(written from a Production point of view)
Alan James Sims (born 14 June 1949; age 74) [1] is a property master of the art department who worked on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. His ex-wife Deniece appeared in the second season episode "Up The Long Ladder" in 1989, when the script asked for a pregnant Bringloidi woman. For this episode, he also hired animal trainers and provided an African pygmy goat from his own property. ("Departmental Briefing Year Two: Memorable Missions – Up The Long Ladder", TNG Season 2 DVD special features) Sims was also responsible for hiring the trained hawk that swooped down and attacked Neelix in the episode "Tattoo". "Instead," recalls Sims, "the hawk spotted a crow and went off after it in the opposite direction. It took hours to find him. The delay was a nightmare." (Star Trek 30 Years, p. 46) Sims appreciated the idea of the creation of Ten Forward because it gave him the opportunity to create a lot of food and alien beverages for episodes such as "A Matter Of Honor". ("Departmental Briefing Year Two: Production – Props", TNG Season 2 DVD special features)
Sims received a co-author's credit for the reference book Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts. Lt. Alan Sims, whose name was seen on a graphic in the TNG episode "Violations", was named for Sims. The SIMs beacon, seen throughout the spin-off shows, was also named after him.
Career outside Star Trek[]
Alan Sims started to work in the art department in the late 1970s, as set dresser on the musical drama New York, New York in 1977. He worked as leadman on the television miniseries How the West Was Won (1978-1979) and on The New Maverick (1978, with Eugene Roche, Graham Jarvis, and Gene LeBell). Sims became assistant property master and worked on the drama Heaven's Gate (1980, with set designers Nancy Mickelberry and William Ladd Skinner), The Jazz Singer (1980), the television drama Evita Peron (1981), the television drama Leave 'em Laughing (1981, with Elisha Cook, William Windom, Bruce French, and Next Generation set designer Louis M. Mann), Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (1981), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), and Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987, with Michael McKean, Richard Herd, and art director Harold Michelson).
Following his association as technical advisor with Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984, with Erich Anderson, Lawrence Monoson, and Wayne Grace), Sims became property master on the television miniseries Space in 1985. He then worked as property master on the second season of The A-Team (1984-1985, starring Dwight Schultz), the television science-fiction thriller Assassins (1986, with Karen Austin and Jonathan Banks), and the Heart of the City episode "Cold Steal and Neon" (1986).
Following fourteen years of work on Star Trek, Sims worked as property master on the television pilot Bram and Alice (2002), the television comedy Alligator Point (2003), the television series Miracles (2003), NCIS (2003-2005), Windfall (2006), In Case of Emergency (2007), Standoff (2006-2007), and the television drama Supreme Courtships (2007, with Daphne Ashbrook, Kurtwood Smith, and John Berg). He also served as assistant property master on Flightplan (2005).
More recent work as property master include the comedy Crazy on the Outside (2010, with Kelsey Grammer), the Perfect Couples pilot episode (2010), and the television series remake 90210 (2008-2011).
Star Trek credits[]
(This list is currently incomplete.)
- TNG:
- "The Naked Now" (Season 1)
- "Haven"
- "The Last Outpost"
- "Justice"
- "Hide And Q"
- "Too Short A Season" (uncredited)
- "The Big Goodbye"
- "Angel One"
- "Home Soil"
- "Coming of Age"
- "The Arsenal of Freedom"
- "Symbiosis"
- "Conspiracy" (mother creature puppeteer; uncredited)
- "Where Silence Has Lease" (Season 2)
- "The Outrageous Okona"
- "Loud As A Whisper"
- "A Matter Of Honor"
- "The Dauphin"
- "The Royale"
- "The Icarus Factor"
- "Q Who"
- "Up The Long Ladder"
- "The Emissary"
- "Shades of Gray"
- "Evolution" (Season 3)
- "Who Watches The Watchers"
- "Booby Trap"
- "The Price"
- "The Defector"
- "The High Ground"
- "A Matter of Perspective"
- "The Offspring"
- "Allegiance"
- "Tin Man"
- "The Most Toys"
- "Ménage à Troi"
- "The Best of Both Worlds"
- "Suddenly Human" (Season 4)
- "Family"
- "Legacy"
- "Future Imperfect"
- "The Loss"
- "The Wounded"
- "Clues"
- "Galaxy's Child"
- "Identity Crisis"
- "Qpid"
- "Half a Life"
- "The Host" (uncredited)
- "The Mind's Eye"
- "Redemption"
- "Darmok" (uncredited, Season 5)
- "Silicon Avatar" (uncredited)
- "The Game"
- "Unification I"
- "New Ground"
- "Hero Worship"
- "Violations"
- "The Masterpiece Society"
- "Conundrum"
- "Power Play"
- "Ethics"
- "Cause And Effect"
- "Cost Of Living"
- "Imaginary Friend"
- "The Next Phase"
- "Time's Arrow"
- "Realm Of Fear" (Season 6)
- "Man Of The People"
- "Relics"
- "Schisms"
- "True Q"
- "Rascals"
- "A Fistful of Datas"
- "The Quality of Life"
- "Chain Of Command, Part I"
- "Chain Of Command, Part II"
- "Ship In A Bottle"
- "Aquiel"
- "Face Of The Enemy"
- "Tapestry"
- "Birthright, Part I"
- "Birthright, Part II"
- "Starship Mine"
- "Lessons"
- "The Chase"
- "Frame of Mind"
- "Suspicions"
- "Rightful Heir"
- "Second Chances"
- "Timescape"
- "Descent"
- "Descent, Part II" (Season 7)
- "Liaisons"
- "Interface"
- "Gambit, Part I"
- "Gambit, Part II"
- "Phantasms"
- "Dark Page"
- "Attached"
- "Force of Nature"
- "Inheritance"
- "Parallels"
- "The Pegasus"
- "Homeward"
- "Sub Rosa"
- "Lower Decks"
- "Thine Own Self"
- "Masks"
- "Eye of the Beholder"
- "Genesis"
- "Journey's End"
- "Firstborn"
- "Bloodlines"
- "Emergence"
- "Preemptive Strike"
- "All Good Things..."
Star Trek interviews[]
- E! Inside Star Trek: Voyager (1995)
- Star Trek: Voyager - Inside the New Adventure, 1995
- TNG Season 2 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Two: Production" ("Props"), interviewed on 5 October 2001
- TNG Season 2 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Two: Memorable Mission" ("Up The Long Ladder"), interviewed on 5 October 2001
- TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Inside Starfleet Archives Year Six" ("Extraordinary Props"), interviewed on 5 October 2001
Bibliography[]
- Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts (2000) – Co-author