10 Origins Of Star Trek Props You Won't Believe

Star Trek: The Next Generation's replicators, as well as the food synthesizers from The Original Series, share a lot in common with modern 3D printers. With 3D printers becoming more and more common in recent years, the replicator actually doesn't seem that far-fetched anymore. The main difference between the two is that a replicator can rearrange individual atoms, whereas a 3D printer can typically only work with one material at a time, such as plastic.

Evidently, this comparison was not lost on the set designers of Star Trek: Picard, who used two different real 3D printers as replicator props in the show. First, there is a FlashForge Dreamer 3D Printer seen in the episode, Maps And Legends, then there is the replicator aboard La Sirena that we see used by Dr. Jurati in the episode, Nepenthe, which is actually a Monoprice MP Voxel 3D Printer. Both props were only slightly altered.

Unlike some of the other additions on this list, the inclusion of 3D printers as replicators seems more like a fun Easter egg than a way to save money. It's great to see Star Trek acknowledge the real-world versions of technologies that it brought into the public eye decades ago.