The “Lost in Space” Robot (B9)'s claws could have used a bit more directional accuracy when shooting out electricity; seems to just cover everything in the immediate vicinity. And the NOISE!
Huh, so a shield is a personal Maxwell’s Demon. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised about a mere violation of the 2nd law of thermodynamics in a setting where people routinely bend time and space with their thoughts…
Is it a violation of the laws of thermodynamics if the force-shield requires a large amount of energy to create and sustain? Overall, the laws are being obeyed, just the same way your refrigerator does.
Probably not. I’ve seen the recoil from a .50 (with a muzzle brake) to be compared to that of a magnum 12 gauge. What’s really rough on the shooter is that some of the sound and concussion is directed sideways/backward rather than forward.
I read in a book long ago that the X-Wing’s were deliberately designed after WW2 fighters. Notably the “lock s-foils into attack position” is based off the dive breaks on an SBD Dauntless dive bomber and the R2DR position is based off the “bubble” rear gunner window of a TBF Avenger torpedo bomber. Both were also well known for their rugged construction.
Tail, actually. As this … documentary shows Arizona buying it.
Also, the bombs were kept on safe with a pull-ring and a short length of cable jamming the works. After takeoff, the bombardier and engineer would pull all of the rings. When I was a kid, a friend’s bombardier father showed me his collection of rings with the date and a city on a tag for each one.
And the Death Star trench run was lifted from The Dam Busters.
I think you really need one of those helmets that aircraft carrier deck crewmen wear to shoot a .50 with a muzzle brake. 
Good point, and I probably could have used a better example like this one… I don’t care how big you are, this is dumb.
True, but without doing a bunch of math from a barely-remembered thermochem class, the energy required to maintain that has to be mindbogglingly enormous.
Besides, if the gas in the shield has a root mean square velocity of, say, 1 m/s, the temperature inside is 1 milliKelvin. That alone presents another rather significant set of problems for the shield user…
You can’t enter hyperspace from a gravity well. Creating artificial gravity wells is how you prevent ships from escaping by jumping away.
No recoil.
Little or no range or windage adjustments necessary.
Almost unlimited ammo.
Speaking of these two, the amount of energy required for a tractor beam would be quite immense as well. When they recently discovered gravitational waves, they estimated that the black holes involved were temporarily putting out as much energy as the rest of the universe combined, and the gravitational waves would have been barely felt at 1 AU.
Yeah I figured that out when I burned my ass on a shiny (like a mirror) stainless steel stool.
I think the notion is that we will eventually develop a way to fit a fusion reactor into the magazine well of a blaster and end up with virtually limitless ammo.
I love the idea of monofilament blades. Monofilament blades tend to come in two varieties. In one, the monofilament is kept taut like the bow of a violin and is like a regular sword that has a monofilament edge that lines the edge of a regular sword that acts like a wedge behind the monofilament blade. In the other the monofilament blade is retractable and is kept taut by magnetic repulsion (usually from a ball at the tip of the monofilament. The tension is taut enough to prevent momentum from letting the monofilament whip around but there is still a little bit of whipping action like a fencing foil but the action is in the blade.
And an energy weapon turns you into a nuclear bomb
Yeah, there was a landing party that was held immobile by a bunch of kids throwing rocks at them ad nauseum.
A vote for the Lazygun from Iain Banks’ Against a Dark Background.
A weapon with a sense of humour. With the small detail that any attempt to dismantle it will cause an explosion of planet destroying intensity.
Which obviously brings up the bombs from Dark Star. Now that is a poorly thought out bit of design.
How long will the battery last?
Do you remember anyone ever reloading?