From Where do Phasers Emit???

[Irishman]

Speaking strictly TOS (and TOS-R), and just the ship mounted varieties, is there a definitive attribution of where the flipping phasers are supposed to emit from? Where are the emplacements??

TOS shows them emitting from the front-mid-lower saucer, while TOS-R tries to lower that apparent emplacement to the rim of the planetary sensor dome.

The colors don't match, either.

And what's up with rear-mounted phasers? Are they attested to in anything definitive??

 

[C.E. Evans]

If we go by some of Matt Jefferies' notes, the Enterprise presumably has retractable phasers that are concealed behind hatches when not in use. As far as where precisely they are, that's debatable as not too much attention was given to that when TOS was made ("somewhere around the bottom of the saucer" was good enough for the VFX guys back then, IMO).

"Aft phasers" was a line overheard in background audio, IIRC. But there have been several onscreen references to forward phasers at the very least.

 

[Albertese]

The phasers came from the special effects department. On the ship, they consistently come from 'down there somewhere.' I've heard that the weird little gun thingie on the center of the lower dome had at one point been intended to be the phaser, but I don't think that's been really confirmed.

As for dialogue, there have been mention made of "aft," "mid-ship," "forward," and "main" weapons. All of these phasers came from the writer's desk. The actual production had a bit of a fluid continuity towards those types of details.

So, you are free to imagine the actual hardware being located in any of several areas.

--Alex

 

[RAMA]

I like to pretend they come from here:

 

[Santa Kang]

Phasers emit from the phaser emitters.

 

[Timo]

...But the visible parts of the beams might originate at some distance from the actual emitter, for all we know. That is, the beam lights up only after having traversed a certain distance.

The colors don't match, either.

Different colors for different settings? It was fun to try and figure out the settings used in TOS; TOS-R took that away from us.

So, you are free to imagine the actual hardware being located in any of several areas.

And the more, the merrier, really! After all, we do see the beams coming from a variety of locations in TOS, and we do hear of references to multiple guns even in episodes where a single origin for the beams is shown.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Irishman]

It's frustrating for those of us modeling the Enterprise and who want to be thorough and accurate with details like these.

 

[Timo]

Hey, Archer's ship had thirteen gunports and four forward and two aft missile tubes before they added at least two gunports in a VFX error and at least two forward and one aft torpedo tubes in deliberation. If Kirk's ship is more to be powerful than Archer's, she might be excused for having twenty emitters and ten torpedo tubes at least...

So, when in doubt, install a phaser emitter?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Leviathan]

they come from the plot-hole.

 

[Warped9]

This is how I imagined it.

 

[MarsWeeps]

I think this is probably what's mounted inside the ship at various locations, normally concealed by doors that open when needed. They probably removed one or used a spare for this scene on Talos IV.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Intersting thought...but isn't that a [airquotes]LASER[/airquotes]?

 

[MarsWeeps]

Intersting thought...but isn't that a [airquotes]LASER[/airquotes]?

They never call it a laser in the episode, they just refer to it as transferring ship's power, "enough to blast half a continent."

Besides, even if that's a laser they are showing, I'm willing to bet a phaser version is very similar.

 

[Timo]

They never call it a laser in the episode, they just refer to it as transferring ship's power, "enough to blast half a continent."

Or then that's what the hothead Tyler wanted to use, but the more sensible heroes scaled the response down to using this standalone phaser drill that can only blast sixteenth of a smallish parish.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Albertese]

Yeah, seems odd to me to unship a heavy weapon and beam it down to shoot at softball pitching range when you should be able to do as well from orbit (as is done later in the series, on multiple occasions.)

Though it was cool to see a heavy weapon used on the ground. A pity this device or a relative of it never showed up again.

--Alex

 

[kkt]

Not difficult to explain. The Cage happened before the events in TOS. Starfleet probably refitted the Enterprise with new phasers that could do precision drilling from orbit before they handed her over to Kirk.

 

[Captain Rob]

I always thought that the weapon used was Star Trek's version of mobile artillery. A "phaser howitzer"?

 

[Timo]

The device appears extremely clumsy, difficult to move around or even aim. More like a mining tool than a weapon, really. Mounting the same device on a hovering platform might transform it into a weapon, though.

Building the prop made sense for a pilot episode, for the cool factor of having something, anything for the heroes to play with. Yet no doubt pinpoint "shore bombardment" from outer space was also considered unrealistic, i.e. too much for the 1960s audiences to swallow, at that stage of the show - but later on, the cost-effectiveness of drawing ship-to-surface red lines over manipulating a large prop overruled that argument.

In in-universe terms, though, pinpoint fire support from orbit would appear to be practicable in the 22nd century already. And it would be difficult to see why not - there are so few variables to consider, with a steady firing platform recoillessly delivering a perfectly straight beam to a target clearly observable by sensors well known to have enough resolution for the feat. 2010s audiences would be confused by this somehow being difficult for our heroes!

Perhaps Number One wanted an optimal angle, though, for breaching the doors but not disturbing the elevator shaft. Or decided that weapons were the wrong approach altogether, or else the sidearms would already have done the trick, and that proper rock-digging tools would stand a much better chance.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Irishman]

But, guys, I need to know where exactly to put these!!

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Irishman/media/Teaser3.png.html?sort=3&o=0

 

[J.T.B.]

Though it was cool to see a heavy weapon used on the ground. A pity this device or a relative of it never showed up again.

Plus it was kind of reminiscent of a cool scene in Forbidden Planet.