MaxxQ wrote:Spacekiwi wrote:So they are made a bit more stark towards each other then. Make the differences more apparent. IIRC, the only real difference between the ships in the pirates of the carribean were slight line changes and sails and colour, yet people were able to tell the difference between the pearl and the British ships. (Flying dutchman was another story). Add a paintjob to both ships, make the manty ship sleeker, and the havenite look more battered and built cheap like its a military nostromo, and they will be easily distinguishable i'm sure....
<shrug> Overall, I actually agree with you.
But as I said elsewhere, people are *conditioned* to expect both sides in a conflict to have ships that look vastly different from one another. PotC is an exception that proves the rule, but in the case of that film, I could point out that it's not really science fiction, and the people are *conditioned* to expect that wet-navy ships look somewhat alike. After all, not many people have problems or complain about not being able to tell one ship from another in various WWII movies.
The problem is that people for the most part *may* have difficulty translating that concept to spaceships, *because* they've been conditioned to expect major differences in spaceships. I think that artists are in the same fix, also. They've also been conditioned to distinguish between ships of various factions, and even if the artist himself isn't that way, their publisher may be forcing them to do that.
I think what Evergreen's trying to do is cater to that conditioning, while still trying to stay as canon as possible. Hopefully, if more movies get made, we will start to see the ships from the various navies lose more of the useless "greebles" and start to more closely resemble canon.
I'm not sure it's as much of a problem as people think, simply because I don't think it's necessary to show the ships during space battles. These things are, after all, microscopic compared to the distances involved. Let's take two examples of how I'd think a battle would play out.
First, the battle in Ms. Midshipman Harrington. Consider a control room with several Manticoran officers in skinsuits standing or sitting at consoles, facing a
huge tactical display. Said tac display has range circles, an approaching ship and a big red line indicating energy range, or the range at which Captain Bafisch has decided he's going to open fire.
Now granted, that floor-to-ceiling tac display isn't showing what a real tac display would show - it's radically simplified for the audience.
Same for the other ship, except that the skinsuits are different, equipment is in different places, various indications that military discipline is a bit laxer, etc. Flip back and forth, making it very apparent that both of their tactical appreciations are seriously wrong, speeding up to increase tension.
Captain Bafisch says "Fire!" The simultaneous fire from the other ship wrecks his control room. Expressions flash across Honor's face as she assesses the situation, realizes she's the ranking officer, and rises to the occasion.
Where in this do we ever need to see the
exterior of the ships?
Now, let's take the Battle of Mobius. Similar setup. The control rooms are different, the skinsuits are different colors and so forth. The missiles, though, are all inching their way across a
huge tac display.
Maybe it's just me, but the only reason you need the ships to look really different is if there aren't any other cues in the scene as to whose ships you're looking at.