Phaser Rifle Prop Found!

I was always taken by the cool phaser rifle that Kirk used in "Where No Man Has Gone Before." It was such a sleek and functional-looking weapon, far beyond the usual sci-fi rayguns we had seen before (I'm looking at you, "Lost In Space'), and was superior even to the blaster rifles used in "Forbidden Planet." Why it was never used again (when the lasers from "The Cage" turned up several times in later episodes), I will never know, but I always wished it had. Now, it has turned up again in real life, after being thought long lost since the series. Apparently the man who built it took it back after the one-time use, and kept it in perfect condition in a special case. Now, it is being auctioned off. Some lucky (and well-to-do) Trek collector will have one of the ultimate original props, and I do envy them! Here is the auction page.

"Go ahead... make my stardate!"

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First, some images from the episode:

The auction page had this information on the prop:

A Phaser Rifle from the William Shatner-starring second pilot for Star Trek (Desilu Productions, Norway Corporation, 1966-1969). This one-of-a-kind weapon was created by toy inventor Reuben Klamer at the behest of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. When the original pilot presented to NBC was asked to be retooled for a more action-packed adventure, Roddenberry asked for a really big gun. Klamer designed and created the weapon at no charge to the production in exchange for potential licensing rights to the weapon. When production was wrapped, the piece was returned to Klamer and replaced with the now familiar pistol design used throughout the remaining three seasons of the original series. While this weapon was never seen again in the series, it was used in a number of studio-commissioned publicity photos and even represented on an early lunch box for the series. The weapon is constructed out of wood and finished with a blue/green metallic paint. There is additional detailing, including the hand-tooled aluminum barrel and spring-loaded trigger, a sliding switch to adjust the force setting, three plastic non-functional domed indicator lights and inset plastic panels as well as a telescoping antenna mounted to the top. Moveable pieces on the weapon include three acrylic “Turret Tubes” cylinders with what appears to be copper painted metal conduit with ends painted to match the three force settings. The entire turret unit turns on a center axis. The black shoulder butt also rotates to be used as a handle or shoulder stock. The weapon comes in the original custom-made case made to deliver the rifle to the studio.//Also included in the lot are copies of Inter-Department Communications from Roddenberry to Bob Justman, Bernie Weitzman and Ed Perlstein regarding the weapon as well as an original, signed letter from Roddenberry to Klamer, dated March 16, 1966. The letter informs Klamer that the series was picked up and they would continue discussions regarding Klamer’s possible involvement in creating more props for the show. Seven black and white Polaroid photographs accompany the lot showing the finished weapon from various angles with a letter to Klamer from employee AB Kander, discussing Roddenberry’s visit to the shop to inspect the rifle and approving the final product. Finally, the design plan for the rifle, signed by Roddenberry for approval on June 28, 1965. There is an additional pen sketch on the plan with some minor revisions to the weapon.

And, here are the photos of actual prop from the auction page. Sweet!

 

I'd settle for just owning a nice replica, like you can get here: http://www.xscapesprops.com/Star_Trek_Props_Page1.htm I bet they would have loved to have had these pictures when making theirs!

Someone on Youtube has built a working phaser rifle, (or modifed the above replica) with a visible laser! Now that, I'd LOVE to have... This same guy has built working models of all the other types of phasers, also. I would be outright dangerous with some of these in my possesion!

One design detail, though, has me puzzled... why would a weapon such as this need a telescoping antenna, that would be vulnerable to easy breakage in action? How many channels does that thing get?

UPDATE! I have heard from someone heavily involved in the auction, Stephen Kirk (!), who wrote in the comments: "I was fortunate enough to catalog this piece for the auction house as well as produce the video we used to promote the sale, which included an interview with the guy who designed and built the Phaser rifle."
Watch the great video below, or watch it on Youtube! http://youtu.be/oWGNDoXG9R8


Update 4-9-13: The Phaser Rifle sold for $231,000!
Here's a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR7XbMXBVHI

"Spock Must Die!" Novel

As I was mulling over what to post next on this blog, I began to realize that I had focused very little, comparatively, on the classic Trek novel covers, of which there are many. I decided to rectify that situation, by immediately starting to scan them in and post them, starting with one I had somehow missed up to this point, the first original novel that so many of us remember fondly: "Spock Must Die!"

(Click on the images to enlarge; once it opens, you may have to click on it again to view full size.)

As a youth just entering my teens back in the early 70's, when I began to find the Star Trek novelizations by James Blish (and what an exciting time that was) I was always on the lookout for the newest one. I came into it a bit late, as by that time (1973) there were quite a few out already, (up to #8) so my discoveries weren't so much waiting on the next one to be printed, but the next one I was lucky enough to find on a bookstand somewhere. (Oddly enough, however, I did pretty much find and buy them in the order they were printed for some reason, over the next few years.) I was up to #3 in the series when I found "Spock Must Die" in the book spinner of the local drugstore where I lived at the time, and boy, what a day!

I mean, the mini-adaptations packed into the novelizations by Blish were exciting enough (they were my first introductions to the episodes, as in most cases I read them well before seeing them a few years later on the TV re-runs), but here... here was a NOVEL, a whole book on the show! Boggle!!! I remember thinking that it was an adaptation of an episode or two, before it sank in later that it was wholly original and not from a filmed show. I was still new to it all and in the exciting "wide-eyed discovery" phase of fandom at this point. When I say that finding Trek material such as this was the most exciting thing that could happen in my life at that point, I am not exaggerating. At all. Nothing could compare to the thrill of finding a new book, or magazine with an article about the show, and I could ride on a high for days after doing so. Who needed drugs, or wild physical thrills, when such happiness could be experienced over something so simple?

Even now, taking out these same books that I held in my eager fingers so many years ago, I am transported back to that time, and I vividly remember how each one made me feel. The flood of nostalgic feelings they trigger, and the memories they invoke, are almost as exciting to re-live now, as the books themselves were to me back then. They made my life more special, and the difficulties I went through were more bearable. I remember listening as I read to the Carpenter's song "Yesterday Once More" which was current at the time, and it is still one of my favorite oldies. I bought my first copy of "The Monster Times" about the same time.

I hope that as I go through the process of scanning in the covers of the various classic Trek novels that came out from the 70's through the 90's (which is where I stopped collecting them after just so long), that the posts will stimulate your own memories... and that you will share them with me in the comments.

Future posts on the various books will mostly feature the covers and not much in the way of reviews; most of them I haven't read in years, since reading them once when I bought them for the most part; and I would have to read them all again and invest too much time to do a proper review. But I hope you enjoy seeing the covers!

I've already scanned the rest of the Blish novelizations, which you can find using the "Blish novels" search tag. But I found that I had not finished, having omitted #12, and the above book. So, with this post, I finish all the Blish books. By this the time all the episodes were adapted, and I was wondering where I would get my Trek book fix afterwards. However, I should not have feared, for I had then begun to discover the big three "making of" books that were out (to be covered soon), and after that there started to be more original novels.

Below, the back cover with the blurbs about the episodes covered... it makes it seem as if each episode they visited a new universe where one condition ruled, rather than different planets in the same universe. I wonder who wrote these?  

Bonus: the last of the Random House greeting cards from 1976, which I purchased from "Starship Enterprises" in Ft. Lauderdale, FL when I lived down there. See the rest under the "greeting cards" label.

Star Trek IV Plate Ad

Over the years, my name got on the mailing list of a lot of companies offering Trek items; I rarely bought the actual items, I just saved the ads. Here is one from 1994, a four-page glossy flyer for the newest plate in the Hamilton Collection, featuring a nicely-done montage from "The Voyage Home."

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Bonus: Kirk and Shanna from "The Gamesters of Triskelion" wrestle a bit before falling into the hay.

Kirk is about to flip her over his hip and into his arms, a signature move.

And.. submitted for your speculation, without comment, this photo comparison I put together.

Update: Sometimes I look at the various places people come to the blog from, and I found out that Wil Wheaton "Wesley Crusher" himself, visited and linked to me! Cool! Here is the page where he mentioned the site: http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/page/90

1968 Article "Spock: Teenage Outcast"

Hello all, Frederick beaming back in for a quick post! I hope to be able to start posting again (more often) so check back in soon for more! I have always kept to my own personal collection for this blog, but when reader Bluejay Young, a Trekker since November '67, emailed me these scans, I knew I would make an exception. His journey into fandom began before mine, as I didn't truly discover the show til about 72, when I became a Trekker myself. This article titled "Spock: Teenage Outcast" came from the May 1968 edition of the teen mag FAVE.

The article is interesting in that it was Nimoy's response to a fan letter from a mixed-race girl that was struggling with fitting in. There is real concern and thoughtfulness in his response, and it was both interesting and compassionate; as he framed his advice in the form of telling how young Spock might have dealt with the stresses of feeling excluded from the group and being bullied. He used the fan's interest in the character, and how they related to the half-human, half-Vulcan Spock, to share some down-to-earth encouragement. The thoughts he attributed to Spock also demonstrate his ongoing interest in the development of the character, and prefigure the scenes of Spock's difficult youth and struggle with bullies and prejudice in the animated series episode "Yesteryear" and the '09 Star Trek film.

Enjoy!

(Click on the images to enlarge; once it opens you may have to click it again to view full size)

UPDATE: Thanks to BUZZFEED for linking to this blog entry and making some great captioned images of Spock and quotes from the article!

UPDATE 2: The hits just keep on coming! This page has gone viral, as the Huffington Post site also carried the story!

Update 3: On February 27, 2015 we lost the legend that was Leonard Nimoy. This page saw over 12,000 hits over the weekend, as people found the article from various sources that republished it online. I hope that the original article serves as a memorial to the compassion and thoughtfulness of Mr. Nimoy as people continue to enjoy the archive of it here.

Bonus: Speaking of inter-racial relationships; below is a fantasy moment made real; Kirk and Uhura making out! It looks like a behind-the-scenes moment from "The Wrath Of Khan," but I'm not sure. One thing that is clear, however, is that Nichelle and Shatner were close enough to kiss on the lips at one time, and there seemed to be none of the antipathy toward Bill  that showed its head among the secondary cast later on.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Replaying the moment from "Plato's Stepchidren" was a favorite game of theirs.

Starlog #1 Color Star Trek Section

When the first issue of Starlog came out in the July of 1976 (see the cover here), fans like me didn't just embrace it, we ran up to it on the magazine rack and placed wet sloppy kisses over it as we wept for joy. Here, at last, was a regular monthly magazine devoted to Star Trek and science fiction film and TV! And with an 18 page COLOR Trek section... it was almost too much to believe. This was back when color photos of the show were hard to come by in a magazine... at least until the first Giant Star Trek Poster Book came out a few months later. 1976 really was a watershed year for Trek-oriented publications. It seemed to be the year that Trek fandom really blossomed and the phenomenon became something more public.

I have posted material from this first issue before; here, here, here and here. But this time I am posting the color section that excited me so much when I saw it. It's probably hard for today's fan to grasp just how exciting this kind of thing was to us back then, but it's how it was. In fact, the magazine itself resorted to photographing the show off of a TV set for the sequence of images from "The Doomsday Machine," something I had done with my Polaroid instant camera. Back then, it was the only way we could "screen capture" images from our favorite show. Now, we can put the disc in a computer and grab all the frames we want. I'm presenting the 16-page color section in two parts, so here goes part one... enjoy!

R.I.P. Charlie Washburn

Another veteran of the original series, this time a behind-the-scenes name, has passed off the scene. Charlie Washburn, assistant director during the the second and third years of the program's run, died at age 73 on April 13th of this year. Here is an article written by Mr. Washburn himself, recalling his memories from his time on the show, scanned from the Trek 20th Anniversary issue of Starlog, #112, published in November of 1986. (See the cover to the magazine here.)

Here is a great blog post by Larry Nemecek about Charlie that does a good job of eulogizing him.

For some odd reason, the official site at http://www.startrek.com/ has refused to acknowledge Charlie's passing, as they do for anyone else that dies who was associated with any of the shows. I have posted this omission twice on their facebook page, but each time they have deleted the comment. Why? I think we should all post comments on the FB page and site and ask them that question. UPDATE: Finally, on Feb 23rd of 2013, the site did acknowledge Mr. Washburn's passing and his contributions: http://www.startrek.com/article/trekland-extra-15-oscars-remember-charlie-star-trek

Bonus: Below is another photo from the ST:TMP Date Book desk calendar that came out in 1980. (See more pages here.)

A Paragon Of A Blog!

"V'Ger seeks the Creator!"  Flash: the creator of the long-lost fan film "Paragon's Paragon" speaks at last!

We fans have been curious about the fan-film "Paragon's Paragon" since reading about it in an early issue of "Cinemagic." (Read the post with that article here, and a followup article with many screencaps from the film here.) Well, after finally tracking down the man primarily responsible for it, John Cosentino, and emailing back and forth several times, I have heard some good news back from him; he has started a blog that gives all the inside info on this early and ambitious fan film!

"Captain, it's Earth! We've found our way home!"

John's email contained this interesting information about the new effort:

I have finally decided to give into the Paragon seekers and have started a blog. Eventually it will have video clips but for now photos and history of Paragon and why it took so long to finish. As much behind the scenes information as I can muster up and never before seen photos. I hope they will like it.

The address is http://www.paragonsparagon.com/

Currently the last series of articles are the projects that kept me from finishing Paragon and are the first ones seen on the blog. Just scroll down and the Paragon stuff is there. The next series of articles will focus on "Paragon's Paragon." I felt it was important to show why I was distracted from Paragon.

Thanks for having a great Star Trek blog!

Your friend, John.

So there you have it, straight from the source. Visit the blog regularly as footage is to come!

Bonus link: Below, a captioned photo from the sci-fi humor page that spins off of "I Can Haz Cheezburger" groups of sites. Lots of fun, even if I have never been successful in getting any of my own captioned pics to post there for some reason.