The Phaser and The Bum

[Poltargyst]

The bum pushed the phaser into overload, then shot himself before the explosion

Right. That's the only conclusion that accounts for all the audio and visual cues.

He accidentally put it into overload, then fumbled to try to stop the whining, accidentally vaporizing himself. Makes perfect sense.

I endorse this explanation. No need to speculate that the time travel or the Guardian affected anything if there's no reason to think so. I think it's pretty clear that if you vaporize yourself with a phaser, your hand holding the phaser and the phaser itself are going to be vaporized too.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

This thread gets me to wondering about something I saw last night, namely, an old episode of Hawaii Five-O. In the climax of the story, Wo Fat was escaping in a large yacht. McGarrett and co. were onshore, waiting to act until a land-locked, hospitalized hostage was safe. During this time, as the boat went further and further out, the boat engine sound heard was the distinct sound of a phaser beam (or overload). It got me to wondering what the actual sound used on Trek was.

I should probably already know this, but of course I don't...

 

[kirkfan]

Maybe someone could make up some voyager-like nonsense like the phaser being saturated with chronotons or better yet out of phase!! How d you like that? A phaser out of phase.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Maybe the phaser had another mode. Maybe it had a delayed firing mode in which you set it and so many seconds later it fired its beam (as opposed to just blowing up when set to overload.) The whining build up was an audio queue to let the person know it was charging up to fire.

I don't think so. The only time anything like this sound was used in any other episode was when a phaser was on overload.

So that automatically means that the sound can ONLY be used for an overload? The sound could simply mean that the phaser is about to blow up/fire. Besides the sound isn't the same as when the phaser in The Conscience of The King was set to overload. It may have been close to the sound in The Cage but that doesn't mean anything.

I don't see why you'd want to announce to your enemies that you were about to vaporize them anyway.

Maybe as a distraction? Hey...what's that noise? Someone go investigate. I'm sure there was a silent stealth mode also. Or maybe a delayed firing wasn't necessarily meant for defensive purposes, phasers can be used as tools and the whine would be a warning.

I'm sure we could think up half a dozen other explanations too, in just a few minutes, all "theoretically" possible, in the sense of having never been contradicted by on screen evidence, but all also similarly unique to this situation and having as many maybes or more. Why not go with the explanation involving the fewest assumptions?

 

[MarsWeeps]

Why not go with the explanation involving the fewest assumptions?

Because then it would be boring!

 

[kirkfan]

It's too bad it's not TNG or they would have found an ad hoc explanation like, the subquantum partcile field has shifted toward the anti-gravition covariance of the neutron-gradiant...etc.

 

[Doug Otte]

The other oddity about the scene is: what happened to the phaser? Even if it vaporized the bum, did it vaporize itself too? How would that work? We should have seen/heard the phaser clatter to the street after the bum disappeared.

LMFAOschwarz points to the answer from "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" as the androids--and the old style Phaser all vanish when the trigger is pulled. It is clear that a Phaser hitting the object holding it would (naturally) consume the weapon, too. "Rodent" was doomed from the moment he fiddled with the Phaser controls.

A few years ago, I pondered in this forum how a phaser beam knows where to stop its action. I don't feel like looking it up now.

For example, if a person is standing in front of a wall, why does the effect stop w/ the body?

What you two wrote is the most reasonable(?) and elegant explanation. The beam affects all contiguous molecules in a solid object, but goes no further.

 

[Maurice]

^^^That doesn't work. The phaser hits your jacket, but doesn't vaporize just that. It vaporizes the jacket, the shirt, wristwatch, necktie, undershirt, you, your hat, your boxers, pants, contents of your pockets, garters socks, shoes, insoles, yet "knows" to stop at the pavement, which is as connected to the shoes as the socks are.

 

[Redfern]

I keep misreading this thread title as "the phaser in the bum".

Ouch!

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

^Maybe they'll use that title for a porn version of startrek...

 

[Mr. Adventure]

^ Set phasers to "Fun"

 

[Vger23]

I always assumed it was an overload setting, and the effect was much more localized because it's the phaser 1 unit, without the pistol grip. That always worked for me.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

I always assumed it was an overload setting, and the effect was much more localized because it's the phaser 1 unit, without the pistol grip. That always worked for me.

I understood it as someone looking in the barrel of a loaded gun and pulling the trigger at the same time. Victim of his ignorance.

 

[T'Girl]

Yes, I think it's been established that phasers get vaporized by someone shooting themselves.

If they're holding it.

My thought is that there is a separate self destruct setting, with a separate distinct warning sound. Instead of exploding, the phaser self-disintegrates itself.

If the bum had simply dropped it, he would have been fine. Just a small burn mark on the pavement.

 

[Vger23]

Yes, I think it's been established that phasers get vaporized by someone shooting themselves.

If they're holding it.

My thought is that there is a separate self destruct setting, with a separate distinct warning sound. Instead of exploding, the phaser self-disintegrates itself.

If the bum had simply dropped it, he would have been fine. Just a small burn mark on the pavement.

That's actually a VERY logical explanation. A self destruct setting to keep the weapon from falling into the wrong hands. If you happen to be holding it when it goes off, though...yikes.

 

[NTRPRZ]

^^^That doesn't work. The phaser hits your jacket, but doesn't vaporize just that. It vaporizes the jacket, the shirt, wristwatch, necktie, undershirt, you, your hat, your boxers, pants, contents of your pockets, garters socks, shoes, insoles, yet "knows" to stop at the pavement, which is as connected to the shoes as the socks are.

I don't think the phase itself "knows" when to stop, it's a conscious decision by the operator. You shoot at someone, and once they're gone, you let go of the trigger.

What would happen if a phaser, being allowed to fire on its own, was pointed down to the ground? Would it disintegrate the ground, creating a hole that would get deeper and deeper until either the phaser ran out of power or the distance itself became so great the beam lost cohesion and would cease to be destructive ("Limited range!")? Maybe we should be glad Rodent wasn't pointing that thing down. He could have drilled all the way to China!

(PS-do men still wear garters to keep their socks up?)

 

[Mudd]

Plot convenience.

 

[Ithekro]

(PS-do men still wear garters to keep their socks up?)

Most modern socks have elastic to keep them around the calf or ankle. I think only 100% cotton socks and the like do not have such a modern convenience. Those might need a garter to keep them up.

 

[Maurice]

Hello? The episode was set in 1930.

 

[GNDN18]

Hello? The episode was set in 1930.

As I recall, Rodent was a pretty snappy dresser.