Hey, I never noticed that before....
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
Granted, but this assumes you are simply pumping energy into the target. What if the "phaser" effect is doing something else completely unknown to our science? Suppose it is like a portable transporter unit without the ability to focus and coherently move an object to a new location? (That is, the target is dematerialized and scattered over a vast area, perhaps in a manner undetectable to human senses?)
Physics with Thor
Indeed - the term "phase" is in the name after all!
I am partial to the notion that the victim is simply phased into another dimension (such as subspace) but without the care & attention (and ability to come back) that the Transporter system provides.
The Making of Star Trek claims that "phaser" was used to avoid pedants from saying, "LASERs can't do that!" I saw a YouTube video "debunking" the "laser swords" in Star Wars, but nowhere in the movie are they called "laser swords." It's like a legal loophole. Yet at the same time, we never see anyone wearing eye protection—except for the cannon used in "The Cage"/"The Menagerie."
The "flashpaper" effect in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan was cool, though.
The "flashpaper" effect in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan was cool, though.
My thoughts exactly.
Yes. And in that case, Starfleet might be using phasers without even really knowing what they do, just as present-day doctors prescribe drugs whose "mechanism" in the body is not understood.
Getting vanished by a phaser might shift you into the Phantom Zone, an unseen dimensional plane where you struggle to survive. But it's more likely you just get killed and your disintegrated remains get shifted somewhere. That was the intent.
Cursing as you pick yourself up on the Other Side, you are approached by everyone else who has been phasered before you. "Welcome to the club," they tell you. "We're like the Blues Brothers: putting the banned back together."
"What is this place?"
"Missing socks from the dryer show up here. The only stuff to escape is mis-matched Tupperware lids."
The fine details of the TOS Phaser disintegration process:
1. Pick target. Note that the target is in contact with the floor and other stuff.
2. Shoot target. Note that there are eight small red energy spots associated with the main phaser beam.
3. Energy field encompasses target. Note that the red energy spots erupt and initiate a green energy field around the target.
4. All matter in the energy field is disintegrated and phased away. Where?; we don't where. Note that the matter fades over a short time.
5. Disintegrated target leaves no trace behind. No matter/ash; no damage to the contact surfaces; no vapor; no smell.
1. Pick target. Note that the target is in contact with the floor and other stuff.
2. Shoot target. Note that there are eight small red energy spots associated with the main phaser beam.
3. Energy field encompasses target. Note that the red energy spots erupt and initiate a green energy field around the target.
4. All matter in the energy field is disintegrated and phased away. Where?; we don't where. Note that the matter fades over a short time.
5. Disintegrated target leaves no trace behind. No matter/ash; no damage to the contact surfaces; no vapor; no smell.
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EDIT:
There is a "grave digging" setting from "That Which Survives". The artificial world's rocks in the ground had a melting point higher than what a Phaser-2 can do to it. However it did make a small explosion and left a shallow trench and set the soil on fire.
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That's because it was an artificially constructed world.
the first thing it contacts is the shirt. Why does it not disintegrate the fabric but not the person. Or conversely, why does it disintegrate the pants on the person, boots, etc., but not the burlap fabric of the bag he is leaning against? Why the phaser he is clutching but not the bag and contents he's leaning against?The fine details of the TOS Phaser disintegration process:
1. Pick target. Note that the target is in contact with the floor and other stuff.
2. Shoot target. Note that there are eight small red energy spots associated with the main phaser beam.
3. Energy field encompasses target. Note that the red energy spots erupt and initiate a green energy field around the target.
4. All matter in the energy field is disintegrated and phased away. Where?; we don't where. Note that the matter fades over a short time.
5. Disintegrated target leaves no trace behind. No matter/ash; no damage to the contact surfaces; no vapor; no smell.
Time, budget and VFX technology? In the 1986 version of The Fly, part of the pod door is disintegrated as Brundle-Fly steps out just at transmission. Those VFX artists had the time, budget and VFX tech to do it, and it added to the gruesome fusion of Brundle-Fly-Pod. Horror was part of the intention.
Or you might ask why the Enterprise swishes by in the vacuum of space, or why people are knocked out of their chairs by a miss in battle with no air to carry the shockwave? The audience may subconsciously expect it, even if they happen to be science nerds who know the difference.
But if you prefer, why not "disintegrate" the front of the guy in the first wave of the phaser. The back half of the body might explode into bloody, greasy chunks of blackened meat, while the burlap bag catches fire and the partial corpse flops about on nerves?
Well we know the swish is added for the audience. But the phaser effects don’t make sense to me.
Likewise the transporter. It’s usually one person per pad. But remember when McCoy put his arms around two women and they shared a pad. With his fear of the transporter that was surprising
They don't, but it's a TV show. There are limits.
That's not coming to mind for me. When was it? It doesn't sound like our show at all.
The disintegration effect of the phaser was no different than any other sci fi show which had vaporizing laser beams. Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Buck Rogers, even later Star Trek shows and movies. Maybe once in a while you'd see char marks on the ground, but the energy never ate away at the surrounding areas. We accept it because it's SF/Fantasy. It's not a documentary.
This didn't happen....
I don't recall any such episode either.
In "The Tholian Web," Scotty says only three transporter frequencies are working, meaning he can only beam three people at a time. However, in "The Cloud Minders," Kirk and Plasus materialize on a single transporter pad while locked in hand-to-hand combat!
A bit of humor...
SPOCK: As you may recall from your histories, this conflict was fought by our standards today, with primitive laser and particle beam hand weapons. Which allowed no quarter, no intact captives. Nor was there even sanitized disintegration. Therefore, partially exploded and charred remains of humans, enemies and allies contaminated the battlefield. The Hygienic Weapon Treaty, set by subspace radio, established that all disintegrations would not disturb the environment or leave any contamination. Violation by either side would constitute as an act of war. The treaty has been unbroken since that time.
Sounds like Eminiar VII, a very clean war.
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