[psimancer]

sci fi movie and series shields have always come in two flavors

flavor number one
this shield is a high energy shield any fast moving obje\ct is reflected/bounced slow moving objects are passed through like air
slow is a relative term in dune slow was almost molasses like so Thrown knives were too fast
in stargate sg-1 thrown knives were not to fast depends on the intent of the storyteller


flavor number two a solid shield
this shieeld can prevent the passage of energy and matter of a certain density there fore depending on the tuning/ power of the shield it can prevent mass objects from passing usually starting at high mass and going down
example being the starwars deathstar its sheild can prevent the passage of ships however the power to do so was not deemed necessary as the other security measures were deemed enough (note turbulence in star wars as they went through the sheilds in the fighters and the disdain of the admiral for fighters)
however the empire learned with the second attempt to build and upped the power of the sheild to prevent even small ships from getting through course they had to make the sheild ground based and use a huge amount of a moon.s power output (lando calrissian "i hope they got that shield down or this is going to be the shortest mission ever" not a perfect quote but close enough )

in science fiction shields have been a very useful tool to diret the story away from the importance of large impersonal battleships down to the intense emotionally charged arena of the small fighters where the audience ca more easilly become involved in the struggle of the hero
there arte many examples of the one man on his own
very few example of the general or tactical leader
the few that come to mind are movies of ww2 usually about pearl
though a notable exception is a john wayne with kirk douglas and burgess meredith
yet these movies of commanders are still not as involvng or intensly charged as those of the individual pilots of a fighter

as a general rule of thumb the ability of a sheild to prevent the passage of low energy/low mass objects is tied to the amount of power it is useing more power more protection but usually that amount of power would be too costly (like take up the entire gnp of the planet)

there fore slow moving or low mass objects get through easily

edit to my knowledge battlestar galactica had no shields just armor

[ July 01, 2004, 06:09: Message edited by: psimancer ]