And they couldn't think of anything that looked like it was developed after 1937?
Modular Hand Phaser
- Thread starter Crazy Eddie
- Start date
And they couldn't think of anything that looked like it was developed after 1937?
Funny you should say that.
In The Art of the Film book, the designers said that the Kelvin-era designs, from the ship to the props and uniforms, were intended to evoke 1930s/1940s sci-fi as well as Soviet cold-war designs.
That's why I pointed out that we've never seen a phaser I being removed from the phaser II. (that I can recall, maybe in TOS S3?)
So I guess none of them are canon, by that logic.
Lets make a list of all the things we've never actually seen on screen, so we know exactly what doesn't exist.
Since I don't know what phaser technology in the 2330s will look like, I'd say some coincidences are entirely possible.
Buster Crabbe had better looking weaponry, and those serials were actually made in the 1930's, so I'd say they failed miserably.
I'd say the hand lasers from "The Cage", i.e., the 2250's, should provide a big fat honking clue.
Aren't you one of the people who feels that the original series set and prop designs would work fine in a modern movie without being redesigned?
The ones that looked like they were designed by 1930s propmakers?
I do believe Sulu attaches his P1 to a P2 in The Enemy Within. But I don't think we've ever seen one being removed. The functionality is not in dispute though.
That's not what we got. We got a cross between a TOS phaser and garden hose spray nozzle. Or, in the case of the phasers from the later part of the movie, chrome plated squirt guns.
No, I mean – and I don't want to go accusing you of holding this view if that's not what you believe, which is why I was asking – aren't you one of the people who feels that a nakedly 1960s design aesthetic (as in, literally designed in the 1960s) is perfectly acceptable as what the future "really" looks like, and also hold to the belief that a modern audience would agree with you? Because if so, it's pretty hypocritical to criticize a 1930s-inspired design that we didn't even see on-screen as being silly.
There's a difference between something that was designed in the 1960's and something that's a blatant 1960's design. There's nothing particularly "sixties" about the designs of either the Enterprise or the hand props (the jury is still out with regard to the costumes). You want blatant 1960's designs, go look at "Lost In Space" or "Land of the Giants".
Again, what we got was blatant pandering to the stereotypical views of Star Trek held by the general know-nothing public, not what was actually in the show. We might call this the Trelane approach, knowing the forms but none of the substance.
Again, what we got was blatant pandering to the stereotypical views of Star Trek held by the general know-nothing public, not what was actually in the show. We might call this the Trelane approach, knowing the forms but none of the substance.
In that case, I'll go ahead and say there's nothing 1930s about the Kelvin phaser, either, and both our arbitrary claims will be equally valid.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
Boy, I'm wondering if I need to apply this thought to nearly everything done to Trek post 1969, and especially post DS9.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
In that case, I'll go ahead and say there's nothing 1930s about the Kelvin phaser, either, and both our arbitrary claims will be equally valid.
If they had wanted to capture more of the 60s feel in TOS,they'd've needed more money than they had. 60s designwise is hugely Saarinen, and since TOS couldn't build curved forms, Saarinen was not a possibility. Then, when they COULD afford compound curves for phase 2, they built an insanely crappy looking bridge with them. They went out of their way to do tons of props in plastic for TMP, which to a viewer's eye, look cheaper than the metal props of TOS ... was that an era/style decision, or one based on their perception of future tech?
The chairs in TOS are very period, but very little else outside of the skirts reflect that for me, and this is something of interest to me, as my wife is obsessed with midcentury and 60s design.
I know the Abrams designers have invoked Saarinen, but very little of this flick's stuff even brushes up against his work, and most of it works actively against it IMO.
If TOS had really been trying to take advantage of 60-look (then-contemporary) stuff, they'd've been filming at what is now the ENCOUNTERS restaurant at LAX at every opportunity ... that would have given the 60s-future look in spades (and dated the show in a more concrete and undeniable way, like SPACE 1999 costumes and lighting evoke the 70s.)
^I guess I agee with you, because to me, TOS has always evoked thoughts of the '60's (in time period and sensibility mainly, not design), not the otherway around. If TOS came to mind every time I thought of the 60's (design wise) then I would argue that the production design is in agreement the standard school of design of the period. TOS is an iconic fixture of the 1960's, and I'm sure were it produced in another decade, it would look different, but there's really nothing about it that screams 1960's to me.
When viewed in a 1960's context, the design of the Enterprise is downright stodgy. Kinda like Barry Goldwater attending Woodstock.
I-Am-Zim
Captain
I totally agree here. The Kelvin "LASER" should have looked a little more like what we saw in "The Cage" since it was supposed to take place 30+ years prior to TOS. The lack of research/respect the writers/director/crew had for TOS reinforces the theory that the Kelvin and indeed the entire Abramsverse is a completely separate alternate universe completely disconnected from the Star Trek universe we know.
True. The Kelvin versions do look more like TOS phasers. However, they shouldn't look that way. They were 30 years older than the TOS versions. They should have looked more like Pike's laser from "The Cage". That is if JJA and his crack team of "Trekkie" writers had bothered to actually do any research into the history of Star Trek before they made this parody.
Agree 1000%!
Why couldn't they have used something more like this:
Found these on Ebay. They are TOS phaser concept prototypes. They are close to the originals but just different enough to have worked in the new movie. I think so anyway.
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