Science fiction television shows are famous for laser pistols, plasma guns, etc., so I thought it would be fun to examine how these shows apply weapons technology, particularly fire rates, and what it says about these series.
When it comes to space combat, clearly the reboot BSG and Babylon 5 did the best job. These two series tried to make such combat work within the relative constraints of zero g, and even though they used fighter craft, they did not do the crazy gyrations of X-Wings or the old Colonial Vipers. Babylon 5 combat, in particular, stuck rigidly to this Zero-g application, even when it made the battles a bit slow at times. Star Trek wasn't terribly bad in this regard either. Unrealistic space fights, in any case, seem to be more characteristic of sci-fi movies then television (Transformers, for instance).
Ground weapons, on the other hand, are rarely portrayed realistically. Take Star Trek's phasers or the blasters of the old BSG colonials. These weapons were portrayed as the height of technological advancement, yet their fire rate was so slow that it would have made more sense to just use SMG's and other ballistic weaponry. Indeed, few sci-fi shows have solved this problem. Only Babylon 5 created energy weapons with high enough fire rates to convince the viewer that the weapons are more deadly than those used today. Even the great Farscape series's weapons fired somewhat slowly. That is why I commend the reboot BSG for using ballistic weaponry like that used today. Realistically, I don't think energy weapons, as they stand today, could be used for anything other than tank-killing. BSG simply makes more sense.
I think there is another important reason to keep using the ballistic weaponry. If we have to show weaponry on television, we should show weaponry that has real bloody consequences. BSG does this, but most other sci-fi series have shied away from showing the true human cost of weapons fire. Perhaps if more American sci-fi series showed blown up Cylon children, and not fade aways, we wouldn't be killing real children in Iraq and Afghanistan. Series like Farscape and Star Trek, though good, too often allow people to fantasize about violence without having to deal with the true consequence of that violence. It's time for that to change.
I disagree in as far as Star Trek ground weapons are concerned. When the plot calls for it and special effects budget permitting, Trek weapons have been portrayed as destructive and fearsome, even as far back as the original series. In the episode with the post-apocalypse anti-communist theme (the Komms vs the Yangs), one insane Starfleet captain said he killed hundreds of barbaric Yang warriors with just a hand phaser.
ReplyDeleteThere was the Varon-T disruptor in the TNG episode “The Most Toys” that was designed to cause extreme pain for a few long moments before disintegration. Such a weapon was banned by most major interstellar governments. The character in the show liked to collect rare things. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2ReLZqtOTg&feature=related
The death by phaser of Remmick in the Conspiracy episode was graphic, plastic alien aside. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_Vr9LnogLM
There was the episode with the mute empath diplomat. His interpreters were vaporized in energy weapons fire. The SFX guys didn’t shy away from showing that. The episode needed to highlight the rapid and violent deaths of those characters so as to maximize the profound effect on the diplomat.
In DS9, Dominion weapons carry an anti-coagulant, so even if you don’t die from the blast, you bleed to death.
Finally, in Star Trek VI when the assassins were on the Klingon ship to kill the Chancellor, when the Klingons got shot they bled out in a zero-g environment. The blood had to be colored purple, otherwise the scene might have been too violent for the movie’s rating. While this is no more gruesome than a gunshot wound, it was graphic for its time and rating.
Trek was always against that sort of violence. The whole stun setting was to emphasis that non-lethal force should be taken before lethal force. When lethal force was used, the show usually highlighted the destructive power of their weapons.