The Continuity GuideStun gun holsters
by Martin Willey
The Continuity Guide
The stun gun is worn in a holster attached to the uniform or spacesuit belt. The holster is made of vinyl, similar to the belts. There is a silver metal ring on the front of the belt loop. The gun is held in place by a small vinyl loop with a metal snap fastener on the front.
The front and back of the pocket base is reinforced, with a triangular piece in front. Some holsters have a metal ring positioned below the centre of the belt, like this one. It also has two rivets, holding the front and back of the belt loop together. The rivets first appeared on some holsters in Force of Life; by the second series, most holsters had the rivets.
The holster works well with the lightweight vacuum-formed prop guns, but the heavier wooden props hang out of the pocket.
Sometimes accidentally, often deliberately, the stuns guns were not secured in the holster by the snap fastener. In several scenes, the guns would be pulled from the holster quickly.
The holsters on spacesuits are black, like the black belt. However, for some episodes (Another Time, Another Place, Missing Link, Alpha Child, all year 2) astronauts wear normal tan-coloured uniform holsters.
In this shot from Another Time, Another Place, Helena's holster has pulled down in front, possibly by the weight of stun gun, so the top crease is visible. The belt loop Koenig's holster has separated completely.
There are other visible examples of the back of the loop separating, in these shots (Val Musetti in Missing Link, Paul Jericho in Dorzak). Note these holsters do not have the rivets.
The only left-handed holster we see is the Mirror Koenig in Seed Of Destruction. There is a left-handed guard in Space Warp, but his holster is on the right. Otherwise, there seem to be no left-handed armed personnel.
Copyright Martin Willey. Thanks to Simon.