Janet's Star Trek Voyager Site
Star Trek Voyager screenshots, and scans, buttons, bullets, backgrounds by Janet. See also Sources & Credits

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BEHIND-THE-SCENES: THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN PROTON
BEHIND-THE-SCENES: THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN PROTON

 

The first prop made was the wrist-communicator, even before the guns. After listening to the script's requirements Steve Horch suggested they make communicators like the old Dick Tracy ones, except that they would not have a tv-screen, just a viewscreen with a big knob on it. He took one of the Son'a wrist tricorders from the film Star Trek: Insurrection and converted it to an old-style communicator. Alan Sims took it to Paramount for the production crew to see and it was approved.
Wrist-communicator.
Source ST:M


Lonzak's wrist-communicator.
[Bride of Chaotica!]

HMS Creative Productions made another one to serve as back-up or for another character - the wrist strap came from an old pocketbook (wallet) in the hope of making it look like an old watch. Both communicators were painted dull silver. The knobs shortened a bit in case they were to be used by actors wearing gloves.

 


The scanner props. Source ST:M

click to enlarge
The two photonic beings holding scanners.
[Bride of Chaotica!]

 The photonic beings who appear in [Bride of Chaotica!] are not of course part of the Captain Proton holoprogram but real, transdimensional beings who accidentally get caught up in a war with the evil Chaotica, and it is to help them that Janeway and others participate in the Captain Proton holoprogram. The photonic aliens possess scanners for detecting photonic lifeforms like themselves.

Therefore the photonic aliens' scanners were designed to look sophisticated and sleek, with rounded surfaces, oval buttons and knobs in different sizes. The scanners, which were originally a larger vacuum-formed body piece, were cut in half to make them sleek and easy to hold in one hand. Mike Moore and Steve Horch of HMS Creative Productions added a viewscreen, which in appearance was like a tv screen turned on one end to be viewed vertically. The scanner was made from a piece of acryluc and carried a purplish graphic underneath the surface for backlighting. The upper side's three oval buttons could actually activate the front, top or both screens in any combination.

The electronics for the scanner props also marked a departure in how props were illuminated. White LEDs (light-emitting diodes) were used extensively to replace the duller power-hungry incandescents of previous pieces. This meant that the light was much brighter and would last on stage three to ten times longer, depending on use.

An unusual colour scheme was chosen for the scanners. Steve Horch: "They're pretty neat. We mixed up a real nice mint-green body color with burgundy red for the buttons." This was the only prop that appeared in colour as well as black & white.