Star Trek is a franchise that’s always been big on recycling. Props, costumes, and sets from one Trek production often carried over to the next. Did you know that the Klingon uniforms, first introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, were re-used in later movies and three subsequent TV series? All to save money. And that’s just one example. Because of this, the cool new tricorders that were going to be introduced on Star Trek: Voyager in ’95 had to be scrapped. Instead, they just used the old Next Generation ones.
But now, thanks to Gizmodo, we’ve learned that one very resourceful Trekker has created the Star Trek: Voyager tricorder that never was. And it is cooler than anything we saw on screen back in the day. A YouTuber that goes by the name Mangy_Dog decided to build this 24th-century contraption all on their own. The Starfleet tricorder took over a year to build, and looked completely screen-worthy. Mangy_Dog created three videos, each detailing the making of this prop. And as you’ll see, it took a lot of hard work. You can watch part one above.
The Voyager tricorder was so cool, a friend commissioned a replica of the prop for themselves. So Mangy_Dog took the opportunity to totally update the prop. And not just the outside casing, but from the inside as well. It took Mangy_Dog a good couple of years to finish the Voyager tricorder, but the final result speaks for itself.
The final Voyager Tricorder V2 includes several touch-sensitive buttons used to switch up modes, and even to turn on secret features. Like any good Star Trek prop, it has pulsing LEDs across its face, so that it always looks like it’s working on solving some cosmic mystery. We think that Mangy_Dog has done Captain Janeway proud with this one.
