How To Make A Spaceship Look Terrifying

Spacedock delves into the art of making a spaceship look suitably menacing.

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[Spacedock]

Check out the new Confiance Class Frigate breakdown over on #TheSojourn channel!

[ThePhantomSquee]

I'm surprised you covered the Shadow ships without mentioning the trait that makes them stay unsettling even after we see them defeated: when destroyed, instead of blowing to pieces, Shadow ships wither and curl up like dead spiders.

[hamishsewell]

Like you say, as with the Borg and the Shadows, anything can be scary if its unknown and doesn’t visibly and functional conform to how things are expected to work

[noirangel]

For me it was the first reaver ship in Firefly ep. 1.

From its almost reanimated corpse design, to its background description and slow forboding speed was just screaming deep space horror to say the least.

[cmedtheuniverseofcmed]

Homeworld: Cataclysm had a fantastic idea of terrifying ships. The concept of the Beast was a lifeform that, once it got onboard, would consume and convert the crew into bioorganic circuitry mended into the working parts of the ship. Eventually, the ship's hull would turn red and gore on the sides with beam emitters, and they would start to chase you to continue spreading itself. If they got close, the beam emitters would fire and spread themselves to the next ship, almost like a virus.

[majorrole]

Loved how The Empire Strikes Back took that to a new level... When you see the Imperial Star Destroyer get literally shadowed by The Executor. A massive Super Star Destroyer who's main purpose is to instill fear...

[davidjordan]

Sound design really plays into the fear factor, that super deep infrasound rumble that reapers war-horns produce is shiver inducing

[mitwhitgaming]

For me, you can never beat the Frankenstein cobbled together look, such as what the Borg have going on. They aren't trying to scare you, such concerns are beneath them, their ships look the way they do because of pragmatism and not ego.

[caliperstorm]

There’s a scene in the Voyager episode “Scorpion” where a fleet of Borg cubes fly past Voyager, and you get a good impression of not just their size, but also their ludicrous power level, because they absolutely scream across the screen. The things are city-sized blocks of heavy metal, and they don’t look like they should be quick, but they accelerate even faster than the Delta Flyer. The sound design also does a good job selling just how much momentum and power is behind their movements. No wonder resistance is futile

[adamantu]

The Event Horizon is a very scary ship. Massiv in size, yet looking skeletal, with those thin but massiv wings at the back, almost like claws waiting to grasp forward. And the ominous sound scape in the rendezvous and docking scene. You can just feel that although it is a ship built by humans, there is something alien and scary about it.

[JRWins]

One thing you didn’t mention about the Shadows vessels is the sound they make. Their metallic sounding scream as they fly past just adds to their menace!

[IndrasilDesignStudio]

The Shivan Sathanas from Freespace 2 had the most terrifying presence I've ever saw in a spaceship. It has a vibe of a gigantic spider reaching out for its prey with its 4 forward spikes, and the Reaper-like scale and numbers. But the most terrifying thing about it was the fact that the Shivans had an incomprehensible, mysterious, and terrifying objective that you were only a small obstacle on the way towards. All you could do was to run, burning bridges behind you and praying that that nightmarish armada had no way to follow you.

[lonelystrategos]

I always thought the Goa'uld Ha'tak was a very imposing design. It stops being impressive as the series progresses and more powerful vessels are introduced, but there's something about it that is just awe-inspiring.

[RookRiot]

The wrath of Kahn is a masterclass on how to make a spaceship look menacing. The angles used the music and tension in the scenes do most of the work while the ship itself is stout, boxy and compact compared to the enterprise's bird-like features. No silly spikes needed.

[Freesorin]

Cylon Raider.
Also the Narada was originally a Romulan mining ship that was augmented with Borg technology so they really missed an opportunity to show us something that was initially unknown and intimidating but as we get a better look at it becomes a little more familiar.

[casbot]

Completely different but also scary, Swarms of ships that move together like a flock.
They have the menace of piranha, you _know_ they can just overwhelm you by their numbers because you can't shoot them all.

[JayVeeEss]

Great video as always! Sovereign emerging from the clouds during the battle of the citadel, illuminated either by some electrical storm from the Widow nebula, or some weapons fire, only to smash through the Turian ship like a bug on a wind shield is one of my favourite cinematics in all of Mass Effect. It really impresses it's scale and how formidable it truly is, which makes its subsequent destruction all the sweeter

[howard]

Definitely the Shadow ship. Their shape and movement and supreme destructiveness is awe- and terror-inspiring, but the mind scream (also the waking scream) is what makes it so absolutely terrifying.

[fullyp]

The four frontal spikes design was used by the shivan's Ravana and Sathanas classes in Freespace 2 back in 1999. It's worth noting that they are both introduced by appearing out of the fog and deleting one of your capital ships in a single volley

[spritesever]

I think that this is another aspect where inspiration can be taken from the Age of Sail.
You really just need to set up a ship with one or two striking sensory features like an intimidating paint job, iconic sound effects etc. as having a reputation that precedes it.