Original Phaser Rifle Prop Found!

[ZapBrannigan]

The phaser rifle from WNM is going up for auction. See the March 12, 2013 entry at My Star Trek Scrapbook:

http://mystartrekscrapbook.blogspot.com/

And if you aren't familiar with that site, it's got a whole history of other good entries. Clear some time for it.

The actual auction he links to is here:

http://tinyurl.com/ccyrwpq

 

[Metryq]

I wonder if it is still holding any charge after all these years...

 

[bbailey861]

I'm very interested to see what this finally sells for. Damn, I wish I had hoards of cash lying around!

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I'm very interested to see what this finally sells for. Damn, I wish I had hoards of cash lying around!

You are not kidding! Who would not want the most one of a kind hand prop in ST history!

Thankfully, its lone appearance was not a throwaway, but part of an effective scene in one of the series' greatest episodes.

 

[Doug Otte]

Based upon those photos, it's in immaculate condition.

 

[SchwEnt]

Yeah, the condition is damn impressive. The custom case makes it really boss.

I've the other ST auction stuff couple years ago when Paramount cleaned house. For some reason, this one item blows them all away, at least for me. Why?

 

[MarsWeeps]

The phaser rifle from WNM is going up for auction. See the March 12, 2013 entry at My Star Trek Scrapbook:

http://mystartrekscrapbook.blogspot.com/
http://tinyurl.com/ccyrwpq

So where has it been all this time? I seriously doubt that this is the original. After reading about the guy that scammed a lot of people building fake "original" communicators, even with "letters of authenticity" this smells of something similar. The pictures shown don't look like a 45+ year old prop, it looks fairly new.

 

[StarCruiser]

And the sticker on it looks awful modern to me. "M-94A" with a serial number?

 

[SchwEnt]

A fake, phony, fraud?? Have we been tooken??

 

[Christopher]

So where has it been all this time? I seriously doubt that this is the original. After reading about the guy that scammed a lot of people building fake "original" communicators, even with "letters of authenticity" this smells of something similar. The pictures shown don't look like a 45+ year old prop, it looks fairly new.

The article says it's been kept in storage in its case since after the pilot, which is why it was never reused. So it would still be in pretty good condition. But the close-up photos show that it still has a lot of scratches, probably from shooting.

And the sticker on it looks awful modern to me. "M-94A" with a serial number?

Why does that number seem modern? If you're thinking it's by analogy with the M16 rifle, that was adopted by the USAF in 1962.

It's not a sticker, anyway; it looks to me like a metal plate, and it and the font seem consistent with the period. The materials look period-consistent too, including the repurposed parts -- the sight on top is a standard telescoping TV/radio antenna, and the lights on the right side look like Christmas-tree bulbs, maybe. And the color and texture of the body looks consistent with '60s materials to me.


Anyway, it's an interesting prop design. I like the three color-coded chambers, which apparently can be rotated into place to switch settings. I guess the colored squares on the back are meant to be buttons for selecting the settings, but I seem to remember seeing Kirk rotate the chambers manually at one point.

 

[Gepard]

So where has it been all this time? I seriously doubt that this is the original. After reading about the guy that scammed a lot of people building fake "original" communicators, even with "letters of authenticity" this smells of something similar. The pictures shown don't look like a 45+ year old prop, it looks fairly new.

The article says it's been kept in storage in its case since after the pilot, which is why it was never reused. So it would still be in pretty good condition. But the close-up photos show that it still has a lot of scratches, probably from shooting.

I was initially quite skeptical of this find for the same reasons as MarsWeeps, but after doing some reading around, amazingly, those very scratches helped authenticate it. They match damage visible on the prop in promotional photos with Shatner from all the way back in the '60s. Cool!

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I take it to be completely authentic. A hoaxer who built a replica would say "I acquired it from a collector who wishes to remain anonymous." This is meant to imply that a studio prop man stole it and sold it to the current owner. A lot of communicator fakes were shopped with that story.

But this guy selling the phaser rifle is right upfront about his own name and that he himself built it and lent it to the show. And he has papers and vintage photos of himself as a younger man demonstrating the prop.

 

[Maurice]

From a thread a while back...the history of the prop is sketched in.

... thanks to Harvey's research at UCLA, there's a better picture about what happened [re the phaser rifle]...

The Phaser rifle was built at no cost by the Reuben Klamer Toy Development Center in Beverly Hills. Klamer is famous for having reinvented "Checkered Game of Life" as the "Game of Life". He is also credited with inventing about 200 other toys.

I have informed Reuben Klamer of Toy Development Center, Inc. that he is to proceed with development and fabrication of one (and if possible two) STAR TREK Phaser rifle for use in episode #2. His firm will plan and execute it at no charge to us in return for certain rights in the product as discussed between you and him at this week’s meeting in my office. This particular arrangement applies to this Phaser rifle only.

July 2, 1965 memo to Ed Perlstein from Roddenberry​

So, it was Klamer's group that built the rifle. Note Roddenberry says "plan and execute", which implies they designed it.

...in any such arrangement would be in how much your craftsmen and shops can help the STAR TREK production unit in creation of items we may need, and even more specifically in design and fabrication of items which our writers have built into their scripts.

March 16, 1966 memo to Reuben Klamer from Roddenberry
​

So, once the series was a "go", Roddenberry was discussing with Klamer the possibility of having them make props, seemingly in a deal that would have been similar to what eventually happened with AMT.

I am sure Robert J. has told you this, but I am very much in favor of blowing the Klamer deal. In fact, let me be more definite about it -- I feel if we have this much trouble at this point, it would be most unwise to continue since they seem exactly the kind of people who will hang us up a few days before shooting and we would be in great trouble. We are proceeding with Matt Jefferies and a model maker based on a design which I gave Matt yesterday, a design which very much sets our thematic needs and still has considerable toy implication.

April 22, 1966 memo to Ed Perlstein from Roddenberry​

A month later, Roddenberry's had it with Klamer and is deciding to pull the plug. There's no indication that Klamer delivered any unusable prototypes, just that they are having difficulties.

Finally...

...As of this moment the entire matter is dead. If Klamer wants to work with us on any particular item he will first have to submit it to us and then after deliberation, we will determine whether or not we will proceed with him. Please rest assured that Klamer is not involved in the phaser rifle, phaser pistol, transicator or any other item.

April 22, 1966 memo to Ed Perlstein from Roddenberry​

 

[Christopher]

"Transicator?" Sounds like that might've been a working name for a translator/communicator unit.

I'm confused... the comments say that Klamer's company built the rifle, but the 4/22 memo says they didn't.

 

[feek61]

I have no doubt that this is the real deal; not a fake.

Roddenberry above was talking about the series as the pilot episode was filmed in July of 1965. Apparently a deal was proposed for Klamer to do the props for the show once it went into production but it didn't happen because Klamer was undependable.

 

[Christopher]

^Which suggests that they did have plans to make a different phaser rifle prop for the series proper, but never got around to it.

 

[Metryq]

I'm confused... the comments say that Klamer's company built the rifle, but the 4/22 memo says they didn't.

The prop department was located in Tholian space, and the rifle was caught in interphase. The episode "The Tholian Web" is a cover up of what really happened when Kirk went after his favorite gun.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

The prop department was located in Tholian space, and the rifle was caught in interphase. The episode "The Tholian Web" is a cover up of what really happened when Kirk went after his favorite gun.

The Desilu prop department might as well have been in Tholian hands, considering the anecdote in INSIDE STAR TREK (Solow, Justman). They took too long to make anything, charged a fortune, and when they finally produced a phaser pistol, Roddenberry examined it and said, "This is uh, uh... unacceptable."

 

[MarsWeeps]

...As of this moment the entire matter is dead. If Klamer wants to work with us on any particular item he will first have to submit it to us and then after deliberation, we will determine whether or not we will proceed with him. Please rest assured that Klamer is not involved in the phaser rifle, phaser pistol, transicator or any other item.

April 22, 1966 memo to Ed Perlstein from Roddenberry​

I'm confused... the comments say that Klamer's company built the rifle, but the 4/22 memo says they didn't.

I'm also confused, according to the quote above, Klamer did not build the phaser rifle. So, who did?

 

[Christopher]

^See the response to my post. The 4/22 memo was talking about the potential series version of the phaser rifle, not the pilot version.