As a gamedevs my explanation is it hits the following points: 1. Shiny metal, easy in video games but rare in real life. Metal is usually painted or protected

As a gamedevs my explanation is it hits the following points: 1. Shiny metal, easy in video games but rare in real life. Metal is usually painted or protected in some way. 2. Large panels. Beginner artists don't know how to represent a sense of scale and often put too large details making the object feel small. Starship is giant, yet has panels which imply it is a toy to the eye. 3. Lots of reflections. Early 3d tried to impress by using lots of ray traced reflections. It helps that reflective surfaces are easier to make look realistic than complex surfaces which requires more accurate lighting. Thus early cgi relied on reflections a bunch. Hence why the famous t Rex scene in Jurassic Park took place in the rain, so they could justify making the t Rex reflective.