Rich: Good info, make sure the Diamond Select guys get it...
From my files (base photo from Coyle):
Note, the screenused props (even in TNG Final MIssion) have a big Philips' head screw through the rear of the p1.
There's also the issue of the yellow-orange square LED bar on top of the P1, which mysteriously shifts colors.
Video of the prop used in TNG Final Mission:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HixzlOxwJro
In addition to the raised midplate on the P1, the Final MIssion version also has the p1 on/off switch on the opposite side to the Trek III version.
In the episode you can only see the red LEDs lit in a very brief shot where Wesley is setting up the phaser to fire automatically. It's a wide angle camera shot and you can't really tell what the lights are doing. That auction clip is great though, I could actually count frames and determine how long the red LEDs were lit:
- an LED is on for 0.1 second
- OFF for 0.07 second
- repeats for the next LED
- at the end ALL are OFF for 0.24 sec and then the pattern repeats.
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Trek III-style phasers, later appearances:
TNG: Too Short a Season
TNG: Final Mission
DS9: The Passenger
Final Mission phaser on Kirk's trophy wall in Star Trek Generations (prop is out of frame in the actual film and can't be seen)
Karl