Changes: Michael Okuda

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You may be looking for Michael Okuda (Doctor) or M. Okuda.

Michael "Mike" Hideo Okuda (on occasion affectionately called Mikey O by his close co-workers), hailing from Tokyo, Japan but raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, has been the scenic art supervisor for every live-action Star Trek production, set in the prime universe, except The Original Series and the first three Star Trek films. As the art supervisor, heading Star Trek's Scenic Art Department during the entire run of the franchise from Star Trek: The Next Generation onward, he has been responsible for such things as the look of alien languages, computer screens, graphic detailing and perhaps even the look of the exotic artifacts Jean-Luc Picard has collected. As a big fan of M*A*S*H and Gilligan's Island, he often placed references to these TV shows in his designs. His most recognizable achievement is the creation of okudagrams, the futuristic glass-covered control panels first seen in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. He was a graphic designer at that time.

In the Star Trek franchise, it was customary from the very beginning (starting with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier), when more than one production was in development at any given time, to avoid cross-over work being done by staffers on different productions, though there, "(...) was no good reason for this that we could perceive", a slightly chagrined Doug Drexler once noted. [1]^(X) To this end studio staffers, excepting the very highest management echelons, when assigned to, and contracted for one production, were legally forbidden to work on any of the others. This legal prerequisite however, did not extend to Mike Okuda's Scenic Art Department, which was exempt from the proviso for the obvious reason to maintain visual consistency within the franchise. However, the exemption was originally only extended to the senior staff (meaning Okuda himself), resulting in the somewhat cumbersome, and ultimately untenable, situation in 1994 of him heading a department whose staffers were officially only allowed to work on either one Star Trek production (Deep Space Nine), or the other (Voyager).

Together with Rick Sternbach, he served as a technical consultant to the script staff, maintaining technical and chronological continuity and inventing scientific terms and technobabble, resulting a number of internal "technical manuals". He is a co-author of the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual, which resulted from the internal documents, the Star Trek Chronology, and the Star Trek Encyclopedia. Though never having taken a class in calculus in his life (being a graduate of the University of Hawaii-Manoa notwithstanding), Okuda is responsible for designing the logarithmic warp scale used in Star Trek: The Next Generation. All his computer graphics and designs are done on a Macintosh.

Married to fellow Star Trek scenic artist Denise Okuda, with whom he co-authored The Encyclopedia and the Chronology, Mike Okuda and his wife have created the text commentaries on the Star Trek DVDs. "Inside DS9 with Michael Okuda" is a special feature on the DS9 Season 5 DVD. Together, they were the visual effects producers, as part of the CBS Digital team, for the 2006 remastered Original series, both appearing as a Starfleet officers on a new matte painting in the remastered version of "The Menagerie, Part I", he as a science officer. Due to his writing, Okuda is, at least in the Star Trek community, considered one of the foremost authorities on Star Trek lore, and from 2012 onward the couple served as consultants on the 2012 follow-up The Next Generation remastering project.

Outside the live-action franchise, Mike Okuda was part of the development staff for the Star Trek Online, in addition to his work supervising the remastering of the Original Series, while having also designed the new Star Trek: Deep Space Nine title logo for the Deep Space Nine relaunch series. Okuda also worked as graphics artist on James Cawley's fan-made internet series Star Trek: New Voyages, episode "World Enough and Time" (2007) and received special thanks in the end credits. This episode features fellow Star Trek alumni George Takei, Grace Lee Whitney, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, John Carrigan, Jeffery Quinn, writer and director Marc Scott Zicree, writer Michael Reaves, Doug Drexler, Iain McCaig, James Van Over, Dan Curry, Daren Dochterman, Pierre Drolet, Sam Mendoza, Ronald B. Moore, Lee Stringer, Gregory Jein, Philip Kim, Leslie Hoffman, and Tom Morga.

Career outside Star Trek

After his tenure on the Star Trek franchise, Mike Okuda has worked in pretty much in the same capacity for NASA, ultimately awarded by that organization with an "Exceptional Public Service Medal" for his emblem designs in 2009. [2]

In 2007, Michael and Denise Okuda were hired as scenic designer and video supervisor, respectively, for a planned zombie series co-created by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens entitled Alive. John Billingsley and Gary Graham were set to star in the series, which would've debuted in the summer or fall of 2008. However, the series was never made. [3]

Star Trek credits

(This list is currently incomplete.)

TNG:
- Season 1 - Scenic Artist
- Season 2 - Scenic Artist
- Season 3 - Scenic Art Supervisor/Technical Consultant (credited only as Scenic Art Supervisor until "Allegiance")
- Season 4 - Scenic Art Supervisor/Technical Consultant
- Season 5 - Scenic Art Supervisor/Technical Consultant
- Season 6 - Scenic Art Supervisor/Technical Consultant
- Season 7 - Scenic Art Supervisor/Technical Consultant ("Descent, Part II"-"Journey's End")
- Season 7 - Scenic Art Consultant ("Firstborn"-"All Good Things...")

Emmy Award nominations

Okuda received the following Emmy Award nominations for his work on Star Trek in the category Outstanding Achievement in Special Visual Effects:

1990 for the episode TNG: "Tin Man", shared with Robert Legato, Gary Hutzel, Steve Price, Don Greenberg, Erik Nash, and Don Lee
1991 for the episode TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds", shared Gary Hutzel, Robert Legato, David Takemura, Don Greenberg, Erik Nash, Steve Price, Syd Dutton, Robert Stromberg, Bill Taylor, and Don Lee
1991 for the episode TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II", shared Robert Legato, Gary Hutzel, David Takemura, Patrick Clancy, Steve Price, Erik Nash, Syd Dutton, Bill Taylor, and Don Lee

Bibliography

Star Trek: The Next Generation Writers' Technical Manual, 1989 – Co-author
Star Trek Chronology, 1st ed. 1993 and 2nd ed. 1996 – Co-author
Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual, 1991 – Co-author
Star Trek Encyclopedia, 1st ed. 1994, 2nd ed. 1997 and 3rd ed. 1999 – Co-author
Star Trek: Voyager Technical Manual, 1994 – Co-author
Star Trek Sticker Book, 1999 – Co-author
Christie's 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection auction catalog, 2006 – Author
Ships of the Line, 2008 – Author

Star Trek interviews

"Michael Okuda - Scenic Art Supervisor", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine Vol. 15, June 1991, pp. 30-35, interviewed by Bill Warren
TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "The Making of a Legend" ("Artistic Design")
TNG Season 3 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Three" ("Art Design and Visual Effects", "Visual Effects "Sins of the Father"", "Creating the "Tin Man"", "Technical Consultation"), interviewed on 22 January 2002
TNG Season 4 DVD special feature "New Life and New Civilizations" ("The Best of Both Worlds"), interviewed on 21 August 1991 and 22 January 2002
TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Five" ("A Visit from Spock"), interviewed on 4 April 2002
TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Five" ("Visual Effects"), interviewed on 4 April 2002
TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "Memorable Missions Year Five" ("Hero Worship", "The First Duty"), interviewed on 4 April 2002
TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "Alien Speak", interviewed on 4 April 2002
TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "A Tribute to Gene Roddenberry" ("Gene Roddenberry Building Dedicated to Star Trek's Creator"), interviewed on 4 April 2002
TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Six" ("January 1993 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Debuts"), interviewed on 4 April 2002
TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Six" ("Production", "Special Graphics Design"), interviewed on 4 April 2002
TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Seven" ("A Stellar Writer"), interviewed on 4 April 2002
TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Starfleet Moments & Memories Year Seven" ("A Unique Family"), interviewed on 4 April 2002
TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "The Making of "All Good Things..." Year Seven" ("USS Pasteur", "Changes On The Enterprise"), interviewed on 21 March 1994
DS9 Season 1 DVD special feature "Deep Space Nine: A Bold Beginning"/ "Designing Deep Space Nine", interviewed on 9 October 2002
Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier, 2007
"Michael and Denise Okuda: A Star Trek Love Story", The official STAR TREK prop and costume auction catalog, 2010, pp. 24-27, interviewed by Alec Peters
TNG Season 1 Blu-ray special features "Energized! Taking The Next Generation to the Next Level" and "Stardate Revisited, Part 3: The Continuing Mission"

External links

Graphics by Michael Okuda - official site
[4]
Michael Okuda at Wikipedia
Template:IMDb-link
2012 three part interview with Mike and Denise Okuda at Trekcore.com
2012 two part interview with Mike and Denise Okuda at Trekcore.com

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 '''Michael "Mike" Hideo Okuda''' (on occasion affectionately called '''Mikey O''' by his close co-workers), hailing from Tokyo, Japan but raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, has been the scenic art supervisor for every live-action ''[[Star Trek]]'' production, set in the [[prime universe]], except ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|The Original Series]]'' and the first three [[Star Trek films|''Star Trek'' films]]. As the art supervisor, heading ''Star Trek''{{'}}s Scenic Art Department during the entire run of the franchise from ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' onward, he has been responsible for such things as the look of alien languages, computer screens, graphic detailing and perhaps even the look of the exotic artifacts [[Jean-Luc Picard]] has collected. As a big fan of ''[[Popular culture references in Star Trek#M*A*S*H|M*A*S*H]]'' and ''[[Popular culture references in Star Trek#Gilligan's Island|Gilligan's Island]]'', he often placed references to these TV shows in his designs. His most recognizable achievement is the creation of [[okudagram]]s, the futuristic glass-covered control panels first seen in {{film|4}}. He was a graphic designer at that time.
-In the ''Star Trek'' franchise, it was customary from the very beginning (starting with {{film|5}}), when more than one production was in development at any given time, to avoid cross-over work being done by staffers on different productions, though there, "''(...) was no good reason for this that we could perceive''", a slightly chagrined [[Doug Drexler]] once noted. {{DrexFiles|2009/01/28/for-the-good-of-the-service/}} To this end studio staffers, excepting the very highest management echelons, when assigned to, ''and'' contracted for one production, were legally forbidden to work on any of the others. This legal prerequisite however, did not extend to Mike Okuda's Scenic Art Department, which was exempt from the proviso for the obvious reason to maintain visual consistency within the franchise.
+In the ''Star Trek'' franchise, it was customary from the very beginning (starting with {{film|5}}), when more than one production was in development at any given time, to avoid cross-over work being done by staffers on different productions, though there, "''(...) was no good reason for this that we could perceive''", a slightly chagrined [[Doug Drexler]] once noted. {{DrexFiles|2009/01/28/for-the-good-of-the-service/}} To this end studio staffers, excepting the very highest management echelons, when assigned to, ''and'' contracted for one production, were legally forbidden to work on any of the others. This legal prerequisite however, did not extend to Mike Okuda's Scenic Art Department, which was exempt from the proviso for the obvious reason to maintain visual consistency within the franchise. However, the exemption was originally only extended to the senior staff (meaning Okuda himself), resulting in the somewhat cumbersome, and ultimately untenable, situation in 1994 of him heading a department whose staffers were officially only allowed to work on either one ''Star Trek'' production (''Deep Space Nine''), or the other (''Voyager'').
 Together with [[Rick Sternbach]], he served as a technical consultant to the script staff, maintaining technical and chronological continuity and inventing scientific terms and [[technobabble]], resulting a number of internal "technical manuals". He is a co-author of the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual]]'', which resulted from the internal documents, the ''[[Star Trek Chronology]]'', and the ''[[Star Trek Encyclopedia]]''. Though never having taken a class in calculus in his life (being a graduate of the University of Hawaii-Manoa notwithstanding), Okuda is responsible for designing the logarithmic [[warp drive|warp scale]] used in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''. All his computer graphics and designs are done on a Macintosh.