Your Favorite Starfleet Ship Phaser

[Akiraprise]

I was just watching TWOK the other night and realized that I really like the phaser effects they used in that movie. Strictly aesthetically from the way they look to the sound. I like the alternating pulse beams way better than the steady beam used in TOS and TNG/VOY on. Guess I've got an affinity for the rapid fire phasers because I thought the Defiant kicked butt too. I liked that the Enterprise in ST09 kind of came back to that TWOK style. Being a curious sort of fellow I thought I'd come here and ask the age old question of my fellow Trekkies. What's your favorite phaser?

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaVIIoRKBlk[/yt]

 

[2takesfrakes]

ILM brought a very mixed bag to The Wrath of Khan, but one of the things they did absolutely right was the phaser fire. It was the solution to that particular design problem. Also, I understand ILM's concern that the photon torpedoes, at that time, were too "pretty" in the movies. Whilst they did alter the look slightly, I'm glad they kept it, pretty much. It was kind of cool, I always thought and not a look for a weapon I've seen in any other vintage science fiction. Also, the hand phasers used in STAR TREK II had a very cool effect. I liked that it was multiple lasers joining at a single point, to be more devistating, I guess. Again, this is a signature look and style and it was very good. But, at the end of the day, I would rather they just keep space battles brief and to the point, over the prettyness. Especially when it's fairly obvious who's going to win. Why drag it out, unless the scales could be tipped, either way? Even then, when a battle goes on for minutes, that's just way too long ...

 

[BillJ]

I like the steady beams from TOS.

 

[Praxius]

I always loved the Defiant's Phasers.... always seemed to have more punch to them.
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vSp9CLyImA[/yt]
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-aelI7fAF4[/yt]

 

[Akiraprise]

Also, the hand phasers used in STAR TREK II had a very cool effect. I liked that it was multiple lasers joining at a single point, to be more devistating, I guess. Again, this is a signature look and style and it was very good. But, at the end of the day, I would rather they just keep space battles brief and to the point, over the prettyness. Especially when it's fairly obvious who's going to win. Why drag it out, unless the scales could be tipped, either way? Even then, when a battle goes on for minutes, that's just way too long ...

TWOK, I thought, had just the right amount of space battle to satisfy. Plus they did away with the shield trope, which is one thing that plagued the NEM space battle. Pretty to look at but all the reroute power here and there was crap.

I also liked the hand phasers in TWOK.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Oh, I agree about trying to create some sense of "realism" or "urgency" or whatever they were trying to do with the "divert power to the aft shields to compensate!". This is a whole lot of nothing going on and shouldn't be in the movie, anyway. There's a problem that isn't actually a problem yet (shield in need of power). Now that they've diverted the resources to it via dialogue, nothing bad's going to happen. If that doesn't scream "cutting room floor," then I don't know what does. I understand that the actors can't be overshadowed by the effects, but that kind of writing just blows.

 

[Richard Baker]

The bright blue TOS Beam is still my favorite.
Star Wars made it common to see beam weapons as packets of energy looking like WW2 footage (which was their goal all along).
TNG had nice steady beams also and the phaser strips gathering the energy from both ends to the point of fire was nice, but the classic blue had a unique look to it that I really like...

 

[kirk55555]

I like the TNG phasers. They're what I always think of when I think of phasers.

 

[anh165]

Where is the USS Vengeance phasers?

I would personally rate them as the most aesthetically exciting type of phaser.

TWOK and JJ Prise pulse ties in at 2nd.

TOS beam is a bit unbelievable.

 

[Bisz]

I like the TNG phasers. They're what I always think of when I think of phasers.

This.

I appreciate the look and punch of the Defiant's pulse phasers, but to me a ship phaser is what the E-D has. I like the effect of the strip, the continuous beam, the colour.

 

[Cyke101]

One of the main reasons why I love DS9 space battles is because you'll often see two kinds of phasers: the standard TNG, and the Defiant's own pulse phasers. And with that said, I imagine they could work well in conjunction with each other visually, like the USS Kelvin's weaponry.

 

[Enterprise1701]

One of the main reasons why I love DS9 space battles is because you'll often see two kinds of phasers: the standard TNG, and the Defiant's own pulse phasers. And with that said, I imagine they could work well in conjunction with each other visually, like the USS Kelvin's weaponry.

And that's why I the U.S.S. Aventine from the novels. The Vesta class Aventine has both phaser arrays and phaser cannons. So I can imagine it firing both TNG era beams and TNG era bolts.

 

[Praxius]

One of the main reasons why I love DS9 space battles is because you'll often see two kinds of phasers: the standard TNG, and the Defiant's own pulse phasers. And with that said, I imagine they could work well in conjunction with each other visually, like the USS Kelvin's weaponry.

Well the Defiant did have both as the regular phaser array was located on the top/bottom of the hull but wasn't used often.

 

[Cyke101]

One of the main reasons why I love DS9 space battles is because you'll often see two kinds of phasers: the standard TNG, and the Defiant's own pulse phasers. And with that said, I imagine they could work well in conjunction with each other visually, like the USS Kelvin's weaponry.

Well the Defiant did have both as the regular phaser array was located on the top/bottom of the hull but wasn't used often.

I'm well aware of that, but the advantage of having fleet battles is that you can have the Defiant focus on one type and, say, a Miranda or Galaxy focus on the other.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Since this is a radio button poll, I gotta go with TOS. It was what I was introduced in Trek to, and it's always wowed me.

If this were a check box poll, I'd also check TWOK (Pulse Beams), TNG/VOY (Steady Beam), and DS9 (Defiant Pulse Cannons). I was wowed by the Reliant attacking the Enterprise and by the first time Defiant fired her pulse phasers. I wasn't wowed by TNG phasers until the combination attack volley in "The Survivors," but they've always been at least an adequate successor to TOS phasers.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I liked the big, cartoony, chunky TOS beams. TOS-R made them too thin, IMO.

The Kelvin weapons are probably my favourite. Modernized TOS red beams and rapid fire miniature photons. And the original TOS sound effects played on the bridge as callouts whenever they fired!

 

[SPCTRE]

I like a... steady beam. (Pauses uncomfortably.)

 

[Cyke101]

I liked the big, cartoony, chunky TOS beams. TOS-R made them too thin, IMO.

The Kelvin weapons are probably my favourite. Modernized TOS red beams and rapid fire miniature photons. And the original TOS sound effects played on the bridge as callouts whenever they fired!

I like to think that their turrets were inspired by or part of the same lineage as the NX-01's phase cannons, too.

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About the TNG/VOY/DS9 steady streams -- is it just me, or was the nature of the phaser array really unique for the 80s? I don't think we've had anything like that since then either in other fiction. The idea of the phaser strip acting as a mobile turret, but with the strip itself being more like a ship-long lens with no visible turret to speak of, is one-of-a-kind. Plus, the original idea for two energy glows colliding to combine and fire the phaser beam is neat.

 

[Galileo7]

I like the steady beams from TOS.

Agree.

 

[Memory Alpha]

TNG / VOY steady beam. Later in TNG the beam itself got more detailed and visually pleasing. I liked the yellowish steady beam the Cardassians or someone had probably best of all.

For the hand phasers, definitely the DS9 / VOY phaser with the curved handle. I was never real crazy about the pistol look mainly because it looked too much like a pistol.