It's funny, really, because I didn't set out to do that. I've always liked the pre-TNG pistol phasers, particularly the Star Trek III/IV type (as seen here), so I just thought it would be a cute gag to get a toy one and do a straight-faced GotW about it. But when I sat down to get the pictures and figure out what I was going to say about it, I started handling it like an actual weapon, and I immediately realized that as a weapon, the design is garbage. In any world where whether you hit the target, or commit a negligent discharge, or even get the thing to work at all is determined by factors other than what it says happens in the script, a Star Trek phaser would be a hopelessly compromised solution.

I know this is not exactly a dramatic revelation. Star Trek's technology has always been more about how it looks than what it's supposed to do, because at its core, Star Trek is basically high fantasy with the magic dressed up like technology. We all knew this, and it isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself. I'd just never considered this particular bit of in-story technology in this light before, so it was a bit of a surprise.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.