Top 10 Movie Spaceships

I have to admit that I'm a bit of a sci-fi nerd, and so when I see some of these marvelous constructions I can't help but freak out. If they're designed well enough then they can become an integral part of the film and an international icon. Here is a list of my top ten favorites from various films that have been organised by the little child inside me. There may be some spoilers present, so you have been warned.

#10 USCSS Prometheus (Prometheus)

Okay this might have originated from a pretty unpopular film, but there's no denying that this spaceship isn't awesome. It might not compare that well to the various other vessels in the prequel of this film, but there's little argument that the USCSS Prometheus deserves to be on this list. Originally built in 2091, this spaceship looks good for a reason, and that is down to the one trillion dollar price-tag. For that huge sum of money this ship has the ability to reach the farthest depths of space that humanity can possibly explore, with the hope of finding the truth about the human race. Standard issue specification includes four nuclear powered engines and a top speed greater than that of light, making it not only the quickest, but the most advanced ship available on the market. As you would expect it's full of optional extras that range from holographic communicators to regenerative shields. It had the perfect potential to be a film classic, but the shoddy quality of the directing and scriptwriting made sure this was a massive waste of time and effort. Its demise came when it was heroically driven into an alien ship that was theoretically supposed to have been traveling with the intention of destroying Earth. That much wasn't really explained in the film, but then again neither was anything else.

#9 Mothership (Close Encounters of the Third Kind)

This thing is fucking huge and looks pretty damn awesome. It gives me infinite respect for aliens that might be out there, as this is almost like the 'Grand Designs' version of anything else film has to offer in terms of spaceships. It's purpose might be to abduct humans on a colossal scale, but they at least have the common decency to slow down the ageing process if nothing else. The man responsible for this impressive creation is director Steven Spielberg, who proves he has a keen eye for shipbuilding by using a design that he designed and modeled by himself. Like his directing, the model has an insane amount of detail included, even down to the creation of tiny components, such as a VW Campervan. Thanks to Spielberg's hard work this entry is a joy to behold, and the film perfectly encapsulates this feeling of mystery and wonder through both the plot and the atmosphere. It's no surprise that the humans in the film are instantly drawn to it when it looks like that. Just the lights are enough to make me feel eight years old again. It's no wonder that this film has become such a classic when it has a spaceship like this.

#8 Borg Cube (Star Trek)

Seriously 'Star Trek' fans, what the fuck is this? It has to be the most impractical vehicle of all time; it's just a flying cube. In terms of aerodynamic and practicality this has to be almost useless. It is essentially one huge sitting duck that defeats the laws of physics, and has no right to be as devastating as it actually is. Despite The Borg not going to physics lessons, they do know a thing or two about shipbuilding as this distinct vessel packs one hell of a punch. The logic behind the 3km cube design becomes apparent when you discover that this universal shape has designs which make no two ships  ever the same, which does make it a pain to navigate, but also makes it one big hardpoint that has no obvious weakness. When you couple this with its numerous armaments that include cutting beams and missiles then you have a recipe for destruction of both planets and ships. As the crew of the 'Starship Enterprise' found out, this really is much scarier than it actually looks, and for that reason it deservedly lands a spot on this list.  

#7 Cheops Class Warship (Stargate)

I've always thought 'Stargate' was a shitty franchise, but you do have to admit that this ship looks pretty awesome. The technical aspects of the design mean absolutely nothing to me. I'm sure if you were a 'Stargate' fanatic then you would just love to lecture me on this ship's specifications, but aside from looking quite menacing I honestly don't care. You may be wondering why it appears on this list, and that would be down to various features it has that make this a very unique, if strange spaceship. For starters it has a throne room which opens up when the ship docks onto one of the ancient pyramids that litter ancient Egypt. I'm sure this does limit production since there aren't many pyramids about, and it's a bit useless if the battle is in Russia, as you would have to tow the whole pyramid along, but it's a pretty cool feature, if very impractical. However the most distinct feature about the ship is that it has the ability to enslave whole civilizations, which for a hidden talent is quite shocking. Any citizens who aren't compliant will be sent to the on-board dungeon that suspends inmates in cells of rising water levels. This truly is a sadistic creation, and so it's a good job that it was produced with little thought. You can't really take a spaceship seriously when the lighting system still runs by naked flame torches.

#6 USCSS Nostromo (Alien)

By far the most superior ship that graces the brilliant 'Alien' franchise. This petty vessel might only be designed for mining, but at 42 million dollars it's also quite well equipped. We never get much of a glimpse as to the exterior of the ship, and the above screenshot is the only sight we really get. The interior however is the focal point of the original film, and sets the dark and claustrophobic scenes perfectly with its narrow corridors and low level lighting, setting the audience up for some good old fashioned scares. This ship met its demise in the original film when it had to self destruct following a xenomorph infestation. There wasn't really much to save at that point since the alien had killed almost all the crew, but for a one film outing this ship has left an impressive image. 

#5 Starship Enterprise (Star Trek)

Yes this really is only number five. This legendary ship is a wet dream to the majority of nerds out there, but unfortunately its charms don't have the same effect on me. Don't get me wrong it's an attractive ship, but apart from being the setting to a classic 'The Firm' song, this vessel has very little meaning to me. It is perhaps best known for being the home of legendary astronaut Captain James Kirk, and joins him on his various missions to boldly go around the galaxy, discovering various things. There have since been about five million other captains that have taken the helm in various reincarnations, but none have come close to the icon of Kirk, who has now become almost a deity to sci-fi fans worldwide. There is still the argument to whether this or the upgraded Jean Luc Picard version was the better of the two, but I often find that the latter models have a certain something missing that simply cannot be covered up with improved technology. However the ship has always maintained those handsome saucer aesthetics that have helped establish a global franchise.

It's fair to say that this is probably the most popular entrant on my list, and that's not just down to the nice visuals or brilliant door noises. The original crew was just such a better mix of eclectic personalities, and so the sense of adventure just naturally flowed through this ship. It's almost like the Rolls Royce of spacecraft, and you could moan at Kirk for looking a bit flashy. That would explain why Kirk manages to pull every single female alien he meets; something that I'm not jealous about at all. Kirk and his ship have become such an icon that NASA decided to name one of their space shuttles after this ship. Admittedly it was only a test shuttle, so it boldly didn't go anywhere, but that's quite an achievement from a work of fiction. The original ship was destroyed however when those damn Klingons tried to get their hands on it. captain Kirk subsequently blew the thing up so they couldn't capture it, which ended the dreams of many single men worldwide.

#4 Star Destroyer (Star Wars)

The flagship of the Imperial fleet in 'Star Wars'. Throughout the franchise these ships have become an absolute icon, and can instantly make any space battle about two million times better. Just the first sight of these bad boys in the opening scene of the fourth episode was enough to get you excited, and it gave you a sense of just what the Galactic Empire and the 'Star Wars' franchise was all about. Its huge image sent chills down your spine, and that was only increased when you found out that the name comes from the fact that it can destroy whole star systems. It's a ship that even Han Solo has trouble with fighting, and that means a regular pilot probably wouldn't want to mess with one. That might have something to do with this 1.6km long death machine having thousands of laser turrets and ion cannons to take down just about anything. Just one look at that dagger shaped silhouette and you knew that business was about to pick up.

It's a ship I would love to have a go on, until I got force choked through a video by Darth Vader for being a shit admiral. His ship, 'The Executor', would be an improvement to this, as that's even bigger. But in the 'Star Wars' universe they're both just awesome ships. You can now get a collectors model of Darth Vader's 'Executor', and although it's a rare and valuable item, I would still pay big bucks to get my hands on a cinema icon. That model might not be 11km long, have weapons, or actually fly, but you can still be an absolute badass like Darth Vader without having to conquer the universe first. Well, they can almost conquer all of it. They can't conquer anywhere there's an asteroid field, or anywhere that has admirals that look like giant squid, but that's a small price to pay for such a legendary ship.

#3 Discovery One (2001: A Space Odyssey)

This might not be the most famous ship to ever grace the silver screen, but to get a taste of what this is all about then please listen to the ambient sounds this thing makes for twelve hours straight. That video will show you that this ship doesn't do anything flashy or impressive like everything else on this list, but instead becomes an integral part of the almost flawless plot to the Stanley Kubrick masterpiece. Unlike the other ships on this list, this is almost the entire setting of the film, and it's vital role gives viewers a unique sense of isolation and foreboding that are essential to the space based plot. In other films the character would promote the ship, but here those roles are reversed, and Kubrick subtly creates his powerful characters through the aid of this rather standard ship. Central to this is the artificial intelligence 'HAL', who might just be the greatest villain of all time. His reliance on the ship's mainframe sums up what an important role this simple star-ship has over the plot, which I do beleive is far superior to anything else on this list.

It might not be amazing to look at, and secretly I will admit that it's a bit dull, but complaining about that would just be missing the point. This ship isn't designed to be put on a poster, it's designed to be as realistic as possible and to reflect the relatable themes of the narrative. In that sense it works just brilliantly, and you still do get that sense of amazement when you see it, just that it's not that childhood joy that you get with some more elaborate creations. This ship proves that Kubrick really thought about his films, and it seems amazing that he could produce such a realistic interpretation of a spacecraft in a time when mankind hadn't even landed on the moon yet. We'll ignore what happened in the bullshit sequel, as that saw this ship as a tourist attraction rather than a serious message, and so please just watch the original if you'd like to remember this legend for what it actually was.

#2 The Death Star (Star Wars)

Just the name 'Death Star' is all you really need to know about this humungous ship. Is there honestly a better looking or better named ship than this in the history of cinema? Well maybe the number one entry, but this has far more presence. That presence is down to the fact that this thing is 100km long, which of course means it can commonly be misidentified as a small moon. This sphere of unlimited power has the ability to take on just about anything and even destroy whole planets with a single shot, as I'm sure Princess Leia can vouch for me on that fact. In cinema it really is the ultimate weapon, and so in true underdog style it had to be defeated by a pretty pathetic army. All it took to destroy this behemoth was one well timed shot down a small design flaw, which was a bit of a low blow by the Rebel Alliance. Still, I'm not going to complain about that sequence, as that's one of the best sequences in the original film.

Maybe if the Empire had bothered to do up the ventilation shaft then this wonder of engineering would still be standing. Throughout the films the second, and much larger version, was never finished and so is unfortunately excluded from this list. This creation has had such an impact on society that a petition of 25,000 signatures actually tried to get the US government to fund the building of one. The light hearted petition actually gained enough signatures for the American government to take it seriously, but unfortunately they didn't go through with the proposal after it was estimated to take around 833,000 years to complete. I am surprised though. I would of thought the Americans would have jumped at the chance to destroy other cultures after stealing all their resources. Still, political statements aside, this was a ship that blew my mind as a child, yet somehow still gets beaten by something else from the same franchise.

#1 Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)

In a rather succesful outing for 'Star Wars' this is the best that franchise has to offer in terms of spaceships; and how can you not love this bad boy? In theory it should fall under the 'brilliantly shit' category when you compare it to everything else in the 'Star Wars' galaxy, but that doesn't really matter when you have a ship that looks as cool as this does. I honestly believe there is no ship I would rather pilot, except for maybe that Star Destroyer, but that can't make the jump to hyperspace, which is a childhood obsession of mine. The amazing design for the ship actually comes from the rather humble design of a hamburger, making this the most American creation of all time, and also one sexy burger. This ship has freedom running through its design, and that alone is something very special. All it needed now was a legendary duo to fly the ship and the production team were on to an instant winner, and that's exactly what 'Star Wars' fans got with the iconic Han Solo and Chewbacca combination.

Under the smugglers leadership the 'Millenium Falcon' managed to become one seriously pimped out ride that managed to fly well despite looking like a pile of shit. The fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy was so good that it managed to clear a whole asteroid field in a unit of distance rather than time. That not impress you? Well this ship also destroyed both Death Stars, escaped the entire Imperial fleet, and managed to escape from the original 'Death Star'. That's pretty damn impressive for a flying hamburger. It was no wonder that this ship was the focal point for the new film's trailer. What a moment it was to see the Falcon again, and hopefully the appearance of this ship will lead the way for yet another epic 'Star Wars' film. Oh I can only dream.