Planet Earth (1974) Multiceiver

[mercuryapollo]

This one is a bit obscure. A friend and I have been fans of the 1974 Roddenberry TV pilot Planet Earth, starring the great John Saxon. We recently won a lot of 5 costumes from the show in the recent Greg Jein auction. Wanting to round out the display I set out to make the props that crew carried with them. This one is the Multiceiver, very much like the tricorder from TOS. When I rewatched the movie I found that the prop was made from an 1970s cassette recorder, the Sony TC 55. I bought two on eBay and went about creating the prop that appears in the movie for probably less than a minute. See attached for screen grabs from the movie and my completed prop. Looking at the photos I recongnized the silver background on the device but could not quite place it. Then it came to me, the dashboard of a 1979 Trans Am, which is engine turned aluminum. I found some adhesive vinyl with engine turned aluminum pattern. It looks like they used the same thing in the movie because it covers several of the other props as well. I laser engraved and cut the buttons and used Bondo to fill in and smooth out the top and sides of the recorder after pulling out all the guts. it was a fun project and I made two at the same time. Next onto the Transceiver.

 

[jheilman]

Love it. I'm also a fan of the film as well as the multiple versions of it. Genesis II, Planet Earth and Strange New World.

 

[Krel]

This is Franz Joseph's design for the Multiceiver:

The Medipak

The Transceiver:

There were no hero versions of the Multiceiver and Medipak constructed for the pilot, there was no time. They only constructed static versions of the props, but FJ had provided instructions on their use for the actors.

There was at least one hero version of the Transceiver because it was needed for closeups. The Transceiver prop was later used in "Quark".

David.

* Sorry, I somehow posted the Multiceiver twice instead of the Medipak

 

[publiusr]

I had no idea FJ did these other drawings

 

[Krel]

They are scans from an old Enterprise Incidents magazine that had an interview with Franz Joseph. He talked about designing the props and how they would function, if real.

David.

 

[Apollo]

Just watched both of these last week, looking forward to your transceiver

 

[Chrisisall]

I can't believe you did this!! I LOVE Planet Earth! I LOVE the blu ray! I *need* a dart gun....

 

[mercuryapollo]

As I mentioned in my first post, my friend and I won 5 Planet Earth costumes in the recent Greg Jein auction. We have two extras that we are selling. Before posting in the Junkyard and FB, I wanted to give people who appreciate this post first crack. We have one green and yellow jumpsuit worn by Rai Tasco who played Pater Kimbridge and one unmarked brown and tan jumpsuit. Asking $550 for the green one and $400 for the brown one.

 

[mercuryapollo]

Here is the Transceiver and the John Saxon costume and props displayed.