light sabers vs beam sabers
Being a fan of both Star Wars and Gundam, I find myself wondering who came up with the idea of a laser powered saber, was it a hollywood sci-fi innovation or was it originally from a Japanese manga or anime? Clearly from the date of their release, the first Star Wars movie a ‘new hope’ back in 1977 would predate the original gundam series which was released in 1979. However an older giant robot genre anime called Voltes V sported an equally giant sized sword which springs out from its chest. although the image of the sword is drawn similar to that of a traditional sword, they do call the weapon the laser sword. Incidentally George Lucas also called the lightsaber a laser sword during the early stages of star wars production.
but if we were to count the Voltes’ laser sword similar to that of a beam saber, then we should probably count Frodo’s Sting and Gandalf’s Glamdring from Tolkien’s the the Lord of the Rings as a light saber as well. ^^ however should we consider a light saber in the strictest sense with a blade made out of energy, then the earliest reference would probably be from Issac Asimov’s Lucky Starr series. (not to be confused with the the Japanese manga Lucky Star). released back in the early 1950’s Issac Asimov describes a sword named the force-blade, a weapon with a short stainless steel shaft that could project a force field that could cut through anything.Â
speaking of lasers, I’m going to have laser eye surgery tomorrow, hopefully everything goes well. ^^
February 19th, 2008 at 4:01 am
At first I wanted to say Gundam, as I am a hardcore Gundam fan.
And because I thought that Star Wars was released in the early 80´s.
But that Light/Beam sabers were mentioned even earlier totaly suprised me.
And on top of that, they were “invented” by Isaac Asimov…In the 50´s!Amazing.
I never stop learning.Very nice.
Also:Dont worry about the eye surgery.
I´m with you Marv!
*thumbs up*
February 19th, 2008 at 8:28 am
hey Ash, glad you liked the post and thanks. ^^
June 5th, 2008 at 8:50 am
How was the eye surgery? Does it really give you perfect vision without any pain during the operation. I’m also thinking of under-going it.
I never thought that a ’50’s series would already incorporate a light saber in their production. Then again, man’s desire to harness the power of enormous energy like lightning into weaponry might be an ancient idea.
Who knows maybe a prototype has already been developed somewhere…. plus a true to life gundam too.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Thanks for asking, it went very well. my vision is 20/16 now better than normal. ^^ although I have some friends who tells me that their vision never returned to a 100% and still needed glasses after the surgery.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:20 am
btw there’s no pain during surgery, however some say there might be a tinge of sting after it, but nothing that an Advil tablet or Tylenol wouldn’t help you tide over. so if you do decide to have eye surgery take one tablet an hour before just in case. and good luck. ^^
September 7th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
didi
September 8th, 2008 at 9:23 am
umm… I’m not quite sure how to respond to your comment… “Dexter’s Lab?” ^^;