Showing posts with label Walter Matt Jefferies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walter Matt Jefferies. Show all posts

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Star Trek Phaser Rifle


A unique piece of Star Trek memorabilia went under the hammer at auction recently for a cool $231,000. Top Toy designer Reuben Klamer, created trek's iconic Phaser-Rifle with only a two week deadline. Klamer built the wood-aluminium gun for free which apparently gave Star Trek a fighting chance to survive. The move got him licensing rights for toys of the weapon too. Its fascinating to think a "toy" used only once, saved the entire show by relaunching Captain Kirk as the shows heroic action character.


Kirk uses the phaser rifle to kill his friend Gary Mitchel, causing a rocky landslide to fall on top of him. The story goes NBC wanted this action packed "wagon train to the stars" to get high TV ratings. No-one could have predicted how popular Trek was to become especially after the network rejected Star Trek's first pilot.

The shows creator, Gene Roddenberry seized the moment when NBC gave him the nod for "Where No Man Has Gone Before." It also helped having William Shatner to replace Jeffrey Hunter in the second pilot. The studio sets were redressed for the newer Enterprise crew, keeping the "guy with the ears" and reinventing "frosty No1" as Dr McCoy's blonde assistant in sickbay.

Auction House Juliens Hollywood Legends stated recently that Roddenberry wanted "a really big Gun" which took everyone by storm all over again, 47 years later! The prop was sold to a rich private American collector who has one of the biggest collections of original Star Trek costumes in the world. This prop will join the collection and will not end up being displayed at museums. Star Trek fans really owe a huge debt of thanks to Reuben Klamer, the shows creative mastermind behind the gun, whose invention along with the Big Bird of the Galaxy and Walter Matt Jeffries saved Star Trek from the scrap heap. Thank you Reuben for designing a really wicked phaser rifle with totally amazing wow factor. Reuben's Phaser Rifle has a sweet sound to it.






Fire long and Prosper, trekkies and trekkers.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Starship U.S.S. Enterprise 1701 Creators

Gene Roddenberry is worshipped thoughout the Trek Universe because he's the Star Trek Creator. During Gene's era faithful trekkers beamed in to conventions from all over the universe to see him. Happy trekkers shared the space time continuum with an imaginative, friendly sci fi mind, who assimulated Edgar Rice Burroughs's Mars novels and Science Fiction in the Astounding Stories magazine growing up. Gene was also motivated by Arthur C. Clarke's Profiles of the Future which examines "space drives, warped space, and instantaneous transportation."

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In a letter to Issac Asimov, Gene revealed to his lifelong friend that Star Trek came very near to breaking his health. "Its so much my baby that I couldn't confine myself to ten or twelve hour work days" which led to "me often working through several nights in a row without ever going home to sleep."

Gene's passion made him sacrifice his life for Star Trek. The next time you see Kirk or Worf beating the spuds out of some bad alien guy, think of the poor writer who spent hours composing the sci fi story. It doesn't always follow that just because writers get paid for writing a great submission that all their ideas will be used, indeed sometimes they're rewritten!



On an upbeat note, speaking for trekkers and sci fi fans, we get really excited when watching star trek because its our baby too! Starfleets starships explore the infinite reaches of space on tv every day. Earth is being assimulated with trekkiedom spreading everywhere across earth. The dream became a reality in 1966 and spread throughout the stars with six awesome Trek shows TOS, TNG, VOY, DS9, Enterprise and the animated show. Thats over six hundred episodes!!!

Don't forget the ten feature films with star trek XI in the pipeline for early 2009. Heres a Sci-Fi mystery, who's the second star trek creator? or perhaps I should say starship creator? I haven't overlooked the fact that the starship U.S.S. Enterprise was Gene Roddenberry's idea but in order for the show to reach for the stars and the fans, it needed a flash powerful starship. The Enterprise Creator isn't widely publicized but Spacerguy has uncovered that the U.S.S. Enterprise 1701 was designed by Walter "Matt" Jeffries. One of earths genuine trekkie talents. Thankyou Mr Jeffries!

Live Long and Prosper Trekkers!!

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