FRANCO’S FREE-FOR-ALL FRIDAYS!
By FRANCO
The new Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series just started and before it even did I thought, they’ll probably have a new ship, and of course they do. It’s cool-looking but not that practical for what they wanna use it for, I thought. And it got me thinking about other ships.
Now, far be it from me to spark debate but… I will anyway.
What ship or vehicle is the coolest in all the galaxy? Has to be a ship, not a Transformer or anything like that, sentient beings are a different category to be dealt with on another day. There’s a bunch of vehicles out there but I’ve narrowed down to a few.
The Millennium Falcon is the fastest ship out there; by now we’ve all heard that it made the Kessel run in twelve parsecs… when working properly. I’m not saying Chewbacca is a bad mechanic — the problem with the ship itself may be parts and age. Heck, even Leia called it a bucket of bolts.
But cool people on the ship, and its captain telling you it’s a cool ship doesn’t necessarily make it cool. And why does it seem bigger on the inside than it does on the outside? I don’t know if a pie plate looking thing with an empty toilet paper tube stuck on the side of it is the epitome of “cool.”
Even Luke Skywalker had a Corvette Summer (you have to be really old to get this silly joke) just so he didn’t have to fly in that thing.
How about the original USS Enterprise? I would have to say that it’s got what you need. Not comparing mechanics here but, Scotty does love it so, and again, looking like a pie plate with two (or even three) empty paper towel rolls attached to it.
But those Klingon Birds of Prey do look much cooler to me. They are very dark on the inside, though. And from everything we’ve seen, they also probably smell pretty funky. What say you?
But back to the hero ships. If you had to chose between the coolest ships in the galaxy, would it be the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars or the USS Enterprise from Star Trek? And speaking of bigger on the inside, why would the correct answer be the Tardis from Doctor Who?
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Want more FRANCO’S FREE-FOR-ALL FRIDAYS? Come back next week!
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Franco and his forehead have traveled the world and he writes and draws stuff. Franco is the creator, artist and writer of Patrick the Wolf Boy and Aw Yeah Comics! Franco has worked on books/comics, including Tiny Titans and Superman Family Adventures. Franco was also a high-school teacher and is one of the principal owners of Aw Yeah Comics retail stores. Dan made Franco add that he has won three Eisners.
January 23, 2026
Difficult to say coolest ever, but for Star Trek, my favourite is the Excelsior class because it’s like the Constitution class refit, but more advanced. It still looked like a classic Starfleet ship. Galaxy class had the oversized saucer, which doesn’t look great, in my opinion. Enterprise E (Sovereign class?) looked too sleek, like it was a warship.
I haven’t watched Starfleet Academy yet, but that ship looks like a Snitch (Harry Potter).
January 23, 2026
Oh yeah, the Space: 1999 eagles are cool. They look clunky, but I like the modular design of them. Just a few months ago, someone posted on YT, a CG video of all the different elements that make up an eagle. Very cool. “Concept Eagle Assembly & Walkthrough”
January 23, 2026
I still have to go with the original USS Enterprise as not only the coolest ship, but the coolest looking version of itself among its several iterations (including its updating in the TOS movies . One of the things that struck me a kid about this as building several AMT models of the ship back in the day , and as confirmed much, much later in at least one YouTube video I recall, the amazing thing about the Enterprise is how great it looks from just about every viewing angle. That proportional blend of disks and cylinders just always looks visually striking. (and the warp engines look better as cylinders IMO as capped with the half-dome Bussard collectors as blending in the rest of the ship and their rounded elements).
A shout out to obs as absolutely yes, the Space 1999 Eagle is absolutely cool and yes a very practical ship with the modular design–and again even recalling childhood and early teen days in the 1970s building several models of these too.
And Franco: YEP! I got your joke as I myself saw the movie, “Corvette Summer” with Mark Hamill and Annie Potts back in 1978. Adolescent then.
January 23, 2026
I wasn’t originally a fan of the new, movie Enterprise’s nacelles because I thought they were too much like the Klingon ship, but I’ve grown to love it. I agree with the domed caps of the original, especially when you can see them spinning.
January 23, 2026
The original ships from Star Wars. The X-Wing, the Corvette from the beginning and the sleek looking TIE Fighters
January 23, 2026
It’s taken me decades to appreciate, but the Y-Wing is very underrated.
January 23, 2026
Liberator from Blake’s 7.
Sleek
January 23, 2026
RE: The Liberator
Ooh! I forgot about that. Yes, absolutely! Great design. And as a side night, I loved Peter Tuddenham’s voice as the ship’s computer, Zen.
January 23, 2026
I loved the starfighters from the 70’s Buck Rogers movie/tv show (I just discovered they were called “Thunderfighters”, so even cooler! Really different looking but in a cool way.
January 23, 2026
Speaking of Buck Rogers, the Glen A Larson series had a couple of odd ones. The Earth fighter was like no other ship I’ve seen before or since, with the two downwards fins. The Marauder was a more conventional shape, but I wondered where the cockpit was, until I bought the model kit, to discover that the cockpit was part of the fin!
January 23, 2026
Peyton, an interesting bit of trivia about the Buck Rogers Thunderfighters is that they are repurposed from designs originally meant for Battlestar Galactica.
The Viper fighters from BG are pretty cool, too.
January 24, 2026
TARDIS, hands down. Runner-up…when I was a kid I watched “My Favorite Martian” and I thought it was so cool that he kept a spaceship hidden in the garage!
January 24, 2026
No love for the Jupiter II? Or how about a classic rendering of Flash Gordon’s ship? I’ve always loved the Silver Age look for Baby Kal-el’s ship.
I agree with the earlier comments on Space 1999 and Buck Rogers ‘70’s look. From Star Trek for me anyway, you can’t go wrong with the original 1701 and the Klingon battle ships as seen all too briefly in “The Motion Picture” (What a fail at a movie title!)
I’m sure we are missing some here. Trying to remember the look for “Abbot and Costello Goes to Mars”.
January 24, 2026
By Grabthar’s Hammer, I’d have to go with the ship from Galaxy Quest. Powered by a big rock. And with a really cool trap inside! Plus… The Omega 13!
January 24, 2026
When they take the ship out of dock I laugh so hard I practically cried myself silly. To this day, that movie is a classic!
January 24, 2026
Somebody has to mention Battlestar Galactica, so I will.