Space is a big place.
So big that most people, for example, have trouble grasping how far the Moon is away from the Earth (spoiler - you can fit every planet in the solar system end to end in the gap). Science fiction often trivialises this scale (and the emptiness between) which I guess makes sense from a film making perspective if expedience is key however I'm a sucker for when a film provides useful visual cues as to the size of either space phenomena or, more frequently, the size of capital ships.
The Original Star Wars Trilogy did this sublimely. The opening shot of A New Hope is a great example (as well as being one of the most famous opening shots in cinema, full stop):
This shot has been discussed to death, I know, but it really does say so much with so little. It instantly establishes how insignificant the rebels are versus the Empire and more pertinently, how hopelessly outmatched the Blockade Runner is. It isn't long before it's swallowed whole:
Moving on, by this point in the Empire Strikes Back we've become familar with seeing the Millenium Falcon in a variety of settings and can reasonably infer its size. Here we see the Millenium Falcon cheekily hiding attached to the bridge of a Star Destroyer, again providing some context of scale:
In the same movie the mother of all command ships is introduced - the Executor - literally putting the other capital ships in the shade and taking the scale to a whole new level. All while providing a relatable context (the Star Destroyer) as a visual yardstick:
The size of this beast is further emphasised in Return of the Jedi when Luke and Han perform a flyby of its frankly staggering bridge:
And later its firey demise as it crashes, giving the viewer some idea of the sheer bulk of the second Death Star iteration:
I haven't mentioned the Death Star yet though it's quite obviously the largest man-made body in the Star Wars OT universe. I've always found it quite hard to fathom its size, in truth. Its possible that it was quite hard to convey by the filmakers as it was never really built to scale.
Rogue One, certainly made some inroads here, at least in direct comparison to Star Destroyers:
Outside of the OT, there are fewer instances where the scale of Imperial hardware (or otherwise) is emphasised and perhaps, narratively, it was no longer necessary. That said The Force Awakens, uses some beautiful imagery to show a fallen Empire rusting in the sand:
Flying through the innards of an Executor-class Super Star Destroyer.
I'm almost definitely missing some other interactions that provide a visual cue as to scale. In general I think Star Wars handles considerations of starship size particularly well, though I can think of examples in Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly and more which approach the same level of cohesiveness.
I'll finish with a comparison of all fictional Star Ships:
What say you, Era, does any other sci fi do it better?
So big that most people, for example, have trouble grasping how far the Moon is away from the Earth (spoiler - you can fit every planet in the solar system end to end in the gap). Science fiction often trivialises this scale (and the emptiness between) which I guess makes sense from a film making perspective if expedience is key however I'm a sucker for when a film provides useful visual cues as to the size of either space phenomena or, more frequently, the size of capital ships.
The Original Star Wars Trilogy did this sublimely. The opening shot of A New Hope is a great example (as well as being one of the most famous opening shots in cinema, full stop):
This shot has been discussed to death, I know, but it really does say so much with so little. It instantly establishes how insignificant the rebels are versus the Empire and more pertinently, how hopelessly outmatched the Blockade Runner is. It isn't long before it's swallowed whole:
Moving on, by this point in the Empire Strikes Back we've become familar with seeing the Millenium Falcon in a variety of settings and can reasonably infer its size. Here we see the Millenium Falcon cheekily hiding attached to the bridge of a Star Destroyer, again providing some context of scale:
In the same movie the mother of all command ships is introduced - the Executor - literally putting the other capital ships in the shade and taking the scale to a whole new level. All while providing a relatable context (the Star Destroyer) as a visual yardstick:
The size of this beast is further emphasised in Return of the Jedi when Luke and Han perform a flyby of its frankly staggering bridge:
And later its firey demise as it crashes, giving the viewer some idea of the sheer bulk of the second Death Star iteration:
I haven't mentioned the Death Star yet though it's quite obviously the largest man-made body in the Star Wars OT universe. I've always found it quite hard to fathom its size, in truth. Its possible that it was quite hard to convey by the filmakers as it was never really built to scale.
Rogue One, certainly made some inroads here, at least in direct comparison to Star Destroyers:
Outside of the OT, there are fewer instances where the scale of Imperial hardware (or otherwise) is emphasised and perhaps, narratively, it was no longer necessary. That said The Force Awakens, uses some beautiful imagery to show a fallen Empire rusting in the sand:
Flying through the innards of an Executor-class Super Star Destroyer.
I'm almost definitely missing some other interactions that provide a visual cue as to scale. In general I think Star Wars handles considerations of starship size particularly well, though I can think of examples in Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly and more which approach the same level of cohesiveness.
I'll finish with a comparison of all fictional Star Ships:
What say you, Era, does any other sci fi do it better?
