Because Klingons are ridiculous.
:dubious:
Not to mention, they always make the prongs pop out before they even start fighting, well before they get to the stabbing and twisting portion of the exercise.
What’s impractical about a sword with a blade that’s all edge, will cut through almost anything, and is almost weightless and easily carried or concealed?
You can have a lightsaber, and I’ll take a blaster, and we shall see who wins.
I don’t know much about Klingons, but if the bat’leth can be used anything like a bo staff, then I would think it could be used fairly effectively against swords. The problem is, as you say, the reach, and I doubt a bat’leth could ever land a blow on a skilled swordsman. But as far as defense and disarmament, I bet I could do pretty well: the points could snap a caught sword if leveraged correctly and the coverage could probably take both jabs and swings pretty handily. Of course, I’d still much rather have a staff that has both breadth for defense AND reach for attack, or if I was going for defense, a short sword or sword breaker.
I take it you haven’t seen what happens to people (or, mostly, droids) who shoot at lightsaber-wielding Jedi? Or are you counting on the fact that Chronos has lost his Jedi^H^H^H^HModerator powers?
Re Reach
If the batleth is used two-handed, it has no reach. If it is used one-handed, reach isn’t a big problem.
The easier to impale one’s opponent with.
I wasn’t aware of that. I wonder if the writers & propmasters knew about the historical equivalents.
You’ve obviously never heard of dwarf battle bread.
</Pratchett> 
That could actually work to instil terror in the opponent; in fact that’s possibly the least ridiculous aspect of Klingon weaponry; it looks fearsome - this aspect would actually offer some real tactical advantage in close fighting - if the weapons themselves weren’t so damn impractical to use, that is.
I have—that’s why I guessed that the elaborate, impractical Dwarf weaponry you’d see at a Dwarf Ren Fest (or the equivilant) would have frosting, and possibly some kind of flaky crust.
The idea of bladed weapons as being practical in the age of gunpowder is silly enough but in the age of phasers? If you beam over to my ship armed with a sword I’m just going to shoot you with my phaser. What kind of losses must the Klingons take when fighting other warp level cultures?
This is just more evidence that Star Trek: TNG is just propaganda produced by the Federation’s Ministry of Truth. They’ve got to show us how bad, evil, and backwards the Klingons are and they do this by showing them with ridiculous weapons.
Marc
Didn’t Vader deflect blaster rounds with his lightsaber?
No, he deflected it with his hand! :eek:
Amen! The only question I have about lightsabers is why more people don’t use them. A smaller version, like a lightdagger, would be pretty much the only cutting tool most people would ever need. Maybe they’re banned because they’re too dangerous.
I’m sure a Star Wars geek will be along shortly with a more detailed answer. OTTOMH- The Sith and Jedi keep lightsaber technology a secret. The movies make it clear that building your own lightsaber is part of becoming a Jedi master. I’ve heard from friends who’ve read all the comics, novels, and RPG suppliments that some Force powers are needed to properly control a lightsaber. Without these powers, it’s almost impossible to precisely use a blade that has no weight and avoid things like chopping off your own limbs. Grievous manages to use two lightsabers, but he has precision mechanical limbs. Plus, instead of swordsmanship Grievous mostly does a helicopter rotor thing entirely dependent on his cybernetic limbs.
However, in a story arc of the cartoon Droids, a nonJedi did have and use a lightsaber. IIRC he ran a vehicle repair shop and a Jedi had left a vehicle and never returned to pick it up. On a full search of the vehicle prior to selling it, the man had found a lightsaber.
It’ll be the lightsaber. The guy with the lightsaber is a Jedi and thus has enormously better reflexes than the guy with the blaster; he’ll have chopped your arms off twice before you press the trigger.
Now, if it’s TEN guys with blasters versus one guy with a light saber, that’s a different story.
DocCathode pretty much nailed it. In addition to the technology being a secret, you pretty much have to have some knowledge of the force to use one well. Yeah, you could probably use a small “lightdagger” to do simple welding and cutting, but why bother when you have plasma welders and vibro blades that work just as well for that task, have less danger, and won’t make a pack of Jedi hunt you down to get the technology back. And yes, building a lightsaber is one of the final tasks to becoem a Jedi (though different sources seem to contradict when this happens. I have seen it happens when you become a Padawan, other times when you are done with being a Padawan and become a Jedi Knight.)
Interesting fact: Han Solo is the only non-Jedi character ever depicted in the movies to use a lightsaber (the only other time a charater comes close is Luke in ANH turning on Anakin’s lightsaber. But a) Luke becomes a Jedi later abd b) he didn’t really use it, just flipped the on button.)
The applications to personal hygiene alone…
“This [staff weapon] is a weapon of terror. It is designed to intimidate the enemy. This [P90 submachinegun] is a weapon of war. It is designed to kill the enemy.”
–Jack O’Neill, Stargate SG-1