- Michael Okuda
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Michael Okuda is a graphic designer best known for his work on Star Trek.
Contents
Career
Work in Star Trek
In the mid-1980s, he designed the look of animated computer displays for the Enterprise-A bridge in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.[1] This led to a staff position on Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 as a scenic artist, adding detail to set designs and props. His most famous contribution to The Next Generation is the GUI of the fictional LCARS computer system used throughout the Enterprise-D and other Starfleet starships. In homage to its creator, this visual style has come to be known among fans as "okudagrams".
Okuda also served as a technical consultant on the various TNG-era Star Trek series along with Rick Sternbach, advising the script-writers on the technology used throughout the Star Trek universe such as the transporters and the warp drive. This work resulted in a technical manual which was distributed to prospective script-writers along with the series bible. The manual was later published in revised and updated form as the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual by Pocket Books. Michael then went on to write a number of Star Trek books with his wife, Denise. Okuda continued working at Paramount Studios on the Star Trek series that followed The Next Generation, and worked as an art supervisor in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and through to the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005.[2] He also worked on the Star Trek movies that were produced while the various television series were in production. Okuda recently served as a producer for CBS to digitally remaster and update special visual effects for the original series.
Okuda "invented" the Heisenberg compensator as a way to "explain" how Star Trek's fictional transporter might work, despite the limitation of the uncertainty principle. [3] Okuda famously answered the question "How does the Heisenberg compensator work?" with "It works very well, thank you."[4]
Okuda remains involved creatively with the Star Trek franchise. He and Denise Okuda created the text commentaries in the ten Star Trek Special Edition DVD movies, as well as special text commentaries for the Star Trek Fan Collection sets. In 2005, Okuda contributed as a consultant for Perpetual Entertainment in their development of the MMORPG Star Trek Online.[1] He also helped with the cataloging of items for the auction of Star Trek memorabilia by Christie's auction house. The event, and the preparation for it, is included in the History Channel documentary Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier.
Work for NASA
Okuda designed logos for a number of NASA missions and programs including the STS-125 mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis to repair the Hubble Space Telescope and the Ares I-X development test flight. His work for Project Constellation includes logos for the Ares booster, the Altair lunar lander, and the Orion spacecraft, designed to carry astronauts to the International Space Station and to return humans to the Moon.[1] The Orion logo was unveiled on August 26, 2006.[5] Okuda also designed a team emblem for the planned STS-400 rescue mission, which would have been launched if there had been a major problem during the STS-125 mission.[1] He also has created a website based on how you can help to save Constellation and prevent Congress from passing it into law. Though outdated, it gives a lot of information about pro-Constellation affairs and wants you to fax to Congress.[2]
For his work as the designer of many NASA mission patches, Okuda received the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal. He was presented with the award at a ceremony at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on 9 July 2009.
References
- ^ a b c Day, Dwayne (September 2008). "Graphic artist on the final frontier: an interview with Mike Okuda". TheSpaceReview.com. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1215/1. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
- ^ Michael Okuda at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Bormanis, Andre. "Andre Bormanis interview". BBC Online. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/st/interviews/bormanis/page38.shtml. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
- ^ "Reconfigure the Modulators". Time Magazine. 1994-11-28. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,981892,00.html. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
- ^ "NASA officially debuts Project Orion logo". http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-082606a.html.
Bibliography
- Okuda, Michael; Clark, Margaret with Doug Drexler (November 2006). Star Trek: Ships of the Line. Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group. ISBN 1-416-53243-9.
- Okuda, Michael; & Sternbach, Rick (1991). Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-70427-3.
- Okuda, Denise; Okuda, Michael; & Mirek, Debbie (1999). The Star Trek Encyclopedia. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-53609-5.
- Okuda, Denise; & Okuda, Michael (1996). Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-53610-9.
External links
- Graphics by Michael Okuda
- Michael Okuda at the Internet Movie Database
- Michael Okuda at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
- Biography at StarTrek.com
- [3]
Categories:- Living people
- People from Hawaii
- American graphic designers
- University of Hawaii alumni
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