around for awhile, but definitely not an ugly capsule.
They're replacing the shuttle with an enlarged and updated Apollo-style capsule called Orion.
quote:Also, what difference would a 'vertical' ship actually make? I mean I know TV SF likes to keep everything oriented on the same plane, and I guess near a gravity well that might make sense...maybe...but out in space there'd be no telling the relative attitudes of the ships. A horizontal ship could look like a big vertical slash in the sky, depending on which angle it came at you.
Hence the reference to the TV screen.
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
Well what happened to that other surface-to-orbit shuttle? The one they show in the opening credits of Star Trek: Enterprise? It was still in the design stages then, but I was rather sure they had a working prototype doing high-atmospheric tests on top of a jet carrier...
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
quote:Originally posted by Daniel Butler: Yeah, that's it. That's a bit confusing.
I think it was done on the theory that most of the people going to see the movie would either be folk who hadn't seen Firefly and so confusion wasn't an issue or Browncoats, who had seen the series over and over and over and so confusion also wasn't an issue. Latecomers like yourself will just have to deal.
quote:Originally posted by Daniel Butler: lol Yeah but the FCC will generally fine a network for a hell of a lot less than "I swell at the thought of you inside me, and I see that you do too..."
But it had some good bible.
quote:Originally posted by Daniel Butler: Well what happened to that other surface-to-orbit shuttle? The one they show in the opening credits of Star Trek: Enterprise? It was still in the design stages then, but I was rather sure they had a working prototype doing high-atmospheric tests on top of a jet carrier...
That would be a fictional design, roughly based on the old X-30 and X-33 concepts.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
You really find Firefly to be that risque?
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
For American cable TV, yes. For my personal taste, no. And after I posted that I saw the scene B.J. mentioned where Mal meets Kaylee; and of course there's the scene in the pilot where Inara is plying her trade. Those are things that would make a movie rated R here...I don't understand how they got on regular cable besides the midnight-to-3am timeslot.
*scratches head* I thought for years now there was an X-something that was going to replace the Shuttle fleet. It's a bit of a mind-strain to find out a solid fact you've known for years is baseless nonsense...
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Just wait until Saffron's second episode. There's a full nude scene right at the start, I've leave the identity of the offending party for you to find out for yourself.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
^BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
lol. Again - buttcracks on American cable TV are usually blurred out. Of course I suppose they might've done that during broadcast. I wonder how much they paid Morena Baccarin to stand that close to him... Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Dude...are you on fucking crack? Or have you just not watched any television since 1987?
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
Ehhh, no, but nothing but Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno, SG, and Adult Swim since 2003 or so.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Also Firefly wasn't on cable.
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
Isn't Fox cable anymore? Cuz...it was ten minutes ago...
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
I had no idea American TV was so uptight...says the Englishman.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
OK, you've stumped me. But assuming I'm not missing a joke, FOX is a broadcast network, with its signal put out over the air.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I was so stumped that I got outreplied!
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
Well, I've had Fox on cable all the time. There are Fox broadcasting stations too, yeah, but I always assumed they were affiliates. Aren't restrictions on broadcast the same anyway?
Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :
Also, I was under the impression that as long as they put that little disclaimer in after commercial breaks, they can show anything anytime.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
If you have cable, you get your local broadcast stations sent to your TV through the cable. But it's the exact same stuff that's being broadcast over the air. So the same rules are in effect.
And restrictions on broadcast television are far tighter than on cable. You get cable through a private contract between yourself and the cable company. If you don't like the programming, you can take it up with them. But broadcast TV is being sent through the air to everyone. Over frequencies doled out by the government. Thus, the FCC gets to decide what you can and cannot do on broadcast stations.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
There are currently five broadcast networks in the US: NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and The CW. These are the ones that get sent over the airwaves in addition to other services (i.e. cable). So no, Fox is not a cable network.
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
Well, I've learned that I have absolutely no idea how TV works :-/
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Don't worry; if current programming is anything to go by, even TV executives have no idea how TV works.
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
Reality shows are the pinnacle of television programming and no one watches science-fiction, right? I think that's how television works...
--Jonah
Posted by Lurker Emeritus (Member # 1888) on :
Only a few fictional spacecraft utilising cables as a major structural element come to mind (note that fictional includes designs that were never, or cannot currently, be built). One is Larry Niven's idea for the Protector's ship, with the reactor compartment strung out hundreds of metres ahead of the life support module. The other is the Valkyrie, details of which are available here: Atomic Rocket - Valkyrie
I think there's something deeply impressive about this approach as well. After all, there's no reason why a spacecraft need be neatly contained within a single outer shell. Spacecraft don't have to tolerate the drag created by flying through an atmosphere, and under ideal conditions do not need to venture too close to a gravity well (one should use one's ground to orbit shuttle for that sort of thing), so they could just be a collection of interconnected modules in a spider web of cables, or a long piece of string with bits attached at intervals. I once doodled a rotating design with a central propulsion unit and habitation modules on cables that could be extended or retracted to vary the gravity experienced by the inhabitants.
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But what IF they didn't know about it, during developtment? I mean that court argument worked for Battletech's Unseen or Disney's The Lying King, right? ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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