Nice! :cool
Fell in love with the BN back in the day, saw one at a convention as a kid... couldn't afford the $75 or whatever it was. :lol
Got one in recent years but had to pay just a little more for it. :unsure
Here's De showing off his Brad Nelson on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show, in what, 1975?
Lots of threads about the history of phaser props, both here
http://www.therpf.com/f9/official-star-trek-phaser-thread-1918/
... and on Trekpropzone.com (a fine board that specializes in Trek). But basically you've got:
1) "Cage" laser used in the first pilot episode filmed in 1965
2) Cage laser with extra doodads on it, used in the second pilot and a couple of regular TOS episodes
3) Original pistol-type Phasers that separate into hand phaser unit, body, and grip. These were introduced for the TV series starting in 1966 and were originally all black with a white grip. The several episodes into the series they were suddenly repainted in shades of gray and had aluminum accents. Presumably to show up better on people's crappy B&W TV screens of the time.
And there are various versions of those pistol phasers (Heros that light up, crapazoids made of vacuform plastic, midgrades that are made of solid fiberglass, and rubber stunt versions for fight scenes). All with slightly different details.
4) AND then you get to the Brad Nelson, which was originally a fanmade replica sold at conventions. The BN is compelling though because of its superb build quality, light effects, and the slightly stylized appearance that it has. It's the "phaser of the mind's eye," the one you THOUGHT you saw on screen, and not a slavish copy of the actual props.
5) And then for TMP came the chunky pistol version that barely got any screen time... but it got a repaint and was featured prominently in
6) TrekII the Wrath of Khan
7) then there was the redesigned prop used in Trek III the Search for Spock
8) the phaser got another big upgrade for Trek V The Final Frontier (aka "the one Shatner directed" :unsure)... this time it was based around a real gun, giving it some size and heft that makes it really striking
This "Assault Phaser" (sometimes called "combat phaser") was reused in Trek VI The Undiscovered Country, where it gets some hero screentime.
9) and of course the pistol type phaser gets two iterations in the 2009 JJ Abrams "Star Trek"... first there's the steampunky pistol barely seen aboard the USS Kelvin in the opening scene
10) and then that chromed swivel-nozzle monstrosity featured later in the film :unsure
That's about it for "TOS-style" phasers.... of course starting in 1987 when Star Trek the Next Generation premiered, prop design went in a different direction,and we got weapons that looked non-threatening, more like tools... the infamous Dustbuster and Cricket phasers (the latter of which sort of resembles the p1 Hand Phaser unit of the original TOS prop)... later iterations of the Dustbuster are commonly known as the Cobrahead, Boomerang and Dolphin phasers. Those appeared in later seasons of TNG, and in Voyager and Deep Space Nine as well as the TNG movies.
And in "Star Trek Enterprise" we got the chunky Phase Pistol
as well as a weapon called the EM-33, another pistol-type prop that looked very gun-like.
And don't get me started on the phaser rifles. :behave
K
