The new hand phasers suck, in fact...

[Gepard]

First time I saw a pic of the two-headed phaser, that is what clicked for me visually ... two garden-variety water hose metal nozzles, back to back, inside a pistol grip. It actually looks like existing plumbing pieces to me (though for all I know they look better from a distance in the movie, since I'm assuming they don't have a "Q gives briefing' closeup of the workings.)

The kill nozzle looks vaguely--vaguely--like one of those hose barbs, but you're correct that they don't get a closeup in the movie. And anyway, they don't look any more like a hose part than the nozzle on the TOS phaser looks like the eyepiece of a toy microscope, so I don't understand where this idea comes from that phasers should be above that sort of thing.

 

[RyuRoots]

If you ask me, the ones we start seeing in DS9 with the curved handle are by far the best ones, tho I did really like the ones in ST XI. Thought it was cool how there was a visible stun/kill switch. As for the TOS phasers? LOLTOS Those looked idiotic to me. Looked more like something you take tire pressure with than an energy weapon.

 

[RAMA]

EVERY phaser since TOS has sucked, & with the arguable exception of Star Trek 3, SUCKED BADLY. TOS phasers were and are the most interestingly designed & executed sci-fi weapon EVER. I'm just glad that the camera didn't linger much on the newest bad redesign of an all-time classic. Is there a different opinion out there? And if so, how much gold-pressed latinum did it take to buy you off?

You could argue a lot actually..on almost every point you make, I think there are a lot of better phasers than the TOS versions.

RAMA

 

[Chrisisall]

As for the TOS phasers? LOLTOS Those looked idiotic to me. Looked more like something you take tire pressure with than an energy weapon.

You must be suffering from a reaction to retenaoyx.

 

[Chrisisall]

You could argue a lot actually..on almost every point you make, I think there are a lot of better phasers than the TOS versions.

ONLY the phasers in ST III were a logical progression from TOS phasers; all others were, for lack of a better term, gos-se.

 

[Jeri]

The kill nozzle looks vaguely--vaguely--like one of those hose barbs, but you're correct that they don't get a closeup in the movie.

Isn't there a closeup when Kirk is covering Spock in the Narada cargo hold, while Spock does the mind-meld deed on the stunned Romulan?

Maybe you're not talking about the same item; but there is a huge closeup of a phaser right next to Kirk's face, filling the screen.

 

[Saito S]

As for the TOS phasers? LOLTOS Those looked idiotic to me. Looked more like something you take tire pressure with than an energy weapon.

You must be suffering from a reaction to retenaoyx.

The hell is retenaoyx?

Anyway, the only phasers I found WORSE than the TOS ones were the ones from a few of the movies (TWOK and TSFS, and those ridiculous boxes that were supposedly Klingon weapons in TVH) and the aforementioned "dustbuster" phasers from seasons 1 and 2 of TNG. From season 3 on, they changed the design into something MUCH better (though the further redesign in mid DS9, which made them look actually comfortable to hold, was a big improvement over the season 3-7 TNG one). The TOS ones just looked too goofy/campy for me to take seriously.

I liked the Trek XI phasers quite a bit. They looked much more like a respectable sci-fi weapon, and the blue/red stun/kill deal was an awesome touch.

And

You could argue a lot actually..on almost every point you make, I think there are a lot of better phasers than the TOS versions.

ONLY the phasers in ST III were a logical progression from TOS phasers; all others were, for lack of a better term, gos-se.

Your opinion, only.

And what the hell is "gos-se"?

 

[trevanian]

And anyway, they don't look any more like a hose part than the nozzle on the TOS phaser looks like the eyepiece of a toy microscope, .

Good link. Might be why i like them, that is a good shape to my eye.

EDIT ADDON: the idea that these things are only supposed to look good as they appear in the film is perhaps a little flimsy when presented on a board like this. If MAKING OF ST didn't have prop porn pics and everybody here hadn't relished looking at them, there might be a point, but in fact everybody I know who has ever been into TREK even halfway to hardcore has always liked those pics and being able to study detail far beyond what you see on-screen in an ep, so criticizing a detailed view is probably more legit here than in a general forum.

Of course, anybody here who has NOT participated in an 'debating the Enterprise restoration for Smithsonian' thread would likely be exempt from my reply, and shouldn't feel I'm generalizing about all trek fans.

 

[Cicero]

If you ask me, the ones we start seeing in DS9 with the curved handle are by far the best ones, tho I did really like the ones in ST XI. Thought it was cool how there was a visible stun/kill switch. As for the TOS phasers? LOLTOS Those looked idiotic to me. Looked more like something you take tire pressure with than an energy weapon.

The Nemesis "dolphin" phasers and the "assault phasers" seen in Star Trek V and Star Trek VI are my favorite designs. (I especially appreciate the level of mundane detail on the Star Trek VI phasers.) Though I, too, never liked the TOS phasers, I love the design from The Cage. The new phasers are okay, but look like they might be uncomfortable to handle.

 

[Sector 7]

If you ask me, the ones we start seeing in DS9 with the curved handle are by far the best ones, tho I did really like the ones in ST XI. Thought it was cool how there was a visible stun/kill switch. As for the TOS phasers? LOLTOS Those looked idiotic to me. Looked more like something you take tire pressure with than an energy weapon.

The Nemesis "dolphin" phasers and the "assault phasers" seen in Star Trek V and Star Trek VI are my favorite designs. (I especially appreciate the level of mundane detail on the Star Trek VI phasers.) Though I, too, never liked the TOS phasers, I love the design from The Cage. The new phasers are okay, but look like they might be uncomfortable to handle.

Both "assault phasers" and "mundane detail" are hotlinked images. That is a no-no on this board.

 

[M'Sharak]

^ Well, Bernd doesn't like people linking directly to his images, at any rate. Linking to the page containing the image or hosting the images on one's own account are the methods he prefers.

ok can I have my time back please

Got Chronoton particles ? (TM)

I didn't really like the phasers that much either.

They were WAAAY better than the phasers in TMP & STII, but still, why not use the ultimate design, especially when telling a past-times story?

I liked 'em. They looked enough like the TOS models to keep me happy.

From a distance, in the movie, they looked okay, but have you examined the (well-done) toys at Target or anything? They're all silver & weird up close.

One thing here: Multi-Quote, please, instead of triple-posting. Three posts made within a few minutes could have been combined into a single post containing three replies. I'll fix this one for you.

As for the TOS phasers? LOLTOS Those looked idiotic to me. Looked more like something you take tire pressure with than an energy weapon.

You must be suffering from a reaction to retenaoyx.

The hell is retenaoyx?

I think he means Retinax V, which makes his statement both a TWoK reference and personal dig (joking, I presume) about someone's eyesight.

ONLY the phasers in ST III were a logical progression from TOS phasers; all others were, for lack of a better term, gos-se.

Your opinion, only.

And what the hell is "gos-se"?

Seems to be one of the Chinese words which were mixed into the dialogue on Firefly. This one carries a meaning equivalent to "crap", as far as I'm able to tell on short notice, and yeah, it's opinion.

 

[JuanBolio]

I disagree. The TOS phaser was classic, of course, and the STIII phaser was a natural progression from that and looked great, but the BEST is obviously the "assault phaser" from STV and STVI. Never before or since has a phaser looked so cool:

As for the new phasers - I like the overall shape and design okay, but the flip barrel has got to go.

 

[SonicRanger]

The new hand phasers suck, in fact...

Someone needs to teach you the difference between fact and opinion.

 

[Shatmandu]

I enjoy the look of the new ones, but the sound is not to my liking: it's too twee.

Needs to be deeper for Stun and even deeper for Kill.

Pronunciation: \ˈtwē\
Function: adjective
Etymology: baby-talk alteration of sweet
Date: 1905 chiefly British :

affectedly or excessively dainty, delicate, cute, or quaint <such a theme might sound twee or corny>

 

[DiSiLLUSiON]

I enjoy the look of the new ones, but the sound is not to my liking: it's too twee.

Needs to be deeper for Stun and even deeper for Kill.

Agreed. *piew* *piew*

 

[Too Much Fun]

I really like how the TNG hand-held phasers didn't look like guns. It was an effective conceit to make me forget that they were basically the 24th century equivalent of guns. I saw TNG first, so I was surprised when I saw 60s "Star Trek" for the first time and they were referring to what were clearly guns as phasers.

I also found it kind of weird that Lily called a phaser a 'ray gun' in "Star Trek: First Contact" (although I liked the joke) because at first I didn't realize it even had a traditional gun-like handle below the barrel (unlike the ones on the TV show, which were just flat).

 

[Creedence]

EVERY phaser since TOS has sucked, & with the arguable exception of Star Trek 3, SUCKED BADLY. TOS phasers were and are the most interestingly designed & executed sci-fi weapon EVER. I'm just glad that the camera didn't linger much on the newest bad redesign of an all-time classic. Is there a different opinion out there? And if so, how much gold-pressed latinum did it take to buy you off?

Well, different timeline, different things. No problem.

The new phasers are just fine. Certainly no worse that the original version that looks like it was powered by the little cricket phaser that was piggy-backed on it.

Just saying.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

As rayguns and other science fiction weapons go phasers have become kind of silly things anyway.

Phasers at dawn, then. I recommend you get your affairs in order.

Unnecessary, if your weapons of choice are those silly little rayguns.

 

[ST-One]

EVERY phaser since TOS has sucked,

They do??? Where can I get one??

Yeah, where?

 

[SonicRanger]

EVERY phaser since TOS has sucked, & with the arguable exception of Star Trek 3, SUCKED BADLY. TOS phasers were and are the most interestingly designed & executed sci-fi weapon EVER. I'm just glad that the camera didn't linger much on the newest bad redesign of an all-time classic...

You wouldn't want the camera to linger too long on most of the TOS phaser props. A very few looked nice, but many looked more like this...

http://www.saucersoverhollywood.com/prop58.JPG
http://startrekpropauthority.blogspot.com/2009/03/star-trek-original-series-stunt-type-ii.html

... and they were all rather irregular and inconsistent:

http://startrekpropauthority.blogspot.com/2008/08/star-trek-original-series-pistol.html