Copy Cats Part 2

CopyCats Part 2

The Brad Nelson story

Starfleet Research

By Tony Russo

On or about 1974 the Trek conventions started to become a pretty big event which drew many thousands.

Standing behind one table somewhere in the middle of the dealer's hall sandwiched between dealers selling T-shirts, gum cards, Mego toys, & IDIC symbols stood a studious looking young man who sometimes wore a Classic Trek Tunic. His table was basically nothing more than an order form with which you put your name & address once you ordered his product. Most people as they passed by his table would hear the ever popular "oohs"&"aahs" and had to stop, curious to see what the fuss was about.

They quickly found out. This studious looking young gentleman was brandishing a new groundbreaking item. To most people at that time, it looked like he just walked off the Paramount lot with an original Star Trek (which was not yet called classic, since the next de-generation was years away, not to mention the movies) Phaser 2.

And again to most, it looked absolutely gorgeous, this pioneer copycat Mr. Brad Nelson, took the time and certainly the expertise to craft his art to almost the pinnacle of perfection for that period. "Can I see it ?" said someone. "Wait" said Brad "Let me turn it on so you can see what it does." Turn it on???

Now that was a shock. A replica that actually looks like an original phaser, and had machined aluminum parts with all the correct trimmings to boot was impressive enough for 1974. You mean it actually does something?? We thought it might have had some sort of lightbulb in it, some quick light up gimmick that he might have pulled from some kid's toy......Not So!! Brad held the phaser so the top faced him, and turned on the thumb wheel, and a light & meter were activated. It fired beautifully with sound, was fantastically bright, and was nothing like a lightbulb. It had 3 settings, the third being the ever popular "overload".All the controls on this replica worked except the lock release due to the fact that the phaser 1 was not removable because of the electronics arrangement.

"How did you manage to make this???" someone asked. Brad explained. As I explained in my previous installment, like most potential copycats, Brad noticed the poor quality replicas when ever he saw them at shows, and knew that he could do better. He hand carved his prototype body from wood, and made a rubber mold and cast his phasers out of marine fiberglass. He had all the metal parts professionally made, and then came up with an interesting idea: He put an actual camera strobe light in it and used a working meter which came from the audiocassette machines of the day which was pretty close to the size and look of the phaser meter on the original phaser. For the light between the meter and thumb wheel, a grain of wheat light was perfect. It had the feel and the heft of an actual weapon.

A little child who could not have been more than 10 or 11 years old strode up to Brads table. "how much is it???" $50.00 Said Brad. The little kid went over to a neighboring table where apparently his mother was browsing. He tugged at her skirt and whispered in her ear. The lady then produced a crisp new $50.00 bill and Brad's first sale was made. $50.00 was a lot of money in those days. This author was only about 14 years old at that time, and only had about $12.00 on him and that usually went pretty far. But subsequently much, much, later I begged & borrowed and am happy to say that I do have one in my collection.

In fact Mr. Kelley liked it so much that in a 1976 appearance on the "tomorrow" television show with Tom Snyder, he brings it along and briefly demonstrates it for the cameras. You can sometimes find that on the blooper reel tape copies that are on sale at the present day conventions.

Sometimes Brad let a friend demonstrate and sell when he was unavailable for a particular show. This friend then related a time when William Shatner was a guest. He supposedly asked if he could bring the Phaser up on stage when he spoke. "no problem" said Brad's friend. So up to the stage went our beloved Captain Kirk, and future T. J. Hooker to recall all the delightful anecdotes, memories & experiences of the good old Trek days.

At the end, Brad's friend asked Mr. Shatner if he was interested in buying it. "Sorry" Said Shatner," maybe some other time". Apparently Starfleet's pension plan does not allow for fun money.

At any rate, from 1974 to 1977 Brad produced a reasonably modest amount of these pieces, but unfortunately for the collector,eEach replica took 4-5 weeks to make, so the price went up.. By the end of 1977 Brad's phasers were now $500.00, and at almost that exact same point in time, the Great Bird Of The Galaxy (Gene Roddenberry) swooped down to attend a Statler-Hilton Star Trek convention.

"Hey, Mr. Roddenberry" shouted a fan, "you gotta checkout the dealers room..someone's got one of your working phasers in there". "I'll do that " said Gene..Actually Mr. Roddenberry had already heard about Brad's phaser, and was planning to stop by anyway. As Brad was demonstrating his phaser to a prospective customer, someone said "Excuse me, but may I see that when you are through?" Now when the great Bird speaks, we all listen.."well young man, I guess my friends were right. You did a fine job...Better than the guys I hired to do these for me......What's your name???.. I'll remember that..Do you have a card"? "No" said Brad, "but I"ll put my telephone number on my order form for you".

Gene Roddenberry definitely had a way with the people that he spoke with. He put you on equal ground with him, and made you feel comfortable, and never exercised any superior airs. You immediately felt like you were talking to an old friend.

"Well" said Gene, Can I buy this one?" of course" Said Brad, who usually only brought one phaser to the shows as a demo model, and shipped the customer his when he placed his order. But the Great Bird of the Galaxy should not be made to wait!!! "Thank you...we'll be in touch"...and off he went.

It is believed that very late in 1977 or early in 1978 Brad's telephone rang at home. "This is Gene Roddenberry..maybe you remember me...I bought one of your phasers". Now that's a call from a copycat's dreams. It seemed that Gene was finally going to bring Back Star trek as a made for TV miniseries entitled Star Trek: phase 2 and wanted Brad to make the phasers that they were going to use. "Sure!" jumped Brad. However Gene wanted some changes. Originally Brad used gloss paints on his pieces. Gene requested flats. Mr. Roddenberry also wanted Brad to do away with the rainbow colored square grid on top of the phaser 1 to be changed to an all chrome colored straight lined tape, and to cut down the back knob that was the selector switch. In addition there were a few more subtle changes he wanted made that would further distinguish these pieces from the fan bought ones: Gene needed none of the electronics, and he wanted the phaser 1 to be removable, along with the pistol grip that housed the AA batteries. Brad used velcro to accomplish these changes and sewed it through with copper thread and went over the thread with black magic marker.

After they were made, Brad personally went to Paramount Studios, and hand delivered them. Sometime after that, Brad was summoned to Paramount's legal offices for a series of three meetings. Apparently Gene Roddenberry was unaware of the fact that Paramount had given a license to sell Star Trek Merchandise to Mego Toys. That also included the name "Phaser". The way it was explained to Brad this fell under the legal nomenclature of "conspiracy to confuse the public" and therefore his Phasers could not be used, since Mego's toy phaser was vastly different in appearance From Brad's Full sized realistic looking replica.

Apparently Paramount & or Remco must have thought that the fans & public was just too ignorant to see the difference from a cheap inaccurate made for children's toy, or an authentic in- scale prop replica worthy enough to be used on TV or even a movie!

I don't know about you readers, but except for shows like "Lost In Space" I have yet to see any character use a cheap kids toy for a prop, since most studios, if not all utilize their special effects department to construct what they need..Guess what Paramount, We can tell the difference!!.

However, the real reason may have been the fact that Paramount studios always hade a profound dislike of Gene Roddenberry's use of "nonprofessionals" for prop work, and were looking for an excuse not to allow it this time. In any case, Brad never saw those phasers he made for Gene Roddenberry again, but continued to make more as time permitted him, but stopped briefly for a period at approximately 1983.

His last and final Hurrah was at a Toronto Canada Star Trek convention in 1985. By that time the parts he was using for the electronics became outdated and becoming more difficult to acquire. Collectors were paying up to $700.00 each for one which was a little high, but in this author's opinion, still worth it. In lieu of these reasons Brad decided to shut down Starfleet Research. He felt he had a good run of it, and that it was now time to move on to bigger & better things. At present he works in silicon valley for an electronics firm, where his expertise took him as far as Australia, recently. But he still remembers fondly the possibility of his phasers being used by Captain Kirk& Crew..."To quote a classic Klingon" says he,.."It might have been glorious"..