The valkyries from Macross Frontier that the protagonists use are supposed to be throwbacks to the original VF-1s, VF-25 Messiahs i think they're called
@AbdulMule: Too bad about the series devolving into referencing earlier, better series mixed with typical, modern tropes (though I should have recognized a problem when the MILITARY FIGHTERS also happened to be high school students and gratitous underaged characters reigned).
@EugeniaBSG: Do you have any idea how rugged a tugboat actually is? Where is this alleged tugboat? I don't see anything tugboat-like about the Galactica!
@EugeniaBSG: One of the particular reasons that I fell in love with the new design of the ship is because of the straight forward logic behind the design.
-Command Center is in the center of the ship where it is most protected
-Few windows due to firefights and atmospheric loss if they were damaged
-Rounder design as it isn't blocky looking compared to the original
-Interior very Spartan with nearly everything serving a specific purpose
Yes I'll admit that I wasn't too fond of the missing plating and rough exterior at first, but that was the charm that the designers of the series built in. It's like that beater car you drove in high school, it's not the best but you love it.
@EugeniaBSG: I mean, the Vipers were the things that were truly streamlined for war. They could turn on a dime and handle like a Lambo. The Galactica was an outdated, retired battlestar. The design they used was meant to make the audience realize that this ship was not the best possible ship to have by any means. If you look at the Pegasus (another Battlestar from the series) it's much more streamlined and futuristic.
Besides, the Valkyrie's look advanced enough that I don't think much re-imagining would be necessary. Since 'updating' would probably make them look like an F-22 Raptor, that conjures images of Michael Bay's Starscream. DO NOT WANT.
@Evdor: It's been done, and looks nothing like an F-22. Nothing officially available in the US, but check out Macross Zero, or any of the more recent Macross designs.
@Chronocidal Guy: Thanks, mate! My initial reaction for the request has been the long slow dread building up, anticipating Toby Maguire's rumored Robotech movie.
I think the Veritech design is one of the best examples of 20th century novelty/ingenuity in design. I am dreading it being molested for the movie. F-15s (16?) are a little dated since the first design, and I want to see this thing look good.
@gods-n-clods: If you think you're dreading it, you should see what the average Macross fan has to say (fans of the original Japanese show/plot, not the US Robotech version).
If they knew what was good for them, they'd just go back to the original source, and make a live action version of "Do You Remember Love?", the Japanese movie that summed up the essence of the entire series.
But yeah, there've been probably dozens of newer Macross style fighters made since the originals. The YF-19 has been one of my favorites for years.
@Ogami: Spaceballs was the concept art for Attack Of The Clones. The first time I saw the Federation ships I thought, "Spaceballs! Oh shit, there goes the planet!"
@Posthaus: i have a different theory that lucas poured the lion's share of his own efforts into the writing and direction and that is actually why the films missed the mark. it was not a lack of attention that caused them to fail but being overworked by an artist past his prime that was never all that good at writing or directing characters anyway. at any rate i think the prequels are exactly what lucas wanted them to be.
@Daveinva: To be honest, every aspect that was not done by George Lucas was pretty great. Terrible writing, god awful directing, but awesome special effects, artwork, and music.
@tetracycloide: God awful directing done singly, is exactly right. If Lucas had had even a single other person to bounce ideas off of, it might have been salvageable.
I mean... If someone comes to me with a written scene in which missiles are fired at a ship, ships dodge furiously, missiles catch up only to explode IN FRONT of the ship in a cloud of stupid spider bots, which proceed to dismantle the ship VERY SLOWLY... Well at that point I'd probably book a week for Lucas at an asylum for the totally disconnected from reality.
@Pope John Peeps II: The buzz droid missiles were able to get ahead of Obi-Wan's ship because of his lack of fancy flying. I would suggest that the speed at which they work is dictated by their size and shape - necessary to load them into capsules inside missiles. Against starfighters they also have to adapt to the small and uneven area they have to work in. They could also be used against large ship though, where they may be more effective since they can work realtively unhindered in larger numbers.
One thing to say about Star Wars though is that at least some of its concept art gets used much later on. Several unused prequel designs and some Ralph McQuarrie concepts have been utilised in, or inspired elements of the ongoing Clone Wars animated series. New character Cad Bane was himself inspired partly by an OT bounty hunter design. So you may see some more good stuff showing up in the future.
A missile catches up to a ship = explodes. Boom. Exciting
A George Lucas missile catches up to a ship = tiny stupid robots which artoo has to fight and then have to be scraped off by a wing. SCRAPED OFF?!
Lucas never fails to take an exciting thing and add three more things on to it, thus fucking ruining it forever. he can't just have somebody swing a lightsaber. That somebody has to flip three times and land on a tiny piece of metal floating in a lava lake. It's a fucking disaster.
I'm a sucker for costume concept sketches. Especially rejected designs that are cooler than the ones actually used. That sounds like a good post to me.
Although I admire the ability to draw a neat looking spaceship, my favorite scifi concept art is always the character and alien design. I like some of alien Jedi and Sith Lord ideas that didn't make it into the prequels more than the ideas that did make it.
Robotech's Invid bear mention (though they do a great job of oppressing humans once they get the chance). They were initially peaceful, and gladly welcomed the Tirolian scientist Zor, who quickly discovered that the Flower of Life, their primary food source (and narcotic of choice) could be converted into an incredible source of energy. After he reported this back to his masters (the Masters, heh), they happily snatched up as much of the Flower as they could and eradicated the rest, leaving the Invid without their main food and suffering from serious withdrawal. The Masters went on to use Zor's energy source (Protoculture) to subjugate all sorts of other races, while the Invid basically went nuts and became a massive war machine intent on destroying the Masters. They got their own chance to do some oppressin' when they took over Earth, though.
@The Curse of Millhaven: Specifically, it's from 'The Slaver Weapon,' an adaptation of Niven's 'The Soft Weapon.'
I didn't think it was so bad as an example (assuming you know the above), but almost any cover from the 'Man-Kzin Wars' series would've been far preferable...
@Delphinus100: The abomination of which i speak is crossing Known Space with Star Trek. Then again, a well-executed Puppeteer communications officer would be awesome.
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Something built for WAR ought to look wicked, fast, dynamic, not like a tugboat.
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-Command Center is in the center of the ship where it is most protected
-Few windows due to firefights and atmospheric loss if they were damaged
-Rounder design as it isn't blocky looking compared to the original
-Interior very Spartan with nearly everything serving a specific purpose
Yes I'll admit that I wasn't too fond of the missing plating and rough exterior at first, but that was the charm that the designers of the series built in. It's like that beater car you drove in high school, it's not the best but you love it.
10/07/09
10/06/09
10/06/09
Besides, the Valkyrie's look advanced enough that I don't think much re-imagining would be necessary. Since 'updating' would probably make them look like an F-22 Raptor, that conjures images of Michael Bay's Starscream. DO NOT WANT.
10/07/09
10/07/09
I think the Veritech design is one of the best examples of 20th century novelty/ingenuity in design. I am dreading it being molested for the movie. F-15s (16?) are a little dated since the first design, and I want to see this thing look good.
10/07/09
@gods-n-clods: I Think the YF-19 design from Macross Plus was an excellent reworking of the original Valkyries. The YF-21? Meh.
10/07/09
If they knew what was good for them, they'd just go back to the original source, and make a live action version of "Do You Remember Love?", the Japanese movie that summed up the essence of the entire series.
But yeah, there've been probably dozens of newer Macross style fighters made since the originals. The YF-19 has been one of my favorites for years.
10/06/09
Which, of course, is not a bad thing. Might as well borrow from the awesomest.
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I'll take issue with that-- the movies *are* beautiful to look at, the concept art was quite faithfully rendered in the films.
Watch the prequels with the sound off; the visuals are outstanding. Even now.
It's the *rest* of the movies that suck.
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I mean... If someone comes to me with a written scene in which missiles are fired at a ship, ships dodge furiously, missiles catch up only to explode IN FRONT of the ship in a cloud of stupid spider bots, which proceed to dismantle the ship VERY SLOWLY... Well at that point I'd probably book a week for Lucas at an asylum for the totally disconnected from reality.
10/07/09
One thing to say about Star Wars though is that at least some of its concept art gets used much later on. Several unused prequel designs and some Ralph McQuarrie concepts have been utilised in, or inspired elements of the ongoing Clone Wars animated series. New character Cad Bane was himself inspired partly by an OT bounty hunter design. So you may see some more good stuff showing up in the future.
10/07/09
A missile catches up to a ship = explodes. Boom. Exciting
A George Lucas missile catches up to a ship = tiny stupid robots which artoo has to fight and then have to be scraped off by a wing. SCRAPED OFF?!
Lucas never fails to take an exciting thing and add three more things on to it, thus fucking ruining it forever. he can't just have somebody swing a lightsaber. That somebody has to flip three times and land on a tiny piece of metal floating in a lava lake. It's a fucking disaster.
10/06/09
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08/20/09
Mutants? Anyone . . . Anyone . . . Beuller?
08/19/09
08/19/09
Or Possibly "everyone except the Puppeteers".
-Kle.
08/19/09
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08/19/09
I didn't think it was so bad as an example (assuming you know the above), but almost any cover from the 'Man-Kzin Wars' series would've been far preferable...
08/19/09