Geek Syndicate
The “If You Had To Choose Just One Energy Gun” Award:
DL-44 Blaster - Star Wars
From time immemorial, laser guns or blasters have been the mainstay of Sci-Fi. Whether it was Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, Flash
Gordon, Logan’s Run or the cheesiest Roger Corman exploitation
movie, there was such a weapon in the hand of all the main protagonists – space gun, ray-gun – whatever you choose to call it.
If we had to pick one - and we must - it would have to the weapon
of choice for our favourite Corellian pirate. The DL-44 was a powerful, highly modifiable and accurate blaster pistol. It packed a
heavy punch compared to other pistols without losing accuracy,
which made it a prime choice among many groups and individuals, ranging from smugglers and bounty hunters to the military
and the Rebellion… it doesn’t have a stun setting - and Han fired
it first!
The “What Else Does It Do?” Award: The Z-F1 - The Fifth
Element
Gary Oldman’s demonstration of the ZF 1 Pod Weapons System in
the movie The Fifth Element was quite simply epic. The weapon,
produced by Zorg Industries, was a hybrid of a smart assault rifle,
mini-missile launcher, flamethrower (“my personal favourite”),
net-launcher, dart gun, and liquid nitrogen sprayer. To cap it all,
the weapon also had a self-destruct device built into it if it fell into
the wrong hands!
The “Thing of Beauty” Award: Rick Deckard’s Gun - Blade
Runner
My brother (also a Rick) has a replica of this gun, which includes
working LEDs on the side. It is an object of desire from a film noir
that never seems to age. The weapon was constructed from an
Austrian Steyr/Mannlicher bolt-action rifle with the stock and
barrel removed. A pistol-grip was added for effect. Rick Deckard’s
Blade Runner hand-gun is simply iconic.
The “One Of A Kind Bar None” Award: The Lightsabre Star Wars
“This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as
a blaster; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age. For over
a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of
peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times... before the Empire.” Nothing like it had come before and in truth there
has been nothing since. That distinctive sound can be heard as an
app or message tone on a million mobile phones, and everyone
remembers the first time they saw one switched on. Anyone who
says that they’ve never held a broom handle in earnest and not
imitated that sound is an abject liar!
And to be clear before anyone writes in… it’s spelt lightsabre!
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