Original Phaser Rifle Prop Found!

[Christopher]

^Which suggests that they did have plans to make a different phaser rifle prop for the series proper, but never got around to it.

[Metryq]

Christopher wrote:

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I'm confused... the comments say that Klamer's company built the rifle, but the 4/22 memo says they didn't.

The prop department was located in Tholian space, and the rifle was caught in interphase. The episode "The Tholian Web" is a cover up of what really happened when Kirk went after his favorite gun.

[ZapBrannigan]

Metryq wrote:

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The prop department was located in Tholian space, and the rifle was caught in interphase. The episode "The Tholian Web" is a cover up of what really happened when Kirk went after his favorite gun.

The Desilu prop department might as well have been in Tholian hands, considering the anecdote in INSIDE STAR TREK (Solow, Justman). They took too long to make anything, charged a fortune, and when they finally produced a phaser pistol, Roddenberry examined it and said, "This is uh, uh... unacceptable."

[MarsWeeps]

Maurice wrote:

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Christopher wrote:

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I'm confused... the comments say that Klamer's company built the rifle, but the 4/22 memo says they didn't.

I'm also confused, according to the quote above, Klamer did not build the phaser rifle. So, who did?

[Christopher]

^See the response to my post. The 4/22 memo was talking about the potential series version of the phaser rifle, not the pilot version.

[feek61]

MarsWeeps wrote:

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I'm also confused, according to the quote above, Klamer did not build the phaser rifle. So, who did?

Look at the dates; we are talking about two different things here. The second pilot "Where Man Has Gone Before" was filmed in July 1965 and the memo is dated April 1966. At this point when the memo came out the pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before" had already been filmed. That memo is talking about props for the series after it had been approved for production. The phaser rifle that we know had already been used in the second pilot but apparently there was going to be design changes (like the changes made to the hand phasers and communicators for the series) to the phaser rifle for the series. As some point it was apparently decided that they wouldn't need a phaser rifle for the series.

[Christopher]

feek61 wrote:

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As some point it was apparently decided that they wouldn't need a phaser rifle for the series.

From what I've gathered, I think it's more that they were unable to get a decent phaser rifle prop made, so they had to settle for doing without.

[feek61]

Could very well be; I have not heard either way. I know that the P2 was suppose to be able to be integrated into the new phaser rifle similar to the way the P1 snaps into the P2 but I assume for budget reasons and maybe for design reasons as well they never pursued it.

[Christopher]

I wonder if there are any surviving design drawings by Jefferies for what the, err, "phaser 3" might've looked like. Or, failing that, if there are fan designs for what a series-style phaser rifle might've looked like.

[GSchnitzer]

Christopher wrote:

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I wonder if there are any surviving design drawings by Jefferies for what the, err, "phaser 3" might've looked like. Or, failing that, if there are fan designs for what a series-style phaser rifle might've looked like.

Well, according to Jefferies' early drawing, the rifle was a "Phaser 4." (He identifies that the "Phaser 3" is actually the removable handle/"power pack.")



Star Trek Phase II did have a phaser rifle in "Blood and Fire. (I think that's the only episode in which we used it, but they all start to run together in my mind, so I'm not sure.) It was designed by Mr. John Broughton over at Starship Farragut. For our Phase II production, we modified it a tiny bit: we swapped out a new-style phaser 1 that Farragut had used, and replaced it with a standard phaser 1. We also added a "Sims' beacon" (one of those little flashlight-things that you can wear on a headband that we picked up at Wal*Mart) to the top of the targeting scope. This permits the user to see the target in darkened conditions. (More importantly, it also allowed director David Gerrold to capture a cool light beam to show up on our smoke-filled set, in a Steven Spielbergian fashion.)

[Gary Mitchell]

That original phaser rifle was a puny weapon. All it did to me was to clear up my chest congestion.

[aridas sofia]

Christopher wrote:

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I wonder if there are any surviving design drawings by Jefferies for what the, err, "phaser 3" might've looked like. Or, failing that, if there are fan designs for what a series-style phaser rifle might've looked like.

From about ten years ago. Several people in the tech forum were playing around with ideas on how it might have appeared. I threw my two cents worth in:

http://home.comcast.net/~aridas/phas...le-revised.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~aridas/phaser-3.jpg

[Warped9]

aridas sofia wrote:

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http://home.comcast.net/~aridas/phas...le-revised.jpg

I like this one.

[ZapBrannigan]

The prop sold for $231,000. The headline is addressed to me personally because the CNN writer knows that when it comes to STAR TREK, I'm all up in it:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/06/sh...html?hpt=hp_c4

[Melakon]

Wow. It sold for 10 times the other mentioned items. Part of the value must be for being Held by Shatner.