# Your favorite sci-fi weapons
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 24, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999 "2001-06-24T20:40:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/1 "2001-06-24T20:40:20Z")
I’ve probably been watching too much TV lately…
Point singularity bullet - **Andromeda**
Nova bombs - **Andromeda**
Sentry guns - **Aliens** (deleted scenes)
Ion cannon - **Stargate: SG-1**
Species 8472 roundup (ships merge energy to blow up planets) - **Star Trek: Voyager**
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### Author:  [@Swede\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swede_Hollow)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/2 "2001-06-24T20:55:22Z")
I don’t know the name of it but the new weapon added to the Enterprise in the final episode of the Star Trek: TNG(All Good Things) when they show the E in an alternative future. It has a new weapon that was able to take out a Klingon ship in just a few seconds. Cool.
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### Author:  [@lenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lenin)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/3 "2001-06-24T21:03:45Z")
Whoa, how can you forget the Death Star? Now that was groovy. Too bad they left the window open.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/4 "2001-06-24T21:42:43Z")
I always liked the hand-held weapons from Space:1999. They just had a cool look to them.
I’m also partial to light-sabers. “An elegant weapon from a more civilized time,” I think was the catchphrase. Cut a man in half while you look into his eyes, just the way it ought to be.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/5 "2001-06-24T21:46:25Z")
Star Trek weapons are generally pretty lame, but the phasers used in “The Wrath of Khan” and “Search for Spock” disintegrated people in a most spectacular and cool manner.
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/6 "2001-06-24T21:59:49Z")
I thought the shadow planet-killer from _Babylon 5_ was really cool. For those who don’t know, it was a big black cloud that fired thousands of missiles at a planet, which would burrow to the core and explode, causing the planet to rip itself apart. Also it could suck all the energy out of any ship caught inside of it.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/7 "2001-06-24T22:02:40Z")
Unicron.
(From _Transformers: The Movie_)
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### Author:  [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/8 "2001-06-24T22:08:26Z")
Hey, I’ll take a stunner with a broad beam option and pretty good range any day.
Shoot first, ask questions later.
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/9 "2001-06-24T22:25:33Z")
Mass Driver
(Moon is A Harsh Mistress)
There’s nothing like a rock. Hit something hard enough to generate alpha rays. Coool.
Let’s see.
Monowhip.
(Johnny Memnomic)
Okay, so, it just sort of slices between atoms. Can not be bad.
Sun Eater
(Legion of Super Heroes)
A giant nebula-like creature that eats suns. Again, simple, effective
Green Lantern Ring
(Green Lantern)
C’mon, what can I say?
Main Gun, SDF-1.
(Macross/Robotech)
There’s something about the first time you see a quadrant of space go foomp.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/10 "2001-06-24T22:34:31Z")
> [@](#):
>
> **I AM THE [LEXX](http://www.sadgeezer.com/lexx/lexx02.htm). I AM THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON OF DESTRUCTION IN THE TWO UNIVERSES. I WAS GROWN ON THE CLUSTER BY HIS SHADOW. THE FOOD WAS GOOD THERE. MY CAPTAIN IS STANLEY TWEEDLE. I BLOW UP PLANETS FOR HIM.**
(Mildly entertaining space opera that looks more like a porno with the sex removed, but it’s a cool weapon/ship/organism)
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### Author:  [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/11 "2001-06-24T22:34:55Z")
Personally I like the mind control thing that “made” Kirk kiss beautiful women.
Jeez, can you imagine going back to your SO and saying, “Honest honey, I didn’t want to kiss those fantastic looking women. These guys in togas made me.”
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/12 "2001-06-24T22:40:03Z")
Iain Banks has some pretty cool weaponry in his [Culture](http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/) stories.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/13 "2001-06-24T23:48:59Z")
Wynonna(John’s Gun): **Farscape**
I don’t know. Just gotta love a gun named Wynonna.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/14 "2001-06-24T23:51:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Swede Hollow \*
> \*\*I don’t know the name of it but the new weapon added to the Enterprise in the final episode of the Star Trek: TNG(All Good Things) when they show the E in an alternative future. It has a new weapon that was able to take out a Klingon ship in just a few seconds. Cool. \*\*
IIRC, that was a phaser cannon.
I liked the flechette rifles used in the _Hyperion/Endymion_ saga.
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### Author:  [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2001, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/15 "2001-06-25T00:08:46Z")
James Woods automatic pistol in Videodrome isn’t very SF until he pulls it out of his stomach and it grows into his hand 😃
Star Trek’s weapons are pretty wimpy until it comes to the **Genesis Device** (ST Wrath of Khan). Not only does it completely wipe clean your enemies planet, it leaves it smelling lemon fresh and ready for recolonisation.
Or the illegal weapon held by **Kivas Fajo** in TNG. A disintergrator that works from the inside out. Cool.
The **Reavers** in **Starcraft**. Big insect like tanks that produce drones that fly out and whup the ass off anything in its way.
Talking of insects, the big bugs that shoot plasma out their ass at passing space craft in **Starship Troopers** One hellava party trick!
For massive massive weapons read Ian Banks **Culture** novels. Especially the destruction of the orbital in Consider Phelbas. (Haven’t read it in ages, its late, excuse any possible errors in spelling)
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2001, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/16 "2001-06-25T00:12:19Z")
Monofilament weapons, ala _Johnny Mnemonic_.
Mass drivers, like the Centauri used to devastate the Narn homeworld in _Babylon 5_. Nothing like dropping a five mile rock on a guy to let him know who’s in charge.
Star Destroyers: Okay, the Death Star was big and all, but these suckers just rocked. The deadliest looking spaceship ever.
The Carrier, from the comic _The Authority_. A giant, inter-dimensional alien space-ship. At one point, they kill a supervillain by crashing the ship into the city he rules. Ship: 1 Skyscraper of Evil: 0
The battlesuits from _Starship Troopers_, which turn every soldier into a one-man tank. (I’m talking about the book here, obviously)
Major Motoko, from _Ghost in the Shell_. Grrrr.
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### Author:  [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2001, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/17 "2001-06-25T01:32:54Z")
Most of the Klingon bladed weapons…man, they just have style.
Han’s blaster pistol. Lightsabers are cool, but ancient weapons and hokey religions are no match for a good blaster in your hand, kid.
X-Wing fighters.
And of course, the most subtle Sci-Fi weapon, a slightly off-kilter HAL 9000 unit.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2001, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/18 "2001-06-25T01:52:18Z")
Larry Niven came up with some really good ones:
The **Tasp** --(in \*\* Ringworld\*\*, among others)-- control your enemies by overwhelming them with pleasure.
The **Variable Sword** – the closest thing in literary sf to Star Wars’ Light Sabers. It conssed of a wire encased in a stasis field. As the name implied, it could be made any length, and was virtually indestructible.
The **Sinclair Molecule Chain**. Niven was writing about monofilament line weapons back in the '60s, well before **Johnny Mnemonic**. The SMC wasn’t used as weapon in the earliest stories, but it showed up as one in **Ringworld**
In **The World of Ptaavs** they had a device hat excavated by “suppressing” the charge on an electron, making the positively-charged nuclei fly apart. It made a nifty weapon, too.
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### Author:  [@Czaoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czaoth)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2001, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/19 "2001-06-25T02:46:25Z")
My favorite weapon goes to the PPG on **Bablyon 5**. I love the sound the gun (any of them will do, the bigger the better) when they power up
For a close second I’ll have to give it to The Lawgiver(spelling? name?) from **Judge Dredd** the movie. Lots of cool option and the…
…
**DOUBLE WHAMMY**
🙂
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### Author:  [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2001, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/20 "2001-06-25T03:07:26Z")
Personaly, i just want one weapon… a Bolo Mk XXXIII
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