"Ships as characters...." Topic
5 Posts
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Keifer113 | 12 Sep 2020 1:04 a.m. PST |
There have been a number of Sci Fi shows where the fans loved the ship….the Enterprise, the Falcon, the Ghost, the Serenity, Nell….I am sure there are others…. Then there are shows where people are meh about the ship…they have no emotional attachment to it. The Enterprise D, the newer Enterprises, And others… What makes a fan come to love a ship ?? Cool looks? "personality?" Love of the crew for the ship??? |
Keifer113 | 12 Sep 2020 1:04 a.m. PST |
There have been a number of Sci Fi shows where the fans loved the ship….the Enterprise, the Falcon, the Ghost, the Serenity, Nell….I am sure there are others…. Then there are shows where people are meh about the ship…they have no emotional attachment to it. The Enterprise D, the newer Enterprises, And others… What makes a fan come to love a ship ?? Cool looks? "personality?" Love of the crew for the ship??? |
ScottWashburn | 12 Sep 2020 6:51 a.m. PST |
I think they have to love the show first. Love the stories, love the characters, and you will probably come to love the ship, too. |
Parzival | 12 Sep 2020 8:40 a.m. PST |
In part, it's written into the show. In the shows you mention, from the start the crew themselves are depicted as loving their ship and treating it as if it were one of them. The original Star Trek was unabashed in showing Kirk's attachment to the Enterprise as something more than just duty— and of course, Scotty's pride in her is unquenchable. In Firefly, the Serenity is proudly introduced as one with the crew from the start— "You're not looking at destinations. You're looking at ships— and mine's the best!" declares Kaylie to Shepherd Book. And of course nothing matches Han Solo's pride in the Millennium Falcon— "She'll keep it together! (You hear, that girl? Keep it together.)" And so on. Plus, it helps if the look of the ship is iconic from the start. The Enterprise D is not iconic; it's derivative. It looks like somebody sat on the original, and then stretched it out like silly putty. And the pride in her is slow in coming with the crew. Even Picard doesn't seem much impressed with his new command. He's introduced at the start of his mission with her, whereas Kirk is introduced in media res— already trusting and protective of his vessel. It takes a while for Picard to develop an attachment with the ship, and the rest of the crew is not depicted as putting much personal importance on the vessel herself until much later. So that's what does it— an iconic design combined with a crew that treats the ship itself as a character from the start, and then not a few close scrapes where the ship itself is the cause of victory (typically just in time or by a laser's breadth); that's how you make viewers care about the ship, too. |
emckinney | 12 Sep 2020 10:29 a.m. PST |
"Kirk is introduced in media res" Which is why so many superhero origin stories are so bad. Seriously, we know who Batman is … And Empire Strikes Back was so good: they sliced the initial 10 minutes of pointless introductions from the script. |
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