The Wand Company TOS Tricorder is coming!

[mrwax]

It's amazing how responsive they've been, I think those look great!

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

Well, I for one will be spending my time geeking out over the fact that we'll soon have a genuine, working tricorder to complete the field exploration set.

TOS re-runs were part of my weekly background noise growing up. I watched some episodes actively, but the whole thing didn't really click for me until I was about 10. While I started purchasing the episodes on VHS and reading the novels and getting into the Treknical publications from FJ and Todd Guenther and Shane Johnson, the new content for me was the films. TSFS, TVH, TFF, and also TNG (which debuted right in the middle of that movie range) locked in my fandom, and, ironically, my practical aesthetic.

I'm getting two of these for friends (and working on the rest of their kit, as well), but my own "Field Exploration Sets" are Broad Movie and Early TNG.

 

[JW Foust]

Keep in mind TWC is making an "in-universe" prop replica, so it's not really a matter of whether or not we saw the moire effect on the original prop, it's a matter of should it have. Since the communicator spins, Spock's bridge station spins, it makes "logical" sense that the tricorder's should spin as well. Studio phaser props also weren't TV remotes, so.......

I'm well aware of that, I was trying to point out that those props didn't do things that people have thought they saw them do through the years.

 

[agliarept]

I def remember these!

I have two and always try to take one on my travels when i go to different countries and scan stuff for fun. They still work and look great with all the functioning LEDs, although somewhat slow to retrieve actionable data.

Had one signed by Patrick Stewart, Levar Burton, Will Wheaton, Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes.

Brent Spiner was really curious and asked what it did. When i explained it was a real working tricorder, his eyes lit up. He asked if he could borrow it for a moment, left his table and walked over to Levar Burton and scanned him and yelled "100% Human!". Then, came around to me and did a full body scan as he moved his head like Data and said "Interesting". One of my favorite Trek memories.

 

[agliarept]

I def remember these!

I have two and always try to take one on my travels when i go to different countries and scan stuff for fun. They still work and look great with all the functioning LEDs, although somewhat slow to retrieve actionable data.

Had one signed by Patrick Stewart, Levar Burton, Will Wheaton, Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes.

Brent Spiner was really curious and asked what it did. When i explained it was a real working tricorder, his eyes lit up. He asked if he could borrow it for a moment, left his table and walked over to Levar Burton and scanned him and yelled "100% Human!". Then, came around to me and did a full body scan as he moved his head like Data and said "Interesting". One of my favorite Trek memories.

 

[Trooper_trent]

I think the actual color swatches are a great match. It shows that they did have the exact same idea to match the palette/color scheme of the data tapes.

 

[blspro]

I think the actual color swatches are a great match... to match the palette/color scheme of the data tapes.

Those aren't the palette of the data tapes.

 

[Trooper_trent]

Those aren't the palette of the data tapes.

man you got an answer for everything don't you. I'm just saying the colors are closer to what everyone was saying they wanted, rather than primary/basic.

 

[asalaw]

Here's what Chris Barnardo has to say about this topic:

Great, thanks for the reference, I was able to access the images. We have been looking at these switches and the data record tape memory blocks from the start of the project. Actually, when you stand back from it, TOS has a very’1960s hip’ and vibrant colour palette. Every scene throbs with strong lighting and weirdly juxtaposed saturated colours. We have been looking at all the colours in the show and as fans ourselves we are keen to get it looking right. The main thing we find when developing something that is held so dear by so many dedicated and expert fans is that everyone has something they feel very passionately about and sometimes it is not possible to accommodate the range of needs, either just the sheer range of tech and needs is too much for us or the needs actually conflict… Still, everyone thinks that their particular need or speciality desire/knowledge is more important than any other, or as many have written to us… IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING… without which, apparently we will have failed and have a dud on our hands, a toy or perhaps worse, something that despite very carefully working on it for two or three years will not be worthy… or for some reason that we are ignoring what every fan knows, and somehow blindly creating something offensive… understand that we are all real fans here too. Personally, I love Trek and even wrote and submitted a script for Voyager. But product development is a tricky path to tread. In doing what we are doing, we know that we will inevitably upset some people by not including their favourite function or feature. As I said, the colours of the discs are under review and will continue to be reviewed and tuned in until we are happy that they meet our brief of making a product that is, as close as we can make it, like a real product from the universe and one that works in the best way that we can make it work… feedback in this respect to help us improve it is awesomely useful and 100% welcomed and it is certainly something that we will want build into our thinking where we can so that we can make a better product.

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

The sets and props and costumes are all over the place on TOS -- both vibrant and muted colors. The food cubes? Vibrant. The uniforms? Muted in the pilots, vibrant after (even morso when they switched from the velour to the doubleknit). The doors and bridge rails? Vibrant. The record tapes and rocker switches? Muted. The colors are good, yes. But too poppy.

 

[blspro]

The sets and props and costumes are all over the place on TOS

Yes. That's why I consistently speak of a Starfleet palette when referencing colors. Other context - from different cultures to different locales - heck, even to off duty clothing worn BY Starfleet personnel - had vastly different color palettes on TOS. Just *randomly* mixing the colors from jarringly different context within TOS (or not from TOS at all) is what I am hoping will be avoided.

 

[JiminSTLouis]

It looks like TWC updated their color palette for the data disks on their blog.

Original

New

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

Sweeeeeeet.

 

[JiminSTLouis]

Now whom do we have to thank for that???

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

*whistles innocently*

 

[Prop Collector]

As a fellow pedant, I appreciate this turn of events.

 

[AJK001]

That is one of the things I've always liked about TWC. They listen to what the fans have to say, they may not always do what we want but they do listen and have a good reason for NOT doing what we want.

They also don't seem to come to the forums anymore as they had some bad experiences here when the Phaser was released. They stuck to The Trek Prop Zone for the Communicator and Mood Rock but have not posted there in years either.

 

[blspro]

Now whom do we have to thank for that???

Chris and the rest of the gang at TWC!

This color change is a happy occurrence! They definitely feel much more 'Starfleet' (ie a mix between the rocker switches and the data tapes). I would still have preferred the full rocker switch color selection. But that's all that is now: a preference. I am certainly *content* with these new colors they've chosen, in that they truly do reflect the colors used by SF. Moreover, I'm very happy they listened to the fans and were open to *arguments* for the changes - regardless of what they finally chose.

THAT is what makes TWC really great!

An interesting thing to note - the colors were NOT the *only* thing TWC changed here. They also went with Peregrinus' complete list of functions associated with the new colors.

 

[asalaw]

Nicely done! Now we can get back to talking about what the disks actually do...

 

[blspro]

Nicely done! Now we can get back to talking about what the disks actually do...

That's next week.