well, keep in mind the year ANH came out in...special effects, while far better than the 60s or earlier, still ended up with quite a few...issues that couldn't really be hidden in the final product that green flash on alderaan was likely nothing more than the byproduct of how they did the superlaser effect and subsequent…
(don't phaser pistols only fire beams? lightsabers don't seem to be able to deflect beams as well as bolts, because luke had severe issues trying to deflect ssi-ruuvi 'paddle-beamer' shots in The Truce at Bakura)
it always was - starbase 11 was the closest starbase to talos even back in TOS...even though, being a planetside installation, it shouldn't be called a STARbase
they're as uber-powerful as ANY particle weapon that can vaporize an entire good-sized asteroid with a single shot - of course, without knowing what the asteroids in the hoth field are actually MADE of, the general power of a single bolt could still vary wildly
you also can't slice out a circular section in a wooden floor by spinning around with a pair of Uzis* - didn't stop hollywood doing it in Underworld * and yes, someone actually tested this
and anyone saying the borg have tunnel vision when it comes to operation needs to rewatch whatever episode introduced the brunali, because they made it clear in that episode the borg are essentially 'farming' them by just assimilating a small portion of the population every so often rather than assimilating the entire…
(jamie's one of the ones with briana, right? the ship DOES have a music player, you know...like, even starfleet shuttles do, and those things are sardine cans)
(well, if it's hellfire, that would explain it...since a pentagram with its apex point facing south is the symbol of satanism most people mistake the symbol itself for - which it isn't, because if the apex point is facing north, it's actually a ward AGAINST evil)