When you think of lasers, what comes to mind? Star Trek or Star Wars perhaps? Well when you get right down to it, a laser is a beam of energy generated by some kind of technology. So movies and TV shows have them every now and then, what's wrong with that? Actually, there is plenty wrong with that. As is the case with Star Wars and Star Trek, these two thing often show lasers of some kind and they get the whole concept really wrong.
Laser cannons, laser guns and even laser swords, we've pretty much seen it all and more in these two outer space pieces of rather awesome fiction. Between the two, I think almost ever possible kind of laser technology has been shown to audiences. I know it's not pleasing, but when they fire lasers of any kind in space, there is sound! Like wtf is up with that? I know the physics behind laser fire with sound in outer space is absolute fiction, so why do they do it then?
Well if you ever watched either a Star Wars or Star Trek space battle muted, it's rather boring. It's not aesthetically pleasing as it were, the only reason they have sound effects is because laser fights in the vacuum of space can be boring sometimes with out the sound effect of the lasers themselves. Sure the physics behind laser fire creating sound in a total vacuum is not possible, but often times it's either totally awesome sounding, or it can be funny at times.
When you think lasers, you think one of those two. Why? Even though they get some things rather wrong with the physics, it's because their laser fire sound effects are unique and iconic. Star Wars and Star Trek lasers are kickass because their high quality and well created sound effects. The visual effects behind them are rather cool, when it comes to lasers...Star Wars and Star Trek have gotten them almost down to a science.
What about other scifi stuff that have lasers fire in space? I have to say generally, they don't get the right mix between audio and visual aspects of the lasers themselves. Which is rather crucial, the right sight and sound for any effects can make something rather awesome or just down right goofy and/or utterly fake. The kind of utterly fake that looks stupid or down right ugly.
The audio and visual effects for lasers in space really sell them, if the film/TV show creators don't get them down right, it can ruin the atmosphere of what is being shown to you.
Now that the lasers in space topic is covered, it's time to move on to laser weapons in an actual atmosphere. We'll start with the Star Trek phaser and Star Wars lazer guns and how they are shown. In Star Wars when someone is show with a laser gun, if they have no armor it leaves a sizable entry wound...but the wound is bleeding. Come to think of it, the same thing happens rather often with light sabers. The intense bust of directed energy coming from the guns should fry any nerves it comes in contact with. Even the light saber made of what looks like hard light that is incredibly hot, still allows for pain and bleeding.
A light saber is a beam of intensely hot light, that alone should seer the wound closed. At least when star trek laser fire in regards to people happen, yes there are scorch marks...but there is no bleeding. Often times you can seen burnt blood where the scorch marks are, so that's one thing Star Trek has over Star Wars right there. And it's not just Star Wars, there are tons of movies and TV shows that have people bleeding or in pain after being hit by laser fire.
Some people like to think thats how it is for the Stargate shows, I don't agree with them. Most of the time when person is hit by an energy weapon, there is blood mind you, but most energy attacks in the Stargate shows seems electrical almost. If a sizable charge of electricity was sent through your body, eventually it'd blow right out of you leaving a hole somewhere. This is scientifically possible, so it's not hard to assume that energy weapons that deliver an electrical charge of kind wouldn't be able to do the same.
That reminds me, I haven't mentioned the power requirements yet. The sheer amount of energy needed to generate a beam of energy as a weapon is astounding. I can totally see how the ships in scifi can have them, but the hand laser weapons baffle me. Let's assume that we could store the proper energy required to make a laser, how do you store enough to make it intense enough to harm something?
We can't even store the amount of electrical energy in a bolt of lightning with out the storage unit blowing up and I have yet to see a TV show or movie where we have the technology to make it possible to store the bolt either. Until that happens, I can't even begin to accept that we can store a huge amount of energy to produce a laser beam capable of harming something in a container no bigger than most real life guns and/or handheld electronics.
Even though it seems rather unlikely that mankind can store that much energy in such small housings, they are still more likely than light sabers. Lets assume that the light sabers were and are actually possible in regards to what they do. How is the beam so short? If we can assume that the jedi figured out how to generate the power needed to make the beam, then there should be an answer as to how and why the beam is short/long as it is.
I have yet to find a reasonable answer for it... I mean if you can only make it that long, shouldn't there be a noticeable reason? I'm pretty sure that it has been explained somewhere and has made it on to some Website. To be honest I haven't even tried looking for some time, that fact alone might be why I never have found out the reason if any for why the light sabers are as short or long as they are.
Just to let you know, these are my opinions on lasers in scifi stuff. And I will grant you that this sounded more like a rant than an actual review, but have to remember that there is a lot of real science behind lasers. So it can make some people like yours truly a little miffed when there are TV shows and/or movies who either get just right or utterly wrong, even if it's just the effects regarding the lasers themselves.
Laser cannons, laser guns and even laser swords, we've pretty much seen it all and more in these two outer space pieces of rather awesome fiction. Between the two, I think almost ever possible kind of laser technology has been shown to audiences. I know it's not pleasing, but when they fire lasers of any kind in space, there is sound! Like wtf is up with that? I know the physics behind laser fire with sound in outer space is absolute fiction, so why do they do it then?
Well if you ever watched either a Star Wars or Star Trek space battle muted, it's rather boring. It's not aesthetically pleasing as it were, the only reason they have sound effects is because laser fights in the vacuum of space can be boring sometimes with out the sound effect of the lasers themselves. Sure the physics behind laser fire creating sound in a total vacuum is not possible, but often times it's either totally awesome sounding, or it can be funny at times.
When you think lasers, you think one of those two. Why? Even though they get some things rather wrong with the physics, it's because their laser fire sound effects are unique and iconic. Star Wars and Star Trek lasers are kickass because their high quality and well created sound effects. The visual effects behind them are rather cool, when it comes to lasers...Star Wars and Star Trek have gotten them almost down to a science.
What about other scifi stuff that have lasers fire in space? I have to say generally, they don't get the right mix between audio and visual aspects of the lasers themselves. Which is rather crucial, the right sight and sound for any effects can make something rather awesome or just down right goofy and/or utterly fake. The kind of utterly fake that looks stupid or down right ugly.
The audio and visual effects for lasers in space really sell them, if the film/TV show creators don't get them down right, it can ruin the atmosphere of what is being shown to you.
Now that the lasers in space topic is covered, it's time to move on to laser weapons in an actual atmosphere. We'll start with the Star Trek phaser and Star Wars lazer guns and how they are shown. In Star Wars when someone is show with a laser gun, if they have no armor it leaves a sizable entry wound...but the wound is bleeding. Come to think of it, the same thing happens rather often with light sabers. The intense bust of directed energy coming from the guns should fry any nerves it comes in contact with. Even the light saber made of what looks like hard light that is incredibly hot, still allows for pain and bleeding.
A light saber is a beam of intensely hot light, that alone should seer the wound closed. At least when star trek laser fire in regards to people happen, yes there are scorch marks...but there is no bleeding. Often times you can seen burnt blood where the scorch marks are, so that's one thing Star Trek has over Star Wars right there. And it's not just Star Wars, there are tons of movies and TV shows that have people bleeding or in pain after being hit by laser fire.
Some people like to think thats how it is for the Stargate shows, I don't agree with them. Most of the time when person is hit by an energy weapon, there is blood mind you, but most energy attacks in the Stargate shows seems electrical almost. If a sizable charge of electricity was sent through your body, eventually it'd blow right out of you leaving a hole somewhere. This is scientifically possible, so it's not hard to assume that energy weapons that deliver an electrical charge of kind wouldn't be able to do the same.
That reminds me, I haven't mentioned the power requirements yet. The sheer amount of energy needed to generate a beam of energy as a weapon is astounding. I can totally see how the ships in scifi can have them, but the hand laser weapons baffle me. Let's assume that we could store the proper energy required to make a laser, how do you store enough to make it intense enough to harm something?
We can't even store the amount of electrical energy in a bolt of lightning with out the storage unit blowing up and I have yet to see a TV show or movie where we have the technology to make it possible to store the bolt either. Until that happens, I can't even begin to accept that we can store a huge amount of energy to produce a laser beam capable of harming something in a container no bigger than most real life guns and/or handheld electronics.
Even though it seems rather unlikely that mankind can store that much energy in such small housings, they are still more likely than light sabers. Lets assume that the light sabers were and are actually possible in regards to what they do. How is the beam so short? If we can assume that the jedi figured out how to generate the power needed to make the beam, then there should be an answer as to how and why the beam is short/long as it is.
I have yet to find a reasonable answer for it... I mean if you can only make it that long, shouldn't there be a noticeable reason? I'm pretty sure that it has been explained somewhere and has made it on to some Website. To be honest I haven't even tried looking for some time, that fact alone might be why I never have found out the reason if any for why the light sabers are as short or long as they are.
Just to let you know, these are my opinions on lasers in scifi stuff. And I will grant you that this sounded more like a rant than an actual review, but have to remember that there is a lot of real science behind lasers. So it can make some people like yours truly a little miffed when there are TV shows and/or movies who either get just right or utterly wrong, even if it's just the effects regarding the lasers themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment