History Main / ShinyLookingSpaceships

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': The [[FlyingSaucer flying saucer]] Rhino encounters in "The Spaceship" fits the trope, on the outside if not inside.

* In ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', the ''Discovery'' and other spacecraft in the film are nice and shiny looking, evoking a cold modernist aseptic aesthetic.''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'', made the 1980's, reflects the aesthetic of its times. ''Discovery'' is covered with a thin layer of fine yellow dust having spent nine years in orbit around Io. The Russian ship ''Leonov'' looks significantly more practical and "used".

* 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.

* Due to the story's AnachronicOrder, in ''Literature/ThebeAndTheAnggryRedEye'' we first see the Hildebrand One after it's been trashed in a space disaster. However, between {{Flashback}}s and the memories of CharacterNarrator Thomas, we're informed that once it was actually beautiful.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'': In the Golden Age the Amazons had a fleet of gleaming spaceships, emblematic of swans or ducks in reference to their owing their island and civilization to Aphrodite. They also serve as a contrast to the bulkier rougher ships of their extraterrestrial foes.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Some of the Ships in ''Anime/BodaciousSpacePirates'' follow this aesthetic. Of particular note is the Odette II, a former pirate ship being used as the private yacht for a Girl's School. It's solar sails are so shiny, they can function as a makeshift weapon by redirecting sunlight onto a given target. The ships of the Empire, which resemble flying daggers, also count. [[https://mouretsupirates.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Ships You can check them out here.]]

* As of January 2019, the design of the [[UsefulNotes/SpaceExplorationTechnologiesCorporation SpaceX]] Starship (the second stage of the interplanetary rocket previously known as BFR) is made of [[https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a25953663/elon-musk-spacex-bfr-stainless-steel/ stainless steel]]. It was originally going to use carbon fiber. Practical reasons include its low cost (carbon fiber would have been dozens of times more expensive), its high strength-to-weight ratio at very cold temperatures (useful for holding cryogenic propellant), and its high melting point (useful for atmospheric entry). It also helps that the stainless steel alloy in the starship benefits from a few recent advances in materials science, most notably [[https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/cold-formed-steel-plays-a-role-in-the-spacex-starhopper cold forming]], and is therefore more easily workable even on places like Mars.

* As of January 2019, the design of the [[UsefulNotes/SpaceExplorationTechnologiesCorporation SpaceX]] Starship (the second stage of the interplanetary rocket previously known as BFR) is made of [[https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a25953663/elon-musk-spacex-bfr-stainless-steel/ stainless steel]]. It was originally going to use carbon fiber. Practical reasons include its low cost (carbon fiber would have been dozens of times more expensive), its high strength-to-weight ratio at very cold temperatures (useful for holding cryogenic propellant), and its high melting point (useful for atmospheric entry). It also helps that the stainless steel alloy in the starship benefits from a few recent advances in materials science, most notably [[https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/cold-formed-steel-plays-a-role-in-the-spacex-starhopper cold forming.]]

* In keeping with the clean, futuristic aesthetic of ''Franchise/MassEffect'', there are many ship designs that are shiny, spotless and strangely lacking in right angles. Most of these belong to the [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Asari]] or the [[MechanicalLifeforms Geth]].

Compare with RetroRocket and StandardAlienSpaceship, both of which can overlap with this. Contrast with UsedFuture and StandardHumanSpaceship. See also {{Zeerust}}, AsceticAesthetic.

* As of January 2019, the design of the UsefulNotes/SpaceX Starship (the second stage of the interplanetary rocket previously known as BFR) is made of [[https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a25953663/elon-musk-spacex-bfr-stainless-steel/ stainless steel]]. It was originally going to use carbon fiber. Practical reasons include its low cost (carbon fiber would have been dozens of times more expensive), its high strength-to-weight ratio at very cold temperatures (useful for holding cryogenic propellant), and its high melting point (useful for atmospheric entry). It also helps that the stainless steel alloy in the starship benefits from a few recent advances in materials science, most notably [[https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/cold-formed-steel-plays-a-role-in-the-spacex-starhopper cold forming.]]

* 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 appears to have an aura surrounding it.

* Some of the Ships in ''Anime/BodaciousSpacePirates'' follow this aesthetic. Of particular note is the Odette II, a former pirate ship being used as the private yacht for a Girl's School. It's solar sails are so shiny, they can function as a makeshift weapon by redirecting sunlight onto a given target. The ships of the Empire, which resemble flying daggers, also count. You can check them out [[https://mouretsupirates.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Ships here.]]

** 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 [[AllThereInTheManual background material]] mentions that the original Nietzschean armada was mostly made up of converted cargo ships, and the later ships fit the same pattern.

* As of January 2019, the design of the UsefulNotes/SpaceX Starship (the second stage of the interplanetary rocket previously known as BFR) is made of [[https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a25953663/elon-musk-spacex-bfr-stainless-steel/ stainless steel]]. It was originally going to use carbon fiber. Practical reasons include its low cost (carbon fiber would have been dozens of times more expensive), its high strength-to-weight ratio at very cold temperatures (useful for holding cryogenic propellant), and its high melting point (useful for atmospheric entry). It also helps that the stainless steel alloy in the starship benefits from a few recent advances in materials science, most notably [[https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/cold-formed-steel-plays-a-role-in-the-spacex-starhopper/ cold forming]].

* Some of the Ships in Anime/BodaciousSpacePirates follow this aesthetic. Of particular note is the Odette II, a former pirate ship being used as the private yacht for a Girl's School. It's solar sails are so shiny, they can function as a makeshift weapon by redirecting sunlight onto a given target. The ships of the Empire, which resemble flying daggers, also count. You can check them out [[https://mouretsupirates.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Ships here.]]

-->-- '''Arthur Dent''', ''Series/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''

* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekProdigy'': Just like her live-action TV counterparts, the Federation starship ''Protostar'' is a sleek gleaming techno-marvel that stands out like a sore thumb in the UsedFuture mining colony of [[CrapsackWorld Tars Lamora]].

* The Covenant ships in ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', which tend to be a shiny shade of purple. In contrast, human ships are dull and generally follow the UsedFuture, though their post-war ships are moving towards this trope as well.

For ships that never enter the atmosphere of a planet, this is actually (semi-)realistic. There is no mud or dust in interstellar space to leave grit or dirt on the outsides of passing spaceships, although there are micrometeorites that gradually scuff and erode the surface, so older vessels would have more of a matte hull. A reflective surface would also mean that [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]] would have a harder time burning a hole in your hull, and you have some degree of innate heat-shielding.

* As of January 2019, the design of the [=SpaceX=] Starship (the second stage of the interplanetary rocket previously known as BFR) is made of [[https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a25953663/elon-musk-spacex-bfr-stainless-steel/ stainless steel]]. It was originally going to use carbon fiber. Practical reasons include its low cost (carbon fiber would have been dozens of times more expensive), its high strength-to-weight ratio at very cold temperatures (useful for holding cryogenic propellant), and its high melting point (useful for atmospheric entry). It also helps that the stainless steel alloy in the starship benefits from a few recent advances in materials science, most notably [[https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/cold-formed-steel-plays-a-role-in-the-spacex-starhopper/ cold forming]].

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

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* Toyed with repeatedly in ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob''. A spectacular, [[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind Close Encounters]]-style chandelier ship [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/276 arrives,]] and it's just a glorified tow truck. Riboflavin's rotund little [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/398 escape pod]] is beautiful to Galatea, mostly because she ''expects'' it to be impressive. The trope is played straight with Princess Voluptua's [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/388 royal yacht.]]

* Toyed with repeatedly in ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob''. A spectacular, [[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind Close Encounters]]-style chandelier ship [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/276 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.]]