History Main / ShinyLookingSpaceships

** This is demonstrated by the ''[[http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/andromeda/images/9/9e/Resolution_of_Hector-1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090512013951 Resolution of Hector]]'', a new ''Siege Perilous''-class ship commissioned by the New Commonwealth in addition to the ships recovered from the Nietzschean ship prison. Unlike the other two ''Siege Perilous'' ships shown (''[[http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/andromeda/images/0/05/Balance_of_Judgment-1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20081121005442 Balance of Judgment]]'' and ''[[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/andromeda/images/c/cf/Wrath_of_Achilles-1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110525184014 Wrath of Achilles]]''), both of which were built by the Old Commonwealth, the ''Hector'' has a more industrial look, while retaining the same basic shape.

* In the StarWarsExtendedUniverse novels:

** Tau ships aren't ''shiny'', per se, but along with the rest of their tech they have a clean, brightly-coloured aesthetic to them.

->"''...now'' this ''is my idea of a spaceship - gleaming metal, flashing lights''..."

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:FanWorks]]

[[folder:Film]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

** Was averted in the Xindi arc of ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'', where the ship keeps (most of) its battlescars from episode to episode.
*** The paintjob scratch made by Trip in the pilot receives a nod later as well ("I thought I told you to fix that"), although we don't get to see it.

* ''Series/{{Andromeda}}''

* An odd juxtaposition of Shiny Looking Spaceships and UsedFuture can be seen in the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', episode 820 - ''Film/SpaceMutiny''. The control room of the ''Southern Sun'' seems white, pristine and shiny (like a movie set), and the action scenes in the rest of the ship look as though they were filmed in a grungy, 50-year old bottling plant. (With brightly lit exterior windows to boot. Hmmmm....)

** Especially {{egregious}} in the case of ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' since the ship was far, far away from support facilities and starbases. Outside of a few special episodes, the ship spent most of the series looking fresh out of drydock. Glad to know they're using their replicator rations for paint.

* In ''TachyonTheFringe'', [[MegaCorp GalSpan]] ships all shiny with smooth lines and exotic shapes and are also colored with white and blue paint. They are shown to be less sturdy than their [[LaResistance Bora]] counterparts, which are converted cargo haulers and look [[UsedFuture accordingly]]. [[SpacePolice Star Patrol]] Enforcer fighters are also white and blue, although their design is radically different from most fighters in the game.

Older and more [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism idealistic]] ScienceFiction features '''Shiny-Looking Spaceships''', [[RetroRocket often rocket-shaped]], which are [[SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty shiny, pristine and bright]] in almost all conditions. This trope was pretty much the standard before the 1970s with films like ''Film/SilentRunning'' (1972), ''Film/DarkStar'' (1974), ''Film/StarWars: Film/ANewHope'' (1977) and ''Film/{{Alien}}'' (1979), which depicted space vessels as [[StandardHumanSpaceship lived-in, industrial and/or pragmatic]]. [[CyclicTrope However, it seems to be making something of a comeback]].

Older and more [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism idealistic]] ScienceFiction features '''Shiny-Looking Spaceships''', [[RetroRocket often rocket-shaped]], which are shiny, pristine and bright in almost all conditions. This trope was pretty much the standard before the 1970s with films like ''Film/SilentRunning'' (1972), ''Film/DarkStar'' (1974), ''Film/StarWars: Film/ANewHope'' (1977) and ''Film/{{Alien}}'' (1979), which depicted space vessels as [[StandardHumanSpaceship lived-in, industrial and/or pragmatic]]. [[CyclicTrope However, it seems to be making something of a comeback]].

** ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire'' gives us Dash Rendar's ''Outrider'', whose armor is plated with black chrome [[AwesomeYetPractical to camouflage it in space]].

* Way back in the day, airplanes were built out of wood and canvas, those being relatively strong, lightweight materials. As technology (and metallurgy) advanced, around WorldWarII, these planes gave way to stronger metal-bodied planes. These were initially painted in drab colors to make spotting them more difficult, but towards the end of the war, the US Army Air Force (as it was then) began shipping planes overseas in a bare-metal finish, since this saved a few hours in production and made the planes slightly faster due to lower air resistance and less weight; the Navy and Marine Corps continued to paint their aircraft for corrosion-proofing reasons. Shiny chrome-looking jets would go on to be a staple of UsefulNotes/ColdWar aviation for decades to come, especially as radar negated any advantage in trying to visually camouflage the planes in flight, which was probably also both an inspiration and invocation of this trope in practice.
* One brief aversion of this trope came about during WorldWarII, in a strange sort of RetroUpgrade was the RAF's De Havilland Mosquito a.k.a. 'The Wooden Wonder'. As the name suggests, it was almost entirely made of wood, due to rationing. It promptly proceeded to spend the rest of the war outflying everything else that took to the air, either by superior speed or superior handling while also being able to take punishment from enemy fire surprisingly well. As Goring sourly noted in 1943, it was better than anything the Germans could put out (and considering some of the planes they had, this was an impressive feat...)

* In {{Traveller}} one option is to give your ship a coating that allows you display screensavers on the hull. Thus your ship can be as shiny as you want. This can also be done on interior bulkheads too, though naturally that would be more for crews quarters, wardrooms, etc, then for the hold. On the other hand maintenance and cleaning are as constant a job as they would be in RealLife. Traveller averts the assumption that BigDamnHeroes are immune to mundane considerations.

* Way back in the day, airplanes were built out of wood and canvas, those being relatively strong, lightweight materials. As technology (and metallurgy) advanced, around WorldWarII, these planes gave way to stronger metal-bodied planes. These were initially painted in drab colors to make spotting them more difficult, but towards the end of the war, the US Army Air Force (as it was then) began shipping planes overseas in a bare-metal finish, since this saved a few hours in production and made the planes slightly faster due to lower air resistance; the Navy and Marine Corps continued to paint their aircraft for corrosion-proofing reasons. Shiny chrome-looking jets would go on to be a staple of UsefulNotes/ColdWar aviation for decades to come, especially as radar negated any advantage in trying to visually camouflage the planes in flight, which was probably also both an inspiration and invocation of this trope in practice.

** ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire'' gives us Dash Rendar's ''Outrider'', whose armor is plated with black chrome [[AwesomeYetPractica to camouflage it in space]].

Older and more [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism idealistic]] ScienceFiction features '''Shiny-Looking Spaceships''', [[RetroRocket often rocket-shaped]], which are shiny, pristine and bright in almost all conditions. This trope was pretty much the standard before the 1970s with films like ''Film/SilentRunning'' (1972), ''Film/DarkStar'' (1974), ''Film/StarWars: Film/ANewHope'' (1977) and ''Film/{{Alien}}'' (1979), which depicted space vessels as [[StandardHumanSpaceship lived-in, industrial and/or pragmatic]].

* In ''EveOnline'', Amarrian and (to lesser extent) Gallentean design is all about this. The Minmatar and (to less extent) the Caldari opt for UsedFuture.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Toyed with repeatedly in ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob''. A spectacular, [[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind Close Encounters]]-style chandelier ship [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20080819.html arrives,]] and it's just a glorified tow truck. Riboflavin's rotund little [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20091027.html escape pod]] is beautiful to Galatea, mostly because she ''expects'' it to be impressive. The trope is played straight with Princess Voluptua's [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20090919.html royal yacht.]]
* {{Lampshaded}} a lot in ''Webcomic/IWasKidnappedByLesbianPiratesFromOuterSpace''. The protagonist is even accused of admiring herself in the walls.
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* This was parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "SB-129". Squidward gets [[HumanPopsicle frozen in a freezer for centuries]], and is thawed out in a future were everything is chrome, including the ground and the plants. When a plant grows, a fish immediately shows up to spray paint it chrome.
[[/folder]]

* The Covenant ships in ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''. Even their ground vehicles, that are built for ''war'' are very well polished. Human ships are dull, and generally follow the UsedFuture.
** Averted with Brute vehicles which are essentially driver's seats attached to a rocket sled or a giant rotary saw ([[MoreDakka with guns!]]).
*** Those were designed by a Huragok (Engineer) based on human farming equipment with a few pieces of Covenant tech added (such as anti-gravity) in a peaceful gesture towards humans. The Brutes' first question upon seeing those... "Where are its weapons?"

* In ''TachyonTheFringe'', [[MegaCorp GalSpan]] ships all shiny with smooth lines and exotic shapes and are also colored with white and blue paint. They are shown to be less sturdy than their [[LaResistance Bora]] counterparts, which are converted cargo haulers and look [[UsedFuture accordingly]].

** This can be explained by the Old Commonwealth not being at war (or any sufficiently large conflict) for nearly 1000 years. When most of your warships are just there to patrol space, might as well make them look nice to show off your greatness.

* The International Space Station, due to its reflective metal and white paint, and its prominent solar panels.

Older and more [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism idealistic]] ScienceFiction features '''Shiny-Looking Spaceships''', often rocket-shaped, which are shiny, pristine and bright in almost all conditions. This trope was pretty much the standard before the 1970s with films like ''Film/SilentRunning'' (1972), ''Film/DarkStar'' (1974), ''Film/StarWars: Film/ANewHope'' (1977) and ''Film/{{Alien}}'' (1979), which depicted space vessels as [[StandardHumanSpaceship lived-in, industrial and/or pragmatic]].

For ships that never enter the atmosphere of a planet, this is actually (semi-)realistic. There is no mud or dust in interstellar space that would leave grit or dirt on the outsides of passing spaceships, though there are micrometeorites that gradually erode the surface, so older vessels would have more of a matte hull. Also, having a reflective surface means that FrickinLaserBeams will have a harder time burning a hole in your hull, and you have some degree of innate heat-shielding.

The ''interiors'' of said ships are also often curiously spotless considering how many people are crammed into them for extended periods of time. This can be {{hand wave}}d away by having [[DirtForceField very efficient air filtering systems]], or micro/nanoscopic cleaner robots (or just really good visible-scale robots [[HandWave offcamera]]). It can also be answered with very dedicated crews (as aboard military vessels with many enlisted men and women to keep occupied), or, as in the case of ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'''s early seasons,

Contrast with UsedFuture and StandardHumanSpaceship. See also {{Zeerust}}, AsceticAesthetic.

* In ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'' -one of the ''Anime/MazingerZ'' sequels-, [[TheHero Duke's]] CoolStarship and HumongousMecha and the [[AlienInvasion Vegan starships]] are shiny-looking, bright and very polished -although they may get dirty in battle, though-.
* In ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'', the flagships of the Galactic Empire are perfectly polished and luxuriously decorated, with marble pillars and plush carpeting on the inside, and spotless from the outside. Reinhard von Lohengramm's flagship, the Brunhild, is so white and shiny that it often appears to have an aura surrounding it.

* ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': The space-ships used by the Avalon Empire are all impeccably shiny and pristine.

* In ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', the ''Discovery'' and other spacecraft in the film are nice and shiny looking. Averted in the sequel, ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'', where the ''Discovery'' is entirely covered with a thin layer of fine yellow dust having spent 9 years in orbit around Io, and the Russian ship ''Leonov'' looks significantly more practical and "used".

* This is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Film/GalaxyQuest'' as Fred Kwan comments "Wow, the floors are so clean!"

** The blacker-than-black spaceship they stole from Literature/TheRestaurantAtTheEndOfTheUniverse's parking lot was even shinier -- an amazing feat for a ship that was perfectly frictionless.
* The Dancer/Spider-Wolf ships in ''Literature/TheLostFleet'' books are beautiful to look at. While the creatures themselves are ugly as sin (imagine an unholy union of a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin giant spider and a wolf]]), their concept of beauty is actually pretty similar to that of humanity. Everything they do screams it, including the way their ships move (hence their other nickname "Dancers").

Older and more [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism idealistic]] ScienceFiction features '''Shiny Looking Spaceships''', often rocket-shaped, which are shiny, pristine and bright in almost all conditions. This trope was pretty much the standard before the 1970s with films like ''Film/SilentRunning'' (1972), ''Film/DarkStar'' (1974), ''Film/StarWars: Film/ANewHope'' (1977) and ''Film/{{Alien}}'' (1979), which depicted space vessels as [[StandardHumanSpaceship lived-in, industrial and/or pragmatic]].

Older and more [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism idealistic]] SpeculativeFictionSeries feature spacecraft that are shiny, pristine and bright in almost all conditions. This trope was pretty much the standard before the 1970s with films like ''Film/SilentRunning'' (1972), ''Film/DarkStar'' (1974), ''Film/StarWars: Film/ANewHope'' (1977) and ''Film/{{Alien}}'' (1979), which depicted space vessels as [[StandardHumanSpaceship lived-in, industrial and/or pragmatic]]; i.e. function over form, whereas ShinyLookingSpaceships are more form over function.

Older and more [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism idealistic]] SpeculativeFictionSeries feature spacecraft that are shiny, pristine and bright in almost all conditions. This trope was pretty much the standard before the 1970s with films like ''Film/SilentRunning'' (1972), ''Film/DarkStar'' (1974), ''Film/StarWars: Film/ANewHope'' (1977) and ''Film/{{Alien}}'' (1979), which depicted many space vessels as a heavily lived-in, industrial or pragmatic; i.e. function over form, whereas Shiny Looking Spaceships are more form over function.

The ''interiors'' of said ships are also often curiously spotless considering how many people are crammed into them for extended periods of time. This can be {{hand wave}}d away by having [[DirtForceField very efficient air filtering systems]], or micro/nanoscopic cleaner robots (or just really good visible-scale robots [[HandWave offcamera]]). It can also be answered with very dedicated crews (as aboard military vessels with many enlisted men and women to keep occupied), or -- as in the case of ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'''s early seasons -- the simple fact that the ship is mostly deserted. Or simply by saying that TheBridge is a place where only the CommandRoster goes and the {{Redshirts}} quarters are less pleasant.

Contrast UsedFuture, {{Zeerust}}. See also AsceticAesthetic. Contrast with ISOStandardHumanSpaceship for the built-for-function style.

* This is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Film/GalaxyQuest'', with Fred Kwan commenting "Wow, the floors are so clean!"

* In ''[[Literature/XWingSeries Wraith Squadron]]'', twelve factory-new X-Wings are delivered to the hangar. One of the pilots stands among them, happily looking over their shiny new surfaces. Then the squadron mechanic comes in and says he ''hates'' new snubfighters. They're untested, and there's always some idiot at the factory deciding to either skimp on materials or try something new without telling anyone, and you never know if there's a horrific fatal flaw until you've opened up every single one and examined ''everything''.
** Before too much longer, the squadron finds out [[spoiler:he was right--only it wasn't anybody at the factory, it was an Imperial plot to attach hidden tracking device droids to starfighters and have them jump from ship to ship and map the New Republic's military bases.]]
** That was actually unrelated to the fighters being new, though the main character noticing a weird addition to one of the fighters eventually leads to them finding out about the plot. The fighters did have other problems though.
* ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' has, similarly, a stop at an HonestJohnsDealership, where the pushy dealer tries to sell off a shiny new ship that a tech-minded character knows doesn't have much going for it beyond the shine. He's more interested in WhatAPieceOfJunk that has seen heavy use.
* ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire'' gives us Dash Rendar's ''Outrider'', whose armor is plated with black chrome to help it blend in to space.

* Every Federation ship in all of the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' series.
** Especially {{egregious}} for ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' since the ship was far, far away from support facilities and starbases. Outside of a few special episodes, the ship spent most of the series looking fresh out of drydock. Glad to know they're using their replicator rations for paint.

* Cylon basestars in ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' are very shiny indeed. This contrasts with the titular ship, [[UsedFuture an obsolete old bucket]] which gets more and more damaged as the series goes on (though notably it still outperforms a shiny basestar one on one -- someone had their priorities wrong among the Cylon designers). The battlestar ''Pegasus'' has a cleaner look to it, as it's a newer model, but still looks more utilitarian.
* The Ship of the Imagination in 2014's revival of ''Series/{{Cosmos}}'' is shiny enough that it acts as a mirror for the starfields, nebulae, and other wonders of the cosmos that UsefulNotes/NeilDeGrasseTyson travels to. (The original series with Creator/CarlSagan has an EldritchStarship.)

** The titular ship, as well as, pretty much, any High Guard ship from the tiny but sleek slipfighters to the massive ''Siege Perilous''-class fleet killers. Also the ships of the Knights of Genetic Purity that are deliberately all-white (i.e. angelic). Most others tend to be of the UsedFuture kind. The ''Eureka Maru'' being the best example. Nietzschean ships also don't fit this trope, but the [[AllInTheManual background material]] mentions that the original Nietzschean armada was mostly made up of converted cargo ships, and the later ships fit the same pattern.