Like many concerned Trekkers, I thought the 'Phaser Rifle' prop from "Where No Man Has Gone Before", the second Star Trek pilot show, no longer existed. (Props often "go missing" after some time.)
As it turns out, and I found this out while looking for a picture of Fred Freiberger for this morning's post (here), the phaser rifle prop does indeed exist: The device was designed and built by Reuben Klamer for the pilot episode, then after production on that one was finished, the rifle was returned to him and stored safely away. It was not used for the series itself. Using, primarily, materials such as wood, acrylic, and aluminum, three men worked day and night in order to get the prop ready in time for production of "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
Serious fans of the television series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1964 - 1968) may know that Mr. Klamer designed and built a special gun for Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn). This prop was seen not only in the series itself, but in many publicity photos taken of star Vaughn.
Earlier this year the phaser rifle prop was auctioned off by Julien's Auctions -- the winning bid was $231,000.
Here is a short interview with Reuben Klamer...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWGNDoXG9R8
4 comments:
Nice guns! Wait... is that Sally Kellerman?
Indeed it is!
Jeez...I wonder if I can get some "Blake's 7" or "Space 1999" props somewhere. Where did they do the effects for "Space 1999", anyway?
The visual effects for Space: 1999 were done "in camera" at Bray Studios. (They did not do very many 'opticals', and no blue-screen travelling matte stuff at all -- probably budgetary.)
I love Blake's 7. That show had some cool props. Space: 1999 didn't have much in the way of props, other than the stun gun; even in an episode-to-episode respect, there were not many hand devices.
Thanks for your comment/query!
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