My theory about guns in Firefly
POSTED BY: Ringwraith
UPDATED: Thursday, January 2, 2003 01:21
VIEWED: 41138
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I don't know if anyone has really talked about this subject before. I think there has been discussion but I can't remember where or when it was. Maybe in an interview with Joss Whedon? If that's the case you have my apologies in advance.
Besides the absence of aliens in Firefly we also know that the characters use weapons that fire cartridges: pistols, machine guns, rifles, etc.
Some might be disappointed in this ("It's a sci-fi show, they're supposed to use ray guns!") but I'm not and I have some theories into why guns are used.
Guns are easy to make. If you can get some good milling equipment, the proper metals, etc you can make your own gun. It wouldn't be easy but it's very possible. Plus it'd be cheap. You could make a six-shooter much easier than a semi-auto; too many things to go wrong.
Guns work, especially the ones with few moving parts like revolvers. Chances are it won't jam up on you and it'll do what it's supposed to do when you shoot someone.
As advancements in armor are made, so are advancements in weapons. You have to adapt to keep up. If in the Firefly universe personal body armor hasn't advanced very far you may as well just use a gun. Unless everyone is using a new type of metal or some fancy Kevlar-type vest you should be guaranteed to put a whole in the other person. You shoot the person, he falls over, he dies. No worrying about accidentally hitting "stun" instead of "full power" on your phaser.
I'm sure this will be explained as the series progresses but in the meantime I thought I'd put in my thoughts about this. 
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"How will this end?"
"In fire."
--Babylon 5, 'The Coming of Shadows'
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Nicely put, Ringwraith.
What I find most irritating about science fiction is the persistant notion that everyone need to use "ray-guns." A few questions: Are projectile firing guns effective? Yes. Has anything more effective been developed? No. Why? Because projectile-firing guns are effective.
There's no need to put intense research into weapons when the current weapons are effective enough. Also: It would probably be easier to develop laser-deflecting body sheilds that are comfortable to wear than it is to develop comfortable/convenient body armor to deflect bullets.
Get used to the idea that lasers will most likely never be used as personal weapons. Phasers are illogical unless they were to be used for stunning opponents rather and killing them.
--Dylan Palmer, aka NoVaGrAsS--
"Oh, shoot" - Mal
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Quote:Well, maybe in your universe! But in the warm-and-fuzzy Roddenberryverse, you have to have 100% safe, non-lethal weapons! They can't even allow people to hit their head when they fall down!
Originally posted by Novagrass:
Phasers are illogical unless they were to be used for stunning opponents rather and killing them.
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Well just a couple of things. Guns use expanding gas to fire a projectile. On earth the sorrounding gas is well not that volitile. On other planets this may not be the case. Gravity may also be different as well as atmospheric pressure. All these things work together on earth to make a gun effective but on another world these things could work against such a weapon. One might need different types of powder or longer barrel or greater riffling or stonger material.
Myself I think the guns are used as a 'primitive' in the future kinda thing. Low tech sort of an 'anti Roddenberry' if you will. To set itself appart. Also Special effects cost $$$ budget may not be able to handle all the effects for the first season and savings could be used to construct a 'ray gun' for season two...
Ronson2k
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ronson2k:
Also Special effects cost $$$ budget may not be able to handle all the effects for the first season and savings could be used to construct a 'ray gun' for season two...
Ronson2k
Did you see the special effects? I don't think the budget entered into it. Joss wanted a look. Guns contributed to the look.
What amazes me is how the weapons look both antique and futuristic. Projectile weapon technology has definatly advanced over the centuries. Instead of making up ray guns, people just improved what they already had. Which explains why the guns work on different planets.
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"I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass." —Maya Angelou
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How do we know that these guns actually are just like the guns of today? Maybe it's an advanced form of pulse technology that pushes out super-compressed "pellets" of energy that fuse the molecules together and form dense projectiles on the fly? You never know.
Like someone said, people will always use the simplest weapon when it comes down to it. A laser gun requires a LOT of technology. A gun is simple. I think guns have a long lifespan. Maybe someday someone can create a portable lazer, but you need an energy source for that. Not as reliable
as a projectile gun.
I like them using guns. Blowing holes into the hulls is not an issue. Any space-vessel that complex would be made of numerous hull layers, much of it cast metal of some sort. Not even .50 calibre bullets can penetrate current tank armor. And I guarantee you that spaceships need even thicker hulls than a tank.
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Well, here's my $0.02 worth, as a major gun enthusiast and hunter:
The fact that everyone is running around with a slug-chucker is the only thing about the show that bugs me.
I don't mean that they shouldn't have some kind of gun, but I look at the development of personal weapons since, say, 1600 and move that forward 500 more years and add a spacefaring culture behind it.
It just seems to me that given that 500 years ago the major personal weapon was the knife and that portable firearms were -- at best -- in their infancy, that it seems odd for someone 500 years in the future to be carrying a slug-chucker.
Now, don't get me wrong, as I otherwise like virtually everything else I've seen. But it seems odd to me that a sane individual who understands that self-defense cannot be delegated would protect him- or herself with a 500-year-old weapon design.
Dakota Smith
No human being has the right -- under any circumstances -- to initiate force against another human being, nor to advocate or delegate its initiation.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ringwraith:
Besides the absence of aliens in Firefly we also know that the characters use weapons that fire cartridges: pistols, machine guns, rifles, etc. Guns are easy to make. You could make a six-shooter much easier than a semi-auto; too many things to go wrong. Guns work, especially the ones with few moving parts like revolvers. Chances are it won't jam up on you and it'll do what it's supposed to do when you shoot someone.
Actually, a revolver requires more skill and complex parts than a semi or full automatic. One of the simplest handguns ever made is the Glock 9mm. The Glock's complexity comes in the precise control over the shape of the plastic frame.
During WWII, just about any machine shop could produce the Sten gun, a 9mm submachine gun, and did. At least one blow-back submachine gun, with silencer has been produced INSIDE a US Prison. With simple tools. Cross reference "Small Arms of the World" by Smith and Ezell.
Jeff
Who was a US Army Small Arms Repairman and Inspector back in the 1970s.
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My thoughts:
1. They mentioned that all inhabited worlds had been terraformed, which means that they have been altered into a very Earthlike state. Most likely every one of these planets has a nearly identical atmosphere to Earth's (at least Earth in our time...)
2. Dakota, I invite you to think of a hand weapon that's both superior to a firearm, and not insanely expensive/complicated. I don't think you can though.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Novagrass:
What I find most irritating about science fiction is the persistant notion that everyone need to use "ray-guns." A few questions: Are projectile firing guns effective? Yes. Has anything more effective been developed? No. Why? Because projectile-firing guns are effective.
Would everyone be happy if we called them, "Kinetic Energy Projectors?"
Jeff
Who notes the Rock Mark I, still delivers an effective dose of KE to a target...especially when rolled down a hill or dropped from a tall building.
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