I will be returning to Trek Radio this weekend on Saturday at 11am PST for what is sure to be another wacky interview. If you have any questions for me, you can mail them to zach@startrekradio.com or call in live and raise hell during the interview on 347-321-8955. If you have Skype, you can add “hailing.frequency”. Be sure to tune in at www.trekradio.net
Had a great time this weekend shooting a bit part, in Ben Alpi’s Indi western, “Cowboy Creed”. Thanks Ben!
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(Above) Movie posters of the great Frank McCarthy. (Top L-R) The Dirty Dozen, PT-109, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. (Above L-R) The Blue Max, Around The World Under The Sea.
When I was growing up, movie posters were usually incredibly electrifying paintings that were larger than life. They distilled in one mind blowing image all the excitement that one motion picture could possibly contain. Frank McCarthy was one of the all time greats, and his movie work is seared into my brain. When I get the occasional cover assignment from Pocket Books, and loads of action is called for, I always think of McCarthy.
The way I approach one of these novel covers is not at all the way I approach a shot for a television show. On a show, we go for as real as possible. On a novel I go larger than life, and painterly. Here are two new action covers, one for one for the big Vanguard finale, Storming Heaven, and one for Enterprise: The Romulan Wars.
(Above) Vanguard: Storming Heaven. (Below) Enterprise: The Romulan Wars.
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The start of my progress log for an off beat new obsession; Hollywood western style fancy gunhandling.
“Just one more reason to be very, very, nice to Doug…”
Gary Hutzel
(Above) Last night at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood… Dorothy, Luna, Jimmy C, Mike Forest and Diana had the great pleasure of seeing Jason Alexander in Niel Simon’s “The Prisoner of Second Avenue”. The show was outstanding, and Jason’s comic timing sheer genius. The audience roared all the way through. Afterward, Jason gleefully met with his Trek idols. A true gentleman, he was warm, friendly, and everything you wanted him to be. It’s no secret that original series Star Trek motivated Jason to become an actor.
Before the show I told Mike that Jason would love to meet him afterward. But why? He answered. Dude I sez, you simply don’t understand. Jason will go bonkers to meet you and Luna. Trust me. (Below) Jason gushing over Mike’s performance in “Who Mourns For Adonais”. Look at Mike. He’s dumbfounded.
(Above) Mysterious Luna. Undoubtedly she has a magic scarab that sucks the youth from the unsuspecting.
(Below) One big, happy, fleet. It’s a night we won’t soon forget… and neither will Jason! One of us! Gooble gobble!
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Here is the latest and fourth D-TV, a time machine if you will, a window looking back to our old school Star Trek roots… the roots which begat new school Galactica. Working on Trek those 17 years was some of the best fun I’ve had. Picture it: A starship right downstairs… calls from Gary Hutzel at Image G to come down and see the D lit up and on the stick, or building a space station out of junk… all as if your life depended on it.
Old school, new school… in show business it pays to be both. At this very moment, a couple of old school guys and a team of CG madmen (who I will be profiling here soon) are pushing that upper right hand corner of the TV VFX envelope. Some of you know we’re working with Gary Hutzel on the upcoming Blood And Chrome, the decidedly new school spinoff of Battlestar Galactica. B&C, except for the actors, has been built in V-World. The leash is off, and if you think BSG was big before… well, let’s just say that we’ve shifted into huge. Gary and I are old school guys who are having a new school blast, and the roots to our metamorphosis are firmly embedded in the firmament of old school Star Trek.
We are in tough economic times. Even the motion picture industry is feeling the pinch. Today, shows with sprawling sets, like BSG and TNG, are a hard sell. The studio doesn’t want to invest millions of dollars in sets for a show that may or may not hit. If you know that you are going to go seven years, then you can amortize the cost over the run of the series. That kind of guarantee rarely happens. Ultimately you get less science fiction happening on television. The fantastic thing is that television science fiction is being saved by a creation that in itself is the very stuff of science fiction: computer generated environments. It is now cost effective to build virtual soundstages, in fact it’s even desirable. No upkeep or storage, infinitely malleable, and no limits.
First up is some lost handycam footage shot at Image G. It was Gary’s task to uncrate the Reliant\Saratoga and see if it still worked since the last time the teamsters tossed it on the back of a truck and bounced it along bumpy roads to the storage facility up north. Naturally, work it doesn’t. In a classic example of roll with the punches, Gary invents another class of ship. Whenever I see old footage like this, I kick myself for not shooting more.
You know that crack about having a starship right downstairs? Second up is a classic illustration of that. Mike Okuda knocked on my door, “…They’ve lit the Voyager sets one last time before they strike ‘em! Grab the cam, and meet me on the bridge!” It’s funny the quiet reverence you experience when saying goodbye to a make believe spaceship. The show over seven years becomes a family, and the starship sets are where that family lives. Sure, it’s the family you see on the screen every week, but even more so the collection of quirky, talented and lovely human beings behind the scenes that you fall in love with, too. Enjoy!
Chaffee capitalized on Matt Jefferies idea to put Enterprise style nacelles on the Galileo. There was no doubt who the shuttle belonged to. The Defiant was a very different Federation starship, with very unusual nacelles. We decided to go with maestro Jefferies, and visually tie the Chaffee to the Defiant.
Chaffee was one of those things that came out of left field. I was in the art department lighting matches with my feet, when Gary Hutzel appeared in a flash of light and smoke. Shuttle! Yes? New! Yes? Today! Oh god! Hurry! Go like the wind!
And that’s pretty much how it always happens, except that I had just completed the diagrams of the Defiant for the DS9 Tech Manual. Gary! I blurted like a little kid who didn’t wanna. Where? Where is it supposed to launch from! It’s impossible! There is no place! And to prove it I unfurled the newly minted diagrams on top of the lightbox. See? I’ve worked out every nook! There is absolutely no place… no place… um… hey… it could go right here! I point to the circular ring on the bottom of the ship. Right here! Some modest adjusting and… it… could… work! There was another flash of light and a roiling of thunder and he was gone! His disembodied voice reverberated over me… Today…today… today…
(Above) Orthos of the CG model built by Brandon.
(Below) The diagrams that I provided to Gary.
(Below) A diagram I recently provided to the Trek BBS that puts the size of the Chaffee into terms that we can all relate to, especially if you own a BMW. I drive a ten year old Altima, but my other car is a battlestar.
(Below) Chaffee and mothership Defiant. From The Ships Of The Line.
What I really remember is us getting scolded by someone in the office for naming the shuttle Chaffee. Who do you think you are naming a shuttlecraft after your girlfriend! Now it was time for me to be impressed. Rick Berman jumped in and set the record straight. Don’t be rediculous! Chaffee is one of the Apollo 1 astronauts that died on the pad. Approved!
(Above) That’s the secret! Just do what I do! First find girls who like to kiss you, That’s a good start! On the left is at our shop in Van Nuys during “Dick Tracy”. Caglione and I were “the things from the basement”. That’s where all East Coast makeup labs were, in the basement! Now we were in sunny L.A.! In New York if you put out ads for help, grungy guys would show up. In L.A. beautiful women! Clockwise – The blond with her hand in my shirt is the lovely Dorth, our lab manager and my future wife xoxoxo, next is distracting Jill Rockow – ace makup gal, multi-Emmy winning talent and character, and in red is adorable Melanie Kassen, our PA. No surprise that this is one of my favorite pictures! On the right, thirteen years later at our wedding the girls recreate the scene.
(Below) I’m plumb goo-goo eyed with hero worship! That’s Matt and Mary Ann Jefferies at our wedding. Someone throw out the time anchor!
One of the coolest things about working on Star Trek…. (sound of phonograph needle beeing skidded across record). Don’t you get tired of hearing that? I mean, c’mon… let’s face it, it was all good parts, everything was choice… especially if you are a geek like me.
One of the coolest things about spending your life on Star Trek was never knowing what you would come across just walking to the commissary.
(Above) I trip over the econo car of Star Trek, which we affectionately referred to as the Hyundai. Once upon a time, and very early on in TNG, Andy Probert designed a beautiful shuttlecraft that was all curves like the D itself. Unfortunately, the coolness of the design was just too expensive to build, and this teeny weenie mini was built in a hurry. It’s a spud, but I have a soft spot for it. You can’t help but pat it affectionately.
(Above) Later on, when they were shooting STV and had money, two impressive shuttlecraft were built, inside and out. TNG inherited one of them, and it was chopped to make this short version. I believe it was restyled by Mr. Sternbach. I loved sitting in this shuttle when it was on the D hangar. Worlds within worlds. You could really get lost in it all.
(Above) Although they could never build this curvy shuttle full scale, Greg Jein did make a gorgeous filming miniature. For some crazy reason I always think of a kid in his head to toe pajamas when I look at it. It’s plain to see how labor intensive it would be to build full scale. The full scale Vipers on our version of BSG are masterpieces of challenging curves, I’ll never forget the first time I laid eyes on them in person. Little hearts were popping over my head - (That USS in the corner is a bit of vinyl lettering that came off on the photo).
(Below) Oh fer… must I sit in ANOTHER Captain’s chair!
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I’m hip deep in prep with legendary Trek VXF supervisior Gary Hutzel. Galactica returns to basics, and “Blood And Chrome” is fully upon us. Would anyone like some toast?
So just because I’m intensely busy, that doesn’t mean I forget you guys! No way! Not a chance! The phone rings… and it’s my friends from startrek.com calling to reminded me that another DrexTV is due on the tarmac. I needed a show, I needed it now, and I needed making it to be like falling off a log. I checked the Drex Files Operations Manual and it plainly stated: Step 1 – Grab camera. Step 2 – Grab Jack Marshall to work it. Step 3 – Visit with one of the most interesting men in the world. Step 4 – Tadaaa!
So in this edition of DrexTV we hang out with Mike Westmore. This isn’t an interview, it’s a conversation between two friends.
First some history - This kid – that’d me me – was in heaven. I was working TNG for Michael Westmore. I was working thoroughbred Star Trek. I was working Gene and Bob Star Trek. I’m working STAR TREK- STAR TREK. I had just headed makeup on one of the biggest shows in Hollywood with John Caglione, that being Dick Tracy. The TNG cast and crew was pleased that I was there. “But shouldn’t you be off doing features? ” They would ask. ”Are you kidding?” Came my answer. “This is it! Ground zero! Challenge Central – and no place I’d rather be!” I meant it. I loved that cast and crew, and it was without a doubt some of the most fun set time I’d ever spent. We worked hard, we had some ungodly late nights, and the later it went, the funnier and sillier it got.
Aside from the best cast I ever worked with, Mike Westmore made working on TNG sheer fun. He always wears a smile, and is just a delight. He is a dear, dear man. If you know anything about the Westmores of Hollywood, you know that the family practically invented the movie makeup game. At one time there was a Westmore as head of makeup at every major studio in town. During the golden age, most big stars would not do a film without a Westmore. It’s a fascinating story, and if you are interested find a book called “The Westmores of Hollywood”. Mike told me a funny anecdote about his uncle Bud. Bud was apprenticing on a very early Tarzan movie, and on that particular film Cheetah the chimp was played by a male ape. Bud’s job was to take a wet sponge and burnt cork, and use it to black out the chimps “water works” so that they would not show up on the big screen. After about a week of that, whenever Bud walked on stage, Cheetah would scamper over excitedly, take the cork and sponge out of Bud’s pocket and hand it to him.
The early Next Generation makeup lab was a hole in the wall. It wasn’t even in the wall. It was a shack cobbled together on the stage behind 8 and 9. You know that footage of Persis Khambatta getting her raven locks shorn by Fred Phillips for TMP? That’s the shack… and I loved it. Who would ever guess? Big TV production… the makeup lab would have to be in a flashy setup on the Paramount lot… wouldn’t it? Nope… makeup artists are an interesting breed. Life is a cross between the army, and the circus. You go where the job is, and you set up your camp… wherever that may be. I’ve made people up using the toilet as a makeup chair and with light coming from a single unshaded bulb. I’ve made actors up in the middle of the woods, in a speeding car, in an airplane, a swamp, and a kitchen… so making molds, sculpting, and running foam latex in a shack could be seen as a step up in some cases. You got out, and you got under, and if there are no amenities… like electricity… you made electricity… no water? You brought it with you. You learned to be self contained and self sufficient. You thought ahead and you thought on your feet. A Shack? I love it!
Next time we’ll be concentrating on behind the scenes lost footage. I’ve got Hutzel showing off the motion control stage at “G”, the very last footage of the Voyager sets just hours before the wrecking ball, and more “Active Duty!”.
Doug Drexler
Hollywood, California
Art: Matt Boardman
We had a lot of fun, and the phones never stopped ringing! Join me, Mike Okuda, Sam Witwer (Galactica\Being Human), Margaret Clark (Pocket Books), Craig Binkley (Enterprise Prop Master), and Guy Vardaman, as we yuk it up on Trek Radio! There oughtta be a law! Stream it here – _Doug Drexler on Trek Radio – Part 2 – 22-01-2011
Trek Radio (http://www.TrekRadio.net/) is happy to announce that award winning artist Doug Drexler will be returning with the second part of his live interview, this weekend, Saturday 22nd January at 11am PST!
Drexler joined us for two hours on December 18th for a live interview that covered a range of subjects and featured call ins from names such as Steve Neill and Barbara Luna. The interview was so succesful that we had to up less than half way through our list of talking topics but we resolved to continue the interview and now that time is here.
Be sure to tune in this weekend, January 22nd at 11am PST to hear what will surely be a fantastic continuation of our interview and if you missed the first part of the interview in December, grab it from our on-demand section now!
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I’m talking and I can’t shut up…
When Zach Nicodemous of Trek Radio (http://www.trekradio.net/) asked if I would be a guest on his show last weekend, my first thought was what the heck do I have to talk about for over two hours? Apparently plenty! Stream it here: _Doug Drexler on Trek Radio – Part 1 – 18-12-2010
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(Left) Doug surprised by a visit from pal, the ever gorgeous BarBara Luna, on Trek Radio! Get yer ears on!
Merry Christmas everybody! It’s a little after 6am here on the west coast, as Dorth, Beaky, and I rub the sleep from our eyes. Dorth is in the kitchen getting ready to start Christmas breakfast. She always does something special. Beaker is tearing the festive wrapping off of his honey stick, has broken a piece of it off, and holds it in his parrot fist chewing thoughtfully, watching me tapping on the keyboard to you, my friends out there around the world. I’ll be by the keyboard all day long tending to this holiday edition Drex Files, so let’s rock!
Special thanks to my good pal Matt Boardman for the wonderful “Drexmas Day Radio” intro. Thank you, buddy! Happy holidays to you and your family!
Full HD! Blow it up full screen!
Finally!
The plan is to make this a monthly thing. Hope you dig! Below is the article that accompanies this V-blog on the relaunched, refitted startrek.com -
Many of you know me from my blog, “The Drex Files”. Man, I poured a lot of stuff into that site. When Ian Spellin of suggested my putting together a column for startrek.com, I was dubious. Would a year and a half on Drex Files leave me anything to explore? Watch this!
Andygram!
We look at one of Trek’s sleekest and sexiest unrealized designs, The sphinx shuttle.
Whenever I think of Andy Probert I think of that scene in “The Right Stuff” where a reporter asks Gordo Cooper who’s the best pilot he’s ever seen. I’m one of Andy Probert’s biggest fans, and for me he is the best look for Star Trek. His sense of logic and aesthetics has never been equaled. One of my favorite Probert designs is the unrealized “Sphinx” shuttle, a cousin of the classic workbee. We’ve rustled you up a heapin’ helpin’ of the man himself, and Douglas “Deg” Graves brings it to life with his newly minted 3D version of the fabled conveyance. A classic Trek design. Why would anyone make Star Trek without Probert attached?
They’re the Juggernaut, bitch!
Ode to the Mararthon Mill Construction crew.
One of the most thrilling things about working on Star Trek was watching the construction gang in the Marathon Mill take our sketches and blueprints and make them real… and like magic, sets would seemingly coalesce from thin air.
When Mike Westmore piped me aboard the Enterprise D as a a makeup artist, I got my first closeup look at those classiest of starship sets. Buddy, I was like a kid in a candy store, free to wander the 23rd century and marvel at the magnificent designs and incredible craftsmanship that went into even the smallest detail.
There is a saying in the makeup department… first to get there, last to leave. But there were days when I would finish up at 2am, pack my kit, head across the Paramount lot to the parking structure, and be blown away that the construction guys would still be at it full tilt. Later, when I made the jump from the makeup department to art department, I would learn who this amazing powerhouse of a gang was. Not only would I be privy to their world and particular brand of magic, but I would now be working with them hand in hand. I would not only be wowed by their incredible talent and skill, but by the unique characters and personalities that drove the Trek construction juggernaut. Heady days, my friend.
A rough and tumble world of pneumatic nail guns, saber saws and testosterone. The “Marathon Mill” was a wild and woolly pirate ship that demanded a thick skin and a sense of humor to successfully navigate. Working with construction was one of the funnest, coolest and most satisfying experiences of my widely varied life in Hollywood. Our Star Trek machine was well oiled, and in it’s veins flowed trust, affection, and admiration. I don’t believe that I have ever worked on another show where cooperation between departments was so powerful.
During construction of the NX sets I kept a video record, and this stuff’ll knock your socks off. The first installment makes maximum montage of the construction of the NX warp core and engineering department. Hey you know it, and I know it: A cool engineering department is central to a starship, and we were especially proud of this one. It’s a remarkable document of a very ambitious Star Trek set, and baby you are there!
Le Voyage dans la lune!
When I was thirteen years old, four of the sexiest women on Earth were Raquel Welch, Brigette Bardot, Ursula Andress, and BarBara Luna. When I saw Luna as the Captain’s woman in the classic Trek episode “Mirror, Mirror” she was IT. She still has more of IT than any two women have a right to have of IT. How does she do it? A few weeks back, me, Dorth, Jimmy, and Luna went to see “CHIPs: The Musical” (no, I’m not kidding!) at Gary Marshall’s Eagle Theater in Tolucca Lake (It was hysterical, but that’s another story). I brought my video camera and captured some classic Luna. She’s silly and zany and adorable. Scamp, vixen, brat, comedian, artist, and legend. It’s silly for me to go on and on trying to impart the fun of BarBara Luna. Watch the video already!
Ship’s Of The Line: Active Duty!
This wild idea more than anything else gave me the impetus to create this vid\mag\column for startrek.com
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary… what could I do to make this column special? Then it hit me like a ton of neutronium! Oh you beautiful Galaxy! There were a hundred shots already set up for Ship’s of the Line that were dying to be animated! So I grabbed a bunch of my own pages, talked to Tobias, called Mark, shot up a flare to Rob… and in less than a week we had something special! Check your inertial dampers, fasten your seat belts, and be sure you’ve got your extra heavy reinforced Depends on because this is gold, Jerry! See the launch of the refit NX and Matt Jefferies iconic ringship taking flight! “SOTL: Active Duty” is the kick in the PTC you have been yearning for!
Hey, that was fun! I hope you got a kick out of the Drex Files Video Addendum! Fire a green flare if you’d like to see more, and in the meantime I’ll be fighting killer robots!
Sketches I provided to our mad modeler, the internationally handsome Pierre Drolet, to finish off the NX-01. Pierre built the original final hero model for the series at Foundation Imaging. For the last five years we’ve had the fun of working together on BSG\Caprica.
My testimonial for TruFocal glasses. So simple, so clever, so sci-fi\steampunk. Glasses with adjustable focal length like a camera! Bonus! Hear Beaker in the background “urking”.
My all time favorite Master Systems cutaway. I originally created this as a foldout for the DS9 Tech Manual, but it was too fun to not swap out all of the earlier versions seen on the bridge and engineering. Doesn’t look like much here, postage stamp size, but give it a click, and have fun!
Almost three years in the organizing, Alec Peters and his Propworx team have released the auction book for their upcoming Star Trek Prop and Costume auction.
Regular readers of the drex files know that I turned my collection, acquired after nearly two decades of working on Star Trek, over to Alec to be made available to fans of the show. That’s a lot of dumpster diving folks! The auction also includes amazing memorabilia from the collections of Mike and Denise Okuda, Rick Sternbach and Marc Zicree. As usual, the Propworx auction book is a collectors item in its own right, and is now available for free download at their site http://startrekauction.blogspot.com/. The book will also be available as an impressive high quality hard copy collectors edition. In the meantime, go to the Propworx site and download your free copy! It’s a fantastic document that all Trek fans will want to add to their archive of Star Trek data! Congrats to Alec and his team (a shout out to graphic designer Damaris Degan) for another great job!
A little over a year ago, a friend of mine told me that Doug Drexler had started a blog and thought I might like to check it out. I’m thankful that I took him up on that suggestion because it has given me the opportunity to get to know Doug over the past year.
Doug is a wonderful person. He is extremely kind and generous. He is an extremely talented individual, which we see in his work that he so gratiously shares with us through his blog and he has a fantastic sense of humor.
I hope you can all join me in wishing Doug a Very Happy Birthday! We love ya, Doug!!
-Matt Boardman.
http://the818now.com/2010/03/13/flying-high-with-liberty/
Full story on the 28th. We fly with Mike (Apollo)Forest!
“Making for for Deep Water” – Doug Drexler
Way back in the DS9 art department, I tinkered with a vector based program called Adobe Dimension. This was one of my earliest experiments in 3D. It was a real thrill!
Later I started toying with Lightwave, andf it became a whole different ball game -
http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/01/10/get-set/
http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/get-set-details/
http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/08/23/another-tos-study-model-turns-up/
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