BEHIND-THE-SCENES: ALAN SIMS, PROPS MASTER, TALKS ABOUT HANDWEAPONS

[Rise]

source: ST Monthly
The "Pantone" on the ruler indicates that it was measured by someone in the design department.

The next phaser design we modified was the type-3, the phaser rifle. Rick Sternbach and I designed a new weapon called the compression phaser, which looks like a far more lethal weapon than the older type-3 [and first seen in [#1 and #2 Caretaker]. It's sleeker and larger and "holds" its power in two casings along the side and, in the collective imagination of the Star Trek designers, packs a stronger punch than the older weapon. And the weapon design fit my basic specification that it had to be fabricated out of metal and look like it was just one unit of millions of identical units manufactured for Starfleet.

[#79 Concerning Flight]

Metal phasers are important as a prop not just because of the look. They're important because they're heavier, have heft, and force the actors to handle them as if they're real. If you look at the original series, you'll see moments where it's obvious that something the actor is lifting is nothing more than plastic or cardboard. The actor raises it too easily or swings the weapon to fire with no impression that this is a real device. When I came to [TNG], I brought with me a sense that a prop not only had to look like the real thing but had to be handled like the real thing on camera. So when it came to designing phasers and phaser rifles, I wanted them made out of metal so the actor would have to treat it like a real weapon. I carried this to [Voyager], where I wanted the weapons not only to look heavier, but to feel heavier in the actors' hands.

[The Chute]

[Prey]

The props also have to be durable because they get a lot of wear and tear on the set. People who watch television don't realize that during a shoot, a weakly made prop can simply snap off at key joint points and shut down an entire shoot while the crew runs around to replace it. That's why the equipment and weapons that I have built have to stand the stress test so they won't break on camera and don't have to be handled as if they will break. So I have them built out of aluminum wherever possible or cast out of fiberglass so that they're strong and actors don't have to baby them. Having heavier weapon props also means that I have to train the actor in physically handling the device, rehearsing them with it, so that it doesn't look like he or she has never used the weapon before. We go through firing and defensive postures so that they look like they know what to do with a weapon.

[#54 Macrocosm]