Weapons
- Thread starter Kaziarl
- Start date
^ There's no in-universe reason why the beams look like anything at all. Strictly speaking, you shouldn't see a beam or a pulse or anything, just a big flash of light where your target suddenly bursts into flames.
In TOS, the Federation were the only guys with phasers, IIRC. Klingons and Romulans used "disruptors". Hence, the different color was for a completely different weapon.
Beyond that, I think it was a color-scheme thing: Romulan ships are greenish, and their phasers are green. Cardassians are probably a bit orange.
Beyond that, I think it was a color-scheme thing: Romulan ships are greenish, and their phasers are green. Cardassians are probably a bit orange.
That's how I always explained it away. Because of the materials used in the construction and the different sciences involved in the design process of the different types of equipment it's a good enough explanation.
It might also be easily explained that there are differences in the power sources utilized and some slight differences in how they function, but with similar results.
I think you guys are trying to read a little too much Tech into this.
IMHO It's clearly a Viewer Perception of who's the good guys and who's bad.
Visual Artistic endeavors from Picasso to date, have used color schemes to "mold" the perception of the viewer.
Same here. they want you to feel warm and yummy when you see "Federation" good guys, and to frown and pucker you lips, when the bad guys shoot.
IMHO It's clearly a Viewer Perception of who's the good guys and who's bad.
Visual Artistic endeavors from Picasso to date, have used color schemes to "mold" the perception of the viewer.
Same here. they want you to feel warm and yummy when you see "Federation" good guys, and to frown and pucker you lips, when the bad guys shoot.
As I said in the OP, I know from a production standpoint it's simply to show who is who as you just restated.
I was simply asking if there was anything in universe that talked about it, to which the others answered on topic. It's not much different then the myriad of threads about the difference between quantum and photon torpedoes.
One might argue that even very slight differences in the energy of the beam result in color differences - a bit like an object manifesting its energy state in blackbody radiation can't help radiating blue when really hot but red when a tad cooler.
Certainly in TOS it seemed that the very same hardware could produce beams of different colors. Hand phasers varied between green for stun and red for kill, but starship phasers (which had no such simplistic names for their settings) were anything from red to amber to yellow to blue, depending on the episode.
One might argue, then, that green was the color associated with the highest possible energy levels in the mid-23rd century, which is why all villain starships tended to have that. Starfleet, the good guys, sometimes fired beams of lower settings as well, thus displaying a broader spectrum... By the 24th century, energies had ramped up to amber-yellow, and now even Starfleet saw the wisdom of not toying with lower energy levels; a shorter pulse of high power might be their new way of showing their moral superiority.
OTOH, going by backstage book jargon, phasers are stated to have an output measured in joules. Those are an unit of energy, not of power (that'd be watts), and the jouleage quoted is a bit weird anyway - so perhaps it refers to some sort of an inherent "tuning level" or "caliber" in the beam that is unrelated to the output power? The jouleage could then define the color, but output power could vary within each color.
Timo Saloniemi
Certainly in TOS it seemed that the very same hardware could produce beams of different colors. Hand phasers varied between green for stun and red for kill, but starship phasers (which had no such simplistic names for their settings) were anything from red to amber to yellow to blue, depending on the episode.
One might argue, then, that green was the color associated with the highest possible energy levels in the mid-23rd century, which is why all villain starships tended to have that. Starfleet, the good guys, sometimes fired beams of lower settings as well, thus displaying a broader spectrum... By the 24th century, energies had ramped up to amber-yellow, and now even Starfleet saw the wisdom of not toying with lower energy levels; a shorter pulse of high power might be their new way of showing their moral superiority.
OTOH, going by backstage book jargon, phasers are stated to have an output measured in joules. Those are an unit of energy, not of power (that'd be watts), and the jouleage quoted is a bit weird anyway - so perhaps it refers to some sort of an inherent "tuning level" or "caliber" in the beam that is unrelated to the output power? The jouleage could then define the color, but output power could vary within each color.
Timo Saloniemi
If you think about it, the Photon Torpeto, is orange/red because it uses photons, the quantom torpeto is blue/white because it uses quantom things, (the federaiton based ones anyway) One can theorise that based on what they are fireing changes the color of the beam........
Like the romulans might be using plasma, and for the torpetoes there might be a difforence in what they are using in there chemical mix, like the klingons might be using photons, and something else, were as the people with the large temporal eraser from voyager with cronotons, may be using cronotons and photons, wich change the color of the glows.
Like the romulans might be using plasma, and for the torpetoes there might be a difforence in what they are using in there chemical mix, like the klingons might be using photons, and something else, were as the people with the large temporal eraser from voyager with cronotons, may be using cronotons and photons, wich change the color of the glows.
I like elaborate looking beams. The remake of "Invaders from Mars" and some of the old toho epics did great animation of energy weapons that looked quite powerful.
The Star Wars inspired beams that converge into a central beam has been overdone I think.
For a borg superweapon, I might have a trace do automan type turns underneath the surface, a type of squared off spiral increasing speed until it leaps from a surface.
The graphic description of nasty plasma bolts in the old IRON WOLF comic looks nasty, as was the laser weapon in the Batman Beyond Return of the Joker movie.
A beam might go from side to side between blinding screen flashes, and the effect of the column like "probe" in STTMP was particularly impressive.
The Star Wars inspired beams that converge into a central beam has been overdone I think.
For a borg superweapon, I might have a trace do automan type turns underneath the surface, a type of squared off spiral increasing speed until it leaps from a surface.
The graphic description of nasty plasma bolts in the old IRON WOLF comic looks nasty, as was the laser weapon in the Batman Beyond Return of the Joker movie.
A beam might go from side to side between blinding screen flashes, and the effect of the column like "probe" in STTMP was particularly impressive.
