The first episode of Sci-Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible, which premieres Tuesday on the Science Channel, will take a look at lightsabers and a Stargateesque portal. Sure, the History Channel has been-there done-that, but the more the merrier. As for the ones in the pictures… I doubt those are actual plasma tubes, io9.
They’ll serve for demonstration stand-ins, though; it’s cheaper than rotoscoping.
Michio Kaku is my hero.