This past Saturday, I had my first day to myself in about a month. So I spent it doing what I love to do when I’m on my own: watch sci-fi. I saw Hulu had the first four episodes of Warehouse 13. I hadn’t seen any of it before, but had heard good things.

I loved it, but that’s beside the point. This is a blog about props, so let me talk about the props. This show has many. There are many steampunk-inspired gadgets, gizmos and set dressing. But more on that in a minute.

The show itself is essentially about objects. Two Secret Service agents find themselves transferred to a secret warehouse in South Dakota which holds artifacts from around the world with various magical, mystical, or otherwise unexplainable properties. Their job is to hunt down these objects and safely store themn away. Every episode is essentially about one of these objects. They range from an Aztec blood-stone; Harry Houdini’s wallet, a psychiatrist’s chair that unleashes your subconcious desires, and the guillotine that killed Marie Antoinette. In other words, every episode is about a prop.

The gadgetry is the other exciting prop topic on this show. Sal Rubinek’s character has a whole collection of strange paraphenalia, as well as a steampunk-ophile’s dream office. I thought I recognized the computer keyboard as one created by an artist named Datamancer; indeed, on digging through his blog, I found the post where he details being contacted by the Syfy channel to use the Sojourner keyboard he had built.

Other gadgets include a Tesla-built electric stun gun, and a two-way video communicator called the Farnsworth. You can catch a good writeup on these props at Wired and in the Steampunk Fashion.