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Re-Used Props - Medical & Engineering Instruments 
by Jörg Hillebrand and Bernd Schneider

Medical Instruments - Engineering Tools

Many props of Star Trek were later modified or even recycled without changes to represent equipment for a different purpose or of another civilization. Here are quite a few examples of tools and instruments. Please note that every statement made here should be taken with a grain of salt. There is no need to seek for explanations. Certainly we are not supposed to watch closely enough to notice that Geordi's engineering tools are occasionally used in sickbay or even in Mr. Mot's salon.

Medical Instruments occasionally encountered in engineering

Forcefield generator & medical instrument The prop shown as Kivas Fajo's forcefield generator in TNG: "The Most Toys" has gone through quite a remarkable development. It was used as a medical instrument in a couple of later TNG episodes, each time in a slightly different role. Dr. Crusher used it to heal a torn ligament in TNG: "Conundrum". In TNG: "Starship Mine" she treated Picard's "nasty little cut" with it, but the patient didn't keep still. The treatment of Guinan with the device was most likely simulated, as was Guinan's tennis elbow in the first place. But regarding its previous appearances as a medical instrument it seemed like the right choice if it had been for real. In TNG: "Emergence" Beverly treated Deanna's small wound with the device. Only in TNG: "Ethics" the prop was used for a considerably different yet still medical purpose, to monitor a patient's condition.

Forcefield generator (TNG: "The Most Toys") (screen capture by Jörg)	Medical monitor (TNG: "Ethics") (screen capture by Jörg)
Surgical instrument (TNG: "Conundrum") (screen capture by Jörg)	Medical scanner (TNG: "Starship Mine") (screen capture by Jörg)
Medical device (TNG: "Suspicions") (screen capture by Jörg)	Dermal regenerator (TNG: "Emergence") (screen capture by Jörg)

A couple of years later we see the prop once again, this time in B'Elanna's hands as an engineering tool in VOY: "Dreadnought".

Engineering tool (VOY: "Dreadnought")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Medical & metallurgical scanner This prop has previously been used as a combination of a medical scanner and a dermal regenerator. But in TNG: "Phantasms" it serves to scan the structure of a knife blade.

Medical scanner (TNG: "The Defector") (screen capture by Jörg)	Dermal regenerator (TNG: "Lessons") (screen capture by Jörg)
Metallurgical scanner (TNG: "Phantasms") (screen capture by Jörg)

Trill device & dermal regenerator A strange gadget of the TNG-Trills in TNG: "The Host" will later appear as the familiar dermal regenerator on DS9. The screenplay says about the Trill device that Odan uses it to "feed" the yet unknown symbiont with light.

Trill device (TNG: "The Host") (screen capture by Jörg)	Dermal regenerator (DS9: "The Homecoming") (screen capture by Jörg)
Dermal regenerator (DS9: "Indiscretion") (screen capture by Jörg)	Dermal regenerator (DS9: "One Little Ship") (screen capture by Jörg)

Medical instrument & laser torch This is one more of several props that we may find in sickbay as well as in engineering. Dr. Crusher uses it as a laser scalpel and also as a dermal regenerator. The same prop can be found as a medical allround instrument in Dr. Bashir's sickbay too. Here it acts as a medical scanner and also to open or to close wounds.

Laser scalpel (TNG: "The Host") (screen capture by Jörg)	Dermal regenerator (TNG: "Frame of Mind") (screen capture by Jörg)
Medical device (DS9: "The Alternate") (screen capture by Jörg)	Medical device (DS9: "Blaze of Glory") (screen capture by Jörg)

Although a laser torch as in DS9: "Destiny" may work in a similar fashion as a medical scalpel, we wouldn't really expect the device to be that diverse.

Laser torch (DS9: "Destiny")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Restrictor & microgenerator In TNG: "Liaisons" a prop is shown as a restriction device that "will hold the bones in place, will let them knit." Picard has three fractured ribs. The same device is used by the Kazons on their training ground. It creates a forcefield that traps Janeway and the away team on the planet while they are searching Chakotay and the young Kar.

Restriction device (TNG: "Liaisons") (screen capture by Jörg)

Kazon microgenerator (VOY: "Initiations") (screen capture by Jörg)

Multifunctional medical instrument This segmented headset prop can be seen in so diversified functions that we can safely assume it must represent something different each time. It is meant to be an audio stimulator in DS9: "Babel"; when O'Brien begins to talk nonsense Bashir uses it to analyze his auditory sense. In DS9: "Duet" Bashir examines Aamin Marritza who is suffering from the Kalla-Nohra Syndrome. In this test Bashir puts the device on Marritza's eyes. When the doctor lifts the scanner, Kira steps in and in a dramatic twist she recognizes the war criminal Gul Darhe'el, the man that Marritza pretends to be.

Audio stimulator (DS9: "Babel") (screen capture by Jörg)

Medical scanner (DS9: "Duet") (screen capture by Jörg)

The headset also shows up in TNG: "Homeward", here obviously as a surgical instrument that transforms Worf's forehead into something Boraalan-looking. Finally we can see the prop in DS9: "Extreme Measures" as an engrammatic sensor. The prop was slightly modified for this purpose. New blinking add-ons were affixed to the two segments on either side of the central piece. The whole setup along with the computer is called a "multitronic engrammatic interpreter", while the scripts calls our prop just the "headset".

Cosmetic surgery device (TNG: "Homeward") (screen capture by Jörg)

Engrammatic sensor (DS9: "Extreme Measures") (screen capture by Jörg)

Medical & engineering scanner This prop consistently serves as a medical scanner during early DS9. In DS9: "The Quickening" it gains particular importance as a "microcellular" scanner. But then the prop must have been mislabeled or stored in the wrong drawer. At latest since DS9: "Dr. Bashir, I Presume" it repeatedly shows up in the hands of engineers.

Medical scanner (DS9: "Dramatis Personae") (screen capture by Jörg)	Medical scanner (DS9: "Whispers") (screen capture by Jörg)
Medical scanner (DS9: "Life Support") (screen capture by Jörg)	Microcellular scanner (DS9: "The Quickening") (screen capture by Jörg)
Engineering scanner (DS9: "Dr. Bashir, I Presume") (screen capture by Jörg)	Engineering scanner (DS9: "Call to Arms") (screen capture by Jörg)
Engineering scanner (DS9: "Treachery, Faith...") (screen capture by Jörg)

Medical device & decoupler The scanner used in the attempt to save Vedek Bareil's life in DS9: "Life Support" becomes a decoupler in DS9: "Nor the Battle to the Strong".

Medical device (DS9: "Life Support") (screen capture by Jörg)

Decoupler (DS9: "Nor the Battle to the Strong") (screen capture by Jörg)

Neural stimulator & mind probe This is another prop with an astonishing but at least partly plausible history. It can be seen for the first time in DS9: "The Magnificent Ferengi" where it is used to "revive" the dead Vorta Keevan by stimulating his nervous system. Since the Ferengi found it in the sickbay of Empok Nor, we can assume that it is a Cardassian device. It is equipped with a red blinking light.

Neural stimulator (DS9: "The Magnificent Ferengi") (screen capture by Jörg)

Romulan mind probe (DS9: "Inter Arma...") (screen capture by Jörg)

In DS9: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" we can see the prop again. This time it is supposed to be a Romulan mind probe, used to access Dr. Bashir's memory. Actually, we learn about its name as late as in DS9: "Extreme Measures" where Dr. Bashir makes use of exactly such a device to enter Sloan's mind. The naming is anything but consistent here, the three variants are "Romulan memory scanner", "Romulan mind probe" and finally "Romulan mental probe". The only difference between these two episodes is that in "Inter Arma" the light is blue, whereas it is red in "Extreme Measures". Interestingly, the device shows up between these two episodes too when the injured General Martok is treated in DS9: "Tacking into the Wind". We certainly wouldn't expect that brain spying is a standard treatment by Federation physicians. ;-) And just for a change, the LED in the device is yellow here.

Medical monitor (DS9: "Tacking into the Wind") (screen capture by Jörg)

Romulan mind probe (DS9: "Extreme Measures") (screen capture by Jörg)

Blood gas infuser & Voth scanner In a strange metamorphosis, the blood gas infuser helping to keep Neelix alive in VOY: "The Phage" becomes a multipurpose Voth scanner in VOY: "Distant Origin".

Blood gas infuser (VOY: "The Phage") (screen capture by Jörg)

Voth scanner (VOY: "Distant Origin") (screen capture by Jörg)

Cardassian & Varro scanner The same scanner shows up in the hand of the Cardassian hologram Crell Moset in VOY: "Nothing Human" and as a Varro device in VOY: "The Disease". 

Medical scanner (VOY: "Nothing Human") (screen capture by Jörg)

Varro scanner (VOY: "The Disease") (screen capture by Jörg)

Engineering Tools occasionally encountered in sickbay

Scanner & medical instrument A scanner that Geordi was working with more than once on TNG suddenly appears as a medical device in the hands of Nurse Ogawa in TNG: "Identity Crisis". But even Dr. Crusher was occasionally mistaken about the instruments she was using... 

Engineering scanner (TNG: "Tin Man") (screen capture by Jörg)

Medical device (TNG: "Identity Crisis") (screen capture by Jörg)

Geological & medical instrument I previously falsely classified this prop as a "Cardassian device of unknown purpose". Actually it is a geological gadget that Davies employs in TNG: "Pen Pals" to crack a rock sample behind a glass cover. Several years later we can see the same prop as part of Dr. Bashir's inventory in DS9: "Far Beyond the Stars". He scans Sisko's head after his hallucinations of Ben Russell. Well, if the captain had kidney stones it might be just the right instrument, but then we would have to doubt Bashir's knowledge of anatomy. :-)

Geological instrument (TNG: "Pen Pals") (screen capture by Jörg)	Medical device (DS9: "Far Beyond the Stars") (screen capture by Jörg)
Geological scanner, close view (The Art of Star Trek, scan by Bernd)	The prop in "Buckaroo Banzai" (screen capture by Cardinal Biggles)

Depiction of Xindi device (ENT: "Anomaly")
(screen capture by Jörg)

The prop was originally seen as the oscillation overthruster in "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension", the movie which has been the subject of various in-jokes by the Star Trek Art Department.

Apparently as some sort of in-joke, the prop is displayed in ENT: "Anomaly" as a Xindi device. It seems that the right half of the depicted device is identical to the side view from The Art of Star Trek, whereas the left half has been created by mirroring the image and changing a couple of details to break up the symmetry.

Scanner & hair dyer This scanner undergoes a curious metamorphosis. After being used consistently as an engineering tool, the prop suddenly shows up as a hair dyer in Mr. Mot's hairdressing salon!

Engineering scanner (TNG: "Samaritan Snare") (screen capture by Jörg)	Engineering scanner (TNG: "Peak Performance") (screen capture by Jörg)
Hair dyer (TNG: "Data's Day") (screen capture by Jörg)

Engineering & medical scanner This prop is another multipurpose tool for use by physicians as well as engineers. Most often we can see the prop in engineering as some sort of scanner. But at least on one occasion Dr. Crusher uses the same instrument, to scan tissue samples in TNG: "Aquiel" (just before the biomimetic fluid imitates the shape of her hand).

Engineering scanner (TNG: "Legacy") (screen capture by Jörg)	Engineering scanner (TNG: "Clues") (screen capture by Jörg)
Medical scanner (TNG: "Aquiel") (screen capture by Jörg)	Engineering scanner (TNG: "Birthright, part 1") (screen capture by Jörg)

Multifunctional engineering & medical device On the Enterprise-D the device used by Geordi to scan Data's head later becomes a medical device to heal wounds, probably a variant of a dermal regenerator. Quark, on the other hand, calls the same device a "laser scalpel" and keeps one behind his counter. He opens a stasis container with this tool. Voyager's Doctor owns such an instrument too. On one occasion it is a scanner, another time it acts as a scalpel again. The prop also appears in Voyager as a "type-4 microinducer". This one is obviously not intended to be a medical tool.

Geordi's scanner (TNG: "Time's Arrow") (screen capture by Jörg)	Dermal regenerator (TNG: "Chain of Command II") (screen capture by Jörg)
Dermal regenerator (TNG: "Timescape") (screen capture by Jörg)	Laser scalpel (DS9: "Invasive Procedures") (screen capture by Jörg)
Medical scanner (VOY: "Threshold") (screen capture by Jörg)	Microinducer (VOY: "Scientific Method") (screen capture by Jörg)

Subdermal scalpel (VOY: "Latent Image")
(screen capture by Jörg)

Pralor scanner & Romulan torturing device An engineering tool utilized by the Pralor later appears as part of the Romulan torturing inventory in DS9: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges". The device was designed by Ed Kline, is available from Modern Props and also appeared in "Men in Black".

Pralor scanner (VOY: "Prototype") (screen capture by Jörg)

Romulan torturing tools (DS9: "Inter Arma...") (screen capture by Jörg)

Origin of Pralor scanner
(screen capture by Jörg)

Pralor & Srivani devices Two devices of the Pralor (VOY: "Prototype"), of which one is identified as submicron scanner (left portion of the image), are identical to two Srivani instruments (VOY: "Scientific Method"). At least one of these devices was designed by Ed Kline, is available from Modern Props and also appeared in "Men in Black".

Pralor devices (VOY: "Prototype") (screen capture by Jörg)

Srivani devices (VOY: "Scientific Method") (screen capture by Jörg)

Origin of Pralor submicron scanner
(screen capture by Jörg)

More Pralor devices Two more Pralor tools from VOY: "Prototype" were designed by Ed Kline. One of them appeared in "Babylon 5", one in MIB.

Origin of Pralor device (screen capture by Jörg)

Origin of Pralor phase coil resonator (screen capture by Jörg)

Credits

Cardinal Biggles pointed us to the origin of the geological instrument in "Buckaroo Banzai".

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	Last modified: 01.08.07
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies/reused_props1.htm