I have to say that I enjoyed the gun from The Fifth Element. Also from fifth element the bomb that blew up the cruise ship. That’s a lot of power for a bomb that size to do that much destruction. It’s not really a personal weapon, but small enough to be carried.
Also, the PPG’s from Babylon 5 are pretty cool. It’s almost a guarenteed kill if you’re hit anywhere but an arm or leg.
Reminds me of the handguns from Harry Harrison’s Deathworld books. They sat in holsters on your arm, and when you flexed your hand and forearm the right way, a little mechanical cable thingy whipped them out of the holster and slammed them into your hand. They had no trigger guards, either, on the assumption that you were going to want to start shooting the moment the grip hit your palm.
– Bob
Looker, starring Albert Finney. The earliest reference I know to the idea, though, is the Rhodopsin Ionizer from Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man. Came in a sort of capsule, you cracked one open, there was a big blue flash and anyone loking in your direction lost their vision and all sense of time for an hour or so. ISTR a rumour that someone is working on a real-life version…
Oh, and since no Culture fans seem to have looked in yet: two words. Knife Missile. (“The way to a man’s heart is through his chest!”) Of course, at 0.8 on the logarithmic sentience scale, is it a personal weapon, or a person in its own right?
I forgot the smart gun from aliens, also that expanding Minbari staff thing Marcus carried on Babylon 5 I have forgotten it’s name.
Minbari fighting pike. (Am I a sad git or what?)
<MARCUS>
“You’re just jealous because you don’t have one. Bad case of pikal envy, if you ask me…”
</MARCUS>
Those PPGs were great, also. I liked that ‘bbbrrrippp’ sound they made when drawn.