Thursday, February 25, 2010

5 Greatest Spaceships of All Time

They'll never exist. Not in reality. But I sure wish they did. I'd gladly fly in any one of these.

1. USS Enterprise

My first love. I talked about it in another post a couple years ago, so I won't rehash it here, but it's still the starship against which all others are measured. I want to live on the bridge.


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2. Eagle 1

Space: 1999. So dated, so disregarded, so wonderful. Again, I wrote a post about this a while back but suffice it to say these craft inspired a lot of imaginative play. I wanted to build my own mock-up of the cockpit. And wear my custom-made shirt with a single red sleeve.


3. Millenium Falcon

I know what you're saying. "What a piece of junk!" Well, she may not look like much but she's got it where it counts, kid. And, sadly, I quoted that from memory. Yes, I am a nerd.

When I used to imagine what I'd do if I were granted three wishes, I developed a complicated list that would result in me having a full sized, working Millenium Falcon with unlimited fuel and the knowledge of how to fly it. I figured I could at least run as a high end competitor to Federal Express using a slogan like "When it absolutely, positively has to be there right now." I figured I could shuttle people and stuff between continents in a matter of minutes. Ah, the dream life of being a courier. Sadly, I did not make an allowance for also obtaining a Wookie co-pilot. Or a life.


4. Sky One 

UFO took place IN THE FUTURE. 1980 to be exact. *sigh* It involved a shadowy organization (see what I did there?) fighting malevolent marauders from outer space. While the moon-based interceptors were cool (and I still have my Dinky Toys version of it) I always thought Sky 1 was more cool. It launched from the ocean, attached to a submarine, then flew into the atmosphere to shoot down flying saucers. Yes!


5. Jupiter 2

Speaking of flying saucers, this Lost in Space ship WAS a flying saucer - but one built by the good guys! It also seemed to have the property of being bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. How else could they have jammed the chariot and pod in there, not to mention the voluminous lower lever of living quarters. But I loved the spinning lights on the undercarriage and as stupid as the show it self was, the ship was always cool. And the robot. Duh.

What did I leave out? What are some of YOUR picks?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well of course the Enterprise without a letter and Eagle 1, though the Millenium Falcon somehow slipped my mind, though the X-Wing made it on my list. How you left off Discovery One I don't understand. And the Jupiter 2 was just plain dorky. I've personally always had a fondness for von Braun's Mars rocket, which was plausible enough to be borderline outlandish.

Unknown said...

Ha! These really bring back memories. I gotta say, I liked the original Galactica, too. Not sure which of those 5 it bumps off, though.

-TimK

Unknown said...

Nice list, Neil. But I'd have to replace Sky One with an Imperial Star Destroyer. I've always loved the design of them.

Sue London said...

New to your blog. First, the ability to quote Star Wars without reference material is a minimum requirement for my circle of friends. (Yes, in a clutch you can pull out "I have a bad feeling about this" but that's really poor form.)

Second, you actually managed to come up with a science fiction show (UFO) that among my husband, my sister and myself we have any memory of it. We are suitably impressed.

Regarding my own list of ships, will need to think about that some more. The Enterprise is obviously on my list, but need to think about which one. Of all the crews I would most want to serve with Captain Archer, but I'm not sure that's my favorite *ship*.

Skip Mendler said...

FIREBALL XL-5!