Rodent Wars Forum

Argument:
"In 'The Outrageous Okona' Picard states, 'Lasers can't even penetrate our navigation shields.' Later he states, 'They could fire 'till their lasers ran dry; they wouldn't hurt the Enterprise.' Therefore, Star Trek shields are immune to laser attacks, no matter how powerful. Star Wars turbolasers have 'laser' in their name, so they must be lasers. Therefore, ST shields are immune to SW weaponry.'


Made by:

Graham Kennedy
"The navigation shields also posses another intriguing property; they are immune to attack from laser weaponry. This is due to the trans-static flux effect which occurs as a by-product of the deflection process; when laser light impinges on a deflector field, the effect creates a small portal into subspace, causing the laser beam to pass harmlessly into this domain. As the beam is not subspace encased, it will re-emerge into normal space within a few milliseconds, putting it several hundred light seconds away. Since the beam never actually impacts on either the deflector shield or hull the power of the attack is irrelevant to the effect."

"'Hit to the forward shields,' Worf announced. 'They are holding. The weapon was a charged plasma bolt - it emitted a strong pulse of laser energy as it hit our shields.'
'Laser?' Picard looked at the image on the screen thoughtfully.
'Yes sir. Most of the energy simply reflected off the navigational shields, but the impact of the plasma itself imparted some energy to the combat shields.'" (From "Portal" fanfic, chapter one.)

Nicholas Fittro
"And one more thing if you fired youy little turbo lazers at our ships our shields wouldn't even wince, because the shields of a Federation starship are immune to the the efects of lazers, and that is why they are no longer in use by starfleet and were replaced by the exponentialy powerful phasers."

"TrekkieJedi84"
"Meanwhile, even though the Falcon has 'turbo' lasers, they are still lasers; which the Enterprise’s shields would be able to hold against, no matter how powerful those lasers are."


Refutation:
The argument can be summed up this way:

• ST shields are immune to all lasers.
• SW weapons are lasers.
• Therefore, ST shields are immune to SW weapons.

First off, ST shields are never stated to be immune to "all lasers". Picard was referring to a tiny vessel, and the Borg used a device resembling a laser beam to cut into ships. Also, electromagnetic energy damaged Federation shields in "Relics".
Secondly, SW turbolasers are NOT lasers. They travel at sublight velocities, cause explosions, and are visible from the side in space.
Therefore, SW weapons would not necessarily be ineffectual against ST shields.