The Human Adventure Continues...

by Tony Robinson

MAGICAM and the USS ENTERPRISE

Although credited with designing and creating the refit USS ENTERPRISE for STAR TREK : THE MOTION PICTURE in 1979, MAGICAM was primarily a visual effects company specializing in highly detailed blue screen photography. The company was an in-house subsidiary of Paramount Pictures and as such was awarded, after previously being involved with the visual effects of the cancelled TV series Star Trek : Phase II,  the contract to produce a new and believable starship capable of sailing through the stars on a huge movie screen.

The "new" project to create the iconic starship was put into development by Art Director Richard Taylor who was personally chosen by Robert Wise who directed the finished movie. Richard performed his magic and working with the MAGICAM, team headed up by Chief Modeler Jim Dow, set about to deliver our beloved ENTERPRISE. MAGICAM, now under contract to Robert Abel and Associates, were given a second bite of the cherry and the rest as they say is history.

I have listed below a very short resume of some of the key MAGICAM players involved with building the ENTERPRISE in 1978/9.

RICHARD TAYLOR

Richard Taylor is a top Hollywood FX film director, graphic artist, FX designer and modeler who was head of Visual FX at Robert Abel and Associates, earning him 12 Clios. Richard designed the beautiful Starship Enterprise in collaboration with Gene Roddenberry, which is why she is such a magnificent creation. 

JIM DOW

Jim Dow was not only a visual effects artist at MAGICAM he was also the creative head and chief modeler. He collaborated directly with Gene Roddenberry and oversaw the production of the miniature models for both Star Trek: Phase II and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Other notable achievements in model construction  include the creation of  the mother-ship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the "Valley Forge" space-ship in Silent Running as well as all the models for that groundbreaking film in 1971.

MARK STETSON

Oscar winner Mark Stetson's work on Star Trek: The Motion Picture contributed to the construction of some of the "supporting" models such as the workbee, the Klingon battle cruisers and the 8-foot studio Enterprise. Mark is a graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. He is a three-timed Academy Award nominee for his work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Superman Returns. His acceptance speech expressively thanked Jim Dow for giving him his first professional job at MAGICAM.

RON GRESS

Ron Gress is a Visual and Special Effects artist and a fine arts graduate from the University of California at Berkeley. He worked on the "Air Tram" and applied the Klingon symbol on the K't'inga Class destroyer. He worked with Paul Olsen and painted the secondary hull.

PAUL OLSEN

Paul Olsen is a an artist and musician from San Francisco. In 1978 he landed the prestigious job of painting the ENTERPRISE using a "pearlescent" technique that gave the ENTERPRISE her unique sparkling "ballgown." At the request of Douglas Trumbull he stayed on with MAGICAM to create some of the entrance effects on V'Ger. Paul is currently spearheading the construction project of a second 8-foot studio model by the original MAGICAM team.

More details regarding the 1701rebuild project can be found at www.1701rebuild.com

Prime Movers

by Tony Robinson

Have you got what it takes to be a Prime Mover ?

A what ?

A Prime Mover!

They will be the initial group of hard-core STAR TREK fans who will kick-start the project to return a recreated STARSHIP ENTERPRISE back to all her loyal fans.

They will be known as PRIME MOVERS and they will initiate the first stage to raise a wider awareness of this fabulous project.

The USS ENTERPRISE is being rebuilt and it is being done with the help of fans everywhere for, well, fans everywhere.

The project to rebuild the starship has begun with Paul Olsen who along with Jim Dow, Richard Taylor and Mark Stetson was part of the original MAGICAM team that built it in 1978. The model appeared in STAR TREK : THE MOTION PICTURE and was history in the making.

As an incentive to all Prime Movers Paul is offering a range of unique one-of-a-kind and collectible premiums to everyone who helps kick-start this wonderful program. Richard Taylor will direct a documentary of the whole rebuild process and Jim Dow will be in charge of it.

The fans participation will also be enshrined forever by them having their names engraved on a specially commissioned piece of sculpture designed by Paul Olsen and Richard Taylor that will travel with the ENTERPRISE wherever she is displayed.

So! Whether you spend $15 or $500 dollars to move this project along, everyone will become a part of future history.

Full details may be found at www.1701rebuild.com

The Human Adventure Continues...

by Tony Robinson.

Why do we love Star Trek : The Motion Picture ?

It was the eagerly anticipated debut of the magnificent STARSHIP ENTERPRISE !

I have fond memories of seeing it warp into space on December 7, 1979 at the Loew's Theater in New York. I lined up with hundreds of Star Trek fans drooling at the prospect of seeing our heroes on the big screen. We all have our favorite characters ranging from Captain Kirk to Scotty but it was the Starship Enterprise that sold it for me.

USS ENTERPRISE - NCC-1701

Is there anyone in the world who does not know that registration number ? Is there anyone in the world who has never heard of Star Trek and especially the USS ENTERPRISE ? Of course not.

She graced the screen like no other space-faring vessel before or since. She lives in our dreams, and somewhere out in the dark regions of the galaxy she continues to explore new planets, is still seeking out new civilizations and is boldly going where no one has gone before.

In 1979 it was not only Star Trek fans who wondered how ENTERPRISE would look on the silver screen. I have it on good authority that the main cast actors were also excited and anxious to know how she would look, and they along with us were not disappointed.

So where did this wonderful screen model come from ? Paramount Pictures hired award-winning Richard Taylor to design the ENTERPRISE in collaboration with Gene Roddenberry and MAGICAM to build the new model for Star Trek : The Motion Picture. MAGICAM was a skilled special effects (SFX) team lead by Jim Dow, one of Hollywood's top miniature model builders for TV and film. Jim, along with Richard Taylor, Doug Trumbull, Paul Olsen and others created what is surely the most iconic and recognizable spaceship this side of the Mutara Nebula. What a stellar job they did.

It is no wonder that Captain Kirk took the grand tour around her before heading off to confront V'Ger.

The reception from the fans was instantaneous. Jim Dow and his MAGICAM team had built something wonderful and rapturous. A Starship for the 23rd century.