3. Futzing With The Design
That folks, is a phase pistol, and it represents everything wrong with the production design of this show. Star Trek has always had a number of devices that are more plot fixes than technology, and that's probably the way it should be. Tricorders can just about do anything, until they can't for convenient reasons. Same with phasers. A phaser was essentially a way to end a conflict with force, or occasionally blow something up or cut through a door. What they are doesn't really matter. What they represent is an escalation of conflict without any real risk of death or injury, unless it's needed. Enterprise originally had a different type of weapon, essentially a plasma gun. This weapon had no stun settings, no high tech multi-use interface. This was a gun, and it was completely suited to the dangerous, wild-west galaxy that they were exploring. This was a series that wanted to embrace the consequences of the moment, and there you go. But instead the studio pressed upon them the phase pistol. The phase pistol is a plot fixer that limits itself by tying itself to a more familiar technology. Ostensibly the studio wanted something that Star Trek fans could connect with, something that wasn't completely alien to this universe. what they got was a prop that completely negated what they were trying to do and say about the violence in this show's universe. It didn't help matters that the producers and prop people
liked the original gun better.