Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Arc Hammer
Mar 4, 2013

Got any deathsticks?
I wonder who gets contracted out to do all those abstract spaceships and megastructures you see on Sci fi book covers these days.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

galagazombie
Oct 31, 2011

A silly little mouse!

Arc Hammer posted:

I wonder who gets contracted out to do all those abstract spaceships and megastructures you see on Sci fi book covers these days.

Looking at how abstract, generic, and unrelated to the actual material some of them are, I’m surprised if it isn’t outsourced to stable diffusion by the next year or so.

Kesper North
Nov 3, 2011

EMERGENCY POWER TO PARTY

galagazombie posted:

I don’t like Star Trek ships made after the 90’s because it’s usually obvious that the modern designers think Star Trek is beneath them and they’re trying to hide, minimize, or remove all identifiably Trek features. Shrink the bold prows and “noble” necks. Turn the Saucer into a rectangle. Turn the nacelles into generic engine blocks. Anything to tell themselves they’re not working on Nerd Trek. The Cerritos ironically is thus the best looking nutrek ship because, being a comedy/parody, it’s design is supposed to mock trek aesthetics, but to that it thus must actually have trek aesthetics.

The Titan - no bloody A, B, C, or D, the original Titan - was designed by a fan who won a Pocket Books cover contest

Brawnfire
Jul 13, 2004

🎧Listen to Cylindricule!🎵
https://linktr.ee/Cylindricule

Arc Hammer posted:

I wonder who gets contracted out to do all those abstract spaceships and megastructures you see on Sci fi book covers these days.

I always liked the three-brush-stroke ships on every Orson Scott Card paperback

Edit: the actual best Card covers are for the Homecoming series.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




I could kind of agree that whoever was directing the designs of the Starfleet ships in Discovery season 1 seemed to be almost embarrassed to be Trek. But most of those were actually designed by Eaves and, as much as he's guilty of the sin of pointyness, all the behind the scenes stuff says he wanted to make them more TOS-like and give them round engines and stuff, but was directed not to.

galagazombie
Oct 31, 2011

A silly little mouse!

Kesper North posted:

The Titan - no bloody A, B, C, or D, the original Titan - was designed by a fan who won a Pocket Books cover contest

So… another ship from lower decks? Not sure what your point is.

Infidelicious
Apr 9, 2013

I always thought the Disco S1 ships looked like they were designed by someone who liked the excelsior :shrug:

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Really? I don't really see it. Excelsior has a lot of Deco influences.

Zorak of Michigan
Jun 10, 2006

I just remembered my favorite space ship from my childhood:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/i-had...25616611010680/

My Dad worked for General Foods and this was a General Mills promotion. I whined for it so hard that they bought the competition's cereal. I regret nothing.

Bucnasti
Aug 14, 2012

I'll Fetch My Sarcasm Robes

MikeJF posted:

I could kind of agree that whoever was directing the designs of the Starfleet ships in Discovery season 1 seemed to be almost embarrassed to be Trek. But most of those were actually designed by Eaves and, as much as he's guilty of the sin of pointyness, all the behind the scenes stuff says he wanted to make them more TOS-like and give them round engines and stuff, but was directed not to.

As i recall Discovery was specifically designed to resemble the 1970s "Trek Phase 2" concept art by Ralph McQuarrie.



Being that McQuarrie is best known for designing every iconic space ship other than the Enterprise, it would make sense that it doesn't look like a Trek design.





Mordja
Apr 26, 2014

Hell Gem
I like this ship such that I bought a print of it.

Infidelicious
Apr 9, 2013

MikeJF posted:

Really? I don't really see it. Excelsior has a lot of Deco influences.



Eh you're right my mind was curving things that weren't curved and/or the action was dark and incomprehensible.

Mordja posted:

I like this ship such that I bought a print of it.


My favorite from that book.

Brawnfire
Jul 13, 2004

🎧Listen to Cylindricule!🎵
https://linktr.ee/Cylindricule

Infidelicious posted:

Eh you're right my mind was curving things that weren't curved and/or the action was dark and incomprehensible.

Sounds like being a Lovecraft protagonist

twistedmentat
Nov 21, 2003

Its my party
and I'll die if
I want to

Mordja posted:

I like this ship such that I bought a print of it.


I could look at Chris Foss ships all night long.

Bug Squash
Mar 18, 2009

Unicron (planet mode)
https://i.imgur.com/AoptywQ.gifv
Often overshadowed by his humanoid form, Unicron's planet mode is a real nice design. The sheer magnitude and mechanical aura evoke a sense of divinity even within a sci-fi setting, while the fact that it has a goddamn mouth with ant-lion pincers leaves no doubt as to its predatory nature. His shocking introduction in the transformers movie, where he devours an entire moon along with his inhabitants after this :krad: flyby followed up by a :krad: remix of the Transformers theme tune kicks into high gear, has pumped up a generation of fans. I also appreciate that he has actual colours in his design, there too much black and gunmetal in ships these days.

Bug Squash fucked around with this message at 13:12 on Mar 10, 2023

Brawnfire
Jul 13, 2004

🎧Listen to Cylindricule!🎵
https://linktr.ee/Cylindricule

Unicorn? It's got two horns tho

Bug Squash
Mar 18, 2009

Brawnfire posted:

Unicorn? It's got two horns tho

Bloody autocorrect

Megillah Gorilla
Sep 22, 2003

If only all of life's problems could be solved by smoking a professor of ancient evil texts.



Bread Liar

twistedmentat posted:

I could look at Chris Foss ships all night long.

It's actually by Peter Elson.

He also did many of the covers for the Stainless Steel Rat books.

But there were a whole crew of artists with amazing art like that from the 70s and 80s. Including Foss who is by far my favourite.

I had a bunch of his stuff and Stewart Cowley's Terran Trade Authority stuff as a kid and to this day, when I dream of space, it's their art I see more than Star Wars or Trek or anything else.

Megillah Gorilla fucked around with this message at 16:08 on Mar 10, 2023

Arc Hammer
Mar 4, 2013

Got any deathsticks?

Megillah Gorilla posted:

It's actually by Peter Elson.

I'm seeing a lot of inspiration for Homeworld ship designs in that picture and I'm reminded that Homeworld also features a Taiidan captain named Elson. Is there a connection?

RBA Starblade
Apr 28, 2008

Going Home.

Games Idiot Court Jester

Arc Hammer posted:

I'm seeing a lot of inspiration for Homeworld ship designs in that picture and I'm reminded that Homeworld also features a Taiidan captain named Elson. Is there a connection?

Yep and it's exactly what you think

Arc Hammer
Mar 4, 2013

Got any deathsticks?

RBA Starblade posted:

Yep and it's exactly what you think

Neat. Lots of British connections with Homeworld, aren't there? Elson, Yes, British Columbia.

SlothfulCobra
Mar 27, 2011

Bug Squash posted:

Unicron (planet mode)
https://i.imgur.com/AoptywQ.gifv
Often overshadowed by his humanoid form, Unicron's planet mode is a real nice design. The sheer magnitude and mechanical aura evoke a sense of divinity even within a sci-fi setting, while the fact that it has a goddamn mouth with ant-lion pincers leaves no doubt as to its predatory nature. His shocking introduction in the transformers movie, where he devours an entire moon along with his inhabitants after this :krad: flyby followed up by a :krad: remix of the Transformers theme tune kicks into high gear, has pumped up a generation of fans. I also appreciate that he has actual colours in his design, there too much black and gunmetal in ships these days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJRfABxL4R8

That scene absolutely terrified me as a kid, and as a scene it is just an amazing thing that deserves a place in cinema history even if I think the rest of the movie was a bit of a hot mess. The cosmic beauty of the space that Unicron soars through, the terrifyingly barebones music that makes it sound like a factory, the animation spectacular of the camera passing by Unicron at speed. The loving gravity of Unicron pulling in bits and pieces of the planet even before he gets munching.

I think the horror of him as a planet that eats other planets, some sort of impossibly massive mechanical thing munching on the cosmos, or a faceless devil voiced by Orson Welles, is more interesting than him as a giant humanoid robit who just kinda slaps Cybertron around. A good portion of the movie even takes place inside Unicron among his bizarre and incomprehensible mechanical organs that work away at digesting everything (and his lil' internal mouth that makes lil' bitey noises). It's fascinating. It's almost like something from Jack Kirby, but it might make too much physical sense.

Speaking of which, might as well look at what Unicron's Jack Kirby counterpart has got.



What? No, don't change the camera angle, it's supposed to be a whole thing--okay you did it.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




That first shot of Unicron gliding between the stars is just lonely.

Bug Squash
Mar 18, 2009

The upside of Unicron's transformation is that it gives us the scene of the Quintesson screw ship smashing into his eye while 80s rock blasts out.

notaspy
Mar 22, 2009

Reminds me of the Ulysses ship. Has that been posted. If not it is awesome.

Along with Jace and the something warriors.

MadDogMike
Apr 9, 2008

Cute but fanged

SlothfulCobra posted:

I think the horror of him as a planet that eats other planets, some sort of impossibly massive mechanical thing munching on the cosmos, or a faceless devil voiced by Orson Welles, is more interesting than him as a giant humanoid robit who just kinda slaps Cybertron around. A good portion of the movie even takes place inside Unicron among his bizarre and incomprehensible mechanical organs that work away at digesting everything (and his lil' internal mouth that makes lil' bitey noises). It's fascinating. It's almost like something from Jack Kirby, but it might make too much physical sense.

I remember being kinda creeped out by the fact he had a specific processing system for digesting the people he ate in an acid bath. Mainly so they could rescue Spike and the other Autobots from it, of course, but how hosed up is it for the planet-killing monster to have a specific setup for devouring the sentients it consumes in a painful terrifying manner instead of just grinding them up with the rest of the planetary matter it eats?

BooDooBoo
Jul 14, 2005

That makes no sense to me at all.


https://fi.somethingawful.com/images/gangtags/severancemdr.gif

Bug Squash posted:

The upside of Unicron's transformation is that it gives us the scene of the Quintesson screw ship smashing into his eye while 80s rock blasts out.

Dare by Stan Bush remains an A1-Banger to this day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWJsbIKsif8

It's very much the "BATTLE THEME" of the movie, as you can see from earlier in the movie when they play it almost in full.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGrKfQ9Ss7w

TFTM isn't a great movie but it has a fantastic soundtrack and they integrate into the movie well, and it's lovely to look at.

I love it so much.

SlothfulCobra
Mar 27, 2011

I'd agree with the fact that there's some great songs, but I don't think they're integrated very well at all. I feel like they often don't really know what kind of mood they really want to set in any given scene, so there's a lot of happy, upbeat music in moments of tragedy and duress. Another dare:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrMbkbTPrPA

The movie is a bizarre experience where I think so many people involved in making it had no idea what they were doing, but they did have a whole lot of money to spend on music and animating fantastic visuals as they graphically and brutally murder the previous wave of toys in order to make way for the next, since Hasbro just didn't know at the time that they could make new toys of old characters. Didn't occur to them.

There's a few ships in the movie, but the bizarre Quintesson corkscrew definitely stands out the most. I think the TV show after the movie changes a lot to be more about crazy space stuff instead of just fighting the Decepticons on Earth. Later Quintesson ships are some kind of semi trucks with a more reasonable cab in front of the corkscrew madness.





MadDogMike posted:

I remember being kinda creeped out by the fact he had a specific processing system for digesting the people he ate in an acid bath. Mainly so they could rescue Spike and the other Autobots from it, of course, but how hosed up is it for the planet-killing monster to have a specific setup for devouring the sentients it consumes in a painful terrifying manner instead of just grinding them up with the rest of the planetary matter it eats?

Could be that just anything that doesn't get immediately munched and puts up a fight has to be taken by the internal systems to a tougher digestion chamber.

SlothfulCobra fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Mar 12, 2023

St_Ides
May 19, 2008

SlothfulCobra posted:

I'd agree with the fact that there's some great songs, but I don't think they're integrated very well at all. I feel like they often don't really know what kind of mood they really want to set in any given scene, so there's a lot of happy, upbeat music in moments of tragedy and duress. Another dare:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrMbkbTPrPA


That could be stupider

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4tc6UbEYI4M&feature=share

Fivemarks
Feb 21, 2015
Man, the death count in Transformers The movie aint got anything on the Underbase Saga's death count.

RedSnapper
Nov 22, 2016

notaspy posted:

Reminds me of the Ulysses ship. Has that been posted. If not it is awesome.

Along with Jace and the something warriors.

Ulysses ship is indeed awesome, as is the whole show

BooDooBoo
Jul 14, 2005

That makes no sense to me at all.


https://fi.somethingawful.com/images/gangtags/severancemdr.gif

SlothfulCobra posted:

I'd agree with the fact that there's some great songs, but I don't think they're integrated very well at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umwZ8qVorwo PERFECT INTEGRATION!

quote:

The movie is a bizarre experience where I think so many people involved in making it had no idea what they were doing, but they did have a whole lot of money to spend on music and animating fantastic visuals as they graphically and brutally murder the previous wave of toys in order to make way for the next, since Hasbro just didn't know at the time that they could make new toys of old characters. Didn't occur to them.

Up until the release of TFTM Hasbro thought of Transformers as just a toyline, all those old moulds were wearing out or were lost, so new less complicated toys were obviously the next step, new versions of old characters just wasn't a thing.

The reaction to all the deaths, especially Optimus Prime's, caused a LOT of backlash, and that changed them forever, and made the end of G.I.Joe the movie much weirder.

quote:

There's a few ships in the movie, but the bizarre Quintesson corkscrew definitely stands out the most.

It does, it's a design that was designed backwards from the "Fly into Unicron's eye" scene, and I wish that sort of design was used more.

Fivemarks posted:

Man, the death count in Transformers The movie aint got anything on the Underbase Saga's death count.

The movie doesn't have a Cosmically-powered Starscream, so of course there's less death.

Remember the time Lazerbeak was able to kill Omega Supreme? The Comic-Con's are hardcore.

Madurai
Jun 26, 2012

I propose that all the various internal arrangements of the D-7/K'tinga/etc drawn up by fans over the years are wrong, and that only normally manned portion of the ship was the forward pod.



in this essay, I will

ManSedan
May 7, 2006
Seats 4
Spaceships don’t need no pressure hulls.

SlothfulCobra
Mar 27, 2011

Presumably if you had that big bit apart from the rest of the ship, you'd have a lot of things you want to do in there, but somebody's gotta mess with the engines.

My pet theory about Klingon ships is that they'd have to have a more extensive galley because they really want to keep their food alive before they eat it instead of replicating inert matter.

Fivemarks
Feb 21, 2015
Just found these on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/mrjakeparker/status/1638672628625068034?s=20

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Madurai posted:

I propose that all the various internal arrangements of the D-7/K'tinga/etc drawn up by fans over the years are wrong, and that only normally manned portion of the ship was the forward pod.



in this essay, I will

What they did do in those plans (that's the FASA roleplaying set) is noticeably make it so that all the officer stuff is in the front pod and all the crewman stuff is in the rear structure. Very much a literal class division.

jeeves
May 27, 2001

Deranged Psychopathic
Butler Extraordinaire
It’s a neat take on the idea of the Federation’s saucer section versus engineering section, connected by a thin “neck.”

Star Trek TMP had a ton of great design thought put into everything but the script pacing and costuming.

Tree Bucket
Apr 1, 2016

R.I.P.idura leucophrys
Over in the book forum there's been an excellent Let's Read of the beloved 90's kid's sci-fi series ANIMORPHS. It features whacky hijinks and also the good guys commit multiple genocides and the bad guys can only survive by inflicting the worst mental torture imaginable on other sentient beings.
Anywho, we're nearly at the end of the read-through, and, well-

Tree Bucket posted:

Hi, my name's Tree Bucket and I'm 37 years old, and here is a cool Andalite space fighter that I drew. SHOOOOM.
It's as close as I can get to Elfangor's ship as described in book 1.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Kesper North
Nov 3, 2011

EMERGENCY POWER TO PARTY

SlothfulCobra posted:

Presumably if you had that big bit apart from the rest of the ship, you'd have a lot of things you want to do in there, but somebody's gotta mess with the engines.

Officers in the front, crew in back. In FASA's Trek RPG, Klingon drives have less radiation shielding, so they mostly used slave races and low-caste Klingons in the engineering section while officers stayed cancer-free up in the command pod.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply