Andrew Probert

Andrew Probert (born 1946 in Independence, Missouri) is an artist who is best known for designing the USS "Enterprise" for and the "Enterprise"-D for "".

After spending some time in the US Navy, Probert studied at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Californiacite web | url=http://www.trekplace.com/ap1999int01.html | title=Exclusive 1999 interview with Andrew Probert | author=Greg Tyler | month=August | year=1999 | work=trekplace.com | accessdate=2006-10-22 ] .

His first film/TV work was on Glen A. Larson's 1978 ABC miniseries "Battlestar Galactica", for which he was recommended by artist Ralph McQuarrie. For "Galactica", Andrew contributed the design for the Cylon Centurions as well as building one of the physical spaceship models for the "rag tag fleet", seen in the opening title sequence of each episode of the seriesFact|date=February 2007.

In 1978 he was hired by Robert Abel and Associates to work on "", where he worked as a concept designer/illustratorcite web | url=http://web.archive.org/web/20010809192817/http://oberon.spaceports.com/~tb/international/interviews/interview4.htm | title=Andrew Probert: two Enterprises and a DeLorean in the resume | author=Salvador Nogueira | date=2001-07-22 | work=trekbrasilis.com | accessdate=2006-10-22 ] . When Abel's group was replaced, Andrew survived the transition to the group of new effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull. Andrew was primarily responsible for designing the human and Vulcan space technology seen in the film, including the refitted starship Enterprise, Space Drydock, Orbital Office Complex, Travel Pod, Work Bee support vehicles, and the Vulcan long range shuttlecraftcite web | url=http://www.trekplace.com/ap2005int01.html | title=Exclusive 2005 interview with Andrew Probert | author=Greg Tyler | month=June | year=2005 | work=trekplace.com | accessdate=2006-10-22 ] . His concept sketches for the bridge set of the Klingon battlecruiser set the style for all future Klingon ship interiors.

In 1983 Probert returned to television, working on the pilot episode of Airwolf (1984). He designed the fuselage attachments for the Airwolf helicopter, based on a Bell 222.

In 1984 he worked on "Back to the Future", initially drawing storyboards but then continuing the design of the Delorean time machine that had been started by Ron Cobb [cite web | url=http://www.bttf.com/interviews/2003/andrewprobert2.shtml | title=An Interview with Production Designer Andrew Probert | author=Tom Silknitter | year=2003 | work=bttf.com | accessdate=2006-10-22] .

Also in 1984 he designed the motorcycle for the pilot episode of "Street Hawk", which was later redesigned for the series by Ron Cobb.

In 1986 he joined the staff of the then new show "" where he was initially hired to design the bridge of the new starship, the "Enterprise"-D cite web | url=http://web.archive.org/web/20010809192817/http://oberon.spaceports.com/~tb/international/interviews/interview4.htm | title=Andrew Probert: two Enterprises and a DeLorean in the resume | author=Salvador Nogueira | date=2001-07-22 | work=trekbrasilis.com | accessdate=2006-10-22 ] However, after the show's producers saw a speculative Enterprise sketch that Probert had produced he was tasked with designing the starship's exterior as well. cite web | url=http://web.archive.org/web/20010809192817/http://oberon.spaceports.com/~tb/international/interviews/interview4.htm | title=Andrew Probert: two Enterprises and a DeLorean in the resume | author=Salvador Nogueira | date=2001-07-22 | work=trekbrasilis.com | accessdate=2006-10-22 ] . During his one season stint on the "The Next Generation", he also designed the exteriors of virtually every other space vehicle seen in the first year of the show, including the Romulan Warbirdcite web | url=http://web.archive.org/web/20010809192817/http://oberon.spaceports.com/~tb/international/interviews/interview4.htm | title=Andrew Probert: two Enterprises and a DeLorean in the resume | author=Salvador Nogueira | date=2001-07-22 | work=trekbrasilis.com | accessdate=2006-10-22 ]

His film and television work also includes stints on "*batteries not included", "Space Camp", "Mask", "Tron", and "The Philadelphia Experiment". He also worked four years as a Show Designer at Walt Disney Imagineering.

On February 6, 2006, Perpetual Entertainment and CBS Media announced that Probert had been employed as an initial design consultant for the upcoming MMOG "Star Trek Online" [cite web | url=http://startrek.perpetual.com/2006/02/perpetual_announces_addition_o_1.html | title=Perpetual Announces Addition of Visionary Star Trek Artist Andrew Probert | date=2006-02-06 | publisher=Perpeptual Entertainment | accessdate=2006-10-22 ] .

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