Top Guns

science fiction movie and tv prop guns are a blast from the past

Without his Judge Hunter rifle, Sylvester Stallone would have been Judge Dead instead of Judge Dredd, and a Rail Gun was the only thing that kept Arnold Schwarzenegger from being erased in Eraser. Science fiction movie props are coveted by collectors, and for good reason---they're really neat shit. Who wouldn't want to own the laser machine gun toted by the endoskeleton in Terminator 2, or a working Rebel Blaster from Star Wars? Surprisingly, the world's largest collection of science fiction prop guns isn't in the Smithsonian. It's owned by Hollywood singer-songwriter Fuller French, and the guns featured here are just a sample of his intergalactic arsenal. French's first purchase, in 1991, was a Draconian pistol used in the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. His space armory now holds about 350 weapons, from the rifle featured in Falcon Films' Alien Escape to a bizarre laser gun from the TV show Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. On these pages are six of French's finest shooters, each of which is worth many thousands of dollars (the entire collection is valued at $5 million). French's fantasy firearms may go on a national tour, become a permanent attraction in a Las Vegas hotel or be auctioned online. He'll even sell the collection in toto if the price is right. Meanwhile, French is featured on a Cabana Records album titled Fuller Centric: Welcome to My World, which is about to be released.