world of warships british battleships review

Nostromo is a battleship gray with sections that look kit-bashed or added after disaster. Bulky, rough, and not at all sleek, the U.S.C.S.S. If any spaceship speaks of grunts sent out into space by suited bureaucrats, it’s the United States Cargo Star Ship (U.S.C.S.S.) Nostromo.

In fact, there's only one sci-fi spaceship we'd be more reluctant to board than the Event Horizon. The ship extends backwards with platforms which hold the engines, looking as fragile as the minds of the crew. The externals of the ship feel equally menacing – a large bulkhead prodding forwards, with arm-like protrusions giving it the feel of a monster preparing to leap in for the kill.

It’s in this room where the events of the movie hit a crescendo and the horrors spill forth. The walls are covered in giant spikes and myriad panels which appear claustrophobic. It’s a spherical room, with a core in the center around which rings spin. Stepping into the warp core of the Event Horizon must have felt like a nightmare – which is fitting, given the themes of the movie. It also makes the Event Horizon spaceship one of the more unsettling vessels we’ve encountered – just looking at the Event Horizon spacecraft gives us the creeps! In our opinion, a spaceship opening a rift in the space-time continuum, disappearing into a black hole and then mysteriously reappearing, has to be in the running for coolest spaceship in sci-fi. 9000, the famous (or rather, infamous) intelligent supercomputer with the imposing simplicity of its lens and red light which oozes menace – one of the most eerie elements in not only this film, but all of sci-fi history. Of course, we can’t talk about the Discovery without mentioning H.A.L. This is very apt as the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey itself explores the idea of man’s place in the universe, which makes us feel very vulnerable indeed.

The spaceship itself looks and feels like a hybrid between classic rockets – with thrusters at the ‘base’ which propel the ship – but with a bulbous living quarters which feels as if it’s hanging vulnerably in space.

The Discovery speaks of retro sensibilities, lots of sharp angles mingling with smooth curves, and satellite dishes poking out. Clarke’s staggering Space Odyssey series of novels, Kubrick’s vision of the Discovery is an isolated and lonely ship. Released in 1968, 2001: A Space Odyssey helped change sci-fi cinema and also elevate sci-fi literature into the mainstream, so the Discovery has definitely earned a top spot on our coolest spaceships in sci-fi list. (Image credit: Stanley Kubrick Productions)

World of warships british battleships review