Favorite Phasers!

[Timo]

Well look at it this way... our military does not still use muskets instead of modern guns... we use modern guns... because we've advanced beyond the tech of muskets.

Technically speaking, there's not much difference between a musket and a "modern gun". The main distinguishing factor would be the presence or absence of rifling - but some of the most advanced modern guns installed on main battle tanks are unrifled, for a variety of reasons. Essentially, just big muskets. Also, the practice of packing the propelling explosive in a casing that's integrated to the bullet may have been a passing fad: some modern guns return to the idea of loading the gunpowder separately, so that the gun becomes caseless (much neater and faster that way) and can perhaps adjust the amount of propellant used. Field pieces certainly go for the adjustable propellant trick now, returning to long-bygone days and showing there's not much new under the sun. Should the situation really be different above the sun...?

Anyway, if it's "a bit silly" that the Feds are stuck with phaser tech for 600 years, what should we make of the fact that the Star Trek galaxy at large has apparently been stuck with similar tech for billions of years? I mean, TAS makes it clear the Slavers had it a full billion years ago (while failing to make the original Niven point that the Slavers left no heritage) - how come the thousands of succeeding cultures never advanced past that initial work? Can it be that a Trek culture never comes to meaningful contact with its immediate predecessor culture, and fails to "have the baton handed over"?

My favorite phaser? Varies from day to day, really. Today, I value the ST3 guns for carrying the TOS heritage in a plausible manner, although I also have a soft spot for the barely glimpsed guns aboard the Kelvin for the very same reason.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[The Inquisitor]

My personal fave is the compression phaser rifle, simply because it looks cool.

In regards to the history of the gun there have been some major developments over the centuries but these tend to be few and far between and followed by only minor improvements in the period between breakthroughs (in materials etc).

After rifling and the step up to using a single cartridge over powder and shot, the next breakthrough was Hiram Maxims machine gun. The most recent development that can be called a major breakthrough is the 'metal storm' weapon system that does away with the shell casing and has a 1 million rpm capability.

I should imagine similar technological improvements would have occurred throughout the history of the phaser, starting with the ability to stun and ending with the 'vaporise' setting.

You have to ask yourself though, how much more powerful could a phaser get without being too dangerous for a starfleet officer to carry? You wouldn't want to accidentally discharge your weapon on a starship with the phaser accidentally set to 'annihilate' and blow half the ship off.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I don't like the "curved" handle phaser. My preference is the straight handle...can't remember which season of TNG it was introduced in. That's my favorite.

 

[bullethead]

The Assault Phaser and the First Contact era phaser rifles are my favorites.

 

[Cwj]

I was watching "ST-VI, TUC" again the other day, and have come to like the assault phaser.
Notice that during the zero-gravity assault, the phaser beam actually burns right through the Klingons. Brutal. I wonder what setting that would be...heat?

 

[Cwj]

I don't like the "curved" handle phaser. My preference is the straight handle...can't remember which season of TNG it was introduced in. That's my favorite.

One of these?
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/gallery/stmagazine/phasers2.jpg

 

[TIN_MAN]

I kinda lean toward the Brad Nelson phase II phasers, but I wish he'd kept closer to the original in a few details, like the Power pack/grip and the "barrel", otherwise I think his were logical upgrades and definite improvements to the originals.

 

[SonicRanger]

I hate the VOY phaser rifles -- so hokey.

 

[Crewman47]

I like the late Voyager type 2 Phasers and the Rifles introduced in First Contact and Insurrection. The one thing I could never work out though about them was the settings on them. Cause there are around 16 settings there doesn't seem to be an easy way to alter the setting easily just by the two buttons on the Phaser. Also one button alters the beam intensity (level setting) and the other alters the width but yet there's been times when we've people use the buttons to do more than just that, also on one occasion we've seen someone pushing the buttons in a sequence.

 

[John Clark]

I liked the design of the Assault Phasers

 

[Nero's Shadow]

I've always liked the TOS phasers all them dials and knobs I also like the new phasers from new film pity they were shiny chrome should had been gun metal grey !!

 

[Crazy Eddie]

I like the late Voyager type 2 Phasers and the Rifles introduced in First Contact and Insurrection. The one thing I could never work out though about them was the settings on them. Cause there are around 16 settings there doesn't seem to be an easy way to alter the setting easily just by the two buttons on the Phaser. Also one button alters the beam intensity (level setting) and the other alters the width but yet there's been times when we've people use the buttons to do more than just that, also on one occasion we've seen someone pushing the buttons in a sequence.

The type-2 phasers in TNG (post-dustbuster) and on actually had seven buttons: the usual trigger and controls, three function buttons on the back and two underneath.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The STVI phasers were cool. I also liked the ones in "The Cage" (I'm assuming they're phasers and not lasers, owing to how they act and the fact that ENT and STXI retconned phasers much further back in Trek history)

 

[Commodore_Rook]

My three favs are:
1. TOS Phaser II (perfection!!! When they figured out the color scheme to use!! lol)
2. TSFS Trek III Retro Phaser II (nice nod to the originals!)
3. Assualt Phaser from Trek V/VI (a rugid version of the standard phasers!)

Hates:
1. TMP/TWOK (Just plain UGLY! and bulky YUK!)
2. NuTOS Phaser (too Flash Gordonish/chrome DOUBLE YUK!)
3. TNG Dustbusters (way too big--just not a phaser!!!)

What ever happen to that little Phaser I TNG (Cricket I believe?) had in first and second season??? I liked that one....

 

[Captain Robert April]

Gotta go with TOS. Most thought out and adaptable of the whole lot.

 

[Commodore_Rook]

The STVI phasers were cool. I also liked the ones in "The Cage" (I'm assuming they're phasers and not lasers, owing to how they act and the fact that ENT and STXI retconned phasers much further back in Trek history)

No, actually those seen in The Cage are "Lasers". The ENT pistols were known as "Phase Pistols", not quite "Phasers" as we know.

 

[Admiral_Young]

The assault phasers are very cool.

 

[BolianAuthor]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfj1n8vPWCE[/yt]

 

[Crewman47]

I like the late Voyager type 2 Phasers and the Rifles introduced in First Contact and Insurrection. The one thing I could never work out though about them was the settings on them. Cause there are around 16 settings there doesn't seem to be an easy way to alter the setting easily just by the two buttons on the Phaser. Also one button alters the beam intensity (level setting) and the other alters the width but yet there's been times when we've people use the buttons to do more than just that, also on one occasion we've seen someone pushing the buttons in a sequence.

The type-2 phasers in TNG (post-dustbuster) and on actually had seven buttons: the usual trigger and controls, three function buttons on the back and two underneath.

Most of the sources I've checked don't show a sign of any more than three buttons as seen in the pic below:

Where are the other buttons supposed to be?

 

[Crazy Eddie]

I like the late Voyager type 2 Phasers and the Rifles introduced in First Contact and Insurrection. The one thing I could never work out though about them was the settings on them. Cause there are around 16 settings there doesn't seem to be an easy way to alter the setting easily just by the two buttons on the Phaser. Also one button alters the beam intensity (level setting) and the other alters the width but yet there's been times when we've people use the buttons to do more than just that, also on one occasion we've seen someone pushing the buttons in a sequence.

The type-2 phasers in TNG (post-dustbuster) and on actually had seven buttons: the usual trigger and controls, three function buttons on the back and two underneath.

Most of the sources I've checked don't show a sign of any more than three buttons as seen in the pic below:

Where are the other buttons supposed to be?

In the upgraded phasers (depicted above) those rectangular panels on the top and bottom of the phaser were retconned into "access panels" or something. The original TNG prop, however, had those panels painted with small labels and implied to be actual buttons you could use to toggle functions to be controlled by the regular buttons above the trigger. So IIRC: if you wanted to increase beam width, you'd press the top left button above the power indicator and then press the right button above the trigger. Beam intensity would be top right button. You could also adjust burst time using the buttons on the underside, and one of them even sets an "autofire" function where the phaser can be set to fire all by itself. And of course, one of them also sets the timer for phaser overload.