Type-II Hand Phaser
(c. 2371)

A scaled-down, more ergonomic version of the previous model of hand phaser. Modifications include an improved sarium-krellide power cell, curved grip, and reinforced prefire chamber.

Clumsily substituted for the older model on Voyager - a season after they were stranded in the Delta Quadrant. Absurdly small when it first appeared, it now makes the older one look ridiculously large!

Rick Sternbach told me it was modified by another designer to make it easier for actors to aim, and therefore avoid the extra FX work needed to make it look like it's pointing in the right direction! Prop Image

One of the most unusual uses this weapon has been put to was in Voyager's "Extreme Risk" when Lt. B'Elanna Torres used it as the emitter for a jury-rigged forcefield, in conjunction with an unidentified piece of equipment (seen earlier being examined by Commander Tuvok, pictured below) and an EPS Relay from the Delta Flyer's transporter buffer. The exact mechanics weren't explained, but it worked, anyway! The TNG-era version of the Type-II was mentioned in the episode "Lessons" as being used to generate a force field, but there is no information as to whether the method used was any different.

There's an interesting difference between the script and filmed versions of First Contact. When Picard reclaims his phaser from Lily, he says it was set to vapourise; yet, in the script (and novelisation) it's set at a very low setting that would have merely hiven him a 'light rash.' Why the difference? The cynic in me suspects that maybe they thought the all-new action hero Picard should be in worse danger than a session with the EMH's analgesic cream! Yet, realistically, we can see that the phaser's status LED is all-red, which looks rather bad: surely he'd have been able to notice this and know that if he tried to grab the gun he'd be killed? Then there's the continuity aspect: we see him shoot one of his own crewmen seconds before, and he barely has time to reset the weapon; yet the newly-assimilated redshirt isn't disintegrated, merely killed. . . However! New information has come to light courtesy of Bradley Baggett, Brian Johnson and Toby Sennett who rightly point out that when Lily ambushes him, he drops the phaser, and if you listen closely (turn up the volume if necessary) you can hear the noise of the phaser setting changing!

One other interesting feature of Picard's phaser in ST:FC - a prominent red trigger button, not seen on any other model of this weapon. Also, where this prop has the lower power gauge assigned to the red beam-intensity settings, the version seen on DS9 has it as the upper indicator.

At first glance, according to the Voyager series finale "Endgame" this weapon is still in use nearly 20 years later, albeit with the three rectangular buttons on top replaced with oval ones; however, the same prop also appears in Star Trek: Nemesis where it's plain to see it's a whole new redesign of the 'banana' phaser: therefore it will appear on a new page.