Top 10 Movie Props Made from Everyday Objects 

The Human Centipede might appear as a Human Centipede at first but it's merely 3 people pretending to be one.

For the Death Star, you should have said 'Death Star Surface' The Death Star was a large, detailed, custom prop. The surface was a long strip of textured terrain, covered with thousands of 'Greeblies', or model kit parts from Tamiya 1/35 scale tanks and smaller scale warships. There are people who can tell you from which kit each 'Greebly' comes from. Yes, really. I would have chosen the Death Star fire control - the lever pulled by the gunner to destroy Alderaan is from a video mixing suite.

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The ice cream that Tim and Lex eat in Jurassic Park was made from mashed potato so that it wouldn't melt under the intense set lighting.

Sure, we all have a $ 2.500 steady cam arm laying arround in the house.

Fun Fact: The guns in Firefly/Serenity were the guns from Starship Troopers, but held upside-down.

You can see they used a coffeemaker as a weird prob in "Alien". It stands next to a coffeepot, under the row of coffeecups... That doesn't make sense at all!

The Nostromo one is kind of misleading... should have just went with the Back to the Future reference. In Alien, that's clearly a coffee station by the rec room. You can see the coffee pots on the table and the mugs above the opening. So in the Nostromo's case, it's a coffee grinder being a coffee grinder.

My mom spent a long time working as video librarian at a PBS station. We always had trouble with the whole Death Star control room scenes because the production machine was so associated in her head with her job that she'd just be giggling and saying things like, "Quick! Load Lawrence Welk before it's too late!"

I've not watched it yet but I'm sure that Lightsabers are gonna be number one!

1# Transformers - Made out of everyday cars and planes and numerous household appliances. Even old dinosaur bones...

The coffee grinder in the Nostromo isn't a prop. It is a coffee grinder. If you look, there are mugs on the wall. It's just a coffee station.

In Resident Evil, the dude uses a blood glucose meter to open the door to the Red Queen.

With very good imagination, any everyday object can become a decent prop. Examples: Cereal Boxes can be customised into space backpacks With some plastic tubes, a few cardboard boxes and some big coke bottles you can create a flamethrower. So basically, as long as you got imagination, devotion and some form of knowledge on weathering and painting anything can be made into a prop.

Can you do top 10 most played computer games of 2015?

9:50 "I took it from him after I cut him in half and left him for dead in a pit of lava"

Ironically, the Star Trek salt and pepper shakers were intended for use as salt shakers in the episode "Man Trap" where the salt eating alien is caught because it goes for the salt shaker, but they were too futuristic looking and nobody would recognize them as salt and pepper shakers. They were then used as medical instruments while more conventional looking salt shakers were used in the episode.

Slight inaccuracy in the Trek part. The salt & pepper shakers were used as surgical devices, not scanners. The "warbling" scanner prop was built for the series.

The title of "everyday objects" is wrong when it comes to the smart gun. Who has a steadycam rig, an MG42 AND old Kawasaki motorcycle parts just laying around??? I know I do but its because I am building said prop ($2500-3000 when completed) Deathstar was a single battleship model? Wrong. Also the trench was a massive set made of hundreds of kits, and thousands of grebils.... go watch the behind the scenes on the DVD.

@2:25 (Star Trek) "the medical scanners in the original series, which were nothing more that salt and pepper shakers" No, you're mixing details in an extremely misleading way. They got some futuristic looking (sorta conical) salt and pepper shakers for a scene where they actually needed salt shakers, and determined that 60's audiences watching on small screens weren't likely to realize it was a salt shaker (without some otherwise useless throwaway line like "hey, Sulu, pass me the salt"), so they used a standard cafeteria salt shaker for that scene... and then later they used the futuristic salt shakers as McCoy's _surgical instruments_, which don't show up often. McCoy's sorta-famous little spinning cylindrical medical scanner (the one that this video highlights) was a wonderful little custom scratch-built prop. @6:00 (Star Wars Death Star) "cannibalized unpainted model battleship and plane parts" Uh, it's called kitbashing, and it's a lot more than that (unless you consider famous paintings to be "just some paint splashed on canvas"). There's an awful lot of artistry involved, they use parts from hundreds of model kits as building blocks to add thousands of tiny random details, ending up with something that looks, from a distance, believably like a space ship. Oh, and the whole point of "Mr. Fusion" in Back to the Future was that it was a play on "Mr. Coffee", a popular coffeemaker at the time. I wasn't a clever trick to use a coffee grinder, it was supposed to suggest a coffeemaker. And the Men in Black II "navigational stalk" - the whole joke was "damn that looks just like a chrome-plated game controller". No _tricky_ use of common item there - quite intentional.

Did they add some annoying music to the videos now?

I had one of those "radio jammers". Recognized it instantly.

It surprised me that they didn't mention the fact that the aliens saliva was just K-Y jelly and the tendons were shredded condoms

this might be my favorite video by watch mojo yet

The tiny knobs on the original series Star Trek communicators were chrome wheels from toy cars (minus the tires). The communicator used in closeups used a watch mechanism to generate a swirling effect. Bubble wrap as part of the belt buckle on Klingon uniforms. I spotted a rigid cassette tape carrying case like one I owned painted grey with an emblem added as Dr. Crusher's field case. A roll up craft parts case as another character's suitcase. The liner from a "book on tape" package glued to a Star Trek movie (I think Wrath of Khan) bridge set.

I'm not sure if using a coffee grinder as part of a breakfast bar counts (on the nostromo).

Yeah because a fucking Captain Kirk mask is such an everyday object

The demolition charges used to blow up the shield generator in Return of the Jedi are definitely automotive oil filters.

some of those aren't "everyday items" tho

"Logan's Run!" One of my all-time favorite movies! One of only 2 movies that I had seen in the theatre more than once (the other was "Titanic", but it really doesn't count, because the second time was when it was re-released in 3D and we took our daughters to see it).

In universe, Egon probably built the PKE Meter by basing it on an old shoe polisher.

I'm glad that the Death Star, the PKE Meter, and the Lightsaber made it to this list and the Death Star's control panel made it to the honorable mentions.

I was actually kind of hoping the oxygen pack from Wing Commander would of been in here. It was just a 1970's canister vacuum.

that movie on the 10 spot most be the hardest movie to find on the internet

There is that robot in Star Wars that every time I see it I think "It's got a 50's microphone for a mouth.

I thought for sure they'd have Star Trek TNG - Jordi le Forge's Visor.

I think it's time for a Team America sequel.

The thing about the steadycam rig being used for the Aliens smart gun is extra interesting given that basically the smart gun would basically be a refined and differently applied application of the same technologies- it was only really logical they just use such rigs, albeit dressed up

My favorite "medical" device from TV's Star Trek: a 1960's printed circuit board "solder-sucker" - a little white Teflon nozzle on the end of a blue cylinder with a silver rod coming out the other end with a plunger disk on the end. You depress the piston inside against a spring where it is locked. Apply the nozzle to the solder being melted by a solder pencil then when the solder is melted, press the release button for the piston and it pops backwards sucking the solder inside and off of the circuit board. Very handy.

I actually owned the book light from V for Vendetta when I was a kid.

Team America should have been higher. everything is an every day object. The satellite dishes? Umbrellas. The exotic light fixtures? Cheese graters. The palm tree leave? Shredded dollar bills.

Adam Sandler is the best prop and he is made of shit, an every day object

At 5:28 - Death Star - There are other everyday objects in the scenes shown in this video - but it depends on what you do for a living. At 5:38 the console for a (nuclear? coal? water?) power station is used. Later in the same scene the lever that is used to initiate the Death Star's beam is a control from an old school video director's console to fade from one video source to another which is mentioned at 9:18.

And they said nerf guns weren't for adults. Take that, mom.

The detonator on THE FIFTH ELEMENT that the Mangalor uses is actually a combination lock.

the proton pack in Ghostbusters was based on the same kind of backpack the US military used at the time.

The Lady Shick razor was the communications device that Qui Gon Jinn used to contact Obi Wan Kenobi in Episode 1...

The KRUPS coffee grinder can also be seen in 1989s War of the Roses AS an actual coffee grinder. Here's a fun fact, the Mr. Fusion that was on the Delorean that was destroyed in the third Back To The Future film sits on Bob Gale's desk as a lamp.

It's very common to use parts from model kits on movie miniatures. Not only on the Death Star. The most ray guns in the classic Star Wars trilogy are made from reused WW2 gun props. Mostly german machine guns. I own a case for my 1980's JVC camcorder that was used in serval episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation. Just painted blue with a Star Fleet emblem.

0:26 the undertaker

Event Horizon: The door open button to the gravity drive area is an air sander mounted on the wall.

OMG, i knew about the William mask in Halloween, but putting them together side by side made me LMAO! You know, in this scene 9:56 the light saber is pointing at Obi wan head when he turns it on. fatal mistake! that old man was crazy giving that kid that thing...

Wait...Star Wars get separate entries...but Star Trek gets bundled into one?

6,146 people just happen to have "steady cam rigs" just lying around the house.

I have noticed that the x52 joystick and throttle (hotas) by saitek has appeared in dozens of movies, including Avatar, mainly because it has lots of pretty lights. Also the A10 thrustmaster warthog is another favorite movie prop.

An "unpainted model battleship and plane parts"? That's the stupidest commentary I have ever heard to describe the artistry that went into crafting the Death Star. Almost as bad as calling "Star Wars" a "New Hope".

They are DEFINETLEY not running out of ideas.

I'm so happy you included the Mr Fusion coffee grinder, I just got mine off ebay this week! :D

The entire beam teleportation section in the new Star Trek films was made entirely out of ikea buckets, bowls, soap holders, and cups

Here's another, the language translator in The Last Starfighter. It was made of a digital watch circuit board.

In Captain America 2, Agent Maria hill can be seen using an Xbox 360 Headset as a communicator. It was the Plantronics Headset.

4:35 "Are you going to finish that Croissant?"

One of my favs is a model of the Millennium Falcon used as a prop for the cityscape in the background of Bladerunner.

I live this one guys :) Good job, as always!

This makes me wonder what kind of cool stuff you can make just by clearing out the attic.

Star wars missing line when Obi-Wan sees his old apprentice after so many years. "My god Anakin.. what have they done to you."

I wouldn't really consider steady-cam parts to be 'everyday' materials.

interesting Fact! The smart guns in Alien were wwII german mg 42 with camera parts while the pulse rifle was just a Thompson Submachine gun with the furniture of a spas shotgun.

The first thing that came to my mind when you mentioned the smart guns was; "When did the MG42 become an everyday object?"

You forgot in Star Trek: The Voyage Home, the medical device on Chekov's forehead had an actual part from a Klingon Battle cruiser model! I noticed it immediately, when I first saw it in the theater! Because I had plenty of Star Trek plastic models! ☺

WatchMojo you can get away with your huge mistake on the Top 10 most anticipating Marvel movies! You deleted it but we'll remember you put DC's Shazam on the list. Lololol

In "Dark Star" John Carpenter used ice cube trays with Xmas lights behind them to look like spaceship control panels

Well techanically speaking the smart guns base was a old german mg42 or mg3.

You can probably tell i frequent this you tube channel but it's worth mentioning that Lavar Burton's Geordy character's visor in the Star Trek was simply a slightly modified hair clip.

In an old Star Trek episode Spock walks into a room holding a Radio Shack sound meter and says, "There has not been any life forms in this room captain" I thought that was funny b/c I used to have one of those meters.

i like how you say the medical scanners were nothing more than salt and pepper shakers, while showing a scene featuring a motorised prop that is very much not a shaker. in fact, it was not that scanner which was made from a shaker, but some of the surgical tools in sickbay.

One of my favorite props were the coffee cups on ST TOS, which apparently just regular Styrofoam coffee cups that had been spray painted.

I had that reading light from V for Vendetta. And I used it's a high tech device myself.

I KNEW the lightsaber was gonna be the top pick. God bless Graflex!!

I never knew a Shatner Mask was an everyday object!! I just found one in the kitchen! how convenient!

ALL the ships in Star Wars use parts from models of airplanes, battleships, as well as others - don't you all watch Tested here on RU-vid? Mythbuster Adam Savage worked at ILM and even modeled some of the Star Wars ships.

The panel of buttons that Ripley presses that blow the queen Alien out into space in Aliens were from an old fruit machine - one even says "HOLD" :)

DA sander in Event Horizon being used as a door switch.

The pull down scanner in the Imperial walker in The Empire Strikes Back is just a stripped down scuba tank back pack.

Trip Tucker in Star Trek Enterprise using a run of the mill infra-red laser temperature gun used by supermarkets to check food temps as a tool to make repairs or whatever to the ship engines or warp drive.

Aliens: the motion tracker is a modified Wagner Power Painter.

Uh, you guys got the Death Star wrong ...or at least how you present it here. It was two 36" diameter clear domes, that were frosted and joined together and then just painted. The lights was where the paint was scratched off allowing the light to show through. True the trench was "kit-bashed" but the Death Star prop itself was just two painted domes glued together with a light bulb in it.

For the Aliens smart guns, I don't know if I'd consider an MG-42 as an everyday object.

I'd add "Virtuosity" (1995), "Brainscan" (1994). Anyway, I love this list

3:17 Yes, they were made of steady cam gear and customized MG42 machine guns.

You forget to add that in Aliens Machine Guns where real German Mg-42.

I can totally see the eye piece on that camera rocket. I think I can see that statue guy move a bit and I can totally see the take out boxes. I think I saw those lights in Sky mall magazines. I always thought that Mr. Fusion looked like a coffee maker.

Hey, Hunter Prey got a mention! Cool.

I was totally taken by surprise to see Michael Myers mask on this list. The was pretty cool

I realized the pocket jammer was the reading light after the 4th watch and I realized I USED THAT LIGHT AS A KID!!

An actual creative list. Been a while watchmojo.

You guys should make top 10 most expensive movies ever made

In the Fifth Element, a Mangalore used what looked like a Master lock to trigger the bomb on hotel ship.

My favorite from TV was a Tok'Ra weapon in Stargate that was actually an unaltered nose-hair trimmer.