Visit GateWorld every Friday for a new installment of the Friday Five, a countdown of our favorite episodes, characters, technology and more from 15 years of Stargate history! Use trackbacks to post your own Friday Five for this week’s topic on your blog, or post a comment below to let us know how your picks compare.
This Week: Sweet Alien Ships
Nothing says “sci-fi” (… or is it “syfy” now?) like a kick-ass space ship design. Science fiction is full of these iconic shapes set against a glimmering star field — the Enterprise, the White Star, Serenity, the Millennium Falcon. And Stargate certainly has its share of cool ships. With all due props to Earth’s Daedalus-class and F-302 ship designs, in this week’s Friday Five we’re counting down our favorite alien ship designs.
Seen In: “Camelot”
Nicknamed the “toilet bowl” by fans for its open, flushy design, this advanced Ori vessel packs a powerful punch. It is highly advanced technology, given by the ascended Ori to their mortal followers. That glowy orb in the middle is a power source (a fusion reaction, or some sort of portable singularity?), powering among other things a super-powerful cutting beam. You don’t want to run into one of these in a dark alley … unless you are ready to convert to the wisdom that is Origin.
Though it’s been mocked by a few fans, we actually like this ship design because it is different. Instead of menacingly angular, it is soft and round. Either the Ori wanted to look non-threatening, or they knew that with a giant space gun you can get away with flying around in a toilet bowl.
Seen In: “Deadman Switch”
Though made to be purely functional, the Goa’uld cargo ship has a sleek, understated elegance about it. It also has a place in our hearts, since SG-1 used them so much in Seasons Three, Four and Five (before Earth started making its own ships). But don’t plan to take it into battle … the Tel’tak has no weapons, no shields, and only occasionally a working cloaking device. It’s meant for hauling cargo (and for secret SG-1 / Tok’ra ops), not holding the line against Heru’ur.
“Jolinar’s Memories,” “The Serpent’s Venom,” “Fail Safe” … We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: We miss Goa’uld cargo ships.
Seen In: “Rising”
Now if you want angular, this is as pointy and threatening as it gets! The aptly-named Dart is the Wraith’s one-man fighter craft. It has decent weapons, but its main function is culling. Pilots do a low, rapid fly-over of your village and activate a transporter beam that functions as a sort of fishing net. Everything it passes over is demolecularized and stored inside the Dart’s computer, to be rematerialized only later … when the Wraith is back on his hive ship and has the munchies.
The Dart is fast, deadly, and with that organic-sounding hum to its engines, damn intimidating.
Seen In: “Nemesis”
As one of the more technologically advanced species in the Stargate universe, the Asgard have gone through several ship designs. One of the best is the Beliskner class — the ship that Supreme Commander Thor was flying around when we first met him. Its design is reminiscent of the hammer from Norse mythology. The Asgard were (sometimes) something of a galactic peacekeeper, and their sophisticated technology — weapons, shields, and transporter beams that can grab a person off the surface of a planet, or demolecularize entire warships (as seen in “Thor’s Chariot”) — helped them do it.
The Asgard mothership runs on four neutrino ion generators, in case you were wondering.
Seen In: “Within the Serpent’s Grasp”
They say you never forget your first … invasion of the planet. The Ha’tak-class mothership was the cornerstone of the System Lord arsenal for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. And it was no more menacing than when Apophis brought two of them into orbit to attack Earth directly. This ship design is visually striking, thanks to the Egyptian pyramid theme it has going on (perfect for landing on top of pyramids, which we all know were actually built as landing platforms). The design is also distinctively Stargate.
The Ha’tak has energy shields and also packs a powerful punch, firing huge blasts of energy at enemy vessels or bombarding the surface of a planet from space. But it does have its weaknesses, including the inability to cloak, an ugly dashboard … and being commanded by snake-heads whose attitude tends to get them blown up.
NEXT WEEK ON THE FIVE: Teal’c’s Best Jokes. Blog about your five favorite lines next Friday, and trackback to our post!
Uhh… Puddlejumper? Did that not deserve a mention?
I like the Tel’tak, but I prefer the Al’kesh on the Goa’uld front. Sure, we haven’t seen it as much, but there’s something about how sleek and fast-looking it is that makes it much more menacing.
Probably would have gone for Puddlejumpers at the top, then Al’kesh, Ha’tak, Ori Mothership, and then something Wraithy… probably the Wraith Cruiser.
I would have added the Wraith cruiser or mothership, but to me, the coolest ship would have to be the mysterious alien vessel in Grace! That was incredibly advanced and looked damn good, especially when it was within the nebula. How did that not get a mention?
Even though it was only in 1 episode, I think the O’Neill Asgard ship was just about the coolest ship in the series. A pity it got blown up so quick.
The ship that Osiris used in the first ep he was in (the curse?) was pretty awesome. It was at the end of the episode, and it turns out that 10,000 year old Goa’uld ships have tailfins, just like old cars! w00t!
I agree with o6untouchable. I adore the puddlejumper!
There is precedent for the cargo ship having shields. Season 8’s new order “Divert power from the shields to the sublight engines” “right now they’re the only thing holding us together” (close enough)
Also you have a picture of an O’neill class asgard ship. I sound like a really annoying fanboy right now.
i would’ve gone with the ori fighters instead of their starships. and also there’s the Lantien warships that i think should’ve been on there. and that is the wrong picture for Thor’s ship; but it’s not the O’neill either.
Definitely should’ve had jumpers and lantean warships, but ok. And Tel’tacs do have shields. Also, the Asgard ship picture is an O’Neill class, not a Beliskner class.
Uhh what about Atlantis???
A city sized spaceship and yes it only has drones for main weapons but the all powerful shield has never let the city down before!? (except for some power failures)
I agree with Vanishingtorch. What about Atlantis? It’s one bad ass ship! And yes the puddle jumpers! And lets not forget the Aliens from Daedalus Variations. And what about the ship from the Season 5 Episode Wormhole X-Treme!
If ANYTHING Atlantis Deserves number 1 and the Puddle Jumpers deserve number 2 or 3!
Yeah sorry Darren, you got it way wrong….
5. Anubis’ Super Mothership
4. O’Neill Class Asgard ship
3. Lantean Warship
2. Ori Mothership
1. Atlantis
I didn’t think of Atlantis till I read the comments, but yes, I’d go with that as first choice..
Puddle Jumpers should get an honorable mention or something. Mini-buses in Space!!!!!
O’Niell class ships are much cooler than the Beliskner class ships and they were seen in several episodes including at least the “Small Victories” and “Camelot”.
Also, the Tel’tak ships do have sheilds and they were referenced to quite often during series.
Here is my list:
8. NEEDLE-THREADER
7. PUDDLE JUMPER
6. APOPHIS’S MOTHERSHIP
5. ANUBIS’S MOHTERSHIP
4. O’NEILL CLASS ASGARD SHIP
3. ORI WARSHIP
2. WRATH SUPER HIVE SHIP (Enemy at the Gate)
1. ATLANTIS
I know that’s 7 ships, but those are sweet alien ships
okay, i added one more at the last moment and didn’t change that last sentence to match. I meant 8.
one of my favorites is the Aurora class battleships built by the Ancients. they’re big, powerful and cool looking.
I demand a redux of this list!!!!!
Sorry, I meant redo
#1? Definitely Atlantis. I think that people forget that Atlantis isn’t just a floating city but actually a space ship!
What about the Asgard ship? Best one. Also don’t forget the Earth ships… And from what I remember, the Tollan ships were cool to. (Never cared too much about the Goa’uld ships – though it is cool that they fit the pyramids as landing pads :)
LMAO, puddle jumpers as the “mini busses” of the solar system? Wow, can you imagine them as a “mini vans” instead? “Kids, we are going on vacation this weekend to [wherever], and make sure that the child seats are properly strapped in”. Yeah, Atlantis should have been the #1 alien ship.
I dont know what I dislike more, the stupid looking ships or that fans encourage the writers that the stupid things and stupid looking ships are awesome.
the ori ship does look dumb. I agree with the fans atlantis, atlantis warship, or the puddlejumper should have made the list.
daxmaryrussel: tollan ships??? name one episode where you actually see a tolan ship. and from what i remember the last time we heard about tolla ships the were being shot down as they tried to flee tollana. I agree with you all… the list is at all not sattisfying. some of atlantises ships should have made the list (the puddlejumper rulez my list) but I think the O’neill class is the nunmber one of all times… plus lets not forget about Heberdan ships from “Space race” some of those were pretty cool as well. all in all its hard to… Read more »