Building A Better Spaceship is a 5 piece alternative rock band made up of V… Read Full Bio ↴Building A Better Spaceship is a 5 piece alternative rock band made up of Vinn Lombardo, Adam Holt, Rick Johnson, Ross Facundo and Paul Funk. Building A Better Spaceship has played with numerous acts such as Avenged Sevenfold, Lifehouse, Unwritten Law, 311, The Killers, 30 Seconds to Mars, Hot Hot Heat, Hoobastank, Pepper, Lit and Hard Fi to name a few.

Their hyperkinetic live shows has earned Building a Better Spaceship a field of loyal fans. Their music has an anthemic feel with emotion felt through every instrument and chorus, from their ballads to their crowd-moving rockers. Their music is commonly played on Modern Rock and Alternative stations across the country in Hawaii, Las Vegas, Denver, and St. Louis and up and down the west coast.

This Time
Building A Better Spaceship Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Speaking To Lad, Listen To This,
I Know There's Some Things I've Been Needing To Fix
Healing inside
Starting Today
I'm lookin' at life in a different way
I'm learning to count, hoping to stay
Stay away from those demons
From my demons

And hey, I've been there and lived

The message is this
The proof is right here on my wrist
This time
I'm gonna get things right
This time, no more comin' from the inside
This time
Is my time to shine
I put in the work, I put in the time
I'm makin' it count
It's right front of mine
And some called it luck
Some called it fate
My halo l is cracked
But now I'm astray
I'm learning to count,
I'm hopin'to stay
Stay away from those demons from my demons
And hey,
I've been there and lived
The message is this
The proof is right here on my wrist
And this time
I'm gonna get things right
This time
No more coming from the inside
This time
Is my time to shine

No more fading I'm just climbing

No more fading I'm just climbing, yea
I've been there and back, before yeah

I've been there and back, before yeah
I've been there and back, before yeah

I've been there and back, before yeah

I've been there and lived
And I've been there and lived
The proof is right here on my wrist
This time
I'm gonna get things right
This time
No more coming from the inside

This time
Is my time to shine
No more fading I'm just climbing
Yeah

This turn is my time to shine
Yeah

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "This Time" by Building A Better Spaceship are about someone coming to terms with their past mistakes and resolving to make positive changes in their life. The singer acknowledges that they have struggled with personal demons in the past, but they are now determined to heal and move forward. They are focused on counting their blessings and making the most of their opportunities. The phrase "the proof is right here on my wrist" suggests that the singer has a physical reminder of their commitment to change, perhaps in the form of a bracelet, tattoo, or scar.

The chorus of the song reinforces the message that now is the time for the singer to shine and achieve their goals. They have put in the work and are no longer held back by their internal struggles. They are climbing towards success and refuse to fade away. The repetition of the phrase "I've been there and lived" emphasizes that the singer has overcome obstacles in the past and is capable of doing so again.

Overall, the lyrics of "This Time" promote hope and resilience. They urge the listener to confront their own challenges and make positive changes in their life.

Line by Line Meaning

Speaking To Lad, Listen To This,
I'm talking to you, Lad, please hear me out

I Know There's Some Things I've Been Needing To Fix
I acknowledge that there are a few things I need to work on

Healing inside
I am trying to heal myself from within

Starting Today
From this moment on

I'm lookin' at life in a different way
I am trying to see life from a new perspective

I'm learning to count, hoping to stay
I am learning to take control of my life, hoping to keep it that way

Stay away from those demons from my demons
I am trying to stay away from the things that have been hurting me

And hey, I've been there and lived
I have experienced tough times before

The message is this
Here is what I want to convey

The proof is right here on my wrist
I have evidence of what I have been through

This time
Now

I'm gonna get things right
I am determined to fix what I need to fix

No more comin' from the inside
I will not let my internal struggles hold me back

Is my time to shine
This is my moment to succeed

I put in the work, I put in the time
I have worked hard for this

It's right front of mine
I can see it in front of me

And some called it luck
Some people said it was just luck

Some called it fate
Others said it was fate

My halo is cracked
I have faced struggles that have damaged my reputation

But now I'm astray
But I have changed for the better

No more fading I'm just climbing
I am done with declining, now I am improving

I've been there and back, before yeah
I have experienced hardships and I have overcome them

This turn is my time to shine
I am now ready to achieve my goals

Contributed by Hailey P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

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Most interesting comments from YouTube:

Shane Nolan

1y↑1

@Aramis Dagaz yes the countdown comic. ( 09 ) One thing. In the movie the kelvin rammed her , but we see it 26 years later in perfect condition. ( it self repaired like a borg cube )

There is a couple of deleted scenes, the ship drifted into klingon territory, and they were taken to rurapente, and put to eork in the mines , Nero was tortured regularly the klingons wanted him to unlock the codes to control the ship , during thier incarnation the ship repaired itself. , and was guarded by a fleet of klingon warships ( 47 of them destroyed in the prison escape) mentioned by uhura.

The ship originally mined the red matter and was attacked by several reman scimitars but was saved by the enterprise.Nero also killed the preator and surviving senators. , and the spear he killed the kelvin captain. was the imperial romulan septor. . The romulan tsl shiar facility was called the vault. It seems like picard season one borrowed the idea. ( the artefact )

But there was another story ( books ) before, a borg invasion ( a couple of different versions) and a civil war. ( post nemesis) and a brief klingon war )

Bur the reason picard was chosen or trusted was because during the borg attack on the romulan empire, he lead a federation ( and allied fleet ) to assist the empire . ( federation, klingons, cardassian, breen, tolian ) that the civil war the reman issues are why the empire in such a bad state. . The supernova was discovered by donatra ( she was preator at the time ). She and her ship were destroyed , but they managed to send a warning first.

Nero was also pissed because the vulcans delayed helping. Had they not spock, the mission would have been successful . Spock had to steal the ship . ( which was built by the vulcan science academy and starfleet vorp of engineers) la forge and league brams helped build it . ( as well as the federation rescue armada) picard helped spock .

also, worf was no longer in starfleet. He was a general in the klingon fleet , he commanded the klingon fleet on the romulan border, Nero destroyed his fleet. Worf was saved by the enterprise. . Nero had spent time on the enterprise , as a guest he looked up federation history and the history of the enterprise and her captains . ( and spock) . Ncc 1701 , your history records James t kirk as a great man , future captain of the enterprise, a history I will deny you . ( lines from the movie) .

Sharks are Neat

1y↑3

This isn’t viable for hard sci settings, but there is an aspect to some of these threatening ships that you seemed to miss - sound design. Sure there’s no sound in space, but even a lot of hard sci fi stories tend to ditch that aspect for dramatic effect (even the ships from the tv adaptation of the Expansion have that deep crackling rumble of their engines, which sounds fucking awesome I might add).

I don’t even have to pull up other examples of how sound can affect the feelings a ship evokes - you already have great examples in this video. The shadow ships look utterly alien, but they have one eerily human element - their engines sound like a distorted human scream, which also acts as great foreshadowing considering some of the details we eventually learn about who is actually flying them.

The Mass Effect reapers are another great example - they have that deep, mechanical horn that echoes across the cities they burn down, sounding halfway between a machine and some lovecratian monster.

For myself though, I’m biased towards one sound in particular because it literally haunted my nightmares as a kid - the tripod horn. I saw War of the Worlds when I was DEFINITELY too young, and it left quite the impression on me. Everything about the tripod design is meant to be imposing and alien - like giant tentacled nightmares towering above the humans they relentlessly hunt down and exterminate. But whenever they find someone, they don’t let off their lasers without warning, or swing tentacles down from the darkness to catch you by surprise to be dragged up and converted into fertilizer - no, they let out that deep bellowing horn. It’s loud as hell and can be heard from miles away, but it doesn’t matter - if you hear that horn, you’re probably already dead because they’ve seen you, and now they’re coming for you.

A good, threatening sound can really elevate already effective visual designs.

All comments from YouTube:

Spacedock

1y↑56

Check out the new Confiance Class Frigate breakdown over on #TheSojourn channel!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iszuFttwogM&ab_channel=TheSojournAudioDrama

Guinevere Cross Section available here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/sojourn-visual-39895325/

Cauin

Cripple their warp drive with your first shot, shields with your immediate second and communication with an express delivery third. Let your opponent throw everything they've got at you and let them SEE its does nothing.
Do NOT communicate, TAKE!

Cauin

1y↑2

Spacedock. Has anyone mentioned that the Shrike is almost a direct rip-off of the Vorlon Cruiser in Babylon 5 yet?

fourteenfour

Check out the Siege Perilous class from Andromeda...

fourteenfour

1y↑1

forgot another, the Cylon Raider from BSG

Lloyd Mills

1y↑1

Cool piece of trivia about the Shrike's sound: It's actually an electronic instrument called a Blaster Beam. It was used to make the signature sound of V'ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and is also the sound of the seismic charges used in Attack of the Clones and Mandalorian.

8 More Replies...

ThePhantomSquee

1y↑635

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.

Charles Hartley

1y↑91

Oh great point! Or the "scream" that comes with them as they fly past!

Kalebfenoir

1y↑73

Or the fact they have no up or down, so they don't orient themselves when they come out of the dark. They just fly at their enemy, and fire from any side of themselves. They have no 'weak points' because there's no engines to kill, no weapons to blow up. you gotta kill the beast to end its threat. It's gotta be scary as hell to see those Shadow spider ships just cartwheeling out of space, or spinning 'backward' until their legs face you, or however they decide they want to fight you.

KallenSC

1y↑18

Actually he should mention Vorlon battlecruiser with 2 spikes like that ship from Picard!

Omar Al-Farouq

1y↑23

Aye in space nobody can hear you scream, except if it's a shadow battle crab

347Jimmy

1y↑4

That scream! 😱

2 More Replies...

Hamish Sewell

1y↑453

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

Harbour21 1

1y↑19

Its a deep primal fear for humans, fear of the unknown

black c

1y↑15

I think the shadows added to it with the way they would switch orientation when they would attack. Again, that sense that they operated under different rules.

Hamish Sewell

1y↑5

@Harbour21 1 yeah, the fear of something that doesn’t fit

Jeremy Owens

1y↑10

Non-Euclidean geometry for the win

2 More Replies...

C Med (TheUniverseofCMed)

1y↑412

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.

DrownedInExile

1y↑74

See also: when the oldest, most powerful race in-universe, the Bentusi, flee in terror, you know shit's gone bad!

Caliper Storm

1y↑54

The mothership they grow out of the Kuun-Lan’s lower deck also has that spiky, skeletal look. And its voice… both the beacon-beast and the Naggarok talk in such an ominous way. I absolutely love Cataclysm, sucks that it didn’t get remastered.

Zizoor

1y↑36

I have nothing useful to add to this except for one single thing: I fucking love Homeworld.

Sean Heath

1y↑24

The Naggarok was pretty creepy, too. If nothing else, the fact that it literally eats your ships.

AcedFox

1y↑24

Yes, the way the beast is brought to you by the story with the sound of true horror on the ships and the infection creeping over the existing exterior.
Certainly a great force of evil that should be mentioned.

20 More Replies...

Mit Whit Gaming

1y↑314

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.

Phoenix RQ

1y↑38

And that in its own sense is a unique flavor of terror

Harbour21 1

1y↑18

Honestly as a guy that loves greeblies, the borg cubes are pretty beautiful to me

bsb1975

1y↑13

The Reaver ships from Firefly and the Serenity movie. Imagine being chased down by some messed up freighter decorated with human bones.

Sam T

1y↑12

fo sho… big and pointy villain ships just seem silly to me, but something that disregards all the established conventions, like a Cube, is so unsettling.

CptJistuce

1y↑8

We are Borg. Hull plating is irrelevant. You will be assimilated.

3 More Replies...

adamantu

1y↑129

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.

Tau Dvore

1y↑13

It’s also in the shape of a cross which contrasts nicely with the distinctly unholy things within, (the pagan and therefore unholy origins of the crucifix symbol itself not withstanding)

Corsayr

1y↑14

Have you ever seen one of the videos that talks about the theory that Event Horizon happens in the 40k universe? Awesome stuff, good call on the Event Horizon that ship was creepy AF! 😊

GmodPlusWoW

1y↑11

@Corsayr I am very familiar with the 40K fan theory. And I can totally understand how it came across.

Yes, it's partly because the Event Horizon was an FTL-capable vessel that got fucked up by eldritch influences, but also because the ship itself looked pretty cathedral-like in its design.

SkywalkerWroc

@GmodPlusWoW The way hyperspace works in Event Horizon is nothing like 40k, so... however much we'd like these two connected, it's just not the case :/

Hackr

1y↑5

That "skeletal" look is also what made the USG Ishimura look so ominous in my eyes. The protruding Hull segments make it look like a cathedral and an exposed ribcage at the same time. Brilliant.

4 More Replies...

Major Role

1y↑173

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...

StormWave342

1y↑28

Then later, just to scale things up, the Executor eventually crashes into the Death Star which absolutely dwarfs it in size.

Sky Guy

1y↑15

@StormWave342 While it definitely dwarfs it, the curvature should've been visible at that scale. A minor nitpick, fun thing is they actually fixed that in the Battlefront II revamp of that scene, which is very neat.

Eclispestar

1y↑5

Ya scale is definitely scarry. Like no way we can deal with that. Died to 1 fighter crash. So lame design

347Jimmy

1y↑4

@Eclispestar I've never been convinced it was just the one fighter crash that did it.
Ackbar had just told the whole rebel fleet to concentrate fire, that's a lot of capital ships blasting at once

Grievous' flagship in Episode 3 falls out of the sky after being hit by too many broadsides, so it can happen 🤷‍♂️

B Kane

39w

Please. The Executor’s main job was not to instill fear. It was just another command ship.

1 More Replies...

Noir Angel

1y↑227

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.

UnluckyFriedKitten

1y↑12

@Mitchz95 I'd agree with this, the crew reaction gives the hard sell, kudos to the actors. Although something about the Reavers never made sense to me, their description implies madness, violence and chaos, yet they manage to operate, maintain, modify and crew complicated Spacecraft.... Maybe they just remember their spacefaring skills from before they went insane? but I can't imagine them organising themselves into a functioning crew.

Frank Mitchell

1y↑14

@UnluckyFriedKitten I always assumed Reavers had varying degrees of madness. The almost-rational ones captain, fly, and jerry-rig the ship, while the foaming-at-the-mouth psychos stay in the hold until they're needed for a boarding action.

leftover thoughts

1y↑4

@UnluckyFriedKitten They do remember. The RPG states clearly that the Reavers are crazy, not stupid.

David Jordan

1y↑135

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

Lukas

1y↑18

That, and the other end of the frequency spectrum, the shrill screams of the shadow vessels, especially when you learn just how fucked up the pilot's augmentations get, and how the sound is literally in people's heads as they move.
It's not just the imagined sound of the ship in flight, but the sound they make by being near them. Even in hard vacuum.

LordOfNihil

yea you have to set the mood.

weldonwin

1y↑7

And the Shadows and that nightmare screaming sound they made

Gary Robbins

1y↑5

The TIE fighter is not especially scarey looking, but the sound more than made up for the basic appearance.

weldonwin

1y↑2

@Gary Robbins Yeah, that distinct high-pitch howling is iconic.

4 More Replies...

JRWins

1y↑69

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!

argentaegis

1y↑13

I'd always interpreted that as a psychic "sound". No less unsettling. Just a personal view of it.

Lukas

1y↑9

@argentaegis that's not just your personal take, that sound is literally a psychic scream of the pilot. That's the pilot making that noise.

argentaegis

1y↑1

@Lukas I'd assumed it was the vessel itself, to the extent it is distinct from the pilot at that point. They're always described as having that scream, but the pilots weren't always psi. Either way, it's just creepy.

Lukas

1y↑7

@argentaegis Yeah. why is the nightmarish space spider ship...Screaming? What does it know? Why Is It Screaming!!?

TheVeritas1

1y↑1

That scream ALWAYS creeped me out even it the Shadow ship was simply flying along.

3 More Replies...

Indrasil Design Studio

1y↑61

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.

Yora

1y↑5

Sathanas had four giant forward spikes decades before Star Trek.

Peter Llewelyn

1y↑1

Was going to post a similar thing!

Michael Moronez

1y↑10

And it was cemented by that one Mission where you jump in and are immediately screamed at by your wing mate to 'PULL UP! PULL UP PILOT AND HIT YOUR BURNERS!!"
Your first view is that massively huge Sathanas filling your screen. You are about to become a bug on someone's uncaring window.
That mission is enshrined in my brain as Top Jumpscare for any sci fi space game.

Suralin0

1y↑6

@Michael Moronez DIVE DIVE DIVE, HIT YOUR BURNERS PILOT!!!

ElcomeSoft

1y↑1

Came here for the Sathanas comments.

@Suralin0 Even just reading that comment, I got chills. Can you imagine being 1 of 4 pilots in alien space fighters, in enemy territory where the enemy clearly has enough firepower to wipe out both the Terrans and Vasudans without breaking any kind of sweat (if Shivans sweat at all)?

2 More Replies...

casbott

1y↑171

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.

hoojiwana

1y↑35

Just like in Star Trek: Beyond? That was a pretty good enemy force to throw against Starfleet.
- hoojiwana from Spacedock

LtCWest

1y↑14

Or the buggers from Enders Game, when they swarm its time to bring out the Little Doctor.

Sky Guy

1y↑9

@hoojiwana Honestly not a fan of them, they seem to break the rule you mentioned with the Narada vs Borg Cube. It invokes the visuals of a vast hive-like swarm, meanwhile the main bad guy is a normal (albeit genetically modified) guy and even has his own distinct ship amongst the drones. It's not necessarily writing checks it can't cash, but it's cheap that the BBEG is not a "queen bee" or "hivemind" but just a normal individual in a personalized craft when they're trying to evoke this swarm aesthetic. Felt narratively dissonant.

Eclispestar

1y↑1

The Cylon battle stars

Frank Mitchell

1y↑8

Huge armadas are really a different kind of scary. In Doctor Who (2005) a first season episode revealed an entire armada of Dalek saucers just serenely spinning as they waited to strike. (Although the Murray Gold score and actors' reactions sold the menace.)

Also ... "Target the Reavers. Target the Reavers! Target everyone! SOMEBODY FIRE!"

7 More Replies...

Lonely Strategos

1y↑23

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.

Caliper Storm

1y↑38

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

Mackenzie Beeney

1y↑5

Yeah and the way their wake just throws voyager off, ignoring them entirely after a quick scan as an afterthought.

Really shows the scale of the borg. It would be interesting to see a federation borg war.

Red Nine

1y↑24

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.

RXdash78

1y↑6

Especially given that anyone who watched DS9 will have seen miranda's get blown to bits in every major battle. Khan makes you forget you are looking at starfleet's future cannon fodder.

Red Nine

1y↑3

@RXdash78 yeah, the FX team got REALLY lazy with the dominion war visuals. At the time there just weren't a lot of reliable federation ship models to use and CGI on a television budget was not going to cut it compared with the more traditional model shots they'd used in the show before. I remember watching it while it aired and seeing the exact same shot of two Miranda's getting destroyed while flanking the defiant that it became a running joke. The scale inconsistencies in those shots would just get worse and worse.

Matt Robson

1y↑4

@Red Nine In fairness to the DS9 VFX folks, Next Gen had even worse problems in that regard. While the Excelsior class's service life has just become part of Star Trek canon, for quite a while it seemed like Starfleet took an eighty year pause in ship development before they built the Galaxy class.

1 More Replies...

Marconius

1y↑15

Babylon 5 is an interesting example, because they managed to make the Vorlon ships ALSO creepy and alien, but in a slightly different direction.

Mr. Headcrab

1y↑72

In it's defense, the Narada is kinda a mix of Romulan Philosophy and borg tech. In the lead up comic to the film, the story of how the Narada went from pokey little Romulan Mining vessel into a giant space thistle is shared. After the supernova took out Romulus, Nero went to a Tal Shiar station called the vault, a fallback point for the Romulan government where research was being done on borg tech. It was installed and started to gestate into the form we got there, revenge incarnate against the federation for their failure to act. As for the Philosophy aspect, Imperial Romulans are always looking to either win via subterfuge, or about looking tough and as a bigger threat than they really are. Dederidex warbirds look huge and imposing, but they're hollow. Wings that spread out, but are unpopulated space. Devastating weaponry, but used sparingly to avoid counters. Since the Narada can't hide, and it's literally 200 years more advanced with alien tech stolen from the scary space zombies, it does kinda work as a unknowable entity. It could have been true nightmare fuel, if the captain had a better plan than "Dig a hole with muh mining laser and drop Macguffin Juice in"

I honestly felt sorry for it.

Aramis Dagaz

1y↑24

This is very disappointing and a wasted opportunity. I had no idea of this backstory because it's simply not described in the movie, so the only impression I got is that Romulans are apparently such edgelords they made even a basic deep-space mining vessel all super-spikey and ominous. However, given that most of the ship is just empty space from all the spikes, it just comes across as overcompensating. A large, solid, beat-up brick of a ship could've been more in line with a massive mining vessel and still have been terrifying in its scale and implacability, especially when it does drill a big hole from orbit and drop the implosion juice in it.

Heck, the Ishimura from Dead Space is just a mining vessel, but it still instills dread when you realize that it's designed to literally break apart entire planets.

Mr. Headcrab

1y↑7

@Aramis Dagaz There was a LOT that cut for time in Trek 09, apparently, when the Narada disappeared and we got to know the crew the Enterprise, It made it to Klingon space, was captured by Klingons who scanned it and kept the crew at Rure Penthe, "The frozen mine moon, where life sentences were measured in months". The crew basically tripled the output, survived the 20 years before Spock made it through to the past, broke out and blew up 47 Klingon ships on their way out. Check Memory Alpha / Beta for more info.

Shane Nolan

1y↑1

Darwin Xavier

1y↑16

The real story is that JJ is a hack and everything was done with aesthetic and spectacle first. All the "backstory" was just convoluted justification to have his giant edgelord ship. Much like his poorly written villain and most of the rest of the film, everything about it was nonsensical and was only designed to facilitate scenes he wanted. There was no reason to throw in Borg BS other than trying to explain the appearance, which it doesn't anyway. Had the Narada actually been from some ancient alien race instead of just angryguy#23's poorly explained ride that he just happened to have, It would've been threatening. But instead all I see is someone's lame goth poser teenage fanfic.

Janos Oldani

1y↑49

this might be an unpopular opinion, but in my mind a lot of these ships (especially the shrike) look like they're screaming "look at me, i'm so scary and menacing" and if you have to scream that, it makes you a lot less threatening.

hellfish2309

1y↑12

it’s almost literally (2) twirled mustaches flying through space

Bird_Dog

1y↑5

There's some of that.
On the other hand, it stil can work subconciously.
But there's another problem: Why would different species, with entirely different cultural backgrounds have the same emotional responce to a specific shape?
What looks menacing to one alien, might look just comical to us and vice versa.

Thomas Godridge

1y↑5

As someone who's interested in this sort of thing, what would you put on your list and why? I'm curious to hear both sides, so I can have a better informed opinion.

Jaydee8652

1y↑11

@Bird_Dog, No matter where you come from in the universe, physics means sharp things are dangerous, we have an emotional response to that danger. I think spiky = scary is one of the few things that would be universal.

Kevin Gluys

@Bird_Dog 100%
A species composed of chitinous zoans might look at that spikey mass of claws and be unable to stop dishoramaculating (their equivalent of laughing) because they think it looks like the Vessinaticolor from Harmonatticong (No known Human equivalent, but it is very funny to them.)

5 More Replies...

SkywalkerWroc

1y↑9

I like how they have made Kadeshi from Homeworld look absolutely menacing, despite the fact that the very first ship you get a contact with is... smaller than your smallest vessels. They got this white, futuristic look to them, yet at the same time you know that it's not white for innocence, but rather white for the white bones of everyone that crossed into their territory. Everything from their movements to the way they spoke was screaming "danger".

Serenitis

46w↑1

If you will not join, then you will die. Nobody, leaves the Garden.

Veiss Saulis

43w↑3

"If you will not join, then die. There is no withdrawal form the Garden."

Sentinel_0036

1y↑58

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

Vince Discombe

1y↑3

The music really helps sell this as well- the twin bangs of the drum against a silent backdrop as sovereign's fleet arrives and unleashes their opening salvo, then straight into the crescendo as that salvo lands and decimates the citadel defence fleet.
Chef's kiss.

fully0p

1y↑18

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

Nick Cher

33w

Man, the Shivans were nightmare fuel. Even more after playing Blue Planet

Sebastian Paine

1y↑36

Love the video and the Shrike is plain awesome, but may I make a connection between her and the War of The Worlds tripods that you did not mention with the Shadow Vessels, their un-earthly scream as they travel through space. To this day Shadow Vessels are the on ship that still turns my stomach when I see and hear them. Also thanks for the video of the bird, that defiantly reinforces the Shrike and her captain.

Hunter12396

1y↑1

I noticed immediately when they used the tripod horn for the Shrike, but I didn't make the connection it has the "eye" as well.

Justin

1y↑10

Everything about the Romulan ships scared me as a child. The green glow, the cloaking tech, the distinctly alien weapons and the fact that they use an artificial singularity as a reactor. The empty space inside the hull made them even more fearsome to the 11 year old me at the time. Nowadays, very little in ship design screams terrifying. I've been ruined by the countless sifi games, movies and TV shows trying to out do each other. Though, the special effects of a ship decloaking, and some character listing off every way that ship that just appeared inside weapons range can paint the galaxy with your ship's interior does get me a bit giddy.

hugh smith

plus, if you think about it, they are painted the color of Romulan blood.

charles townsend

1y↑44

Depends what you mean by terrifying, there's clawed spikey ships like in the thumbnail, there's the more horror themes like the borg where the horror is the inhumanity of the design, there's just a scary weapon, there's multiple ways.

FreeSorin

1y↑20

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.

Howard

1y↑5

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.

Taladar2003

1y↑13

I think Lexx also had some elements that were threatening, first of course the insectoid and organic appearance but also the delay of its main weapon, the sequence that plays out, you know what is coming. And also the organic intelligence of the ship that sometimes less than predictably decided to listen to someone else who might just be a random person unaware of the consequences of their commands.

Adam Tehranchi

As a Lexx fan I'm just happy anyone remembers my little oddball series

Sprites4Ever

1y↑12

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.

Lucachacha

1y↑23

It would be interesting to have your opinion on the different vessel of warhammer 40K and how they represent the state of mind of there faction. I think 40k get the art of carrying feeling from ship design pretty good

wrorchestra1

1y↑14

The Shivan vessels in the Freespace games (specifically Freespace 2) are menacing as they are a bit of a mystery. They also have jutting protrusions and heavily lean on red, dark brown/black and grey.

Josh Adams

Did the guys behind that game play a lot of Magic? Any time I hear or read “Shivan” my mind goes to Dragons immediately

Grant Owens

1y↑5

I think a lot of people will reference this, but the way the Malevolence just cuts this silhouette over a bright red planet in the Clone Wars, and just completely decimates entire fleets like nothing, really inspired a sense of dread and awe. Especially when it just casually makes the Twilight look like a speck as it looms over it. Plus, the music, Ion Cannon, is INCREDIBLE. It’s one of my favorite soundtracks to any ship ever. It’s really straight. out of Jaws. It was a fantastic way to introduce this almost unstoppable monster of a ship, shame they knocked it out so quickly.

Double-Barrelled Simian

1y↑10

Seth McFarlane's team did a fantastic job with the Kaylon. I hated the route they took, making them another Ai kill people race, but the ship design is basically that of a menacing giant eye ball.

jim skywalker

Have you watched season 3?

Double-Barrelled Simian

@jim skywalker Not all of it, I'm stuck at episode 2 I think. Haven't had the time to sit and watch it yet.

The Big Boi Hames

1y↑12

I think the Vanduul ships from Star Citizen are a good example of this they use lots of spines and claw looking things on their ships that make them quite menacing

Leodous Kyron

1y↑23

BSG’s Cylon fighter. I know it is small but in the first few minutes you see the basic Cylon and when you see the fighters and the eye opens and looks at the target it is good and spooky. It is like someone cut the “head” of the original Cylon and stuck it on two curved spikes and that cyclon is right angry about it and wants to take it out on you. And there are a lot of them - attacking like 🐝 angry hornets intent on removing the head of every human they find.

HeraHex

1y↑2

Cylon Raiders are excellent. As are the Basestars.

JeffsSoul

1y↑6

Yea man, the entire episode "Scar", S2-ep15

1y↑4

Another I’d put on there was the Magog world ship from Andromeda. Especially with how it was introduced, you come away seeing this unstoppable impossibly big thing filled to the brim with monsters coming at you.

True Fan Forum

1y↑1

That's a good choice. Sigh, that show had such potential but they really dropped the ball. Especially the world ship that went from an imminent and terrifying threat to an after thought.

Stars90

@True Fan Forum I know :( Somehow even its last appearance where they were overwhelmed by it didn't work because of how it turned out

RAF1172

1y↑6

The Shadow ships are indeed iconic due to their alien wrongness. Anything that looks like a living creature thriving and being an utter menace in the vaccuum of space will always be spades in my book.

Seitu Allen

1y↑1

Funny you say that. I thought the shriek looks like a vorlon ship!

RAF1172

@Seitu Allen it kinda does at that, doesn't it?

Lewis MacKenzie

1y↑8

The Shrike reminds me of the Sathanas from Freespace 2. That was an amazing game and the ship designs were brilliant!

Filthy Disgusting Ape

1y↑2

The 'Sath' doesn't bother trying to talk to you when they blast you to atoms--that's part of it's scariness. I felt many of the models for the Shivan ships were either deep sea corals or freaky sea life (the Lucifer looks like a mantis shrimp; the moloch looks like a sea cucumber)--except for the fighters: they look weirdly like the fighter craft used by the Shadows from B5.
That being said I have no idea what inspired the Sathanas.

arugulatarsus

44w

@Filthy Disgusting Ape A sath IMO looks a lot like a spider doing a mating dance.

Filthy Disgusting Ape

44w

@arugulatarsus That's gotta be an 'effin' ugly spider.

Robert Morgan

1y↑4

With the inclusion of the changelings in Picard’s 3rd season, I’m surprised nobody has drawn on the similarities between the Shrike’s long curving forward engine “arms” configured in an X-like pattern and the shape of the larger Jem'Hadar ships we saw in DS9.

Although the Dominion ships often featured 2 larger and 2 smaller engines, it was one of the first ships in Star Trek canon that the Shrike reminded me of.

共匪

1y↑4

Some of my favourite starships come from Sins of a Solar Empire.

Some great designs there that coexist in themes really well. I'd love it if you did a breakdown of a few of them!

Viktor Kock Appelgren

Vasari ships?

1y↑23

The best way to make a ship menacing is to have the MCs have a lot of trouble with a single one of that ship and have it's class constantly appear over the course of a season/story without saying what purpose it holds in the wider fleet.

And then show that there are a lot of them in the bad guys fleet by showing an event at the enemies starbase. (AKA: make the enemy seem actually competent and their ships formidable)

1y↑3

covenant supercarriers are the ones that scare me, just the sheer size and firepower of that ships is crazy, and it doesnt have the cliche scary look. even scarier is how proficient the covenant is with these gigantic ships, i mean they had one in orbit of reach, , one of the most defended human planet without them noticing. and it has a gigantic beam weapon that it uses to unalive planets

Reece Wilshire

Fully agree with this, while they may not have the most crazy/scary designs, the halo games handle ship scale as a tactic of fear, when an enemy arrives, and hope, when a friendly arrives, very well. Therefore the usage of the covenant fleet on Reach will forever be one of the most jaw dropping moments to me.

sockatume

The collated shots of the Shrike made me wonder if Nope was also an inspiration to the designers and animators. In any case, a compelling end result!

Maggie Osterberg

1y↑3

I love that the Shrike is often accompanied by the big sound of "The Blaster Bar," from ST: TMP. When the Klingon ships approach V'Ger and this massive, electric ::SHABOOOONNNNG!!:: sounds out, it raised every hair on my body. Hearing it was the Shrike appear sent a shiver down my spine, soooooo good!

Mark Michalowski

Yep, I heard that too!

Tymoteusz Mroczkowski

I'm incredibly impressed with the 3rd season of Star Trek Picard, the shrike is as far as I know the only ship in star trek that has forward facing nesselles (and I am a massive star trek nerd), the way it moves and disappeares in the nebula is great, props to the designers, concept artists, 3D modellers, animators, compositor and everyone who had a hand in putting this thing on screen

Darwin Xavier

It has design elements of the TIE Silencer and Cylon raider. It also reminds me a little of a Zerg creature from Starcraft 2. I like how the main spikes actually seem to serve some function with what look like Bussard collectors/nacelle emitters and impulse engines integrated.

Sean Poore

The reapers do have an unsettling appearance, like squids grasping at their prey. As someone who gets freaked out by deep sea horrors it really adds menace. And the way they just descend from the sky. Although the intent scale and mystery also help

Kubinda12345

1y↑1

I don't know if terrifying is the right word but the CIS from Star Wars had a lot of ships that were quite unsettling; the Droid tri-fighter or the HMP droid gunship. The constructors used various insects as inspirations which made the resulting products kind of insect like with red sensor resembling eyes an overall quite creepy.

Nem Denemam

I think sound design is the biggest thing. The moment the Vengeance from 'Into the darkness' caught up to the Enterprise was incredible and it's just a bigger, darker enterprise with a totally different sound. Also I'm surprised the D'Deridex Romulan battleship wasn't mentioned here. I always felt they were menacing as hell and I think it also has something to do with the sound of their decloaking. Like a shriek from an alligator or something. Although that ship even looks scary without the sound imo

jack1701e

1y↑1

A little idea I have in mind for sci fi is to simply hack into an enemy's comm system and blast them with horrifying sounds, like hellish screams, tripod horns or something. It puts the animalistic fear into an enemy's crew but also shows them how easily you can hack their systems and with the flick of a switch their gravity or atmosphere or power could be turned off.

Plus it gives me an excuse to use Tripod Horns in a space battle, like come on it's an iconic sound!

stueymon

I recently wrote a short story about a ship that was so menacing simply due to it's immense size, shadowing over entire countries and leaving them in the dark.

The twist was, it never held any hostility, it was utterly apathetic towards us and in the end that's much worse...

Sharks are Neat

1y↑3

Sharks are Neat

@BigFormula93 good point

Liam Keft

An idea I've put to use in some of my Sci-Fi RPG's that I've run is the element of the unknown. Seeing something that is utterly different to what is widely known can lead to a deep seated fear, or even presenting something as unthreatening in appearance but is actually extremely dangerous can cause terror as well.

Bull Gator1991

1y↑5

Is it just me, or is the secondary bull on the Shrike very reminiscent of the ones on Galaxy/Nebula classes?

Kaitlyn L

Definitely not just you. It’s basically identical, including the upper “eyelid” sticking out more than the lower one

Z3IRO

I personally think the First Order Dreadnought is somewhat underrated in this regard. Some people believe it looks dumb because to its flat, triangular shape like a way-oversimplified Star Destroyer, but to me the dark monolithic design makes it look almost like a giant tombstone - and indeed fighting it does cost a large amount of lives. And that eerie alarm it makes when it exits hyperspace is rather chilling as well in my opinion.

Lewis Massie

This was great. I find too many designers go with scaling up things but without properly contextualising it can be a missed opportunity

Sean Mather

It’s the movement and actions of the ship. The Reliant from ST2 is a great example. It’s supposed to be a friendly ship, but how it reacts compared to the Enterprise makes it a bit more menacing than the Enterprise. It’s easy for a dark spiky ship to look scary, but it’s those movements like with the Shrike that sells it.

Nothing Important

The Dominion capital ships and the Negh'Var were pretty menacing as well imo. Probably mostly due to their size and power than anything else, although the Negh'Var lost a bit of it after the mirror universe episodes in DS9.

GamingSpoiler

I would say the most terrifying thing in a space ship is if you give it living features; such as on 7:08 the Reaper literally looks like a monster that is opening its jaw preparing to devour its prey. the Shadow fighters literally look like flying spiders. The shrike, while not looking like a specific creature we know, also looks alive. As you said, like a predator waiting to pounce on its target. Like it can literally get "physical"

Aethid

They actually managed to make the USS Intrepid look really quite intimidating - even angry - despite being quite a typical looking Starfleet ship, in Picard s3 ep5.

J Anonymous

37w

Scar from Battlestar Galactica. Great combo of music, visual design, and plot coming together to make him an extremely threatening enemy ace fighter. The first scene you see him is awesome. Also a contrast to all these "world ender" craft and capital ships - the equivalent of a one-man fighter can be terrifying if done correclty.

Dantius

1y↑2

The SJ Sathanas from Freespace 2 is the single most terrifying starship I can think of, at least visually.

James Martin

I've always found the Klingon D-7/K'tinga class design both alluring and unnerving. I think I just figured out it's because with the long neck and wide rear hull, it sort of puts one in the mind of a pterosaur.

AutodidacticPhd

1y↑1

While I definitely have more idea for what makes other things menacing, I'd say size really is the biggest trump card when it comes to sci-fi entities like spacecraft. Some older examples one might add; the Doomsday Machine from the ST:TOS ep of the same name, V'ger from the ST motion picture, or Unicron from the Transformers franchise.

I think a lot of it comes down to how much more devistating it is when a starship (which is often a kind of power fantasy / extension of the crew / projection of humanity's greatest strengths) suddenly comes face to face with something that takes that strength or power, and not only presents a challenge, but reduces it to utter insignificance. It's not just that it is something big compared to a person, but something that is big compared to the biggest things we can imagine or master or muster... it's not unlike the feeling a small child might have when someone or something proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that their parents are not invincible and cannot always keep them safe.

It skips right past threatening our own power or safety, and jumps to threatening the very concept of strength or safety itself. Which, is not too far displaced from the point that cosmic horror was going for.

Hybris51129

One part of ship design that I think get taken for granted is visible weapons. Having a massive coilgun whose barrel suggests that it can fire projectiles the size of lesser starships does a lot to add to the sense of dread and fear. Even more so is when you see more recognizable weapons that are seen as primary weapons for capital ships used as secondary or even tertiary weapons.

rmeddy1

Yeah The Shrike is a great design, it does have that almost space borne feel to it, which was narratively fitting since the nebula was a space jellyfish eggsack or something

That aspect is what made the reveal about The Reapers in Mass Effect 1 so great.

Captain Alex

You probably had enough Star Trek in this video already, but I would also throw in species 8472. When I watched Voyager as a kid I got legitimate nightmares from those guys. Not only do their people and ships appear scary and otherworldly. The most menacing thing about them was that the Borg, established for decades as the most evil and deadly force in the whole galaxy, were utterly helpless against them.

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