Rarified Air – The Permanents

1966 – Forty two years ago.

Looking from the “permanents”. Grip territory. The distinctive arches of the TOS briefing room are plainly seen.  Notice the set phone at lower center, and the little “AD” desk, dragged to where the action is. At ten o’clock you can make out a ship’s corridor dead ending, framed by distinctive Jefferies transporter style “girders”.

“To climb up into the permanents is to truly travel into the past, as if the rarifed atmosphere of Hollywood’s golden age had become trapped in the upper strata of the ancient soundstage. The feeling was tangible… the electricity of eighty years of motion picture history.”

Runabout Flight Deck Set

The runabout on the stand at Image G.

The runabout was our puddle jumping, PT boat. Don’t confuse it with a shuttleraft. It’s fast like a starship, and it’s operational envelope is way high and to the right. When it came time to build the interior, clean and straight forward was where the runabout design ethic lived. The exterior has the benefit of that famous no-nonsense Sternbach sensibility. The interior carries that forward.

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Okuda’s Tape Worms

Denise Okuda standing by the full scale Runabout section. A dandy example of the power of graphic tape. (Sigh. This cool set piece was only used once, stored uncovered, and slowly melted over one of California’s wet winters)

I remember that Herman Zimmerman asked us to join him on stage where a crashed section of runabout had been built. It looked like a white lump for sure. But all I could see was the potential. Little hearts were popping over my head, and I’m thinking… OhboyOboyOboyOboy! I am going to get to tape this sucker! Joy!

Herman apologetically explained they he was going to have to ask me to tape up the runabout set piece. Me? I’m doin’ a little jig! “Thank you, Herman! Thank you!!” I gush. Herman looks at Denise and says… “Is he kidding?” Denise grins, “No, Herman. He’s not kidding!”

Butt of the Joke

Red Alert! Mon capitan!

I was in the TNG makeup lab, prepping some appliance molds, when Mike Westmore dashed in, “Doug, the union doesn’t have any “body” makeup artists available today, so guess what?”

Images of sugar plums danced in my head! What beauty would I be bronzing today! I’m the luckiest boy in the world! “It’s John Delancy.” said Mr Wes’mo, as my shoulders slumped. ” He appears naked on the bridge, stripped of his Q powers by his fellow Q, and dumped on The Enterprise.” “Very well, sir!” I respond dutifully. “Where to, and what with?” Mike handes me a Max Factor pancake and a sponge. “He’s waiting in his trailer.”

USS Lakota\Enterprise B – Details

Man, is this a great shot of a gallant lady, or what?

The USS Excelsior extensively retooled for it’s appearance in Star Trek: Generations, which begat The USS Lakota. The Lakota was a Named after one of the Sioux Indian groups from North America. The Lakota under the command of Captain Erika Benteen intercepts the USS Defiant on the latter’s way to earth during Vice Admiral Leyton’s attempted coup.

 

I’ve dug up some teriffic detail shots. You are in for a treat. Here are a few of them just to whet your appetite… ready?

USS Jupp – Deep Space – Deep Background

This speciman was labeled USS Jupp.

Knowing that some of you guys are nuts for the little incidental ships built for the squint zone, I’ll be posting these VFX polaroid “catalog” snapshots to help satiate your Red Hour urges. If memory serves, I used these for reference while illustrating the Star Trek Encyclopedia.

Be warned. They were built fast, and meant to be little better than a smudge on screen.

Bit Player

 The walls have ears, and so does Doug.

It’s 1988, about two in the morning, and my phone is ringing off the hook. Who the hell is calling me at 2 am? I stumble out of bed, making my way through the darkness, I stub my toe, “Crimminies!” I yell. Snatching up the phone, “Who? What? Whattaya’ want at freaking 2am!” “Dougie!” yells the voice at the other end of the line. It’s David Smith, Makeup maestro Dick Smith’s son. “I’m sittin’ on the crapper, I pick up a copy of Newsweek magazine, and you are quoted on the quotable quotes page!” The quote is some cute comment I made about how I’ve given new meaning to the term “bit part”. The walls have ears, and so do I… as the tradition continues…

Bugs is Bugs

Laura Richarz, our irrepressible DS9 set decorator asked Mike Okuda for a few bugs for her boys. I mean Cardassian tech labels. A little graphic knot of information, that looked like a squashed bug. So they became known as “squashed bugs.” Mike would point and say, “… we need some squashed bugs on that console,” and we knew what he meant. Anyway, sometimes when the set dec crew was moving consoles around, or having them repainted, the “bugs” would get knocked or peeled off . “So you see Mike,” Laura explained, “if you give me some bugs for my boys, they’ll replace ‘em as they get lost.”  “Cool!” said Mike, “Red bugs or blue bugs?” Laura looked at Mike like he was crazy. “Red or blue?! What’s the difference? Bugs is bugs!” Mike looked incredulous. “How can you say that about our noble friend, the bug? That’s just another form of bigotry. Bugs is bugs, indeeed!”

 

The next morning when Laura came in, she found she had been greived by NAPSB, presumeably the National Association for the Prevention of Slander against Bugs :

Kahless

 

 

Man, this cracked me up when I came across it last night.

In the TNG episode “Rightful Heir”, Klingon legend, Kahless the Unforgettable is reincarnated. The actor they chose to play Kahless was surprisingly small in stature, and it sent a quiet chuckle through the production.

Scenic artist Wengy Drapanis added this bit of pointed fun to our infamous bulletin board.

I save everything folks!

Inspection Pod

The pilot episode of Enterprise featured an inspection pod, in which Trip takes Archer on a tour of his brand new experimental warp vessel.

The basis of the pod interior was Zefram Cochran’s warp ship from First Contact. This would dictate the configuration of the exterior. Form follows function. A significant difference between Cochran’s module and the inspection pod, was that this new vehicle was wide open with expansive observation windows. This meant that the pod interior would have to be extensively detailed to match the set. In homage to the TMP travel pod, which took Kirk on a similar tour, I made our little “space jeep” number 05.

 

Coil One

 Enterprise D warp coil model

In TNG episode “Eye of the Beholder”, the script called for a look inside one of the Enterprise D’s warp nacelles. I made a couple of sketches for Mike Okuda to approve, traced out the profile of a warp coil, ran down to the mill, and had the boys cut a wooden template. I handed that off to Anthony Fredrickson who used a vacuum form machine left over from the makeup days to pull a bunch of warp coils. He then painted and assembled it. That was fun!

The model was a little over 2.5 feet across.

Grandpa Simpson’s Legacy

At least it was hand signed!

When the second letter writing campaign to save Star Trek failed in 1969, this was the letter I received from NBC.  This hung on the wall of the Trek art department for ten years, and was a constant source of amusement.

Every time I see it, I can hear Grandpa Simpson’s plaintive cry, as he confessed his deep, dark secret… “I’M THE ONE WHO CANCELLED START TREK!”