Raygun

Toy raygun

A raygun is a type of fictional device that fires a beam of (usually) destructive energy[1] used in science fiction; a form of directed-energy weapon. They have various alternate names: ray gun, death ray, beam gun, blaster, laser gun, laser pistol, phaser, zap gun, etc. They are a well-known feature of science fiction; for such stories, they typically have the general function of guns. In most stories, when activated, a raygun emits a ray, typically visible, usually lethal if it hits a human target, often destructive if it hits mechanical objects, with properties and other effects unspecified or varying.

Real-life analogues are particle-beam weapons or electrolasers, electroshock weapons which send current along an electrically conductive laser-induced plasma channel.

History

A very early example of a raygun is the Heat-Ray featured in H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds (1898).[2] Science fiction during the 1920s described death rays. Early science fiction often described or depicted raygun beams making bright light and loud noise like lightning or large electric arcs.

According to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction,[3] the word "ray gun" was first used by Victor Rousseau in 1917, in a passage from The Messiah of the Cylinder:[4]

All is not going well, Arnold: the ray-rods are emptying fast, and our attack upon the lower level of the wing has failed. Sanson has placed a ray-gun there. All depends on the air-scouts, and we must hold our positions until the battle-planes arrive.

The variant "ray projector" was used by John W. Campbell in The Black Star Passes in 1930.[1] Related terms "disintegrator ray" dates to 1898 in Garrett P. Serviss' Edison's Conquest of Mars; "blaster" dates to 1925 in Nictzin Dyalhis' story "When the Green Star Waned;" and "needle ray" and "needler" date to 1934 in E.E. Smith's The Skylark of Valeron.[5]

The term "ray gun" had already become cliché by the 1940s,[6] in part due to association with the comic strips (and later film serials) Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. Soon after the invention of lasers during 1960, such devices became briefly fashionable as a directed-energy weapon for science fiction stories. For instance, characters of the Lost in Space TV series (1965–1968) and of the Star Trek pilot episode "The Cage" (1964) carried handheld laser weapons.[7]

By the late 1960s and 1970s, as the laser's limits as a weapon became evident, rayguns were dubbed "phasers" (for Star Trek), "blasters" (Star Wars), "pulse rifles", "plasma rifles", and so forth.

In his book Physics of the Impossible, Michio Kaku used gamma ray bursts as an evidence to illustrate that extremely powerful rayguns like the one used to destroy a planet on Death Star in the Star Wars franchise do not violate known physical laws and theories. He further analyses the problem of rayguns' power sources.

Function

Ray guns as described by science fiction do not have the disadvantages that have, so far, made directed-energy weapons largely impractical as weapons in real life, needing a suspension of disbelief by a technologically educated audience:

Some of the effects are what would be expected from a powerful directed-energy beam if it could be generated in reality:

But sometimes not:

Ultimately, rayguns have whatever properties are required for their dramatic purpose. They bear little resemblance to real-world directed-energy weapons, even if they are given the names of existing technologies such as lasers, masers, or particle beams.[2] This can be compared with real-type firearms as commonly depicted by action movies, as tending infallibly to hit whatever they are aimed at (when wielded by the heroes) and seldom depleting their ammunition.[8]

Rayguns by their various names have various sizes and forms: pistol-like; two-handed (often called a rifle); mounted on a vehicle; artillery-sized mounted on a spaceship or space base or asteroid or planet.

Rayguns have a great variety of shapes and sizes, according to the imagination of the story writers or movie prop makers. Most pistol rayguns have a conventional grip and trigger, but some (e.g. Star Trek: The Next Generation phasers) do not. Sometimes the end of the barrel expands into a shield, as if to protect the user from back-flash from the emitted beam.

Types

Types of Ray Guns

The ray is usually stated to be one of the following:

Rayguns are often one-handed, sometimes two-handed, and often artillery-sized fastened to a spaceship.

Rayguns powered by a backpack powerpack are described from time to time in science fiction.

Notable Ray Guns

The following is a partial list of types of rayguns mentioned in various science fiction scenarios:

List of rayguns

Written Science Fiction

Raygun in E. E. Smith's Lensman novels

(*for series, year listed is the year of the first entry in the series.)

Perry Rhodan issue #1 (1961)

Film and Television

Games

Real-world development

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Jeff Prucher, Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford University Press, 2007, page 162
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Van Riper, op.cit., p. 46.
  3. ↑ Peter Nicholls, John Clute, and David Langford, "Ray Gun," The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 3rd edition, Jan 15, 2016
  4. ↑ Victor Rousseau , "The Messiah of the Cylinder", serialized in Everybody's Magazine, June–September 1917 ( ISFDB link).
  5. ↑ Winchell Chung, "Introduction to Sidearms", Project Rho: Atomic Rockets (accessed 3 March 2016)
  6. 1 2 "Ray Gun", TV Tropes (accessed 3 March 2016)
  7. ↑ Van Riper, A. Bowdoin (2002). Science in popular culture: a reference guide. Westport: Greenwood Press. p. 45. ISBN 0-313-31822-0.
  8. ↑ Van Riper, op.cit., p. 47.
  9. ↑ "Beneath These Streets". TV.com. 19 October 1989. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
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