You rate the TOS props

[ZapBrannigan]

Far and away my favorite TOS prop is the communicator. It's hard to overstate how much I wanted an accurate one as a kid, although oddly enough I never pursued it later in life.

Massively awesome website here: http://www.herocomm.com/Home.htm

The tricorder is pretty cool, and its design goes beautifully with the communicator. I'd rank it second-favorite.

I never found any of the phaser props utterly arresting, but I like them a lot better than their counterparts on Lost in Space. They're more serious and interesting.

This would be purely a matter of taste, but I think the Nuclear Chicago Model 2586 Radiation Survey Meter that Spock uses in the teaser of "The Naked Time" is a little better than the show-built, three-pronged "Ray Generator and Energy Neutralizer" prop that Scotty uses in "The Doomsday Machine," in the Constellation's engine room.

I think Scotty uses the 2586 meter in the teaser of "The Enemy Within" as well.

The egg-shaped laser beacon from "The Squire of Gothos" (also used as a soldering gun in "Doomsday") does little for me, but it doesn't put a drag on believability, either. So that's a wash.

The original (pre-CBS digital) helm chronometer was a favorite item of mine, especially as a kid when I thought it was sufficiently modern-looking.

So what are your favorite and least favorite props?

 

[EnriqueH]

I was always mesmerized by Spock's science blue-light eye-read-out-thingie.

I also liked the phaser that looks like the gun (not the electric shavers), and now that I'm older, I kinda like "The Cage" phaser too.

 

[Green Shirt]

The phaser was always my favorite, but could never figure out why the one in TMOST was not the same. I reasoned it was an earlier version that was never used. Funny that the real reason is it was photographed badly with heavy shadows.

That didn't stop AMT from apparently using the TMOST version as a guide for the Exploration Set model kit.

 

[Maab of the Ten Tribes]

I've always wanted the neural neutralizer prop from "Dagger of the Mind". Aesthetically I love that thing for some reason.

 

[Zaminhon]

I liked the Phaser (or Laser) cannon in The Cage. That was some heavy machinery that was wheeled out. I liked the effect as it blew away the rock face and turned the door white hot. I wish they used it in the regular series on occasion when they needed a high powered precision blast rather than shooting from orbit. I also liked those leaves that hummed on Talos IV - the only time Spock smiled when not under an influence.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

I liked the Phaser (or Laser) cannon in The Cage. That was some heavy machinery that was wheeled out. I liked the effect as it blew away the rock face and turned the door white hot. I wish they used it in the regular series on occasion when they needed a high powered precision blast rather than shooting from orbit.

That was neat, wasn't it? Though I always wondered how they got it down to the surface. Prior to its use, there are guys crawling all over it, apparently tinkering with it. Were its components beamed down, and those guys were assembling it?

 

[Push The Button]

The communicator is my favorite, just a really great design. The gold flip-top cover that doubled as an antenna was a nice touch.

 

[johnnybear]

I liked the Agonizer myself! Wish I had one or two around the place...
JB

 

[HigHurtenflurst]

I really liked the anti-gravs they used to hustle Nomad to the transporter room. Thought they looked really plausible and I always wanted a pair....

 

[Zaminhon]

I liked the electric shaver universal translator that was shown in Metamorphosis. That should have been standard equipment on the belts of all landing party members.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I liked the Agonizer myself! Wish I had one or two around the place...
JB

I'm not against that, as long as they're used by consenting adults. Same goes for an agony booth. Of course, try explaining that one when your relatives come for a stay.

 

[BillJ]

The communicator is my favorite, just a really great design. The gold flip-top cover that doubled as an antenna was a nice touch.

+1

 

[Green Shirt]

I liked the Agonizer myself! Wish I had one or two around the place...
JB

I'm not against that, as long as they're used by consenting adults. Same goes for an agony booth. Of course, try explaining that one when your relatives come for a stay.

Damn. You need a device or a booth to get your agony? I just look around.

 

[John Cooley]

The phaser was always my favorite, but could never figure out why the one in TMOST was not the same. I reasoned it was an earlier version that was never used. Funny that the real reason is it was photographed badly with heavy shadows.

That didn't stop AMT from apparently using the TMOST version as a guide for the Exploration Set model kit.

"TMOST"? I'm good. I mean-stump friends who have worked on the actual shows kind of good-but you got me with "TMOST". What is that?

John

 

[Green Shirt]

The Making of Star Trek, by Stephen Whitfield.

 

[John Cooley]

Ah, yeah that phaser was weird.

I thought you were referring to an episode title, it never occurred to me that you were referring to one of my favorite books. LOL

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

Ah, yeah that phaser was weird.

I don't quite remember the photo of which you guys speak, but I seem to remember a ruler lying next to the phaser with 'genius at work' etched on it. Is that right?

I thought you were referring to an episode title, it never occurred to me that you were referring to one of my favorite books. LOL

Those abbreviations can get goofy. I try not to use them, unless it's blatantly obvious what they mean. I'm always afraid that someone, somewhere will get confused by it, as I often am!

That one, in particular, always makes me think 'hostess with TMOSTest'

 

[ZapBrannigan]

So that shadow in the TMOST photo might explain why AMT got their phaser proportions wrong in Explorer set.

Interesting that Franz Joseph's phaser is so good (at least, not taken in by the shadows), considering that his communicator is significantly off the mark in both size and shape.

 

[Push The Button]

So that shadow in the TMOST photo might explain why AMT got their phaser proportions wrong in Explorer set.

Interesting that Franz Joseph's phaser is so good (at least, not taken in by the shadows), considering that his communicator is significantly off the mark in both size and shape.

"Magnatomic adhesion areas" = Velcro

 

[Green Shirt]

Interesting that Franz Joseph's phaser is so good (at least, not taken in by the shadows), considering that his communicator is significantly off the mark in both size and shape.

Joseph's phaser is inaccurate in some respects, but he didn't have access to screen caps like we do today. Two of the three I notice right off seem to be based off the TMOST photo - the rounded bottom of the grip and the flat line of the bottom of the main body. The third is that the top view shows the area around the forward lockplate as being concave, not convex. Still, great work for the time period.