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!