Set Phasers To Stunning

[Eugene Hill]

Inthe creation of Star Trek Gene Roddenberry wrote the future society as a utopia. There is no need for money, there is no hunger and there is little to no violence inside of the Federation. I understand that there are weapons still - that doesn't seem contradictory to a Utopian society. Why is there a kill setting on phasers though? In a society that has advanced in all aspects, why would there be a need or desire to have a kill setting on a phaser? A setting that will immediately disintegrate anyone it hits. It seems not only counter to the society but completely unnecessary.

Now I am aware that it is used many times in different episodes as the only solution to certain problems but despite that I wonder why it's even a necessity. Some other solution may have worked just as well, but using the kill setting was easier. Also there seems to be nothing keeping anyone at all from getting a phaser and setting it to kill. Considering all of the different species and races they encounter it seems to go against the Prime Directive to even use the kill setting on a phaser. So why does that setting exist?

Also, the whole setting isn't as pretty or utopian as you said. In Kirk's time they still use some kind of money (not really sure how it's called in the English version, but in German they call it ducats (which is rather odd, as most people here associate these with classic pirates/Caribbean Sea)).

Regarding the Prime Directive: The non-intervention part (killing or just talking) pertains to species incapable of reaching other civilizations (i.e. no warp drive or similar technology), so they're not influenced by them and to avoid things like sudden power shifts. Otherwise they would violate it just by taking a trip out into space, but at the same time it was a different Federation in Kirk's day.

But in general, I think it's just logical to have a kill setting as well, because sooner or later you'll encounter bad guys who won't mind getting taken out over and over again. Also it's been proven in more than one episode that it's possible to manipulate phasers so they become stronger or overload and explode, so not having this setting wouldn't really impact anyone wanting to actually hurt or kill people. Instead it just limits valid uses in case of self-defense (if you assume they're not out to hurt anyone intentionally), where killing your opponent is the only effective and viable reason.

The phaser was more than just a weapon, it was a tool. Like most tools, it could be used to kill, but you often see them used to do quite a few other things, ranging from (obviously) stunning and killing, to heating up rocks for warmth, or even brewing coffee. (No.. really.. they made coffee with them in The Corbomite Maneuver, as I recall.)

When they talk about putting phasers on 'Kill', they aren't so much putting them on a setting labeled 'Kill', as putting them at or above the level that is identified as being lethal to humanoid life forms. This setting may, however, be used for many other things.

All of that being said.. They were often used as weapons, and meant to be such, with lethal capacity. Although humans may have had a utopian society, but they still had enemies, and there were dangers to explorers of undetermined levels; lethal force was something they tried to avoid using, but were not foolish enough not to have available.

The "kill" setting is not guaranteed to kill everyone and everything, it is named that because it kills most humanoid aliens(and I am sure for the extra awe-factor from the audience when the Captain orders "Set phasers to kill").

Despite being a "utopia", the Federation still have many enemies; they need phasers to defend themselves. They may abhor unnecessary violence, but when exploring diverse areas of space or defending their homes, sometimes it becomes necessary to kill an aggressor.

There are many cases where immediately killing an attacker is necessary and stunning him (which might not work depending on the drug level of the attacker) would risk the attacker finishing his attack.

"I have an aversion to stunners, in that sort of situation," he said slowly. "Nobody hesitates to rush one, and if there are enough of them they can always get it away from you in the end. I've seen men killed, relying on stunners, who could have walked right through with a disruptor or plasma arc. A disruptor has real authority."

Put people in a situation where they know they'll survive as long as at least one of their members gets through and they'll be willing to charge the person with a weapon. Give them a situation where each individual is risking their life and few will be bold enough.

A Phaser has many different power settings for different situations. It is necessary to have the option for a "kill" setting if an enemy is too powerful or the "stun" setting cannot disrupt their nervous system.

In the new star trek movie (sorry for the bad example) Spock and Kirk set their phasers to kill while onboard the Romulan ship because if they were to let the Romulans live they run the risk of letting the entire federation get destroyed.

Roddenberry's utopians are peaceful, benevolent, but not pacifists. ST explores the concept that no matter how advanced your civilization, there are always those who must be stopped. At times they resort to violence and the only way to respond is with equal force. (Read at least equal or superior.) So, it appears that Roddenberry disagreed with the pacifist view.

The primary mission of the Enterprise is peaceful exploration, discovery, and diplomacy. As it goes about this mission, ship and crew may be inadvertently exposed to threats - after all, it is exploring the unknown. It makes sense to be armed for defensive purposes, to be used only if forced to.

I like putting phaser before fuzz sometimes. It causes the signal to fuzz on the peaks but gets cleaner in the valleys sounds very cool if you turn it up faster. This works well for the right music YMMV.

I own a PSA-1 which is a great phaser but has a very audible noise floor. The noise floor can be overcome using a Rocktron Hush II on both input and outputs and slaving the output trigger to the input trigger making it useful for recording. But it is a bit cumbersome and too big for my pedal board. Nowadays I use an Infanem Faye Sing which cops all the Maestro PSA-1 sounds and a lot more too boot. Like all Infanem pedals it is very flexible and has extras like an expression pedal/CV input to get the Foxx pedal phaser sounds. this pedal also uses a DC to DC converter to create a +-12 volt bipolar supply which is necessary to create a really good phaser IMHO.

On the cheap side I also have an Elektar Phaser sold by Gibson a few years back very thick yet expressive. I bought it at the local Meijers (Walmart style big box store but not owned by the psychotic walmart heirs). It was $29.95 with a pwr supply wall wart and a 6 foot cable it can sound very psychedelic. It looks like these pedals are being sold under the Castle brand by Zzounds.com but for more money.

Flanging and phasing are both swept comb filter effects. Flanging is a time delay effect that involves adding a slightly delayed version of the signal to the original. Signal addition and subtraction occurs and results in a comb filtering effect where the spacing of the filter notches is harmonically related. The delay must be slowly modulated for the sweeping flanging effect to be really audible. Flanging typically produces a relatively large number of comb filter notches.

Phasing is produced by applying an all-pass filter that shifts phase, but does not affect frequency response (so it uses phase shift rather than time delay). When the output of the all-pass filter is mixed with the original signal (and the all-pass filter shift is modulated) then again the result is the addition and cancellation of a comb filter, but phasers can only produce a few notches (for example the MXR Phase 45 only produces one notch). Phasers with multiple stage all-pass filters can produce more notches but the notch spacing is not harmonically related. A typical six stage phaser only produces three notches. The Uni-Vibe, sold as a Leslie emulator, is actually a four stage, two notch, all-pass filter phaser with an odd selection of capacitors in the filter stages.

Flanging (as heard on Itchycoo Park) was originally produced in studios using a tape delay and was discovered as an unwanted result of double tracking vocals using duplicated tracks. Until bucket brigade delay chips became available flanging was an effect that was almost impossible to reproduce in a foot pedal, but pedal designers realised they could produce a somewhat similar sound using all-pass filters in a phase pedal.

The Maestro was it. I had one that someone mistakenly threw out. I did find two Gibson/Norlin SG amplifiers cheap. Each has the Oberheim/Maestro circuit board in it. I will pull at least one to put in a pedal.

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Packing a hefty punch inside a compact body, this 1:1 scale replica of the iconic Type-1 Cricket Phaser prop from Star Trek: The Next Generation features a variety of electronic light and sound effects neatly encased in a heavy cast metal frame.

During their long tenure, many different Cricket phaser props were made. These ranged from fairly primitive non-functioning 'stunt' props to quite elaborate 'hero' props with functioning electronics. As is normal for productions, a number of modifications and changes were made to the different props over the course of time.

This replica has been designed to capture the best elements of all of the variants in a single blended execution. The replica has a variety of electronic light and sound features designed to simulate the special effects seen on screen, including both effects featured in the hero props and effects added in post-production, as well as a 'Crusher' mode effect seen only in the episode 'The Game.'

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