Blaster (Star Wars)

The blaster is a science fictional energy weapon that appears in the Star Wars universe. Lucasfilm defines the blaster as "ranged energized particle weaponry". Many blasters mirror the appearance, functions, components, operation, and usage of real life firearms. They are also said to be able to be modified with certain add ons and attachments, with Han Solo's blaster being said to be illegally modified. Blasters have appeared in both the original and the prequel Star Wars feature film trilogies as well as in the 2008 film spin-off The Clone Wars.^[1]

The design of the blaster is based on the real-life Sterling sub-machine gun used by the armed forces of Great Britain over the second half of the 20th century, with changes made by the filmmakers such as alterations to the magazine.^[2]

Design in films

In the films, the design of the blaster rifle was based on the Sterling submachine gun. The design of the blaster pistol owned by the fictional character Han Solo was based on the 7.63-caliber Mauser, an early and successful automatic pistol that was used in World War I and World War II. Lucasfilm's prop department added a scope and an emitter nozzle to the pistol.^[3] The blaster made for the 1977 film A New Hope was lost, and a second blaster was made with resin from the cast used for the first one. The blaster was subsequently used as a prop in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.^[4]

Functional Sterlings firing blank cartridges were used in some scenes with the laser bolt added later in post-production. These blank cartridges are responsible for the muzzle flash seen on screen and, in some scenes, the cartridges themselves can be seen being ejected from the guns, or the actual sound of the blank cartridge is not dubbed over by a sound effect.^[5]

Ben Burtt, a sound designer who worked on the Star Wars films, came up with the sound of blaster fire during a family backpacking trip in the Pocono Mountains in 1976.^[6] Burtt hit the guy-wire of an AM radio transmitter tower with a hammer and recorded the sound with a microphone close to the impact.^[7]

In a chapter of the book Myth, Media, and Culture in Star Wars, Michael Kaminski, writing about the influence of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa on the Star Wars films, said that Kurosawa's Ran influenced the exchange of blaster fire. Like in Ran, color-coding and an "onscreen sense of direction" of blaster fire are used to depict opposing forces. In the Star Wars original trilogy, rebels employed red blaster fire and often attacked from the left, while the Empire employed green blaster fire and attacked from the right. In Attack of the Clones, the second film of the prequel trilogy, the color and the direction were reversed. In that film, the Republic employed green and blue blaster fire and attacked from the right, while the villains employed red blaster fire and attacked from the left.^[8]

The effects of a blaster on a live target were portrayed more or less the same in every part of the Star Wars series. Since blaster bolts consist of light or particle based energy, the bolts would burn through the flesh of a target, with some even exploding against their target, exerting great force. The latter effect was usually from a blaster with greater size. Blasters have even been shown to have plasma energy as ammunition, which is portrayed as blue bolts. As of The Force Awakens, these bolts can rupture and damage flesh with little to no burning, which causes bleeding injuries, as Poe shot a Stormtrooper with a blaster that caused him to bleed heavily while he died from the shot. Another instance of a blaster bolt causing bleeding was when Chewbacca shot Kylo Ren with his Bowcaster, as the small explosion against his body causing a bleeding injury coupled with burns, as the shot caused ambers and sparks to fly the area on Kylo's body where he was shot. In many modern showings of blaster fights, someone hit by a blaster has cinders and soot outlining the area where they where shot. Also blasters hit with great amounts of friction and kinetic energy, enough to cause sparks to fly off the target, make the target, or more accurately, the area were the target is hit, burst into flames, or kill a target on impact, even if the target is not penetrated by the bolt, as it is when some targets are armored against blasters. Also, some blaster bolt hits would cause a flash of bright light on the target.

In Attack of the Clones, Geonosians were shown to have sonic or concussive blasters and cannons that could crush, pulverize or shatter a target. Disruptors also exist, being blasters capable of disintegrating a target.

Influence

The prop of Han Solo's side arm blaster was expected to sell at auction for US $200,000-300,000.^[9]

See also

• Raygun
• Star Wars expanded universe
• Sterling sub-machine gun

References

External links

• Blaster in the Official StarWars.com Encyclopedia
• Blaster on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki