Such a good read. That’s really funny how the universe far, far away took modern weapons as a blueprint for their props. I’m not entirely sure where I sit there, with SG having this obsession with P90 and StarTrek having TV remotes for guns. It all seems goofy, and I don’t really mind it. A defining detail most miss, but the one we can read on in posts like yours. Thank you.
There’s a huge rabbithole to go into about visual language and aesthetic coding.
Star Wars original trilogy was Flash Gordon meets WW2, but with an added layer of grime and strange extra details to keep it from exactly being either of its main influences. Not just with the blasters, but with everything.
Star Trek started out with Flash Gordon raygun looking phasers, because probably in the 1960s they just thought it was the thing to do. In TNG the dust buster phasers were an intentional choice to signal a kinder, gentler Federation. It’s easier to look non-threatening without a big iron on your hip.
Stargate guns needed to be recognizable as modern military, but all the normal choices would be generic. An unusual gun gives the show more of an identity. In the first couple of seasons they used MP5s that had Colt scopes on them to make them more unusual than a normal MP5, but eventually they discovered something more unique with the P90. Given that decades later the sight of a P90 makes people talk about Stargate, I’d say it worked.
The A180 was briefly considered for the list, but there are just so many designs, it had to be cut. There’s a lot of interesting stuff all around in Rogue One.
Westar 34 was super interesting because it’s one of the few designs that isn’t based on any kind of real firearm. It looks very delicate and precise.
Excellent write-up!
It just shows how wrong they got the first order. It’s meant to be remnants of the Empire, surviving in the shadows on the rim, yet they have completely new:
armour.
guns.
space ships.
Heavy machinery (the gorilla AT-ATs etc).
Giant star killer far more powerful than the Empire at it’s height.
None of which makes sense for a remnant group - it should be a patch work of past things. The white details on their guns are just further examples of how out of place the first order is.
Definitely agree on your criteria for iconic blasters!
Great write-up! I agree with all of your aesthetic picks. I first saw A New Hope when I was 11, and even at that age - having grown up on a cinematic diet of WWII films - the DLT-19 stood out as a wierdly familiar and out-of-place gun.
Yeah I read that years ago. I need to pick it up somewhere. I still have the Tales From Mos Eisley Cantina, and Tales From Jabba’s Palace, but I remember the bounty hunter book being the best.
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