Phaser

[phase pistol]

It's simply one of the many reasons we hate this phaser. :lol:

There hasn't been a clip released yet that shows this action, but supposedly the barrels swivel around mechanically when the setting is changed, yes.

I suppose if you accidentally press the trigger at the same time, you can get a cool "pinwheel of death" effect wherein you vaporize everybody standing anywhere near you. <_<

[Tim]

Do you also check to see if it's charged up by looking down the barrel?

I guess flipping the barrel would come in handy for shooting around corners!

Tim L.

[Eagle]

Karl, from the Photo's you posted ,the three on the right. The Barrel rotated clockwise or counter. To select the proper setting. You can tell in the series of photo's where the tips are in various positions. Kind of like an 1850's Pepper Box. Like this video ??

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&...hl=en&emb=0

[phase pistol]

You are correct, the Cage Laser (black and brass gun used in the pilot episode of Star Trek) does have a rotating barrel for selecting between the three settings. This was actually inspired by movie cameras with three lenses.

However this new movie Phaser has a barrel that swivels around its VERTICAL axis... we've never seen anything like this and frankly I'm not sure how silly it will turn out to be. :lol:

Moving parts are common on old-school Star Trek props however.. the aforementioned Cage laser had the rotating settings, and the barrel could also be extended or retracted.

The silver ring on the barrel could also be slid back and forth and rotated, to lock the weapon into an "overload" condition.

The regular-series hand phasers had the mechanical "rising sight hood", but you rarely saw it used.

[phase pistol]

Communicators always had the flip-up antenna grid...

And tricorders had the swiveling hood and doors in front.

[Joe K.]

Actually the barrels swivel around when you change the setting from "stun" to "kill". So by looking at the barrels you can tell how it's set.

I don't even want to think about what the "safety" setting might be! :blink:

[kennetzel]

Okay, so we all agree that this is a reimagening of Star Trek. Well then why is Leonard Nimoy reprising his role as the old Spock? One minute it looks like they are trying to make a legitamite back story based on the original Trek, then they change everything. Being a trekie from way back I personally am not happy with the redesign of the Enterprise. I see nothing wrong with the classic ship. They used it in DS9 for the tribbles episode, and in an Enterprise episode as the Defiant, yet they didn't find it good enough for the movie. I could see them adding a lot more graphic, asteking to the skin of the ship, but such a dramatic change. I mean, it seemed important to stick with the basic saucer and tube design. I just don't know what they are trying to do with this film. I'll go see it, but I won't get my hopes up.

[dratomic]

It's been getting nothing but fantastic reviews... I don't understand how you can dismiss it based only on a couple photos. I suspect the Spock role will be explained, and I'm sure it'll make sense. Personally, I'm looking forward to the film. I look at it this way: Spider-Man, Batman, Superman -- they've all been around for decades. And every few years, the characters get updated in little ways. New artists interpret them slightly different, new writers put their own small twists on things. Same with Doctor Who and other long-lived characters. Star Trek, at this point, is no different. As long as the movie remains true to the show's basic spirit, I see nothing wrong with slight tweaks here and there.

Do I like the new Enterprise? Not at all. Nor do I like the new phasers, communicators, or tricorders. But these are just props. As long as there's a good story, good acting, and good directing, I think it'll be a fun, exciting piece of space opera.

[Phil R]

Ditto on every point, Doc. I couldn't have said it better! It's not a good idea to have a mindset on something until the comparison. ;)

My wife and I are going through overkill on buying a new car. It's like the playoffs. We've looked at 8 higher end midsize cars over the last three weeks. We've driven all of them, looked at prices, financing, offers and paired it down to two. The two are entirely different. One is conservative looking and the other is agressively styled inside and out. It's the finals, we've driven them again, looked at offers again and listed 10 pros and cons. And after it all the score is 4 each and two even. Now what. ;)

Sometimes making up your mind objectively is not easy. :)

[Kanaan]

I am a fan of both Star Trek and Star Wars but I will say this. I think the new Trek movie is going to blow away the last three Star Wars films. All of those Star Wars snobs that I know who hate Star Trek are about to be put in their place.

A friend of mine in Maryland was invited to a sneak preview because he helps to run a SF convention every year. He is my age, late 30s, early 40s, and he said that while the new movie is not HIS Star Trek, it ROCKED! Those who grew up on the first run of Star Trek in the 60s or its reruns later in the 70s, well, that's MY Star Trek.

Still, I know I will love the new movie.

In fact, as a collector, I've seen all the new movie's action figures and the toy Enterprise at Wal Mart and conventions but I have no inspiration to buy them. I am still buying the Diamond Select classic Trek and Deep Space Nine figures that are coming out because the original series up to Deep Space Nine is MY Star Trek. :D

[dratomic]

Er... I think that pretty much ANYTHING blows away the last three Star Wars films. Seriously -- Lucas learned entirely new ways to screw up filmmaking just so he could make those flicks suck as badly as they sucked. So I definitely wouldn't go holding them up as any sort of bar for quality. ;)

That said -- I agree. The new movie looks really cool. I can't wait.