Roddenberry.com Star Trek TOS Medical Scanner

New prop replica acquisition ... a Roddenberry.com TOS medical scanner. It's pretty close to the original, though the Season 1 prop appeared to rotate about 120 RPM; this one's much faster. But the holographic silver used inside the "scanner" compartment is creates a very nice effect. The button is very discreet, too. (Sound effect courtesy of the GNP Crescendo sound effects disc. The Tricorder is one of my non-functioning MR units.)

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Noklog
• 6682
• Korova
• master replicas
• Roddenberry.com
• star trek
• tricorder
• medical scanner
• prop replica
• ShoZu
• McCoy
• scanner

[JASHUH]

Nice prop but no top movement bars and also the sound comes from the medical tricorder and not the scanner, we need the sound chip in the scanner too.

[davidbspalding]

You're confusing this with the DST scanner. The Roddenberry reproduction doesn't produce sound, I made the sound appear from a sound file on my phone, the MR tricorder doesn't make the "medical" sound. If you're clever, you can transplant the sound chip from the DST or the Playmates version. ;)

[neomp5]

what in hellmakes people think those were salt shakers?

[davidbspalding]

These weren't salt shakers, something else ("laser scalpels") were made from some found salt shakers. Next question?

[jsf525]

there were 2 scanners, 1 medical and the other science. and the 2 tricorders went with them. now DST has came out with both to buy for around $50 each

[JovialDNA601]

The salt shakers were actually used as set dressings in the background because they were very futuristic looking. The official story is that Roddenberry wanted really futuristic looking salt shakers in the mess, but when he saw all the ones the prop department brought, he realized that the audience might be confused or distracted by them, so they used salt shakers from the Paramount commissary and turned all the others into "Medical scanners" in the background of sick bay.

[Cooleemee43]

The funniest thing about Star Trek was that in order to advance the plot sometime Bones could cure anyting with his technology. Then others times when a character needed to go in order to keep things moving, he couldn't even cure a bump on the knee. Ya know how it went, "Bones come right away, this man has a hang nail and needs your assistance, Bones says, "I ....can't save him Jim, theres no hope, for Gods sake its a hang nail, there is nothing that can be done, CLASSIC FUN!

[neomp5]

it's a myth that has spread pretty widely amoung trek fans, a google search turns up dozens of mentions. but i really can't imagine asalt shaker in the 1960s looking like that. maybe a part of one, but not the story of just using the shakers from the mess hall set to save money.

[neomp5]

"Like some wizard, Dr. "Bones" McCoy needed only to wave his tricorder sensor like a talisman over Star Trek crew members to detect any ailment — and to cure many of them. In reality, McCoy's "sensor probe" was a prop contrived from a salt shaker by a TV crew making do on the tight budget of a fledgling series."

- from an article on the official star trek site

[neomp5]

"The program begins by examining how ahead of its time the "Treknology" seen in Star Trek: The Original Series was. One example is Dr. McCoy's medical scanner, which inspired numerous letters from real-world physicians inquiring about the concepts behind the device. It was in fact a salt shaker."

- from the memory alpha synopsis of the documentary "how william shatner changed the world".