... How Many Comms?
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We have been stating as fact that Wah Chang provided exactly ten communicator props to Star Trek. How do we know this so emphatically? Basically, because Wah told all of us so. The book Star Trek Sketchbook - The Original Series by Herbert F. Solow and Yvonne Fern Solow (Pocket Books, 1997) had a detailed chapter on Wah:
Below is an enlargement of part of page 239. Note the text highlighted by the red arrow on the right:
Where did Wah get this data 30 years after the fact? From his own records. Below are his carbon copies (provided by UCLA archives):
followed by...
It is interesting to note the reference in the 6/2/66 letter to a "preliminary model." We cannot be certain of the creation or status of said item. Suffice it to say Roddenberry paid for only ten; two heroes and eight dummies. In fairness, this does not rule out the possibility that a few extra communicators were made by the Desilu or Paramount prop department later during the show's production. After all, the studio made some tricorders and phasers, so why not some comms, right? We are confident that none were, however, simply because none extra were needed. More than enough of Wah's ten comms made it to all the way through to the end of the show, and with their impossibly tight budget, it is hard to imagine anything being done that absolutely didn't need to be. Also no photo evidence whatsoever, be it screen caps or other vintage pics, suggests with even a hint of confidence others being made. It is correctly said that the absence of proof is not the proof of absence, which is another way of saying you cannot prove a negative. However, until concrete evidence can be produced to the contrary, it will be our firm and demonstrable position that Wah Chang made in June 1966 all of the communicator props - likely ten - that were ever filmed* during the entire three years of the classic Star Trek TV series:
* A crude putty and foil version crushed by hand in I, Mudd was probably created by the studio's prop department. This one-time, throw away "stunt" communicator was not included in our formal count for reasons self-evident. |
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