On this day in 1960, U.S. Patent number 2,929,222 was approved. Arthur L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes became the legal inventors of the laser. Their patent ended up becoming the target of a lengthy, ongoing lawsuit, but one fact cannot be denied: with their new invention, the face of movies were forever changed.
Laser-like weapons in fiction of course predate the invention of the actual laser. Who cares though? Today is the laser's birthday, and we should celebrate that. So a few of the sci-fi-loving geeks here in the MTV newsroom got together and singled out our five favorite examples of the all-time best laser beams in movies.
"Real Genius"
It's funny that one of the best of all movie lasers isn't actually used as a weapon. Sure, that's what the military powers-that-be have Val Kilmer and his fellow college geniuses build the thing for, but it never gets past the testing phase. At its most malevolent, the space laser is used to pop tens of thousands of popcorn kernels, a large-scale prank designed to get back at jerkface professor Jerry Hathaway, played by William Atherton. Which is just about perfect.
"Spies Like Us"
The laser in "Spies Like Us" is similar to the one in "Real Genius" in that it fires from orbit. This one is designed to protect America against the nuclear threat, blasting incoming missiles out of the air. It's also built beneath a drive-in movie theater. Not just that, but the movie theater converts at the press of a button into a military complex. You want to know what's even better than that? B.B. King is stationed there.
"Resident Evil"
There's a laser corridor sequence in "Resident Evil 4" which the first "Resident Evil" movie riffs on. The movie version is pure win though, for cutting a guy into a million pieces... after it beheads someone and vivisects someone else. Now that's a lethal laser.
"Goldfinger"
You can't have a best lasers list without shouting out Goldfinger's classic supervillain death trap. MI6 agent James Bond -- Sean Connery's Bond -- is strapped down to a table with a laser beam inching closer and closer to cutting him in half, from the crotch up. It's a moment that's been spoofed on "The Simpsons." And who can forget the classic "sharks with laser beams" line from the Bond-parodying "Austin Powers"?
"Star Wars"
"The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force." It doesn't matter if those words, spoken by Darth Vader, are right or not. The ability to destroy a planet is still pretty freakin' awesome (fictionally speaking). Especially when the agent of said planet's destruction is a gigantic laser built into the shell of a moon-sized space station.
Tags Goldfinger, Real Genius, Resident Evil, Spies Like Us, star wars
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The 50th Anniversary Of The Laser Gets MTV Looking At Our All-Time Favorites In Movies
Posted 3/22/10 1:00 pm EST by Adam Rosenberg in Commentary
On this day in 1960, U.S. Patent number 2,929,222 was approved. Arthur L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes became the legal inventors of the laser. Their patent ended up becoming the target of a lengthy, ongoing lawsuit, but one fact cannot be denied: with their new invention, the face of movies were forever changed.
Laser-like weapons in fiction of course predate the invention of the actual laser. Who cares though? Today is the laser's birthday, and we should celebrate that. So a few of the sci-fi-loving geeks here in the MTV newsroom got together and singled out our five favorite examples of the all-time best laser beams in movies.
"Real Genius"
It's funny that one of the best of all movie lasers isn't actually used as a weapon. Sure, that's what the military powers-that-be have Val Kilmer and his fellow college geniuses build the thing for, but it never gets past the testing phase. At its most malevolent, the space laser is used to pop tens of thousands of popcorn kernels, a large-scale prank designed to get back at jerkface professor Jerry Hathaway, played by William Atherton. Which is just about perfect.
"Spies Like Us"
The laser in "Spies Like Us" is similar to the one in "Real Genius" in that it fires from orbit. This one is designed to protect America against the nuclear threat, blasting incoming missiles out of the air. It's also built beneath a drive-in movie theater. Not just that, but the movie theater converts at the press of a button into a military complex. You want to know what's even better than that? B.B. King is stationed there.
"Resident Evil"
There's a laser corridor sequence in "Resident Evil 4" which the first "Resident Evil" movie riffs on. The movie version is pure win though, for cutting a guy into a million pieces... after it beheads someone and vivisects someone else. Now that's a lethal laser.
"Goldfinger"
You can't have a best lasers list without shouting out Goldfinger's classic supervillain death trap. MI6 agent James Bond -- Sean Connery's Bond -- is strapped down to a table with a laser beam inching closer and closer to cutting him in half, from the crotch up. It's a moment that's been spoofed on "The Simpsons." And who can forget the classic "sharks with laser beams" line from the Bond-parodying "Austin Powers"?
"Star Wars"
"The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force." It doesn't matter if those words, spoken by Darth Vader, are right or not. The ability to destroy a planet is still pretty freakin' awesome (fictionally speaking). Especially when the agent of said planet's destruction is a gigantic laser built into the shell of a moon-sized space station.
Tags Goldfinger, Real Genius, Resident Evil, Spies Like Us, star wars
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