Its Valentines Day, so obviously we all have one big thing on our minds: our favorite ships in fiction.
Fandom has largely claimed the word ships to mean relationships, as in two (or more) people you think belong together, as in I ship Dean Winchester and Castiel from Supernatural. Thats all well and good, but it isnt what were talking about. We mean what ships used to mean before fandoms stole the word vessels designed for transporting people or goods across space, through the air, or on the sea. Isnt there something inherently romantic about being aboard a fearless ship that soars and/or sails through the unknown? As it turns out, there are a lot of fictional ships to get all swoony over especially as they turn from simple vessels to important narrative devices for the characters involved.
There are far too few spaceships that are also traditional sailing ships out there, but Disneys sci-fi take on Treasure Island, 2002s Treasure Planet, helps fill the gap. The movie was a huge flop when it came out, but it has absolutely gorgeous visuals, and it really pushes the button on what that weird blend of CG and traditional animation at the turn of the millennium could accomplish. These things are not mutually exclusive.
The R.L.S. Legacy exemplifies the best that Treasure Planet has to offer. It looks like a traditional galleon, but it soars through space. It embodies all the romance of sailing the high seas, coupled with the splendor of space. Some of the movies most gorgeous scenes come from Jim Hawkins dangling on the rigging and gazing out at the vast expanse of the galaxy. Petrana Radulovic
One of the cutest quirks of the Hunter x Hunter world is that blimp and zeppelin-like airships are the norm for air travel instead of planes. It is a design decision I fully support, especially because theyre also brightly colored and really darn cute! They have little faces!!! I just want to give them all wee kisses on the nose. PR
The best spaceships are ones that become characters in their own right and the Rocinante is a shining example. The ex-Martian Navy ship becomes the centerpiece of the series. Its the escape vessel of a group of coworkers who become a found family. Its a getaway frigate. Its a warship defending the peace. Its the place Jim and Naomi meet, and where the former keeps trying to make a decent cup of coffee. Its the place where Alex Kamal makes Mariner Valley lasagna and attempts to lighten the mood. Its the eternal improvement project of Amos, then Clarissa Peaches, and more. Its the ship where Bobbie makes a stand.
After nine books, read over the course of 10 years, the interior of the ship is as familiar as any place Ive ever lived with even the mention of crash couches and the juice mentally preparing me for action and adventure. The Roci changes so much over the years, starting out as a spritely example of tech that always felt out of reach. Nine books later, with a several-decade time jump, the ships old bones begin to tire, and her tech is outdated. But shes still part of the family! Finally parting with the Roci was just as hard if not harder than parting with the crew. Nicole Clark
Its been a long damn time since Ive read Anne McCaffreys The Ship Who Sang stories, which kicked off in 1961 and were eventually wrapped up into a novel that eventually got several collaboration sequels. I cant speak for how Id feel about it today, but as a teenager, I really enjoyed the tragic, yearning romance of the first book, The Ship Who Sang. In a far-future setting, some people with badly damaged bodies become shell people, encased in life-support systems that interface with the control systems of cities, planets or ships. The protagonist here is a sentient ship (a brain) partnered with a hunky captain (a brawn) and sent out on dangerous missions. Naturally, they fall for each other, and naturally, they cant exactly be together in a conventional way, and naturally, no one who isnt a ship partner can really understand their special relationship. The whole setup is rife with unrequited longing, secret passion, and perilous space adventure. I dont know what more you could want out of your sci-fi ships. Tasha Robinson
Do fictional space vehicles need to be realistic? Of course not! But when time and attention is given to spaceship realism, I believe its worthy of praise. Thats why one of my favorite spaceships is the Interstellar Vehicle Venture Star from Avatar. This spaceship only gets a fraction of the movies runtime on screen, but its bursting with visual details that reveal an incredibly well-thought-out interstellar vehicle.
The Venture Star is designed for travel from Earth to Pandora, a journey that takes approximately seven years. In order to achieve a significant fraction of the speed of light, the Venture Star is actually pushed by an Earth-based laser for half the journey, which explains the large photon shield in the front (back?) of the ship. After a mid-journey flip, the Venture Star pumps the brakes, which in this case are two gigantic antimatter engines. Just like on a real spaceship, the Venture Star needs to get rid of all the heat those engines create, so two huge radiators slowly dissipate the heat from the antimatter reactions. The engines never even fire in the movie: the only hint at their power is the fact that these radiators continue to glow red hot long after.
The long, thin design of the Venture Star allows the crew quarters to be placed a far enough distance from the antimatter engines heat and radiation, another nod to realism. The gigantic truss connecting the two sections evokes the International Space Station and two Valkyrie atmospheric spacecraft evoke NASAs black and white space shuttle design. These references help make the Venture Star feel even more grounded as a spaceship design, while also giving the Venture Star plenty of room for Unobtainium storage.
Even before you reach Pandora, the Venture Star helps communicate how the rapacious Resources Development Administration operates. Though it evokes governmentally designed spaceships, its purpose is clearly more exploitation than exploration. This audacious spaceship is economical and efficient, designed to transport the resources the RDA extracts from Pandora. Clayton Ashley
Though only briefly glimpsed during the games opening cinematic, the asymmetrical lander from 2017s Echo is one of the most eye-catching designs in a game with no shortage of striking imagery. Essentially a personal landing craft designed to transport passengers on and off-world, the lander exemplifies all the qualities that I could want out of a personal spacecraft its compact, nimble, and visually unique. Its the type of design that inspires you to ask a million questions about the technology and civilization that produced it, which makes it the perfect type of fictional vehicle in my opinion. Toussaint Egan
Opinion may be split on Joseph Kosinskis 2013 sci-fi action film Oblivion, but whats not up for debate is the Bubble Ship, the personal reconnaissance aircraft piloted by Tom Cruise in the movie. This ship is fn cool. Vehicle designer Daniel Simon describes it as a dragonfly [combined] with a Bell 47 helicopter. The end result is a memorable, elegant design, soaring through the clouds above a post-apocalyptic Earth with ease and grace. Every moment the Bubble Ship was onscreen was pure bliss, while every moment it wasnt onscreen had me asking, Wheres the Bubble Ship? TE
My favorite ship is the Protoss Mothership from StarCraft 2. Its the sort of vessel that I dont often get to use in multiplayer matches they are expensive and move too slowly to be useful to a incompetent StarCraft 2 player. But in theory, they are perfect machines: Gorgeous to look at, can make things go invisible, call back allied units, and slow time. Its pretty good at base defense, but the build order and tech tree to make one is absolute nonsense to me. Typically, I am not good enough at StarCraft 2 to get to a point in the late-game where the ship is viable. Occasionally, I do enjoy employing a Mothership Rush strategy, which I first saw a pro-player do in 2010.
This is an absolutely mad strategy: Instead of doing things that will ensure a good economy and a powerful army, you simply pivot all resources to getting the Mothership as fast as possible. It sometimes works because its so stupid and no one expects it. However, again, I am not quite as good and often fail. And so I look on the Mothership with awe the sort of vessel that is always out of reach. Nicole Carpenter
Let me start by saying that in many ways, this is a terrible ship. Everyone aboard died, and by the end of the voyage, it was a literal wreck. It is best known for complete and total failure.
But I also love this ship. The real-life disaster story is fascinating, and AMCs highly fictionalized television adaptation is phenomenal. (season 1 of The Terror, based on Dan Simmons novel, is available to watch on Hulu.) I feel like I know the ship inside and out, even though I most certainly do not. Among the many excellent things about the series is the amount of attention devoted to the interior details of the ship. The ship is lived-in, and you live in it with the crew. This ship is a home. Its a doomed home filled with death, but its a home nonetheless. Also, its called the freaking Terror perhaps doom was slightly foreseeable. Pete Volk
Im not a big ship person, unlike some of my friends, who know who they are. I dont have a favorite Star Trek ship, much less one thats appeared in fewer than five episodes of the franchise total. For me, ships are interesting settings, bases of operations, places to explore, but rarely characters in their own right. They dont make me feel feelings.
Except the first time I saw the SSV Normandy pull out of dock, my shitty monitor speakers doing their best to blast the chords of the Mass Effect theme. My heart swelled with a feeling that could only be voiced by the phrase Thats my ship, in the same tone that, say, a total wife guy might say Thats my wife!
But I confess my full love is reserved for the SSV Normandys resurrection as the SSV Normandy SR-2, a cutting-edge stealth frigate kitted with a luxurious captains quarters, observation deck, and a fucking bar. Granted, she skirts very close to being a humanized ship when her illegal onboard AI, EDI, gets her own body in order to conform to the BTG standard (big tiddy girlfriend). But EDI is my ally and compatriot not the Normandy itself.
One woman cant be the mighty sword with whom I cut through the galaxys myriad struggles, the spot where I go to hang out with my buds, and the place I keep my collection of exotic fish. Only a ship can do that. Susana Polo
I dont even know where I first ran across this toy, which has been around since at least the mid-2010s, and Fisher-Price being largely eternal, maybe long before then. I just know I wish it had been a thing when I was a kid. Its a (probably extremely leaky) pirate ship, but its also a giant shark that eats Fisher-Price people! Also, to judge from the TV ad, it maybe fights crime too for some reason? Exactly what Id do if I was a giant shark someone had turned into a biomechanical monstrosity. Also, it comes with a little shark-pirate, which raises endless questions about the biology or superscience of whatever imaginary world this thing exists in. I like to think of the shark-ship as the Alphonse to the shark-captains Edward, just two brothers with very different bodies, trying to get by in a world thats probably pretty prejudiced against shark-people and shark-ships. At least once theyre both safely out of devouring range. TR
See more here:
The best ships in movies and TV shows - Polygon
- EU votes to ratify landmark High Seas Treaty - Euronews - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Cruise ship industry is booming despite spate of high-seas deaths - New York Post - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- The Indian seafarer deserves better in choppy high seas - The Hindu - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Pharrell Takes To The High Seas For Louis Vuitton Pre-Fall 2024 | Fashion - Clash Magazine - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- When it comes to fighting sea pirates, bones don't lie - Deccan Herald - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- Seabirds spend nearly 40% of their time on high seas, study finds - NIWA - April 29th, 2024 [April 29th, 2024]
- High seas drama: Cruise ship bound for Bahamas is diverted to Portland - Mainebiz - December 22nd, 2023 [December 22nd, 2023]
- African Ports Overwhelmed By Red Sea Reroutings - gCaptain - December 22nd, 2023 [December 22nd, 2023]
- Party Pirates: A Hilarious Co-op Adventure on the High Seas - Game Is Hard - December 22nd, 2023 [December 22nd, 2023]
- Boat sinks in high seas off Malpe, eight fishermen rescued - Public TV English - December 22nd, 2023 [December 22nd, 2023]
- Arena's Swept Away is a Dark Tale on the High Seas with Music by Grammy Winners The Avett Brothers - The Zebra - December 16th, 2023 [December 16th, 2023]
- Money Memories: Finances on the high seas - Louisville Public Media - December 16th, 2023 [December 16th, 2023]
- The Arctic Sunrise II Does the ISA have 'enforcement jurisdiction' on the High Seas? - EJIL: Talk! - December 16th, 2023 [December 16th, 2023]
- Severe Weather Impacting Multiple Cruise Ships - Cruise Hive - December 16th, 2023 [December 16th, 2023]
- Taking to the high seas for an up-close look at South Fork Wind - theday.com - December 16th, 2023 [December 16th, 2023]
- High Waves and Rough Seas Forecast for Costa Rica Coasts - The Tico Times - December 16th, 2023 [December 16th, 2023]
- Diesel theft on the high seas: When international cargo ships meet fishing boats in the dead of night - The Indian Express - December 16th, 2023 [December 16th, 2023]
- Meet the couple who've been on more than 200 cruises - and love life on the high seas so much they're selling - Daily Mail - December 16th, 2023 [December 16th, 2023]
- Report to Congress on the U.N. Law of the Sea Convention - USNI ... - USNI News - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- Simplifying Docker Installation on Linux - Linux Journal - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- Mallory to Present 'Oceans Apart: Global Governance Approaches to ... - University of Arkansas Newswire - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- NEWS: A NEW 'Moana' Show Is Coming to the Disney Treasure ... - AllEars.Net - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- Things to do Oct. 13-19 in the Chicago suburbs, Northwest Indiana - Chicago Tribune - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- Marine "Biomimetics" Could Be the Blue Economy's Next Big Hit - The Maritime Executive - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- All eyes on France this Saturday evening - Offaly Independent - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- 80s-themed cruise: A blast to the past with P&O's high-sea adventure - New Zealand Herald - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- High seas glamour: what its like to cruise the world with Cunard - Executive Traveller - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- Warfare MMO Foxhole is adding naval combat complete with huge ... - PC Gamer - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- One Piece Season 2 Cast: Every Character Expected to Appear - The Direct - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- The future of Portuguese football: the pitch, the pixels, and the promise - PortuGOAL.net - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- Typhoon Koinu to cause high winds, rough waters in East Sea - VietNamNet - October 10th, 2023 [October 10th, 2023]
- Governing our seas using core principles of sustainability - Mail and Guardian - September 19th, 2023 [September 19th, 2023]
- Marine Medium Speed Engine Oil Market: Navigating the High Seas ... - Digital Journal - September 19th, 2023 [September 19th, 2023]
- Threats on the high seas and the Pak-Saudi partnership - Arab News Pakistan - September 19th, 2023 [September 19th, 2023]
- China Wants to Burn Out Southeast Asian Navies - Foreign Policy - September 19th, 2023 [September 19th, 2023]
- Sea of Thieves Will Have to Face the Reaper Sooner or Later - GameRant - September 19th, 2023 [September 19th, 2023]
- Whine Wednesdays: Pigs On The High Seas Disgusting Behavior ... - LoyaltyLobby - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Carnival Now Looks in Ship Shape for the High Seas - RealMoney - RealMoney - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Why a new UN treaty to safeguard the high seas matters | Mint - Mint - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Navigating Unfairness on the High Seas: Class Action Waiver Clauses - Lexology - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- High-Seas Search for 39 Crewmembers of Capsized Chinese ... - The Maritime Executive - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- The Wager by David Grann review a rollicking and nuanced history of the high seas - The Guardian - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- A musician from Sauk Prairie sees the world on the high seas - WiscNews - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- How to obtain The Major-General minion in Final Fantasy XIV - Fanbyte - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- ShipRocked 2024: Artist Lineup Revealed For Hard Rockin Adventure On The High Seas! - Icon Vs. Icon - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Local playwright's Hollerwood show premiers at West T. Hill - The ... - Interior Journal - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Meth worth several thousand crores seized from high seas by Indian Navy, NCB - The News Minute - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Salute to Sailors: Navy employs technology and training to ready sailors - WHP Harrisburg - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- The Ocean Race Summit Newport urges recognition of the inherent ... - The Ocean Race - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Max Reveals All of the New Titles Coming to It's Platform In May ... - Just Jared Jr. - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Fisheries: agreement reached on sustainable management of ... - Oceans and fisheries - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- United Arab Emirates formally accepts Agreement on Fisheries ... - WTO Latest News - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Murky Tar Balls Reappear on Goa's Golden Beaches | Weather.com - The Weather Channel - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Study: Fishing Subsidies Support Unregulated Distant-Water Fishing - The Maritime Executive - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- The Rings Of Power's Morfydd Clark Hints At 'Quite A Lot Of New ... - Looper - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Chris Armstrong Short Cuts: High Seas Fishing LRB 18 May 2023 - London Review of Books - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- It's Chaos on the High Seas in New 'The Meg 2' Poster - Collider - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- From South Dakota to the high seas, the world gets less transparent - Coda Story - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Stepping up action - Nature.com - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Stricken Shiling tipped to return to Wellington the scene of its ... - Stuff - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Secretary ... - The White House - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Bangladesh: Dangerous Cyclone Mocha expected to make landfall ... - Save the Children International - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Stricken 294-metre Shiling tipped to return to Wellington - the scene ... - Stuff.co.nz - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Sneak peek: Inside Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, the largest cruise ship ever - The Points Guy - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War' is Celebrating Its 6th ... - Touch Arcade - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Is Deck 1 on a Cruise Ship Bad - Pros and Cons - Cruise Hive - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- US-Iran nuclear struggle is playing out on the high seas - The Telegraph - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Muscle Flexing In South China Sea: Why India-ASEAN War Games Send A Strong Signal To Beijing - ABP Live - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Everybody Has a Story: Surviving rough ride in a smelly ship - The Columbian - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Holiday warning over Majorca party boats loved by Brits as officials vow massive new crackdown... - The US Sun - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Dark waters: how the adventure of a lifetime turned to tragedy - The Guardian - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Guarding our seas and the blue economy - Philstar.com - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Driverless boats, enduring sensors on the special ops maritime menu - Defense News - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- List Of The Cleanest Cruise Ships In The World (2023) - Cruise Mummy - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- Sea of Survivors: What if Vampire Survivors and Sea of Thieves had ... - Windows Central - May 14th, 2023 [May 14th, 2023]
- All hands on deck as UN meets to protect high seas - February 18th, 2023 [February 18th, 2023]
- 'High Seas' Season 4 Canceled at Netflix Even After Initial Renewal - January 22nd, 2023 [January 22nd, 2023]
- 'High Seas' Netflix Review: Stream It or Skip It? - Decider - January 22nd, 2023 [January 22nd, 2023]
- What Is High Seas Governance? - National Oceanic and Atmospheric ... - January 22nd, 2023 [January 22nd, 2023]
- Move Over Disney: Carnival Is Grooming on the High Seas - December 23rd, 2022 [December 23rd, 2022]