Most people want to be Han Solo. Why? Because he’s cool. He has the coolest spaceship. It can do amazing things. Spaceships are a quintessential ingredient of many science fiction stories because they are a fictional representation of science. They can do what ships can’t do today. Go where ships can’t go right now. They take us on voyages that propel us to the furthest reaches of the universe and our imaginations.
Here are 5 brilliant moments in science fiction that have spaceships doing the things that make us want to fly them ourselves.
Galactica launches Vipers in atmosphere, Battlestar Galactica
Trying to rescue your people from a planet’s surface can be tough, especially if your ship isn’t designed for atmospheric flight. The crew of the Galactica don’t care about little things like ‘physics’ and ‘gravity’ as they use their Light Drive to jump into the atmosphere. Falling like a brick towards the surface, they manage to launch all fighters, and then jump before they become a splattered pancake of metal and fire. A bold tactic that pays off whilst also managing to look amazing.
Millennium Falcon destroys the Death Star, Star Wars
One of the most popular and recognisable spaceships in sci-fi, the Millennium Falcon may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts. This is especially evident when Lando Calrissian takes the Falcon inside the superstructure of the Death Star to destroy it from within. The coolest moment is the escape, as fire slowly surrounds the ship on its speedy exit before shooting out of the Death Star moments before it explodes.
USS Defiant takes on Klingon Attack Cruiser, Star Trek
Built as a warship to fight the toughest bad guys in Star Trek – The Borg, the Defiant can certainly hold its own. It has had plenty of chances to prove its worth but the coolest moment has to be when it attacks a substantially bigger Klingon ship. Its size working for it, the Defiant is able to move and weave around the larger vessel dealing a lot of damage whilst taking little. Tough little ship.
Colonial Dropship…drops, Aliens
Possibly the fastest, not to mention exhilarating way to get to a planet’s surface. Doing exactly what the name suggests, the Dropship drops from the belly of its mother ship in a stomach lurching display of military precision. The closest you can get to an express elevator to hell. Going down.
What is it about escaping from things about to explode that’s so cool? Well the Jupiter 2 does it in style and is probably the most exciting thing about this middling movie. Instead of a traditional escape upwards, the crew decide to take the ship down and through the planet as it’s breaking up, hoping the gravity will give them a boost to clear the explosion. Great effects and a very interesting idea.
Post contributed by Halit Bozdogan, on behalf of Appliances Online
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