Total Recall is one of the earliest and perhaps best known films that Ed did prop work for in the late Eighties.   Ed did the fabrication of the trackers used to pursue Arnold Schwarzennegger early in the film, as well as the Holowatch, the device used to confuse the Martian troops in the climactic fight scene. He also created the infamous "nose picker", though unlike the trackers and the Holowatch, that particular prop was not made specifically for the film.

The trackers were designed so that a real 4 inch television screen could be placed inside of them and fed by a cable running up the actor's sleeve. They were made entirely out of aluminum,  and were carefully polished to a beautiful satin silver sheen so that the details would show up nicely on camera. When Ed delivered them to the prop master, he was delighted... and immediately had them anodized black. The director, Paul Verhoeven, apparently thought they looked "more military" that way. Ah, well: that's showbiz.

The Holowatch was a very special prop. The script called for the watch to only have a limited battery life, so thus had to have a digital counter that counted down instead of forward. He built the watch housing out of aluminum, again as per the design. That was the easy part. The circuitry was an altogether different matter. Ed had veteran circuit designer Ben Camacho do the electronics, and it worked perfectly. Sadly, though, any closeup shots that would have showed the electronics at work wound up on the cutting room floor.

A funny thing happened when the Holowatch was delivered. Ed made the watchband out of black neoprene rubber, but they didn't tell him how large to make it. Well, considering it was going to be worn by Arnold Schwarzennegger, a former Mr. Universe, Ed thought that it should be fairly big. Ed himself has big wrists, so he made the watch band to fit himself, plus a little extra, just in case it was needed. When the watch was delivered, he recieved a call from his agent asking, "Who's this damn thing supposed to fit, a gorilla?" It turns out that even though Mr. Schwarzennegger's muscles are larger than average, he just has normal sized wrists! They had to cut down the band a significant amount before it would fit.

The holo watch prop as it finally appeared in the film with digital counter and ready light

The original concept sketch . The designs were faxed to Ed, thus the poor quality of the image.

The components of the holo watches. This gives you an idea of the complexity that usually goes into the props made by Ed.

One of the better shots from the movie showing the holo watch as it appeared onscreen.

Another good shot from the movie showing the holo watch as it appeared onscreen.

Probably the best remembered prop in the movie, in arguably the most memorable scene! Owned by Modern Props.

The trackers were designed to accommodate a four inch color television monitor so that the images could be fed via cable during filming.

Another original design faxed to Ed, who then built the prop to specification.

A glimpse of what the tracker components looked like before they were anodized black by the prop crew.

A shot from the movie showing the final product as it appeared.

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