Modular Hand Phaser

[Prologic9]

The hand laser has the advantage of, even when rotating the barrels, they still point downrange. The JJ version, with the barrels swinging around sideways is beyond idiotic, because if something goes wrong with the circuit that tells the phaser which barrel to fire, you could very well wind up disintegrating yourself.

Tangent;

It is soooo stupid. And they did it just because it "looks cool."

Trek Tek is generally cool because there's some measure of discernible logic to it that makes it feel real. That's what distinguishes it from the random blasters and zappers of other material. It's a very big part of Trek's style and they completely missed it in XI.

The Tricorder doesn't even have a display. WTF.

 

[SonicRanger]

... And I'm reminded that though alot of people have claimed there was a hand phaser underneath that cowling, I've never seen any indication of it before. Actually, I was pretty sure the cowling just covers the internal guts of the weapon like the ENT phase pistols.

The guy far left...

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tffhd/ch6/tffhd0709.jpg

... slides open the cowling for an instant.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

The Tricorder doesn't even have a display. WTF.

I'm not sure the original ones did either, considering redshirts, doctors and even Spock constantly held tricorders with the displays pointed away from them.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

... And I'm reminded that though alot of people have claimed there was a hand phaser underneath that cowling, I've never seen any indication of it before. Actually, I was pretty sure the cowling just covers the internal guts of the weapon like the ENT phase pistols.

The guy far left...

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tffhd/ch6/tffhd0709.jpg

... slides open the cowling for an instant.

Yeah, I remember that. I don't remember EVER seeing a little Phaser-1 tucked in behind that cowling. It isn't there in the ENT-style phase cannon either, which has the same type of pop-up cowling and a bunch of mechanical junk that is essentially the guts of the weapon.

And I vividly remember having the playmates (I think it was) version. The cowling slid forward, but there was nothing there, just a slide and a panel that looked like it should have some kind of display.

 

[Gepard]

Yeah, I remember that. I don't remember EVER seeing a little Phaser-1 tucked in behind that cowling. ...
And I vividly remember having the playmates (I think it was) version. The cowling slid forward, but there was nothing there, just a slide and a panel that looked like it should have some kind of display.

For what it's worth, the high-end Master Replicas version of the assault phaser does indeed include a P1 that fits under the cowl. I'd like to say it's replicated from one that was screen-used, but I think I also recall reading somewhere that it was based on a Richard Coyle concept piece and wasn't used with the props during filming.

 

[Timo]

Who says that doesn't fire some kind of laser beam? It's not like we saw it in action in the film.

Actually, I'd rather argue that the weapons seen in "The Cage" fire phaser beams. They just have a laser as a second option, plus apparently a third weapon integrated into the same unit as well. That's why there's the rotating front end: for selecting which weapon is in use.

That's a bit like having a M-203 bolted under your M-16, plus a bayonet attached. Very handy in some situations, but rather clumsy in many others. So the concept of adding a laser into your hand phaser might go out of favor soon after "The Cage", only to resurface every so often.

The Kelvin phasers do have a sort of kitbashed look to them, though I think between the two movie designs they're a bit closer to the original TOS style.

I think they look less like toys or props than the TOS pistols do. From a suitable distance, that is; up close, one wouldn't expect to see crude workmanship on a weapon. But that's just movie reality for ya.

I actually liked the rotating nozzle concept. Fits with my long running theory that stun and kill settings aren't just power levels and are in fact two COMPLETELY different types of weapon energy. Plus it seems a tad safer if you can immediately tell what the weapon's setting is just by looking at it.

Agreed. And I'd extend that to the "The Cage" weapons as well. Plus the rifle from "Where No Man", of course.

Your link doesn't work.

Just copy and paste. Nobody seems to allow hotlinking nowadays, and I really can't be bothered to upload such pictures to some free server when all this does is take fame and popularity away from the original site - which in this case really deserves it, for being such a good and complete resource to the Trek sidearms.

And I'm reminded that though alot of people have claimed there was a hand phaser underneath that cowling, I've never seen any indication of it before.

Well, now you do.

I think they really should have had more of those ST5 phasers end up in the hands of bounty hunters and the like, instead of that silver lookin' version with the leather grip. I mean look at bad guys who use old AK-47s and Kalishnakovs

Hmh? If anything, those silver things look like the Trek equivalent of Kalashnikov, while the ST5 phasers would be fancy-schmancy plastic guns like FA MAS or the P-90...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Warp Rider]

One of the officers called them Hand Lasers, in the Cage. I have the episode. The barrels just amplified the beam's power and intensity from what I saw on how they were used in the episode.

 

[Timo]

Yeah - Joe Tyler said the lasers didn't penetrate the door. Had they been carrying those M-16s with M-203 grenade launchers and bayonets attached, and they had fired the grenade launchers, Tyler would be saying "the grenades didn't penetrate the door", not "the bullets didn't penetrate the door" or "the bayonets didn't penetrate the door". Doesn't mean the sidearms wouldn't have had phaser functionality, then, in addition to having cutting lasers.

Three barrels... Cutting laser, kill phaser, stun phaser?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nick Ryder]

Makes sense... although let's not get too hung up on calling them "lasers" - that WAS the absolute FIRST Trek... and there were lasers but not "phasers" to make it copyrightable. All space adventurers at that time had "Laser Pistols" it wasn't until after they retooled the show that they became the well known name of "phasers". I always just imagine them calling them laser pistols "phaser pistols" and leaving it at that.

The BEST tricorder I think has always been the latter DS9/Voyager style one, had enough pretty lights on top to look like it was scanning for all kinds of things. Although I did like the Nemesis tricorder, that looked more like a PDA. Always thought that a scanning instrument of any kind should have a decent sized screen. Even the TOS one had that teeeeny tiny screen that they rarely used anyway.

 

[Captain Robert April]

I'm pretty sure Spock was the only one to hold his tricorder with the display away from him; everyone else studiously looked at the display.

Presumably, this was because Spock could tell from subtle changes in the sound just what the tricorder was picking up.

 

[Longinus]

For what it's worth, the high-end Master Replicas version of the assault phaser does indeed include a P1 that fits under the cowl. I'd like to say it's replicated from one that was screen-used, but I think I also recall reading somewhere that it was based on a Richard Coyle concept piece and wasn't used with the props during filming.

It really does not matter whether the filming models had tiny phasers in them or not. We did not see them on screen, so there is no conclusive evidence. That's that.

 

[Captain Robert April]

If the feature was present in a higher end filming prop, I think that counts as fairly conclusive.

On the other hand, since we're talking about more of a field combat arm, which is clearly built more robustly than a standard phaser, the inclusion of a little Phaser I is pretty irrelevant.

 

[AJBryant]

The guy far left...

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tffhd/ch6/tffhd0709.jpg

... slides open the cowling for an instant.

And I've always hated that.

It's the "chamber a round" movement of a modern semi-automatic handgun, and it seems SO out of place (IMHO) in a Trek environment where I'd expect that you aren't "locking and loading" a bullet.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Getting back to that Kelvin phaser, I can handle the socket wrench pistol grip, and I suppose it looking like a Franklin Mint pewter replica can be dealt with, but what the frack is up with the fuel filter sticking out of the back of the thing?

 

[trevanian]

... And I'm reminded that though alot of people have claimed there was a hand phaser underneath that cowling, I've never seen any indication of it before. Actually, I was pretty sure the cowling just covers the internal guts of the weapon like the ENT phase pistols.

The guy far left...

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tffhd/ch6/tffhd0709.jpg

... slides open the cowling for an instant.

TFF coverage in AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER includes the operating diagram for the phaser, which explains how the 9-volt battery goes in, how to load the clip w/o jamming, and how the lil phaser goes inside. This isn't a speculative matter, it is how Greg Jein built it.

 

[trevanian]

The guy far left...

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tffhd/ch6/tffhd0709.jpg

... slides open the cowling for an instant.

And I've always hated that.

It's the "chamber a round" movement of a modern semi-automatic handgun, and it seems SO out of place (IMHO) in a Trek environment where I'd expect that you aren't "locking and loading" a bullet.

It is specific to the director's intent, that you have a weapon that has a limited load and you can run out of shots and have to reload or go hand-to-hand, rather than the water pistol look of TMP and the overslick SFS phaser. And it is just a showier way of addressing the phaser powerpack issue in OMEGA GLORY, if anybody wants to chase the continuity ghosts.

 

[Gepard]

TFF coverage in AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER includes the operating diagram for the phaser, which explains how the 9-volt battery goes in, how to load the clip w/o jamming, and how the lil phaser goes inside. This isn't a speculative matter, it is how Greg Jein built it.

Good to know.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Getting back to that Kelvin phaser, I can handle the socket wrench pistol grip, and I suppose it looking like a Franklin Mint pewter replica can be dealt with, but what the frack is up with the fuel filter sticking out of the back of the thing?

Recharge port. Probably plugs into a cable or something in the ship's armory.

 

[Longinus]

TFF coverage in AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER includes the operating diagram for the phaser, which explains how the 9-volt battery goes in, how to load the clip w/o jamming, and how the lil phaser goes inside. This isn't a speculative matter, it is how Greg Jein built it.

Well, technically the little phaser is still not canon, as we didn't see it on the screen, no matter if the prop had it. Not that I particularly have anything against this type of phaser being modular.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Isn't that getting into the realm of trisecting hairs?