Factory Entertainment makes this prop replica of the laser gun from the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker.
The original props were resin and rubber with no moving parts. They were specially constructed for the film by the EON Productions prop department, and a large number of them were crafted. The body was constructed around a casting taken from an ‘Uzi’ machine gun. Various real world parts, including plumbing supplies, were then added to complete the fantasy look. Laser effects seen on screen were added later during post production using a complex and labor-intensive animation technique known as ‘rotoscoping’. Totally cutting edge at the time the process has been all but been replaced by modern digital effects today. The laser also featured heavily in the films marketing and promotion and is seen being wielded by Bond in the iconic illustrated poster artwork.
The Factory Entertainment Moonraker Laser prop replica was created after exhaustive and careful study of the original props in the EON Productions archives, as well as hundreds of reference photographs and original production drawings and blueprints. All the detail on the original has been retained including some of the casting asymmetry on the handmade original, which would not have been visible on screen and a missing trigger. Triggers were deliberately omitted to allow actors wearing thick astronaut style gloves to use the props. This makes the replica visually indistinguishable from the original. However, a heavier weight polyresin and an internal support frame have been employed on the replica to give it more heft and strength than the original.
