Why are those ships looking so dark and odd-looking

[morbosfist]

You could tie engines to a brick and fly it in space, but it's only common sense that any species, alien or not, would design with a sense of symmetry.

[Carter's Boy]

Spoiler:

well it looks like from the promo form 209:Visitation that the 'Faith shuttle was restored to like new - somehow - and it looked painted on the exterior. So maybe Destiny wasnt always so monochrome and was once painted but after million + years it has wore off - (like the Sphinx in Egypt)

[kirmit]

After seeing

Spoiler:

How the shuttle interior looks brand new in 'Visitation'

I think destiny was a bright and beautiful ship at one point.

[zmo]

Destiny may have an Apple Core (APLCR, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OdD7Fc9Rrw) but it 's not an Apple Store.

[garhkal]

Harhahhh

[An-Alteran]

Different era of Ancients x different design preferences + age = Destiny's architectural and aesthetic style.

[Adrian_Jackson]

Atlantis is only slightly brighter than Destiny, honestly. Take a closer look at the lighting. The Atlantis gateroom is very bright because it has windows exposed to the planet's star(s).

[KEK]

The cameras they used to film Atlantis were worse too, they used cheaper ones as the show went on and they didn't handle contrast well.

[thekillman]

it saddens me that the OP thinks that everything will look shiny after a few million years. if atlantis was earth-built, it wouldn't even be there. it would be a pile of rust on the bottom of the ocean. Destiny would've long been destroyed

[rushy]

Because it looks cooler and more dangerous than the safe, beautiful Atlantis. I prefer Destiny.

[Razibot]

Digging up that one !

At first I was wondering the same question as the original poster, but in the end I prefer the idea of not having one single standard Ancient kind of design...
Think the Dakara's weapon, the Merlin's machine, Orion class ships and Atlantis itself, and of course Destiny, all Ancient tech but different looks !

This way it's a more believable civilisation because it's diverse, especially when it has survived for hundreds of thousands years