Timeline for In Star Trek why is there a kill setting on phasers?
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| Feb 19, 2014 at 6:57 | comment | added | steveha | And contrariwise, in Star Trek VI it was an important plot point that the "stun" setting could be lethal at very close range. This makes sense to me; in real life, if someone shoots you with a dart gun with sleepy drugs, and you get too high of a dose, you could die. It's a tricky thing to perfectly stun someone without endangering them. All the more amazing that it works on random aliens safely as well. | |
| Feb 19, 2014 at 6:55 | comment | added | steveha | It might not be guaranteed to kill, but in the original series, the most common special effect was for the person shot disappearing completely. (They never said where the person goes... vaporized?) I suspect they were going for a tidy lack of blood and gore. I can think of one episode where someone was fatally shot by a phaser without vanishing, but the dramatic resolution of the plot worked better with a body to use as a prop, so I think that was plot-driven! | |
| Jul 12, 2012 at 19:15 | comment | added | Adele- Nexus of Potlucks | Suppose, for example, you are being charged by a rhinoceros. "Kill" might be handy just then. | |
| Jul 12, 2012 at 16:09 | history | answered | NominSim | CC BY-SA 3.0 |