TC <do-not-reply@i-do get-enough-spam-already-2498.com> wrote:
> Never 
> mind that in a vacuum there is no sound to be heard and laser beams are 
> invisible.

  Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, at the energy
levels usually used in terrestrial conditions, might be invisible. But
energy weapons in scifi movies do not necessarily use either LASER nor
the energy levels we are accustomed to. (The word "laser" has become more
or less synonym of "light/energy ray", especially in scifi settings, but
that doesn't mean that it's literally a LASER.)

  The energy beams used by space ship weapons in scifi movies may be though
of using some form of energy still unknown to us, and the levels of energy
involved are ostensibly staggering (after all, these energy beams have to
penetrate energy shields and reinforced space ship hulls, so a regular
earthly LASER won't cut). It's *plausible* that this form of energy beam,
at the energy levels involved, might be visible, either all by itself or
by "burning" whatever matter is in space (after all, space is seldom 100%
total vacuum, and instead there are always trace amounts of hydrogen
molecules from stellar wind, etc).

  As for sounds in space, if you require space scenes to be mute, you are
actually requiring for the movie to break the fourth wall. See more here:

http://warp.povusers.org/grrr/AboutSoundsInSpace.html

  (Not that breaking the fourth wall would be *wrong* per se. However, it's
equally non-wrong to not to break the fourth wall as well.)

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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