History Main / ShinyLookingSpaceships

* 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.]]

* The Minbari in ''Series/BabylonFive'', in keeping with their CrystalSpiresAndTogas/SpaceElves characteristic. The Centauri, in keeping with their pompous BlingOfWar, has elements of this. [[AllThereInTheManual Narns have exotic looking ships to make them look more advanced than they really are]]. Human vessels on the other hand, are rather more functional-looking (unless it's the rare luxury liner or the president's ship).

* 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).

** 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.

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 FrickinLaserBeams would have a harder time burning a hole in your hull, and you have some degree of innate heat-shielding.

* The Minbari in ''Series/BabylonFive'', in keeping with their CrystalSpiresAndTogas/[[OurElvesAreBetter Space Elves]] characteristic. The Centauri, in keeping with their pompous BlingOfWar, has elements of this. [[AllThereInTheManual Narns have exotic looking ships to make them look more advanced than they really are]]. Human vessels on the other hand, are rather more functional-looking (unless it's the rare luxury liner or the president's ship).

* An odd juxtaposition of Shiny Looking Spaceships and UsedFuture can be seen in ''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....)

* 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....)

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

* 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://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1081576707365064704 stainless steel]]. Practical reasons include its low cost, 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 was originally going to use carbon fiber, which would have been dozens of times more expensive.

* 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://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1081576707365064704 stainless steel]]. It was originally going to use carbon fiber.

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]].

* Any ship from the planet Naboo seen in the ''Film/StarWars'' prequels, which were not just shiny, but ''chromed''. This was intentional, to contrast with the UsedFuture of the original trilogy. See the picture above.

* 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://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1081576707365064704 stainless steel]]. It was originally going to use carbon fiber.

* The ''Hermes'', in, ''Film/TheMartian'', looks a little bit like a cross between the ISS and an Apple store, despite being just over half-way through its intended operational lifespan.

* 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 ''Normandy'' [=SR-2=] from [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 the second game]] is probably the best example from the series -- strangely enough, this was ''supposed'' to make Cerberus appear cold and clinical when compared to the original. Little hard when the first ship was both dimly lit and suffered from a terrible combination of colours. Dark blue interior with bright yellow computer displays? Most of the crew probably had chronic migraine headaches from the eye strain.

* The Lanius spacecraft in ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'' are silver, have sharp wings and are adorned with blue external lights, standing out from blockier, more utilitarian spaceships of other races (''especially'' the Engi).

** In ''[[Literature/XWingSeries Wraith Squadron]]'', four 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.

* The ''Endurance'' from ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'' adheres to this esthetic particularly on the outside, though her interiors are also well-lit and decorated in mostly lighter colours.

* The Cosmostrator in ''Film/FirstSpaceshipOnVenus''. This may depend on the quality of the footage available, but is most often shown as being completely chrome silver, with no apparent surface detail even when the posters for the film show details. Modellers most often paint it as completely shiny and chrome, and many online images show it looking like it was machined out of a single block of shiny metal.

* Some of the Ships in 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.]]

** 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''.

* As of December 2018, the design of the UsefulNotes/SpaceX Starship (the second stage of the interplanetary rocket previously known as BFR) is made of [[https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1081576707365064704 stainless steel]]. It was originally going to use carbon fiber.

* As of December 2018, the design of the UsefulNotes/SpaceX Starship (the second stage of the interplanetary rocket previously known as BFR) is made of [[https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1077106553189093376 stainless steel]]. It was originally going to use carbon fiber.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', Avian and Molluscoid ships look like this.

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 micrometeorites that gradually erode the surface, so older vessels would have more of a matte hull. A reflective surface would also meansthat FrickinLaserBeams would have a harder time burning a hole in your hull, and you have some degree of innate heat-shielding.

* In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]] novels:
** 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 camouflage it in space.

** The Heart Of Gold, justified in that it's brand new (with some controls still wrapped in cellophane). Arthur favorably compares it to the "dingy Vogon crate" he and Ford have just left.
** Averted by the Vogons, and the Dendrassi who do the in-flight catering; their ships are foul inside because they like them that way

* Every Federation ship in the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' universe.
** Especially JustForFun/{{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.
** 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.
** Also averted between ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Wrath of Khan]]'' and ''[[Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock Search for Spock]]'', as the ''Enterprise'' pulls into Spacedock with the scars the ''Reliant'' gave it still black (including the damage to the bridge).

* ''Series/{{Space 1999}}'':
** The Eagle, workhorse spacecraft of Moonbase: Alpha, was eminently functional in form, but it was also usually squeaky-clean. This seems incredible considering the amount of moondust kicked up by its engines every time it takes off. The real Apollo astronauts had to frequently wipe the moon dust from their helmets just to maintain visibility.
*** In behind-the-scenes photographs it's obvious that the miniatures were heavily weathered. Unfortunately, it just didn't show up very well on TV.
* 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....)

* Discussed in ''Series/DoctorWho''. When Wilf first enters the TARDIS, he says that he expected it to be cleaner. The Doctor is immediately offended.