25 Coolest Starships In Sci-Fi

The Trimaxion Drone Ship is the main spacecraft in the movie Flight of the Navigator. It’s piloted by the AI computer Max and looks kind of like a chrome clamshell. The ability of the ship is pretty outstanding, capable of flying faster than the speed of light and traveling through time.

Called the Derelict and codenamed Origin, the alien spacecraft was found on LV-426 in the movie Alien. It was first discovered by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation before being investigated by the team of the Nostromo. No one knows how it got there or who piloted it. The only remaining figure as the potential pilot was a fossilized being. Regardless, it remains the cool and ominous ship which housed the Xenomorph Eggs.

Captained by Malcolm Reynolds on the television show Firefly, the Serenity is a Firefly-class ship first acquired by Reynolds shortly after the Unification War. A defining feature of the ship is its lack of weapons. When in trouble, the crew has to use their ingenuity to get out of it. Plus, there’s no denying it’s one sweet looking ship.

Piloted by Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back, Slave I famously transported Han Solo in carbonite, delivering him to Jabba the Hutt. Slave I’s most defining feature is its vertical position as it soars through space and then uses its back to land.

The TARDIS in the television show Dr. Who, which stands for “Time and Relative Dimension in Space,” is really more of a materialization machine, capable of appearing and reappearing in a moments time. However, it can also fly through space like a conventional starship. It’s also very different from other starships in that the exterior is in a different dimension from the interior, it can blend into its surroundings, and rather than being built, they’re grown.

While the BORG Cube’s shape is relatively uninteresting, its overwhelming size and ominous appearance make resistance futile to its terrors. First appearing in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the BORG Cube is a starship populated by the BORG, a collective of cyborgs who work together to with the sole intent to conquer.

The Jupiter II spacecraft was meant to take the Robinson family to Alpha Prime in the television show and movie Lost in Space. Traditionally a flying saucer-like starship, it was slightly modified for the movie. Either way, it’s a classic ship, and at least within its own mythology, the most powerful space ship known to man.

Used as a warship by the Klingon Empire in Star Trek, the Klingon Bird of Prey always felt rather menacing when it appeared before the USS Enterprise. While its firepower varied from ship to ship, its photon torpedos were not something you wanted to mess with and packed quite a punch. Of all its prowess, its cloaking device made it most successful in battle.

The UNSC Infinity is a behemoth supercarrier in the video game Halo. Designed using scraps of alien technology, the Infinity is the largest ship in the UNSC Navy and has quite a lot of firepower to boot. With thousands of missiles and hundreds of automatic cannons, it’s a military powerhouse. But it also has the ability to house thousands of troops and other combat units.

2001: A Space Odyssey is a film classic, and its starship, Discovery 1, is almost as iconic. Built to travel on a manned mission to Jupiter, the Discovery 1 doesn’t have any weapons, but it does have one of the most advanced artificial intelligence systems known to man, HAL 9000.

In Stargate, the O’Neill is one of the most advanced and powerful Asgard starships. With its top-of-the-line weapons and shields, it was fully designed to fight and defeat the Replicators.

The gargantuan disc-like motherships from the movie Independence Day created a sense of awe and horror as they covered New York City. Even more terrifying was the massive laser blast coming out of the middle of the spaceship, obliterating everything in its wake.

The Battlestar Galactica from the television show of the same name has a killer design and a fabled history. Considered a relic in its mythos, it was scheduled to be decommissioned before it became the sole defender of humanity after the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies.

The Normandy SR-2, in the video game Mass Effect 2, has an especially cool exterior design. As a successor to the SR-1, it was built to help Commander Shephard stop the Collectors from abducting humans. It’s equipped with several high-tech weapons and defenses and is able to be upgraded throughout the game. In fact, not upgrading the ship could be the difference between life or death for the crew.

How could we not include the USS Enterprise from Star Trek? Granted, you’re probably wondering which version of the ship we’re choosing. In this case, the NCC-1701 wins, hands down. Yes, many of the other ships are stellar, but the original, captained by James T. Kirk himself, still beats them all.

While the SSV Normandy SR-1 isn’t as powerful as its successor the SR-2, it’s still an incredible ship used solely for scouting with its state-of-the-art stealth technology. Let’s face it. Without the SR-1, there would have been no SR-2.

In Star Wars, the Imperial Star Destroyer was part of the Empire’s massive fleet to maintain control and order in the galaxy. With its massive size and a large array of weaponry, for years it symbolized the dominate power of the Empire.

There’s no denying the Mothership from Close Encounters of the Third Kind is an awe-inspiring sight. With its array of flashing lights and colors and its enormous size, the Mothership lures you in like a moth to a flame.

The Tie Fighter in Star Wars is one of the coolest and most unique looking ships in the galaxy. While it doesn’t have shields, hyper-drive, or even life-support systems, its quick engine and maneuverability make it a hard target to hit.

Used by some of the best fighter pilots in the galaxy, the X-Wing is a starship of choice for the rebellion and proved critical in the Battle of Yavin and the Battle of Endor. Forming the “X” shape when in attack formation, these fighters are heavily armed with four laser cannons and proton torpedos.

Leading Black Squadron during the Battle of Yavin, Darth Vader’s Tie Advanced is a seriously awesome starship. The slightly modified design alone sets it apart, but it also has better cannons, a hyperdrive, and a shield generator, putting it above and beyond the standard model.

The Narada from J.J. Abrams rebooted Star Trek is a Romulan mining vessel captained by Nero. Its large and spiky exterior is immediately intimidating, which other than the advanced weaponry it carried, is its greatest advantage.

In the movie The Guardians of the Galaxy, The Milano is an M-Ship class starship used by Starlord to find a mysterious Orb and sell it in order to get away from Yondu and his gang. It later played a pivotal role in the Battle of Xandar. Starlord named it after his childhood crush, Alyssa Milano.

In Alien, the USCSS Nostromo was captained by Arthur Dallas and was the starfreighter which investigated the Derelict, leading to the eventual birth of a lone Xenomorph.

The Millenium Falcon is without question the best starship in all of science fiction. Its super cool design, gritty and worn out exterior, incredible speed, plus the fact that it’s piloted by Han Solo, puts it well above the rest. It can make 0.5 past light speed and made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. Just like Lando says, “She’s the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy”.