Set Your Phasers To Stun

[Concordia Zentner]

Isthere some reason for this constant admonishment to set phasers to the stun setting? Aren't all phasers calibrated to that default setting and have to be manually adjusted to a higher setting? I can understand a 'weapons check' but that is a different function altogether and is typically done by the armorer and demonstrated by the recipient when drawing the weapon, not waiting until they're standing on the transporter pad seconds before beam-down. This seems a bit late for such a function.

Phasers are typically stored in lockers (either in the armory or near the transporter pads) and are not personal. This means when you pick up a phaser it might be set to whatever setting it was last used on.

They set phasers to stun, because it's like saying check your gun and make sure you have the safety off or on. They don't want to attack and cause more damage than they are suppose to until the situation is clearly against them. Also, if someone friendly fires and the phaser is set at stun, the most that will happen is that the person will lose a couple of brain cells. I don't know if phasers have a off button, but if they do they are probably saying make sure your gun is ready to go, make sure it is on.

Some directed energy weapons did not have a stun yield setting. Some had only two settings, the stun and the kill setting. (ENT: "Broken Bow", "Cease Fire") On phaser weaponry used by Starfleet in the 23rd and 24th centuries, there were several different levels of stun settings. Starfleet regulations stated that phasers were to be locked at the level one stun setting. (TNG: "Aquiel")

The first stun setting was called the "low stun setting", (TNG: "Force of Nature") "setting number one" and the "base cycle stunning force". (TOS: "The Enemy Within") A hit from this most minimal setting only left the target dazed, unable to stand and think straight for a short time. (TOS: "The Man Trap") Two phasers set on setting one fired simultaneously could break large objects into pieces, such as the urns of the second planet of the Taurean system. (TAS: "The Lorelei Signal") In the 2290s, a phaser fired on stun did not set off internal alarms on Starfleet starships. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

Also, stun probably was the main setting. Why would Starfleet have their main setting anything higher, they are suppose to help, protect and do as little damage as possible.Telling people to set their guns at stuns, is also like saying make sure the situation needs higher force before you used the kill setting. And it might have been like someone saying "get your head in the game".

Out-of-universe answer:

People writing sci-fi series like Star Trek where there is that casual audience to consider often have to assume that the person watching the episode may be uncaring enough to not bother watching the whole series/from the beginning so they have to accomodate for the lowest common denominator. This is why you often get people stating ridiculously obvious things (i.e imagine the main character's brother is introduced in episode 3 and then turns up again in episode 6, the fact the characters are brothers must therefore be mentioned at least two or three times in episode 6 for the sake of the people who didn't bother to watch episode 3).

In this case, the writers of Star Trek had the awful task of reminding the parents "It's ok, nobody is being killed here". If it weren't for that line (and bearing in mind the era Star Trek first aired in) imagine how many parents would have stopped their kids watching it or written in to complain that it was too violent because the 'bad guys' were being killed.

In-universe answer:

It's like when you plan to go on a big trip, and you always go to the toilet before you leave so that you don't have to go half way through the journey.

In this case, they check at the last minute to be absolutely sure. If they land in a hostile area and start firing, and only then does someone realise their phaser is set to kill, that someone could be 'fired' (or the equivalent, probably 'decommissioned') or even face legal action.

So to prevent legal action, they always make a final check before leaving, no matter how many checks they made prior. At least then if the phaser had a faulty mechanism or something they could cover their asses.

Pulling from real world experience, before military personnel begin a action, they often go through a checklist to verify preparation (see also: pilots pre-flight). A review of rules of engagement, objectives, tasks and timing to assigned to individuals is also standard. Set phasers on stun, in my interpretation, is the short hand for 'we've been through the briefing, now lets go do this'.

Well, no one has mentioned that when the Phasers are stored and carried about the ship they are probably set to off. I don't think it is a command to turn down the power, but more likely as a command to turn them on in case of immediate trouble. They are going down to planets

This procedure ensures that everyone has an explicit order from the person leading the away team regarding the phasers. This way, no one can be blamed afterwards for using an inappropriate setting, because everyone had orders to use this setting and only this setting.

Someone from the away team kills someone with his phasers? Now he can not excuse this with "I was not ordered not to use the kill setting. I assumed we were to defend ourselves by any means necessary."

I tend to agree with the turned "OFF" situation. When placed in the holder, surely they are being charged. If not off, then maybe a "Stand By" mode where it actually does not have use any power and then must be switch to other settings when directed by the away team lead. And, I also agree that in directing everyone to use the same setting, you reduce liability.And yes, everyone in military or law enforcement or just anyone carrying a weapon does know that the level of force can be changed depending on life threatening situations. But they always must have a standard order for what setting to start with so all are on the same page.

Away teams are formed Ad-Hoc and are intended to present the minimum personnel required to evaluate a situation. Because there are no default away team configurations, human error exists, and Starfleet crew members rarely use phasers (they dont even have a practice range,) and members of a previous away team may have encountered hostile enemy contact, it is safer to ensure that all team members have their phasers set to the lowest setting and everyone can escalate if present hostilities demand.

"There was a brief conversation about his out of space, correction, out of state registration, but he assured us that he would take care of that issue when he returned to Krypton. He was also warned about our strict enforcement of warp speed on the interstate and to keep his phasers on stun only while traveling," authorities said.

In the 1960s, when religion became a quaint anachronism on American TV, Star Trek's Captain James T. Kirk declared the Birth of Christ a cosmic event.Last June, I began my post, "A Day Without Yesterday," I could hear her eyes roll across the miles of interstate telephone lines between us.Early this year in "February Tales," I described some of my favorite books when Debbie and I were kids growing up North of Boston. Back then, I thought my series of 35-cent Doc Savage novels were masterpieces of Western literature, and I spent a lot of time in trees reading them high above the traffic of our city street. I remember Debbie laughing hysterically when our mother yelled out the window:"If you fall out of that tree and break your leg, don't come running to me!"Debbie and I were friends as well as brother and sister, but like all brothers and sisters we also argued a lot, and one of the things we argued about was television. When I wasn't up a tree buried in a book, I was bedazzled by science fiction TV shows, and especially by Star Trek which debuted when I was 13 in 1966. Most families had only one TV back then, so Debbie's eyes would always roll when I would open negotiations to reserve the TV for the absolute must-see show of the week: Star Trek - "its five-year mission: to explore new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before!"

Yes, it's finally out in the open! I was a "Trekker." That's "TrekkER" as opposed to "TrekkIE!" The difference is subtle but important. A Trekker is a Star Trek fan who never crossed the line by attending a Star Trek Convention, a sign of shameless fanaticism about it all. I was also a faithful fan of every one of Star Trek's subsequent emanations. My all-time favorite was Star Trek: Deep Space Nine which (yes, I'm now blushing!) first aired in 1993 when I was forty. It was a family joke that I became a priest only because StarFleet Academy didn't acknowledge my 1969 application for admission.ALIENS IN OUR LIVING ROOMBack in 1966, to make matters worse (for Debbie, at least) our family had the only color television on our block. We were by no means privileged. Our father brought it home that year as a Christmas bonus from his boss. I remember the day we first plugged it in. We quickly became the popular kids in the neighborhood!"This means," my 12-year-old sister tactlessly proclaimed, "that every nerd in the neighborhood will be in our living room for Star Trek." Debbie had to admit, at least, that Star Trek was far better in color. We discovered, for example, that only the crew members wearing red shirts were done in by aliens each week, and the slightly green tinge of Mr. Spock's skin made us wonder if perhaps Leonard Nimoy might really be Vulcan.In the inglorious world of nerdology, Star Trek was a sort of rite of passage. Just a year earlier, when I was 12 in 1965, Lost in Space captured our imaginations and primed us for the far more sophisticated Star Trek. Today, Lost in Space is a cult classic known for its campy plots, laughable scripts, bad acting, and ridiculous sets.

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