(Alternate title: "Dang, thought I might've had something.")
In perusing Phasers.Net and other resources, I noticed that there were some episodes where the phasers fired different color beams in the same ep. This is noted primarily in reference to the hand phaser, aka Phaser One or the Type-I.
What I was wondering was whether this was consistent throughout TOS, specifically the 'color code'.
Between the pictures and recollection, I had the following examples:
1. "A Private Little War"[TOS2] - McCoy vapes the Mugato with a blue beam, then heats rocks with a red beam.
2. "What are Little Girls Made Of?"[TOS1] - Kirk fires his phaser, presumably on heavy stun, with a red beam. Later, Korby vapes Ruk with a blue beam. (Incidental: Hottie-baby vapes the Kirk android with a blue beam from an older "WNMHGB"-style phaser.)
3. "The Omega Glory"[TOS3] - Captain Ronald "What's a stun setting?" Tracey always fired blue beams, and always vaped stuff.
It seemed for a moment that red = stun and blue = smackdown, but unfortunately I found my own counterexample. In "The Return of the Archons"[TOS1], Kirk and company use a wide-field blue stun beam, whereas Kirk and Spock later use red beams to zap a hole in the wall. While the zapping of the hole could fall into the same category as rock-heating, I'm not sure how the blue stun thing could happen.
The only other example that comes to mind is "Operation: Annihilate!"[TOS1] . . . I remembered the red beam used when Kirk was firing against the little doodads, but I don't recall what color Spock's later maximum beams were.
Ah well. It was a thought. At least, though, there seems to be a consistent difference of color . . . just no consistency in the colors employed.
Posted by MrNeutron (Member # 524) on :
The ship's phasers likewise are inconsistent in color within the same episode. In Journey to Babel the first burst is blue, the second is purplish. The only apparent difference was that the first burst was fired while the ship was under power (presumably at warp, the stars are moving) while the second was when the ship was drifting (playing possum, the stars are not moving).
Posted by o2 (Member # 907) on :
The combination red/stun and blue/vaporize makes sense to me since in real life a blue ray has more energy than a red one.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Of course, most of the exterior VFX were made at a time when no-one really had the faintest clue about Trek-tech yet.
I really want TOS on DVD now, because the current amount of screenshots available for TOS is pathetic. Plus I haven't seen most of TOS, and only vaguely remember the episodes I *have* seen...
Posted by Futurama Guy (Member # 968) on :
I agree, I'd much rather they release TOS than Voyager this month. I've been able to catch a good 1/2 - 2/3 of the [TOS] episodes on the Sci-Fi Channel, but they edit out so much from the original episodes it makes you feel like you are watch an episode of Enterprise, in regards of the length they edited it down to.
Posted by J (Member # 608) on :
They do have to edit old shows like that IIRC it's because commercial breaks are longer now than they were back then. So something has to give--- I think it should be the commercials though... write your congressional representative!
Posted by MrNeutron (Member # 524) on :
quote:Originally posted by J: They do have to edit old shows like that IIRC it's because commercial breaks are longer now than they were back then. So something has to give--- I think it should be the commercials though... write your congressional representative!
It's a HUGE amount per episode. If I'm remembering correctly, at the time Star Trek was on NBC an hour long network show ran about 52 minutes included titles and credits. A typical show in syndication now runs 43.5 minutes, with ads superimposed over the end credits. If that's the case any TOS episode you see in syndication is missing about 8 minutes of footage...which is 2/3s of an "act" on TNG!
The edits are often brutal. I turned on Day of the Dove one day and they cut out the entire sequence of the Klingon ship being vaporized and everything between it and Kirk hitting Kang!
Some shows in syndication are shortened by throwing out the teasers entirely!
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Presumably the DVDs would rectify this situation??
Maybe there are different 'models' of phaser and are used interchangibly. Release 7 of Type 2 might be subtly different than Release 8 or something?
Maybe they use different crystals... or is that light sabres!?! Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
The DVDs would be unedited, like the sci-fi channel showings, and the video releases.
Not that it's a problem to people in the UK, since TOS is always shown unedited, both on the BBC and channels with adverts. There's a fair chance this applies to most other countries too. Not everyone swamps their TV with as many adverts as the US.
Posted by WizArtist (Member # 1095) on :
The appearance of the phaser beam could be because of a spectrum thing. Id different atmospheres or with differing elements in the vicinity, the apparent color of the beam could shift. I'm thinking along the lines of light being broken into different colors by passing through a prism. If say element "A" is more prevalent in an atmosphere or in a region of space, the beam could appear yellow while if "B" is present it could be red.
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
All I know is, I still long for the cap from "The Enemy Within" where Sulu plugs a Type-I into the Type-II. I'm guessing that's one of the things edited from most syndication efforts.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I dunno. I don't recall ever seeing it.
Posted by MrNeutron (Member # 524) on :
quote:Originally posted by Guardian 2000: All I know is, I still long for the cap from "The Enemy Within" where Sulu plugs a Type-I into the Type-II. I'm guessing that's one of the things edited from most syndication efforts.
You know...I just watched that on DVD a few weeks ago and I don't even recall seeing that. Maybe I blinked.
Posted by Starship Salvage Ops (Member # 1212) on :
It might be that when a phaser is set on wide-field stun its power must be increased to compensate.
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
Regarding "Enemy Within": It's right before this scene:
There's a shot of Sulu huddled in the blanket, holding an 'empty' type-II. A guy offscreen to the left hands him a type-I, and Sulu plugs it in before heating the rocks.
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