LONG-LOST STAR TREK TOS HERO PHASER AND COMMUNICATOR COMES OUT FOR SOME ACTION – PART 4 / THE COMMUNICATOR

This is a follow-up to my intro video about the amazing Hero Phaser and Communicator coming up for auction at Julien's this fall. Star Trek prop fans everywhere will be understandably skeptical about these pieces so to address that issue I'll be posting reference photos and videos along with the reasoning used to make our final conclusions. 

Please note that all photos are from Julien's Auctions and used with permission.

Here's the Hero Communicator before restoration. Obviously it has seen better days but the restoration has really brought it back to life care of prop restorer John Long. More on that in the future.

I'll be posting about the restored version in the near future. Until then:

LLAP

Don

LONG-LOST STAR TREK TOS HERO PHASER AND COMMUNICATOR COMES OUT FOR SOME ACTION – PART 3 / THE PHASER 2

This is a follow-up to my intro video about the amazing Hero Phaser and Communicator coming up for auction at Julien's this fall. Star Trek prop fans everywhere will be understandably skeptical about these pieces so to address that issue I'll be posting reference photos and videos along with the reasoning used to make our final conclusions. Let's go!

Please note that all photos are from Julien's Auctions and used with permission.

Here's the Phaser 2 in all its intricate glory. The vast majority of these mechanisms never made it on-screen. The engineered the hell out of this then never showed anything. Frustratingly true. 

Next up: The Communicator!

LLAP

Don

LONG-LOST STAR TREK TOS HERO PHASER AND COMMUNICATOR COMES OUT FOR SOME ACTION – PART 2 / THE PHASER 1

This is a follow-up to my intro video about the amazing Hero Phaser and Communicator coming up for auction at Julien's this fall. Star Trek prop fans everywhere will be understandably skeptical about these pieces so to address that issue I'll be posting reference photos and videos along with the reasoning used to make our final conclusions. Let's go!

Please note that all photos are from Julien's Auctions and used with permission.

Let's start at the top. Literally. The Phaser 1 snaps nicely into its cradle. The side still deploys nicely. But the most amazing thing is that the interior shows this to be a perfect match for the phaser shown in The Making of Star Trek from 1968. That's an astounding fact. 

As you can see, every seeable nuance is repeated perfectly in this piece. There can be no doubt that they are a match. Here's how the site still functions:

Astounding thing, isn't it? But we've only just begun. More to come soon!

LLAP

Don

LONG-LOST STAR TREK TOS HERO PHASER AND COMMUNICATOR COMES OUT FOR SOME ACTION – FROM KIRK'S HANDS TO AN AUCTION NEAR YOU!

This is Part 1 of a multi-part story regarding a fantastic find in the world of original Star Trek props. Check it out!

Check out new installments as they are available.

LLAP

Don

PROPSTORE BRINGS CAPTAIN KIRK'S STARSHIP ENTERPRISE TO AUCTION! SORTA.

In the upcoming Propstore Entertainment auction, there's an amazing Star Trek piece that is being offered: an actual shooting model of the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan! There's just one catch. It's not a full model but a section of the Enterprise used for special effects (SFX) purposes. What, exactly does that mean? Here's the deal.

Enterprise vs. Reliant in the Mutara Nebula

To Star Trek fans everywhere, the Starship Enterprise as seen in The Original Series (TOS) movies (Star Trek I-VI) is an icon of Captain James Kirk's film era. It's not an overstatement to say that, to most of those same fans, that ship reached maximum coolness in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (WOK), the Trek film by which all others are measured. That film featured the first fully-realized battle in space that Star Trek ever had. Sure, TOS stories had plenty of skirmishes with various aliens – most notably the Klingons and Romulans – but due to the technical and financial limitations of the time, those "battles" were more implied than shown. But, then along came Wrath of Khan and, BOOM – epic space battle! Dueling Starships! Phasers and Photon Torpedoes everywhere! Explosions aplenty!

In those battle scenes, the Enterprise really takes a beating. The Engineering hull gets strafed by phaser fire, the saucer takes damage and the port side Photon Torpedo Room is badly hit. And it is that last moment – the photon Torpedo Room hit – that required this model to be built (by the technical wizards at Industrial Light and Magic, no less). The guys that built Star Wars also did Star Trek.

Full model vs. SFX model

 

For the other two hits, the camera was not tight on the full Enterprise model so that they could optically add the phaser effect and simply apply "damage" to the surface of the model as needed. But for the Torpedo Room shot, they wanted something more graphic, ie: a close-up of the hit as it was happening. This required adding pyrotechnic effects to show the skin being damaged and burned while a phaser bolt was added over top to give the effect of watching the damage unfold in real time. The problem with that was the "pyro" part. Whenever you have fire and small explosions, things can happen which could put the very expensive large model at risk of severe damage. So as to avoid that risk, they simply made a copy. But not a full copy because they didn't need a complete model. Instead, they built an over-sized model of just the section they needed to show on camera. They finished it to exactly match the details on the full model but it permitted them to do two additional things. They could do the 'burning" effect on the port side while also having a larger, more detailed Photon Torpedo launcher to use for those scenes which showed a launch. As we see in the final film, this second model worked seamlessly to achieve both of those effects.

But, wait. If the model was used for the Torpedo Room damage, why is that section now unscathed? Where's the damage? The answer is simple: we are seeing the model after its LAST use in Star Trek VI, not after its FIRST use in Star Trek II. For each new movie use, the model was modified as needed for that film.  

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (TSFS) was a continuation of the story told in the previous film. In fact, its story picks up where the conclusion of WOK left us. The injured Enterprise is limping home and we see the battle-damage scars on its hull. But there's something odd about the damage. What we see is far more extensive than what was shown in WOK. In that story, the starboard side of Engineering is never hit. Yet that side now shows major damage at both the fore and aft areas of that hull. 

As the Enterprise enters Spacedock, we can see the additional damage on the big model.

Star Trek III needed additional damage.

So what's the deal? Apparently, director Leonard Nimoy wanted the damage to be more noticeable than what was shown in WOK, hence the additional damage. What that meant regarding the SFX model was that it had to be updated to show that new damage when it was used to show a Photon Torpedo launch in a close-up of the starboard side. The model still shows that damage complete with hull plating to indicate rough repairs.

 

Star Trek VI required a clean model.

As for why the original port side damage is gone, we have to look to Star Trek VI for that answer. The SFX model was once again used for a Photon Torpedo launch but this time they needed to show the port side. This required them to erase the battle damage from WOK and make everything pristine and clean. This is why the SFX model shows no damage on the port side. 

 

So there you have it. A model made nearly forty years ago by George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic is now up for auction. The piece has perfect provenance as it was originally sold by Paramount during their big 2006 Christie's auction and fetched $11,400. With an estimate of around $20,000-26,000 that's a hefty increase. But ANY piece from Wrath of Khan is a rarity, and a piece that gets specific screen time AND was reused in later films is even more so. SO, while this isn't a full model of our beloved Enterprise, this is literally a piece of Star Trek history and I hope it finds a great home.

Check out the complete Propstore auction catalog with more Star Trek items (and tons of other cool stuff) HERE.

Good luck! And, as always, LLAP.

Don

A "UNICORN" STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN KIRK UNIFORM HITS THE AUCTION BLOCK!

It's been a while since I added something to the blog, but something AMAZING has come out of the wood work and I had to write about it.

Today, December 16, is the start of a two day auction at Julien's in Culver City California. What's special about this auction for Star Trek fans is that they are featuring 48 lots of various Star Trek items made for many of the various incarnations including The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and more.

While that's all very exciting, there is one particular lot that especially excites this fan and, I suspect, many more. It's Lot 264 and here's the description:

WILLIAM SHATNER "ADMIRAL JAMES T. KIRK" STARFLEET COMMAND JACKET FROM STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN

"A Starfleet command/officer’s jacket worn by William Shatner as Admiral James T. Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Paramount, 1982). Maroon jacket with asymmetrical front lapel, cream colored interior and black piping with gold soutache trim (indicating Flag Officer rank). Features two silver- and gold-tone “admiral’s star” badges at right shoulder and left arm. Also features black and gold checkered (Rear Admiral) ribbon and cream colored stripe with production brass-tone rank bands and pins on left sleeve. Costume includes black leather belt with brass Starfleet buckle. Sotheby’s tag attached.
Accompanied by Paramount Pictures letter of authenticity, signed by director Nicholas Meyer and dated January 30, 1997. The letter from Nicholas Meyer states the following:
This letter will confirm that the Star Fleet tunic [jacket] in your possession was worn by William Shatner in the film STAR TREK II - The Wrath of Khan, which was written and directed by me. I was presented with the jacket at the close of shooting in 1981, and I gave it directly to you.
PROVENANCE Lot 580, Sotheby's, New York, December 19, 1997. Paramount Pictures Letter of Authenticity, signed by Director Nicholas Meyer, dated January 30, 1997."

The white interior shows the unique lining color used for command officers.

Sounds pretty cool, right? Probably rare? Here's the thing – a true Wrath of Khan Kirk jacket was believed to no longer exist (hence, a "unicorn"). Until now.

"But Don," you're saying, "they must have made more than one for production." And you'd be right. While we don't know exactly how many jackets were made for William Shatner in Wrath of Khan, we do know that there were several – probably around seven or eight since he was the star and was in almost every scene of the movie. So this shouldn't be all that rare, right?

Wrong. An untouched Kirk from Khan is rare because over the course of the Star Trek films of the 80's and early 90's – those featuring the original cast – they were constantly trying to save money. One way to do that was to re-purpose costumes made for earlier films for use in later ones. That meant that all the jackets – even Shatner's – went into inventory to later be used as needed by any other actor or extra. When that happened, they were "neutralized" by having all their rank bands and other details – like the gold trim of an admiral's uniform – removed. The jacket would then be pulled from inventory for use based solely on the jacket's size and new rank and accessories would be added as needed for a particular character.

We know, for example, that a Kirk jacket was re-used by the actor playing the Starfleet C-in-C in Star Trek VI (Leon Russom) because that jacket was sold at auction and featured the original Western Costume tag with Shatner's name typed in (for the original use) and the new actor's name simply written over in marker. The jacket was modified for that use with new rank pins and additional gold trim added.

This, then, became the fate of the Kirk jackets. As Shatner was given new jackets when his size changed (ie: increased!), his old jackets were retired and recycled. I know someone with a  maroon that was crudely re-tailored for a female use and featured a white interior like Kirk's. I'd bet money that started as a Kirk but it is so heavily modified that it's impossible to tell for sure.

So the bottom line is this – we thought no complete original Kirk jackets survived. But this auction changes all that. The auction even answers the question of how this piece survived when none others have. This piece was gifted to Wrath of Khan director Nick Meyer in 1981 at the conclusion of Star Trek II production. This means that it never went into inventory to be used in later films, thus it was never modified after its initial use. By being removed from Paramount, the jacket was effectively  preserved for posterity! And there's no better provenance than a letter from a film's director. It's my opinion that this piece is what it is presented to be – a true Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan Kirk jacket.

Rank strap with Admiral pin

This checkered strap was unique to Wrath of Khan.

The back shows all the great details of this amazing design.

I'll mention one odd thing about this piece that I really can't explain. While most of its components seem to be correct and original as seen in the film, there's one small detail that is wrong. The rank band on the wrist is mounted on a maroon backing. This is incorrect. It should instead be mounted to a gold lame backing with gold piping that gives the impression of gold trim on the band. Here's a comparison:

The maroon version was actually used on the crewman jumpsuits shown in that movie so there is a precedent for that type to exist. Perhaps the jacket had to be reassembled for presentation to Meyer and the costumer grabbed the wrong band? Unfortunately, we'll never know.

One other odd thing about this jacket is that it has no Western Costume tag sewn into it like the one shown above. As jackets got reused these tags were usually removed to avoid confusion. But since this jacket never went past Star Trek II, it's a surprise that the tag is not present. As with the wrist band, we'll never know the explanation.

I want to stress that these two anomalies – the wrist band and the missing tag – in no way impact the authenticity of this piece. I have personally owned numerous production-made uniforms of this style over the years and I can tell you that this is definitely the real deal. I actually own a Kirk myself, complete with Western tag. While I am thrilled to own it, it is one of the modified versions I spoke of previously. It has none of the gold trim or rank pins as seen in Wrath of Khan. On the plus side, however, mine is a complete uniform with undershirt and pants, unlike this jacket-only piece.

For comparison, the last time any Kirk jacket sold at auction, it went for over $40,000. It was the aforementioned "C-in-C Russom" version and was complete with pants and undershirt. This version has an estimate of $80,000-$100,000 (and is sitting at $55,000 in pre-bidding as of this writing). Will it hit that number? Will it exceed it? We'll know soon enough but nothing would surprise me.

Keep in mind that this isn't simply rare. It's unique. Perhaps one-of-a-kind.

So the question is this: what's a unicorn of the Star Trek variety worth?  We'll find out this week.

Be sure to check out this piece and the entire auction HERE.

LLAP

Don