My Affair With The Phaser

By James A B Mahaffey

This book describes my reaction to the phaser pistol and the hand phaser when I first saw "reruns" of "Star Trek"TM on television in the summer of 1967.

I tell my story of discovery, to learn exactly what the phaser pistol looked like in "Star Trek"TM, "The Original Series" (TOS) from the summer of 1967 to 2025.

I present what I have learned about the "practical" or "working" or "hero" Phasers (P2 and P1) on the various prop forums that I joined and from other sources.

I include some of the drawings I made of the Hero Phaser over the years.

The working phasers were fabricated by the employees of the Desilu Effects Department (DED) to the future Art Director's (Walter M. Jefferies) working drawings in the summer of 1966.

I show you what the phaser would have looked like if the DED had made the prop exactly to the Art Directors drawings.

I then provide photo mosaic drawings of the practical phaser pistol (P2) prop actually made by the DED to the Art Director's working drawings.

And I provide photo mosaic drawings of the 4 practical phaser pistol (P2) props and the 4 practical P1s after Wah Ming Chang "reworked" the original black and white phaser props.

Of course I include photos of my licensed "Star Trek"TM TOS Phaser replica collection made by: "Master Replicas"TM, "Art Asylum"TM /"Diamond Select Toys"TM, Roddenberry.Com and the "Wand Company"TM remote control.

I include the links (URLs) for photos and movies of the "two surviving" practical phaser pistols props - the "Greg Jein" and the "Finney".

Qi Press

Second Printing, November 2025

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0G3GM21V3
• ISBN13: 9798295403057
• Release Date: November 2025
• Publisher: Qi Press
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 1.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.5" x 11.0"