Ceefax's top 10 Sci-fi ships.

(With honourable mentions to Moya from Farscape and the Excaliber from Crusade)

10. The Defiant from DS9. It looks a bit like a toilet seat, but it's got everything you need. A transporter that works most of the time, far too many weapons for the Federation to easily justify (good thing they finally did declare war on the Dominion, huh?), a cloaking device, and replicators. I wish we'd hurry up and invent those...

9. The Star Furies from B5 (and Crusade). They look like a bugger to drive, but they're so pretty, and so well thought out. The launching system also rocks. Reminds me of Space: Above and Beyond, 'cept these're even cooler. And you get little 2001 look-alike spacesuits when you fly them.

8. The Shadow Ships from B5. Okay, you have to be messed up by the Shadows and turned into an evil telepath before you can do anything with them, but they're just beautiful! Great sense of lurking menace. And the one that was buried on Mars, then dug itself out and shot off? Gorgeous, semi-sentient and a tool of evil. All you need, really.

7. Enterprise. The original, that is. It may not be fast, but it's classy. And I'm sure those bugs in the transporter can all be worked out eventually. Also, unlike the Enterprise-D, the predominant colour is not beige. And there's no children allowed aboard (Well, permanently, anyway. All sci-fi ships should have this rule).

6. Red Dwarf. It's as ugly as Peterson's mother, and it takes three million years to get anywhere interesting, but it's got a senile computer, an ex-race of cats, and enough continuity problems for you to get away with anything. And a mechanoid to do all the cleaning.

5. Millennium Falcon. The epitome of coolness. Enough said, I fancy.

4. Event Horizon. To be fair, the chances of surviving for very long aren't great, but it's worth it, in my opinion. For gothic evil in space, it's either this skinny baby or the space station out of Hellraiser 4, and not even Cenobites can top the meat grinder room, the creepiest and most impractical medical centre ever, or (drool) the gravity drive. She's alive, she's evil, and she rocks.

3. The Liberator from Blake's 7. Still one of the most beautiful ships ever designed. The seats look a bit painful, but at least they had a sofa on the flight deck. Have to get rid of the crew though. They'd only fight over it.

2. The Heart of Gold from the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It may look like a giant sneaker in space, but the infinite improbability drive more than makes up for that. No more tedious mucking about in hyperspace.

1. The TARDIS. No question. Go anywhere, or anywhen. Now, if we can just get that bloody chameleon circuit working...