Template:Realworld Herman Fritz Zimmerman (born 19 April 1935; age 88) is an Art Director and Production Designer who worked between 1987 and 2005 on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, and six Star Trek films. Together with Rick Sternbach he designed the space station Deep Space 9, with John Eaves the USS Enterprise-B and the USS Enterprise-E, and the Ten Forward set.
His work on Star Trek earned him four Emmy Award nominations in the category Outstanding Art Direction for a Series, coincidently all for Deep Space Nine episodes. But his work on that series did win him the 1997 ADG Excellence in Production Design Award.
Zimmerman is the father of Deep Space Nine and Enterprise set designer Fritz Zimmerman III, conceptualized and oversaw the design of Star Trek-themed attractions, respectively, the Star Trek: The Exhibition (1995), and Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas as part of the Special Entertainment Events crew (1998), interviewed for the 1995 documentary The Science of Star Trek, wrote an introduction for the 1995 reference book The Art of Star Trek, and co-wrote the 1998 reference book Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual.
During the run of Star Trek, Zimmerman was often referenced on screen, including
- Lewis Zimmerman (Deep Space Nine and Voyager)
- Herman Zimmerman (Captain) (The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: First Contact)
- H. Zimmerman (Enterprise)
- Chez Zimmerman (Deep Space Nine)
- Ermat Zimm (Deep Space Nine)
- Zimmerman provided a personal image of his father and himself to the Picard family album in Star Trek Generations, standing in as ancestors of Jean-Luc Picard
- During the pre-production of Voyager, The Doctor was named "Doc Zimmerman" after him (VOY Season 2 DVD trivia text version of "The 37's")
On 27 September 2009, Herman Zimmerman, together with fellow designers John Jefferies, Joe Jennings and Scott Chambliss, were honored for their Star Trek contributions in a media event called the "Star Trek Designers Talk Trek History At Art Directors Guild Event" at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, and in which all designers discussed indepth their work on the franchise. The event was moderated by another Star Trek alumnus, Daren Dochterman. [1]
Career outside Star Trek
Herman Zimmerman studied acting and directing at the Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois but changed his major to Theatre Production. He worked as associate professor of drama, technical director, and scene designer at the Northwestern University prior to his move to Los Angeles. In 1965 he started to work as assistant art director for the daily soap Days of Our Lives, followed by occupations as set decorator on the talk show Della in 1969.
Between 1971 and 1989 he worked as art director on the television series Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (1973-1975), The Lost Saucer (1975), Far Out Space Nuts (1975-1977), Land of the Lost (1974-1976), Tales of the Unexpected (1977), The New Odd Couple (1982-1983), Cheers (1984-1986, starring Kirstie Alley), and Brothers (1984-1986, starring Hallie Todd). Feature film credits include the mystery thriller The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler (1971), the television drama The Girl Called Hatter Fox (1977, starring Ronny Cox), the drama Deadman's Curve (1978, with Bruce Davison), the horror film Death Moon (1978, starring Robert Foxworth), the war drama A Rumor of War (1980), the drama Twirl (1981), the television special The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair (1983), the thriller Through Naked Eyes (1983, with David Soul), the television drama Silence of the Heart (1984, with Mariette Hartley), and Ridley Scott's thriller Black Rain (1989).
Prior to his involvement with Star Trek, Zimmerman worked as production designer on the television drama The Burning Bed (1984), the comedy Better Off Dead... (1985, with David Ogden Stiers and Kim Darby), the comedy One Crazy Summer (1986), and the comedy series The Ellen Burstyn Show (1986-1987). During his time on Star Trek he also worked on the family comedy All I Want for Christmas (1991) and the western television series Legend (1995, with John de Lancie). The 2002 production, Star Trek Nemesis appeared to have been Zimmerman's swan-song in the motion picture industry as no later credits are known.
Star Trek credits
(This list is currently incomplete.)
- As Production Designer
- Star Trek films
- TNG:
- ENT:
- "Broken Bow" (Season 1)
- "Fight or Flight"
- "Strange New World"
- "Unexpected"
- "Terra Nova"
- "The Andorian Incident"
- "Breaking the Ice"
- "Civilization"
- "Fortunate Son"
- "Cold Front"
- "Silent Enemy"
- "Dear Doctor"
- "Sleeping Dogs"
- "Shadows of P'Jem"
- "Shuttlepod One"
- "Fusion"
- "Rogue Planet"
- "Acquisition"
- "Oasis"
- "Detained"
- "Vox Sola"
- "Fallen Hero"
- "Desert Crossing"
- "Two Days and Two Nights"
- "Shockwave"
Star Trek awards
Herman Zimmerman received the following award and nominations for his work on Star Trek:
Emmy Award Nominations
Herman Zimmerman received the following Emmy Award nominations as "Production Designer", all in the category Outstanding (Individual Achievement in) Art Direction for a Series
- 1993 Emmy Award nomination for the episode DS9: "Emissary", shared with Randall McIlvain, and Mickey S. Michaels
- 1997 Emmy Award nomination for the episode DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations", shared with Randall McIlvain, and Laura Richarz
- 1998 Emmy Award nomination for the episode DS9: "Far Beyond the Stars", shared with Randall McIlvain, and Laura Richarz
- 1999 Emmy Award nomination for the episode DS9: "Prodigal Daughter", shared with Randall McIlvain, and Laura Richarz
ADG Excellence in Production Design Award
- 1997 ADG Award win for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, shared with Randall McIlvain
Bibliography
- The Art of Star Trek, 1995 – Foreword
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, 1998 – Co-author
Star Trek interviews
(This list is currently incomplete.)
- Star Trek DVD special features
- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Special Edition) special feature "Herman Zimmerman: A Tribute"
- TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "The Beginning"
- TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "The Making of a Legend" ("Artistic Design" and "VISOR")
- TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "Memorable Missions"
- TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "A Tribute to Gene Roddenberry" ("Gene Roddenberry Building Dedicated to Star Trek's Creator", "Gene's Final Voyage"), interviewed on 14 March 2002
- TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Starfleet Moments & Memories Year Seven" ("A Unique Family"), interviewed on 7 June 2002
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Behind the Scenes
- DS9 Season 1 DVD special feature "Deep Space Nine: A Bold Beginning"/ "Designing Deep Space Nine" (interview from 7 June 2002)
- DS9 Season 1 DVD special feature "Deep Space Nine Scrapbook Year One"/ "Building the Station" (interview from 1 October 1992)
- DS9 Season 3 DVD special feature "Sailing Through the Stars: A Special Look at "Explorers"
- Star Trek magazines
- Star Trek: The Official Fan Club Magazine issue 89 (1993)
- The Official Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Magazine issue 3 - article "Production Designer: Herman Zimmerman" by Bill Warren (1993)
- Star Trek Monthly issue 3 (1995)
- Star Trek Monthly issue 8 - article "Designing Deep Space 9" (1995)
- Star Trek: First Contact - Official Movie Souvenir Magazine - article "The Man with the Plan" by Larry Nemecek (1996)
- Starlog issue 235 - article "Ship Builder" by Ian Spelling (1997)
- Star Trek: Insurrection - Official Movie Souvenir Magazine - article "Paradise Found" by Larry Nemecek (1998)
- Star Trek Monthly issue 41 - article "Viva Las Vegas! Setting the Scene" (1998)
- Star Trek Monthly issue 50 (1999)
- Star Trek Monthly issue 61 (1999)
- Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 1 - article "Herman Zimmerman's Production Diary on Star Trek: Insurrection Part 1" (1999)
- Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 2 - article "Herman Zimmerman's Production Diary on Star Trek: Insurrection Part 2" (1999)
- Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 8 - article "Designing the Stellar Cartography set for Star Trek: Generations" (1999)
- Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 22 (2001)
- Star Trek Monthly issue 79 (2001)
- Star Trek Monthly issue 93 (2002)
- Star Trek 35th Anniversary Tribute - article "Designing Space" (2002)
- Star Trek Monthly issue 103 - article "The Good Sets Guide" by Ian Spelling (2003)
- Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 10 (2003)
- Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 12 (2003)
- Starburst Special issue 64 - article "An Enterprising Gentleman" by Steven Eramo" (2004)
- Star Trek documentaries
Further reading
- "Designing the interiors of the USS Enterprise-D", Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 22, February 2001, pp. 18-22, 24-27
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission, 1997
External links
- Template:IMDb-link
- Herman F. Zimmerman at Wikipedia
- [2]
- Template:Brokenlink at StarTrek.com
- Interview at BBC.co.uk