User:Jack Sebastian/Phaser (fictional weapon)

(originally culled from List of Weapons in Star Trek: Phasers)
this article will largely mirror the featured article TARDIS in format and design

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Infobox: "free" (ie, government-issued) use image to be found here or here

A Phaser (a portmanteau of the words PHoton and mASER) is a science fiction weapon used in the Star Trek franchise of television series, films and other media. While the handheld version of this weapon has been seen in various incarnations throughout the fictional timeline presented by the franchise, the raygun (originally designed by Star Trek Production Designer Matt Jeffries) serves as one of the principal weapons of the fictional Star Trek organization, Starfleet.

While originally a conflation of the words 'photon' and 'maser', this conflation has since been revised as a backronym for PHASed Energy Rectification, though from a physics standpoint either description is of equal semantic content. The sound of the weapon in any of its incarnations is distinctive and intentionally differentiated from other fictional weapons used in the franchise, marking it as the primary weapon of the Federation.

Description

As previously noted, the look and "functionality" phaser has undergone considerable revision since its conceptual design in preparation for the 1960's original television series.

Concept

Originally (from the production notes of the initial 1960's Star Trek series), the Phaser was a PHoton mASER, or PHASER, since at the time of writing the Laser was a relative unknown, and powers were not expected to be very great. Masers, on the other hand, were already very powerful machines which produce very destructive radiation pulses. The term "phaser" has since been revised as a backronym for PHASed Energy Rectification, though from a physics standpoint even this is of equal semantic content—ordinary incoherent light is not "rectified", or synchronous, whereas Lasing and Masing emissions are rectified, or synchronous. Phasers conceptually focus a beam of a fictional type of subatomic particles called "rapid nadions". In their book, Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual Michael Okuda and Rick Sternbach indicate that the superconducting crystals used in phasers are called fushigi no umi. They further note that the naming was an homage to the 1990 anime series Fushigi no Umi no Nadia, known in North America as Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water.

The phasers utilized in the various incarnations of Star Trek were conceptually designed in a wide range of sizes and have evolved considerably since the 1960's series' inception.

In the The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide to the Future by Michael Okuda, Denise Okuyda and Debbie Mirek, the phaser exists in three forms: the "type 1", a small unit capable of fitting inconspicuously in the palm of the hand, "type 2", a larger unit with a pistol grip unit which incorporates the smaller unit into its design, housing the smaller unit into the top of the unit. These units have been used as sidearms in every incarnation of Star Trek. The "type 3" phaser, also called a phaser rifle, was rarely used within the series, the reasoning, according to Okuda et. al, was that the great power and utility of the sidearms made the even more powerful rifle rarely necessary. The "type 4" phaser is described as an emitter device mounted on small vehicles, such as shuttlecraft. Larger vehicles, such as starships, were conceptually equipped with multiple, ship-mounted "phaser banks." These weapons were received their power from the ship's engines themselves, and this fact was utilized as a plot device in the first Star Trek film: 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

The type 1 and 2 phasers both feature prominently in all incarnations of the franchise, though with design modifications that eventually moved away from a handgun-shaped object into (by the time Star Trek: The Next Generation was broadcast in 1987) more of a wand-type device.

During the first pilot for the 1960's original series, entitled The Cage (which was later bookended by the only two-part episode of the 1960's series entitled The Menagerie), a phaser "cannon" was noted, but was not utilized in any other incarnations of the franchise. In The Trek Encyclopedia, author John Peel notes that the exclusion of the cannon was due to the decision that the starship could accomplish the same task from orbit.

(more about the distinctive sound of a phaser - maybe WikiCommons or some other sound source, like OGG; make sure to note the different sound as it evolved)

Fictional capabilities

Though sometimes used as lethal weaponry, all versions of the phaser in the Star Trek franchise were conceptually designed to be non-lethal, using the setting of "stun", serving as a plot device to subdue an episode antagonist while allowing further interaction. Settings other than "stun" that have been referred to as heat and disruption, the latter being used synonymously with disintegration and therefore lethal. In a number of episodes of the original series, type-1 phasers could be set to 'overload', which eventually exploded, causing damage similar to that of a grenade.

Phasers have been described as having the capability of controlling the width and output, having a power setting range "up to 16". Ship-mounted phaser banks were considered to have an effective tactical range of 300,000 kilometers, or about one light-second.

The type-2 sidearm is also described as being easier to accurately aim than the type-1 handheld, and possessing extended power cells.. The type-2 can be used as a welding torch or a cutting tool and to create heat sources, such as firing at a rock. As well, the ship-mounted phaser banks are capable of extreme accuracy and functionality, able to destroy planetary objects such as buildings (as in the original series episode Who Mourns for Adonais?) or stunning groups of people (demonstrated in another original series episode, A Piece of the Action). As well, phaser banks have been utilized within all incarnations of the franchise as being capable of being to strike multiple targets at the same time.

, ranging from hand-held versions to starship-mounted ones. Personal phasers can be made small enough to fit in the user's palm and still be deadly. Larger and more powerful phaser rifles are commonly issued to security personnel. Phaser beams can be adjusted in both width and output. A typical hand phaser can merely stun a target or completely vaporize it, and the beam can be adjusted to strike multiple targets at once or evenly destroy large portions of material. They can be used as welding torches or cutting tools, and can create heat sources by firing at a large, solid object (like a rock). Phasers can be set to overload, whereby they build up a force-chamber explosion by continuously generating energy without releasing it; the resulting blast can destroy most natural objects within a 50-yard radius. This process is marked by a distinctive sound that increases in volume and intensity until it is deactivated or it detonates. Ship-mounted phasers have a similar range of functions on a larger scale: The phasers on the USS Enterprise could stun entire city blocks full of people and even vaporize entire asteroids.

Production

(image of Matt Jeffries, designer of the phaser prop)

For the initial pilot, the production staff used "laser pistol" weapons that resembled sci-fi rayguns. When the second pilot was commissioned, a toy manufacturer had designed and built some phaser weapons with the idea that if the series sold, the toy company would have manufacturing rights to sell toy replicas. By the time Gene Roddenberry eventually cancelled the agreement because of the design, NBC's publicity department had already used the considered weapons in a photo shoot with cast actors William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and Grace Lee Whitney holding them, to be used in a sales brochure. The design was never used in the series, and production manager Bob Justman recalls in Inside Star Trek: the Real Story, that if the toy manufacturer had ever discovered the usage, they didn't complain.

While Wah Ming Chang is often credited with having created the phaser, it was actually designed by the Art Director of the original series, Matt Jefferies and his brother John (a production designer). The phasers were repainted from their black and white color scheme to a bluish-gray and black one by Chang, as the black and white coloring didn't stand out well on film. Bob Justman confirms that Matt Jefferies resolved the design and construction issue after the issue with the toy manufacturer in relatively short order (with input from Roddenberry), designing a small phaser weapon that could "snap" into a larger phaser pistol when "added range and power were required".

Special effect

Joe Sorokin and Doug Grindstaff were the initial inventors of the phaser's characteristic warble sound when set on stun.

Prop construction

(add image collage of evolution of the phaser from the ST Encyc) demonstrating a conceptual move away from handguns.

Scientific Research

Scientific research and real world applications of the phaser concept (drawing cited parallels to the Communicator and the modern day cell phone).

Appearances in popular culture

The phaser has frequently appeared or been referred to in popular culture outside of Star Trek. The phrase "set phasers on stun" is used to describe how a person enters an unfamiliar situation with the best of intentions or, more often, the chilling effect certain actions have on events.

The phrase also occurs in discussions regarding the development of non-lethal weapons; indeed, the development of these sorts of weapons is considered a step towards recreating the fictional weapon.

The term serves as the title of a song by Glaswegian rock band Urusei Yatsura, appearing on their fourth album. We are Urusei Yatsura in 1994.

The term was even incorporated into a book, Set Phasers on Stun: And Other True Tales of Design, Technology, and Human Error.

Merchandising

The phaser as a toy has been sold for years. Initially starting out as fan-created resin replicas, Desilu Productions (and later to greater effect Paramount Pictures) licensed the prop initially as a model kit, and then as a fully-manufactured toy. As electronic technology advanced, so did the functionality of the prop. Today's toy phasers can light up and make the characteristic sound of a phaser firing. At one point, remote control devices were even made in the shape of phasers, which also included the aforementioned sound effects.

Gallery

Set of images of the evolution of the phaser.

Further Reading

• Star Trek:The Next Generation Technical Manual, Michael Okuda, Rick Sternbach w/Gene Roddenberry, 1991 (192 p)

• Star Trek: Science Logs, Andre Bormanis, 1998 (320 p)

• Physics of Star Trek,, Lawrence M. Krauss, 2007, (280 p)

External links

• Phasers.Net a guide to the Star Trek weapon
• Atomic Rocket: descriptions and technology and many images of handguns and rifle-sized guns used in space including phasers.
• The Virtual Ray Gun Exhibition: Computer-generated ray gun art by various artists.

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