Static Tricorders

Well, you might be able to tell by now, but I love hand held props. And no other prop epitomises Star Trek more IMO, other than the tricorder. They first made an appearance in TOS, and remained. I mentioned earlier that when I was young I received a playmates phaser. Well, I also got the playmates TNG tricorder as well. I love tricorders, and want to show you my examples.

Now, the first one up is this one.

Now, as per my title, these are regarded as 'Static' or 'Dummy' props, as they don't function in any way. The door doesn't flip open, no buttons works etc, it just looks like a tricorder. These were mainly used either by background actors when detail wasn't important, or, when a stunt was taking place and the producers couldn't afford a hero version to be broken. 

This came from Screenused.com, and here is their description

"This prop is made of vacuformed plastic with no moving parts. The tricorder is detailed with several stickers that simulate buttons. The small scanner is permanently attached in place. This is an iconic prop from the show."

I believe I have found where this was used, or one very similar to it. In the episode TNG: A fistfull of Datas, there is a scene in Engineering when Data picks up a tricorder and spins it in mid-air before catching it, and placing it down like a cowboy would do with his gun. Here is a screen cap from that.

And here is a comparison shot

My other static tricorder is a medical example, and is pictured next.

And here they are together, note, I no longer own the 3rd one as I sold thisd a while ago.

Again, this does not move in anyway, and would have been used for Set/Character dressing, or when I actor was performing a stunt. Like my science example, it comes complete with the small hand scanner which doesn't separate from the tricorder itself. It is decorated with decals to simulate buttons. I believe in total, there were approx 20 static tricorders made for the show, with far less hero examples.

In a future blog, I am going to dedicate one to my hero example, so stay tuned and keep checking back.