Quotes / Death Ray

Dr. Disaster: They have a Death Ray of epic proportions trained on the capital cities of every country this very second!
Antimony: Isn't there always a Death Ray?

— Gunnerkrigg Court

"Our Death Ray doesn't seem to be working. I'm standing right in it, and I'm not dead yet."

— Jamie Hyneman, MythBusters

"FULL POWER TO THE DEATH RAY!"

— Dr. Chaotica, Star Trek: Voyager, "The Adventures of Captain Proton"

"You said your death ray could disintegrate an elephant!" roared a red-faced colonel.
"That's the problem," replied the lab-coated man on his image plate. "I only tested it on elephants!"

— Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space

Slowly a humped shape rose out of the pit, and the ghost of a beam of light seemed to flicker out from it. Forthwith flashes of actual flame, a bright glare leaping from one to another, sprang from the scattered group of men. It was as if some invisible jet impinged upon them and flashed into white flame. . . . as the unseen shaft of heat passed over them, pine trees burst into fire . . . flashes of trees and bushes and wooden buildings suddenly set alight. It was sweeping around swiftly and steadily, this flaming death, this invisible, inevitable sword of heat.

— The War of the Worlds

Minion: Death ray readying!
Megamind: Let's see if Metro Man can withstand the full concentrated power of the sun! FIRE! ... Fire!
Minion: Still warming up, sir.
Megamind: Come again?
Minion: Warming up.
Megamind: Warming up? The sun is WARMING UP?

— Megamind

Henry: It's not a death ray.
Jack: But it's a ray, right?
Henry: Yes...
Jack: That causes instant death?
Henry: Yes...
Jack: How is that not a death ray?

— Eureka

Fred: Well, we do have an orbital-range microwave cannon up there. Focuses the satellite's communications signals into a pinpoint beam. It can raise the temperature of the targeted area 1,000 degrees in less than 5 seconds. So, yeah, in theory, we could. That is, if we did that sort of thing. Do we do that sort of thing?

Wesley: It might be the thing to do.

Gunn: Think someone won't notice us firing a sci-fi death ray from outer space?

Fred: Well, actually, the beam reads like cell phone static on most atmospheric scanning equipment.

— Angel, "Soul Purpose"

"Ever had the embarrassment of Moon Men gate-crashing your cocktail party? Or an evening with your Venusian princess overrun with fetid swamp creatures? Well, Dr Grordbort has the solution to your problem with an initial release of three models — one or more of these will ensure that you can restore peace to any of your galactic estates! Choose from the Manmelter 3600ZX, ideal for atomising moon soldiers or neighbourhood dogs at your earliest convenience. Or how about the F.N.O.M. Industries Wave Disrupter Gun. A fickle piece and not designed for those of a meek and gentle disposition, but this little tiger will turn your foes to a slurry! Last but by no means least is the Goliathon 83. Designed for the sportsman who takes his hunting very seriously, its infra-wave undulations will dissolve 7/9th's of an African elephant in ten Earth seconds!"

— Weta Workshop

"We had rays that would kill you by coagulating your proteins as though you were a hard-boiling egg. We had rays that would carry a deadly electrical shock, of course — that was beginner's stuff — poison rays which would turn your blood into furniture polish. We had different types of disintegrator, which either made you vanish completely or turned you into fine dust or pocket-flug: about the only thing they had in common with each other was that they seemed to take quite a few seconds to do the job, which could be a serious defect in a real side-arm. Edmond Hamilton, having heard that matter is really energy and that waves out of step cancel each other, invented a heterodyning ray which blanked you out like an unwanted radio program; the victim disappeared with a loud bang, while the gun itself hummed like an Atwater-Kent loudspeaker. We had rays which drive you insane; rays which would throw you into convulsions; rays which would paralyse you; rays which would melt you down like a tallow candle."

— James Blish, More Issues At Hand

Unlike a single bullet, the beam of light from a high-power military laser acts more like a directional, narrow strip of extreme heat. A bullet drills a hole through flesh, the exit hole generally markedly bigger than the entrance wound. Not so with a laser. It is precisely the same size as it exits the human body as when it entered. Also, light has no mass, so there is no impact. As the laser struck Finnegan, it didn't lift him off his feet, or throw him backward, nothing initially as dramatic as that.

But the power was so awesome that in the instant the blaster came to life its vivid blue beam had penetrated clean through the helpless Finn, hitting the wall only a couple of paces to the left of J.B., who immediately threw himself flat on the floor, hands over his head as chunks of liquid concrete and charred wood fell from the side of the corridor. Stinking smoke erupted from the front and back of Finn's coat, tiny flames flaring red and yellow. Every staggering movement of the dying man only increased his horrific suffering. His skin was scorched black, the flesh broiled by the immense power of the blaster. The heat was so intense that the wretch's intestines began to explode and melt, and his blood boiled instantly where the laser had touched him.

— Death Lands, "Crater Lake"

A team of doctors had examined the bodies and had concluded that none of the Riddles had been poisoned, stabbed, shot, strangled, suffocated, or (as far as they could tell) harmed at all. In fact (the report continued, in a tone of unmistakable bewilderment), the Riddles all appeared to be in perfect health — apart from the fact that they were all dead.

— A description of Muggle doctors examining victims of the Killing Curse, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

"A toaster is just a death ray with a smaller power supply!"

— The Toaster, Fallout: New Vegas

General: One question that springs to mind, Professor...?
Professor: "Death."
General: Professor Death, is why you decided to name this contraption the Giant Death — ohisee.

—That Mitchell and Webb Look

Mr. Smithers: You know this death ray only affects plant life, right, sir?
Mr. Burns: Yes, thank you for reminding me, Sammy Spoilsport.

—The Simpsons