Balance of Terror - Are they phasers?

[Scrambo]

Everytime i watch this episode i always end up confused.

Why are the "phasers" in this episode pretty much photon torpedoes? I always ask this at the end of the episode.

Anyone have an idea why?

 

[TIN_MAN]

They're referred to as "proximity blast" phasers "in universe" so they just look coincidently like torpedoes, that's all.

In the real world, the spfx used was the same later used for Photon torpedoes when they got around to inventing the term.

 

[blssdwlf]

Phasers fired in "proximity blast" mode. Good for very extreme distance shots or for detonating near a hard to see enemy. They used this same effect/mode in "Errand of Mercy". In DS9's "The Adversary" a similar effect can be seen when they set their phaser rifles to fire an "expanding energy pulse".

http://ds9.trekcore.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=55&page=15 (look to the bottom row of images)

 

[MANT!]

Yes as stated before..
they are "Phasers set to proximity blast.."

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Proximity_blast

 

[Scrambo]

ah thanks. oooh it know means i can now sound extra geeky when hubby asks next time i make him watch hahaha.

 

[Warped9]

I always hated that when the episode was remastered they added photon torpedo sounds to the phaser bolts.

 

[blssdwlf]

They did? Ack I didn't notice but I've only watched the FX remastered once or twice out of curiosity. I have the old version DVDs

 

[Wingsley]

The weird phaser inconsistency is the only flaw I've found in an otherwise brilliant episode. Too bad the studio couldn't find a way to use editing tricks to make Kirk say "torpedoes" instead of "phasers".

 

[Warped9]

They did? Ack I didn't notice but I've only watched the FX remastered once or twice out of curiosity. I have the old version DVDs

I'm not talking about TOS-R. Back in the '70s when we watched the reruns those phaser blasts were silent (which they would be in the vacuum of space). But on the DVD set I have (the ones in the clamshell cases) they added the photon torpedo sound f/x. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

 

[Captain Robert April]

I'll confirm that. Originally, there was no sound effect for the weapons fire.

 

[BlobVanDam]

They did? Ack I didn't notice but I've only watched the FX remastered once or twice out of curiosity. I have the old version DVDs

I'm not talking about TOS-R. Back in the '70s when we watched the reruns those phaser blasts were silent (which they would be in the vacuum of space). But on the DVD set I have (the ones in the clamshell cases) they added the photon torpedo sound f/x. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

How dare they add a sound effect! Blasphemy to the scientific accuracy of TOS!

 

[Harvey]

They did? Ack I didn't notice but I've only watched the FX remastered once or twice out of curiosity. I have the old version DVDs

I'm not talking about TOS-R. Back in the '70s when we watched the reruns those phaser blasts were silent (which they would be in the vacuum of space). But on the DVD set I have (the ones in the clamshell cases) they added the photon torpedo sound f/x. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I'm all for scientific accuracy, but most of Star Trek featured starships roaring by when in the vacuum of space. Silence might be more accurate, but it's not at all consistent with the rest of the series. Nothing worth getting riled up over, that's for sure.

 

[Timo]

Both phasers and torpedoes would be fine for the purposes of the episode. What the ship should not have is dedicated weapons for smoking out an invisible ship, because our heroes didn't believe in invisible ships before this episode.

This is why a one-off appearance of a weapon type or weapon setting is a bit irksome. It smacks of the Enterprise having dedicated anti-cloak weapons when she absolutely should not. A bit like a ship from the 1750s having antisubmarine weaponry when the concept of submarines is still regarded as "theoretical".

Apart from that, it's not too difficult to believe that phasers could "detonate" at a distance. They are scifi death rays, after all: the show hasn't introduced enough evidence yet that they would not be incapable of that. Perhaps the phasing effect slips out of its confining subspace jacket at a preset distance or something?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[blssdwlf]

This is why a one-off appearance of a weapon type or weapon setting is a bit irksome. It smacks of the Enterprise having dedicated anti-cloak weapons when she absolutely should not. A bit like a ship from the 1750s having antisubmarine weaponry when the concept of submarines is still regarded as "theoretical".

It's not entirely "one-off" as it made two appearances (and three if you count DS9). Anyway, since the Enterprise could fire 3 pulses before moving on to the next phaser bank, the implication is that each shot is only 1/3rd the charge of a full phaser double-beam attack.

 

[Warped9]

The point is it worked as originally shown and the fact there is a specific spoken reference to phasers. And so I really don't like the change made to add a sound effect that's clearly representative of something else. It ranks up there with them adding a visible beam to Scotty's phaser in "The Naked Time." Some things work just as they are---leave it the fuck alone.

 

[Hambone]

Why are the "phasers" in this episode pretty much photon torpedoes?

They're depth charges.

 

[Ssosmcin]

They did? Ack I didn't notice but I've only watched the FX remastered once or twice out of curiosity. I have the old version DVDs

I'm not talking about TOS-R. Back in the '70s when we watched the reruns those phaser blasts were silent (which they would be in the vacuum of space). But on the DVD set I have (the ones in the clamshell cases) they added the photon torpedo sound f/x. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Yup, which is why I've held onto my VHS tapes and Laserdiscs. The sound mix is totally different, and it's the one I grew up with. Beginning with the DVD's, Trek has never sounded right.

 

[SchwEnt]

Just for the hell of it, I'll add that the Enterprise phasers in TWOK are perhaps the same type setting used in this eps.

Rather than the long steady phaser beam, we see "proximity blasts" in this eps and phaser bursts or pulses in the movie. And again, the Defiant's phasers fire similar bursts rather than the usual steady beam.
Evidently there must be all kinds of settings for phasers.

 

[Jonas Grumby]

This is why a one-off appearance of a weapon type or weapon setting is a bit irksome. It smacks of the Enterprise having dedicated anti-cloak weapons when she absolutely should not. A bit like a ship from the 1750s having antisubmarine weaponry when the concept of submarines is still regarded as "theoretical".

It's not entirely "one-off" as it made two appearances (and three if you count DS9).

And was also clearly described in the TOS Writer's Guide.

 

[Gary7]

The original had a mistake of showing on the bridge main view screen several phaser pulses coming at the Enterprise. It was right after Kirk has Uhura relay their position approaching the Neutral Zone. Looks very strange. I would have thought the first remastered DVD would at least correct this.

The point is it worked as originally shown and the fact there is a specific spoken reference to phasers. And so I really don't like the change made to add a sound effect that's clearly representative of something else. It ranks up there with them adding a visible beam to Scotty's phaser in "The Naked Time." Some things work just as they are---leave it the fuck alone.

I chalk it up to a kind of "preliminary" photon torpedo, conjured up using the phaser bank system. So it doesn't really bother me that much. Why does the adding of a beam to Scotty's phaser bother you? I understand it was left out for budgetary reasons and would have been done otherwise. So, putting in the beam is keeping with the intent.