Blaster Beam and 'Star Trek's' V'Ger

The Blaster Beam is a massive stringed instrument, ranging from 12 to 18 feet long, strung with tensioned piano wire, brass, and bronze strings. You've almost certainly heard it without knowing — it's the haunting "bwong" behind V'Ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Magnetic pickups capture its dark, harmonic-rich tones, while players strike, bow, and pluck it to produce truly alien sounds. There's far more to this instrument's fascinating story ahead.

Key Takeaways

• The Blaster Beam was used as the sole sonic identity for the alien entity V'Ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).
• Its "electronic, powerful and very alien" timbre allowed it to cut distinctively through orchestral material in the film's score.
• The instrument was integrated as a concerto-like solo, paired against a full orchestra and Serge Modular synthesizer.
• Craig Huxley, who patented the Blaster Beam in 1984, performed it on Wonder Woman before his Star Trek involvement.
• The Blaster Beam's signature "bwong" resonance became instantly recognizable, sometimes overpowering dialogue in theaters with advanced sound systems.

What Is the Blaster Beam and How Does It Work?

The Blaster Beam is a massive, custom-built instrument stretching 12 to 18 feet in length, with a steel or aluminum frame strung with dozens of tensioned wires — including piano wire, brass, and bronze — and fitted with magnetic pickups beneath them to capture vibrations.

You can think of it as a long resonator that exploits string physics to generate rich, dark bass tones loaded with harmonics. Players pluck, bow, strike, or stroke the wires using bars, tubes, or clappers made from steel, aluminum, or wood. A special cylinder can also agitate the strings for unique tonal effects. The magnetic pickups convert those mechanical vibrations into electrical signals, which amplification then reproduces. Interacting across the instrument's full length unleashes its complete sonic range. Craig Huxley's patent for the blaster beam was officially granted in 1984.

Its distinctive sound has appeared across multiple iconic productions, most notably as the alien V'Ger entity's threatening voice in Star Trek The Motion Picture in 1979, as well as in the Wonder Woman TV series and as the seismic charge effect in Star Wars Episode II – Attack of the Clones.

How John Lazelle and Francisco Lupica Built the First Blaster Beam

Building the first Blaster Beam was a two-person effort that began with John Lazelle, an obscure instrument maker and artist from Santa Barbara, California, who conceived the original design in the late 1960s to early 1970s. Though Lazelle's construction origins remain poorly documented, he transferred his design to Francisco Lupica, either through sale or gift.

Lupica took the concept further, building multiple versions using a steel beam sourced from World War II cab-over-engine truck frame rails. Each instrument stretched over 12 feet long and 12 inches wide. He mounted tensed wires along the steel beam soundbox and positioned electric guitar pickups beneath to capture vibrations. Lupica dubbed his creation the "Cosmic Beam" and performed throughout California's beaches during the early 1970s. The instrument's strings could be plucked with fingers or struck with sticks, pipes, or large objects to produce its distinctive sound. Craig Huxley later refined the instrument and patented the design in 1984, cementing its place in music history.

How Craig Huxley Went From Playing Kirk's Nephew to Building His Own Blaster Beam

Craig Huxley's journey into music began not in a studio, but on a starship. You might recognize him as a child actor who played Peter Kirk, Captain Kirk's nephew, in Star Trek: The Original Series. That on screen recognition followed him, but he didn't stop at acting. He shifted into music, building his own refined aluminum Blaster Beam — an 18-foot instrument featuring tensed wires, magnetic pickups, and slidable sound exciters.

His soundtrack shift happened fast. By 1979, he'd already performed the Blaster Beam on *Wonder Woman*'s "Spaced Out" episode before landing Star Trek: The Motion Picture that same year. As an instrument inventor, Huxley successfully patented his design in 1984, cementing a career that extended far beyond any starship deck. The instrument can be played by striking, rubbing, or plucking its strings with fingers, sticks, pipes, and even large shell casings.

Why Jerry Goldsmith Chose the Blaster Beam Over Synthesizers for V'ger

Once Huxley had his instrument built and patented, it needed the right composer to recognize its potential — and Jerry Goldsmith did exactly that. Goldsmith wasn't interested in conventional synthesizer palettes when scoring V'Ger. He wanted alien timbres that felt genuinely unsettling, and the Blaster Beam delivered something no sample library could replicate — an enormous, metallic bite that synthesizers simply couldn't match.

Early Enterprise cues had leaned too nautical, leaving director Robert Wise unsatisfied. Goldsmith shifted direction, using the Blaster Beam's rhythmic drive to replace that sweeping, non-pumping grandeur. He treated the score as a concerto, building orchestral integration around the instrument alongside a Serge Modular synthesizer. The result was a layered, ominous sound that made V'Ger feel truly massive and alien. Critics noted the score felt less like a typical science-fiction soundtrack and more like a real science-fiction film required — something cohesive enough to convey what the characters were truly facing. Much like Hokusai, who used frequent name changes to signal deliberate shifts in artistic philosophy, Goldsmith's compositional choices reflected an intentional evolution away from convention.

How the Blaster Beam Gave V'ger Its Alien Voice in *Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Chosen deliberately as V'ger's sole sonic identity, the Blaster Beam gave the entity a voice that felt genuinely alien — "electronic, powerful and very alien" in a way no conventional instrument could match. Its alien timbre cut through the Klingon militaristic theme during battle sequences, instantly signaling a clash between the known and unknown.

Huxley layered glass rub rods with percussive textures, deepening V'ger's eerie soundscape further. That narrative voice didn't stay isolated — it engaged in a constant sonic war with the orchestral score, mirroring the film's central conflict.

As the story resolved, Goldsmith wove Blaster Beam effects into established themes, letting the sounds fuse rather than fight. You hear that fusion, and you understand V'ger's journey without a single line of dialogue. The track "The Meld" captures this most vividly, combining orchestral power with the Blaster Beam in what many describe as a symphony for orchestra and Blaster Beam.

The 'Bwong': How the Blaster Beam's Sound Became Star Trek History

Few sounds in cinema history carry as much instant recognition as the Blaster Beam's signature "bwong" — a deep, resonant tone that doesn't just fill a room but dominates it. That bwong resonance creates frequencies that feel endless, suggesting enormous scale without a single note of movement. It's not a scream — it's a phenomenon.

When Jerry Goldsmith wove it into Star Trek: The Motion Picture, it became cinematic intrusion at its most deliberate. It cuts off the Klingon military theme mid-battle, clashing against familiar sounds to reflect something genuinely unknown. In theaters with advanced sound systems, it overpowers dialogue entirely. That wasn't an accident — it was a statement. The gamble worked, making the Blaster Beam's "bwong" one of cinema's most talked-about sonic moments. Much like the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which demonstrated that live broadcast technology could captivate mass audiences far beyond what anyone had previously imagined possible, the Blaster Beam proved a single unconventional tool could redefine an entire medium's expectations.

Every Major Film and Song That Featured the Blaster Beam

The Blaster Beam's unmistakable sound has threaded itself through dozens of films, television episodes, and albums since the late 1970s, from blockbusters to cult classics. This Blaster Beamography Overview barely scratches the surface of Craig Huxley's contributions.

Your Filmography Breakdown spans science fiction, action, and horror: Star Trek, Aliens, Back to the Future, Poltergeist, Planet of the Apes, and 10 Cloverfield Lane. You'll also find it in Quincy Jones's "Ai No Corrida" and Michael Jackson's Bad.

Beyond film scores, it shaped sound effects in Meteor and The Black Hole. New age artists like Kitaro and Mickey Hart embraced it too. Few instruments can claim such a diverse, decades-spanning presence across mainstream entertainment.