What is a phaser, Alex?
throws stone at AuntiePam
A phaser. They’re like lasers, but more phasey.
There was a Nerd on King of the Nerds this past season who admitted to have never seen any Star Trek or Star Wars. He asked “What is an Enterprise?”
Ahh, thanks! Set phasers to stun! It’s all coming back to me now.
I just put my phaser on overload. It’s about to blow.
Anyone wearing a red shirt----- RUN!!!
“Can I buy an “e”, Alex?”
I remember when Craig Kilborn hosted “The Daily Show” and had William Shatner as a guest. As part of his interview, he asked Shatner to name five car rental agencies. Shatner started naming Hertz, Avis, Budget, National. He named a number of companies except for the one that he just couldn’t come up with. —
Enterprise. 
Jeez. I haven’t watched any incarnation of Star Trek in over 30 years, and even I instinctively associate “Star Trek weapon” with “phaser”. It’s like, you don’t have to be a sports fan to know that football has goalposts.
Past the first pilot? :dubious:
Has anybody ever actually tried to fight with one of those things? 
They look very unwieldy, and you have to get very, very close to your opponent in order to strike him.
I’ll take a nice broadsword any day!
Thar’s why you have to be a REAL warrior to use one!
Last year, I confused an 11 year old girl when I told her that I’ve never seen or read anything about Harry Potter. She knew what each word I said meant, but the concept was just foreign…
It reminded me of the exact same thing happening to an 11 year old me and an old lady about Star Wars.
For me it’s the reverse. A couple years ago I recognized a Halloween Trick-or-Treater’s costume.
FtG: “Oh, Luke Skywalker.”
Kid: “You know about Star Wars??!!”
FtG: “I saw the first one in the theater during the original run.”
Sheesh. Kids.
Well, yeah, but it’s been almost 40 years. 
I would think someone with a Bat’leth would cut a broadswordsman to pieces. A Bat’leth is lighter (and probably stronger, using 24th century materials). Swing a broadsword and the Bat’leth user catches it on the blade, and then pivots the cutting edge around the broadsword and guts you with the sharp pointy end. Also, since they are lighter, a user could outlast someone swinging a heavy broadsword.
But, since they are fictional, they probably aren’t as useful as they appear. If they did work well, I figure they would already exist in the real world.
And as for getting in close to be useful, you do know people fight with knives?
Yeah, and they’re batshit crazy! :eek:
48 years.