Vic’s Joint

 

If you’re a DS9 fan, and this doesn’t float your boat, check the obituary column pally, because you’re probably in it.

In Praise of Mike

The Man.

The first time I ever heard of Mike Okuda, I was standing in Bob Justman’s office in Star Trek’s new digs on the Paramount backlot. The first episode of TNG had not shot yet, in fact none of the sets had even begun construction. I remember it as vividly as if it happened yesterday, after all, the very idea of standing in Bob Justman’s office on a show called Star Trek was impossible.

Report From The Galley – Menu Two

 

 Oh, mercy! Only one thing put that look on ‘ol Trip Tucker’s face, and that be Dorothy Duder’s home cookin’!

Tasty! We have three little on set stories from Kitchen Goddess Dorth, and we have three flavors to go with ‘em! And you know what? These are the same recipes Dorth has been fueling all of us with all these years. She’s powe’d a lot of backlits, models, and makeups! What a de-light it was to have her fueling the explorations o’ the crew of the starship Enterprise too!

So beam ‘board for the stories, an’ then stay fo’ mess, hear?

Welcome to K-7… Now Go Home!

Greg Jein’s amazing recreation of K7 for Tribble-ations, on the motion control stage at Image G. In the background you can see Gary checking his lighting. That’s me in the FG wearing the art department T-shirt with the molecular structure of caffeine on the front.

The biggest surprise to Mike and I, was the “hopper” on the back of the main saucer. It was completely out of view in the TOS episode.

In an earlier blog entry, I described how Gary Hutzel called Mike Okuda and I to lend a hand setting up to shoot Greg’s miniatures. Gary felt that they could use some additional weathering and panel lines. Naturally we were totally stoked.

I Must Destroy The Earth, It’s Blocking My View Of Venus!

Design for the interior of the Xindi sphere for Enterprise. This is the approved concept as it came out of the art department, and then out the door to Rob and his team at Eden.

(Below) Cutaway that would spell it out in no uncertain terms. Never explain when you can show. 

 

 

No Bloody A, B, C, or D Dept – 5

The Tears of a clown…

TV Guide closeup for “Turnabout Intruder”, the final first run episode of the original series. It was a sad day for me when I clipped this!

Do You Love Elwood Blues? Then Watch This!

Tales of Suspense: the Approval Process

That’s scenic artist Anthony Fredrickson, and “Joltin” Joe Longo, TNG and DS9′s madcap property master, showing off a couple of Klingon PADDs. I used Joe’s likeness in an illustration for DS9. That was probably a mistake. Of interest: On the wall you can see a board with examples of standard ballast and flourescent tubes the physical effects department used for lighting up backlit panels. This was useful when the set designers created control consoles. Below them are racks of Rosco gels we used to color backlits, before the advent of large scale color output.

You’ve all heard stories, like  having to design thirty variations on a theme, before they go back to the first one. That’s pretty much normal in television or film. In The Making of Star Trek, Matt Jefferies recounts when designing the Enterprise how maddening Roddenberry was, “…liking a piece of this one, and a piece of that one.” One of the wisest comments I’ve ever heard came from Gary Hutzel who simply said, “… it’s a process.”  If you think you are going to get it the first go around, or even the second or third, you’re just setting yourself up for frustration. In 12 O’Clock High, Gregory Peck told the pilots of the 918th to, “… consider yourselves dead already, that will make it easier.”

Klingon Justice

Klingon Court design for Enterprise that was not used. The pyramid shapes represent the studs on armor, and the fires the flames of damnation. In ancient times, Klingon warriors found guilty of cowardice were actually thrown into the grisly brazier. The flames consumed tens of thousands of judged captors from more wars than can be remembered. The sunken areas were used for arena based judgment. They could be filled with water, or predatory carnivores to make things more interesting.

TNG Reunion on Family Guy

Star Trek: TNG Reunion on Family Guy

by Cynthia on February 25th, 2009

 This March, the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation will lend their voices to a brand new episode of Family Guy on Fox. In “Not All Dogs Go to Heaven,” the Griffin family heads to the annual Quahog Star Trek convention but Stewie blows a fuse when he doesn’t get a chance to ask his favorite Next Gen cast members any questions. He devises a plan, builds a transporter and beams the entire cast to his bedroom so they can spend a fun-filled day together in Quahog.  

Lending their voices and likenesses will be Patrick Stewart, Levar Burton, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Wil Wheaton, Denise Crosby, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes. Now that’s what I call a reunion.

Watch for the episode March 29 at 9:00 on FOX.

Class Photo

Gary Hutzel is one of the coolest guys on the planet. When we were finished with Trial and Tribble-ations, he set up to take these beautiful large format images. Left to right: Anthony Fredrickson, Mike Okuda, me, Jimmy Vanover, special guest artist Casey Bernay, and John Eaves. Neezee, where were you that day? Gary joins us in image three.

When Worlds Collide

“… and when Worlds Collide, said George Pal to his bride, I’m gonna give you some terrible thrills…” -Lyrics from the title song of  “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”.

I must share  these recently uncovered pics from the George Pal 1951 classic. The effects work won an Academy award. These sequences were shot at Paramount.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Worlds_Collide_(film)

Thanks to Gary Kerr for the pics, and for fixing my punctuation!

Wally Wood’s 22 Panels that Always Work

Click for a better look!

One of my favorite page’s drawn by 1950′s comic icon, Wally Wood. Wally’s name became synonymous with 50′s sci-fi illustration. He was best known as a staffer at the infamous EC Comics company run by William M. Gaines. Many of you know Wally for his classic Mad stories such as Superduperman, Little Orphan Melvin, and Batboy and Rubin. In a future entry I’d like to introduce you to his science fiction work.

No Bloody A, B, C, or D Dept – 4

First run TV Guide closeup for TOS episode FTWIHAIHTTS (Whew!)

Enterprise JJ – More Fan Extrapolation

Check it out. Thanks to Ryan Cornelius for the link.

http://trekmovie.com/2009/02/23/first-look-at-tobias-richters-uss-enterprise-wallpapers/

Panel Dancing with the Stars

That’s me on the bridge of the Enterprise B, checking out the big board. I enjoyed laying cross sections out, and was proud that Mike thought I was the guy for the job.

“Doug!” snapped Mike, “Please join me on the bridge!”

I always got a thrill out of hearing that, and Mike knew it. “Which one?” I grinned. On stage 18 there was the bridge of the Defiant, on stage 8 we had the D bridge, and further down the lane on  stage 14, the bridge of the Enterprise B.  Was there ever a better time to be on Star Trek? Mike smiled.

Shuttlecraft Copernicus

+       Greg Jein’s shop:  a rather large miniature of  the Shuttlecraft Copernicus get’s final touches.

The Boss of Me

Iz dat Jem Battlewagon ‘sposed to be some kinda’ burd?

The Federation Trading Post

If you have any pictures or stories about The Federation Trading Post at 53rd and Third in Manhattan, shout out! I need you help for a future blog! The Federation Trading Post played a part in the genesis of the Trek fandom phenomenon in the late 70′s, and yours truly was there! Imagine! Just TOS! No movies, no TV… as primitive as could be!

Jem Battlewagon

Okay, I’m leaving this to you guys. I have no information except that it’s a John Eaves design, and that it’s the Jem Battlewagon. I’ll keep you up to date if new information comes in.

Far Beyond The Stars- Part 2

Roy Ritterhouse, the staff illustrator at Incredible Tales, was a super nova of sci-fi ideas.

The magazine office in Far Beyond The Stars was a cornucopia of oddball sketches, memos, props, and mocked up magazine covers. As I related in part one, we had more fun dressing it than ought to be legal.  Our blog buddy Jörg has since made it his business to sift through all the textures of this set, especially some of the sketches which tantalyzingly appeared out of focus in the background. In this entry we’ll bring some of these sketches to the forefront. As an extra added super bonus, Mike Okuda has contributed his notes which analyze the bullpen in detail.

BarBara Luna should be regulated.

 

WARNING : This QT may be too potent for some individuals, and should be dispensed in small dosages. May cause rapid respiration, accelerated heart rate, and palpitations. Use sparingly and with extreme caution. View at your own risk.

Far Beyond the Stars Pt 1

We assigned real life characters to the fictional staff to help us dress the set. Most notably Harlan Ellison for Armin Shimmerman’s firey character, and a cross between Isaac Asimov, and Richard Feynman (hence the bongos) for Colm Meaney’s robot loving personae.

Undoubtedly one of the all time great Deep Space Nine episodes was written by our friend Marc Zicree. It stood out as one of the most “science-fictiony” of all the shows, yet most of it took place in a magazine office in the 1950′s. It also dealt with social issues, which equals Star Trek at it’s best. For the art department it was a frolic, and a lark, and seemed almost too good to be true. What fun we had designing  a science fiction magazine office, and dressing it. Mike Okuda wanted it gilded to the gills with paraphernalia, posters, memos, and sketches. It was an outgrowth of our own little haven over the Marathon Mill.

No Bloody A, B, C, D, Dept – 3

First run TV Guide closeup for TOS episode Metamorphosis.

Deg: Freelance Human

Where do I buy my ticket ?

If you’ve been reading the comments you may have noticed a bouncy new voice that calls itself “deg”. Wondering who this guy is, I back tracked to his website, and was blown away by some of the images of an updated TOS Enterprise. Let me just say at the outset that I am not bashing JJ’s juggernaut, extravaganza, spectacular hurtling our way… but if this were the Enterprise in the new movie, I might be on line right now. What is most impressive, aside from the photo-realism, and killer composition, is the restraint shown when you literally can do anything you want.

So meet douglas e. graves  (he doesn’t capitalize his name). Huge Trek fan just like you and me. Chicago based graphic designer who has fallen in love with 3D. Visit his site for higher rez desktops of these images. And yes, I’ve asked him to contribute to the 2011 SOTL Calendar.

 

http://deg3d.biz/splash_TOS.5_E/TOS.5_E.html