Daniel Curry is a visual effects producer and supervisor, as well as a main title designer in the film and television industry.
Curry attended Middlebury College in Vermont and graduate school at Humboldt State University in California. [1]
He is best known for his work on Star Trek: The Next Generation , Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , Star Trek: Voyager , and Star Trek: Enterprise . [2] His work on these series earned him fifteen Emmy Award nominations and seven Emmy awards wins. [3] As Visual Effects supervisor, Curry frequently served as a second unit director. He directed an episode himself on only one occasion, the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Birthright, Part II". [4]
Starting on TNG, Curry used his experience as a martial artist to develop a fighting style for the fictional alien race known as the Klingons. He designed several Klingon hand-to-hand combat weapons, including the Sword of Kahless, the mek'leth , and—most notably—the bat'leth . [3] [2] [5]
In addition to designing the title sequence for Star Trek Voyager, Curry has designed many memorable title sequences for feature films, including Top Gun, Big Trouble in Little China , and Three Amigos. He has also worked as visual effects supervisor on the television series Chuck .
As of 2015, Curry sits on the board of directors for the Hollywood Science Fiction Museum. [6]
Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. It originally aired from September 28, 1987, to May 23, 1994, in syndication, spanning 178 episodes over seven seasons. The third series in the Star Trek franchise, it was inspired by Star Trek: The Original Series. Set in the latter third of the 24th century, when Earth is part of the United Federation of Planets, it follows the adventures of a Starfleet starship, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), in its exploration of the Alpha quadrant and Beta quadrant in the Milky Way galaxy.
Star Trek: Enterprise, originally titled simply Enterprise for its first two seasons, is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. It originally aired from September 26, 2001 to May 13, 2005 on United Paramount Network (UPN). The sixth series in the Star Trek franchise, it is a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series. Set in the 22nd century, a hundred years before the events of The Original Series, it follows the adventures of the Enterprise, Earth's first starship capable of traveling at warp five, as it explores the galaxy and encounters various alien species.
Star Trek: Voyager is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor. It originally aired from January 16, 1995, to May 23, 2001, on UPN, with 172 episodes over seven seasons. It is the fifth series in the Star Trek franchise. Set in the 24th century, when Earth is part of a United Federation of Planets, it follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager as it attempts to return home to the Alpha Quadrant after being stranded in the Delta Quadrant on the far side of the Milky Way galaxy.
The Star Trek fictional universe contains a variety of weapons, ranging from missiles to melee. The Star Trek franchise consists mainly of several multi-season television shows and a dozen movies, as well as various video games and inspired merchandise. Many aspects of the Star Trek universe impact modern popular culture, especially its fictitious terminology and the concept of weaponry on spacecraft. The franchise has had a widespread influence on its audiences from the late 20th to early 21st century. Notably, Star Trek's science fiction concepts have been studied by real scientists; NASA described it in relation to the real world as "entertaining combination of real science, imaginary science gathered from lots of earlier stories, and stuff the writers make up week-by-week to give each new episode novelty." For example, NASA noted that the Star Trek "phasers" were a fictional extrapolation of real-life lasers, and compared them to real-life microwave based weapons that have a stunning effect.
The bat'leth is a double-sided scimitar/hook sword/lujiaodao hybrid-edged weapon with a curved blade, four points, and three handholds on the back. It was designed and created by Star Trek: The Next Generation visual effects producer Dan Curry for the Star Trek franchise, where it is the characteristic melee weapon of Klingons. Curry has called the bat'leth "one of the iconic images associated with the show." It has spawned a smaller weapon, which became known as the mek'leth; in Klingon, this is written meqleH. A third weapon, a kur'leth, was later designed by Dan Curry, for Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard. Bat'leths have become an enduring symbol of the franchise among fans, and they are occasionally referenced in other media.
"Caretaker" is the series premiere of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager. It was first broadcast as a double-length episode on January 16, 1995, as the first telecast of the fledgling UPN network. It was later split into two parts for syndication, but released in its original one-episode format on DVD and streaming services. Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet and Maquis crew of the starship USS Voyager after they are stranded in the Delta Quadrant far from the rest of the Federation.
"Broken Bow" is the two-part series premiere of the science fiction television series Enterprise. It originally aired as a double-length episode, but was split into two parts for syndication, though releases on home media and streaming maintain its original one-episode format. A novelization of the episode, written by Diane Carey, was published in 2001. The episode won the 2002 Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series, and was also nominated for sound editing and make-up.
Timothy Darrell Russ is an American actor, musician, screenwriter, director and amateur astronomer. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Commander Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager, Robert Johnson in Crossroads (1986), Casey in East of Hope Street (1998), Frank on Samantha Who?, Principal Franklin on the Nickelodeon sitcom iCarly, and D. C. Montana on The Highwaymen (1987–1988). He appeared in The Rookie: Feds (2022) and reprised his role as Captain Tuvok on Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard.
Star Trek: Borg is an interactive movie PC game and audiobook set in the Star Trek universe. It was written by Hilary Bader, directed by James L. Conway, and featured an original score by Dennis McCarthy. It was released in 1996 by Simon & Schuster for PC and Macintosh.
Richard Michael Sternbach is an illustrator who is best known for his space illustrations and his work on the Star Trek television series.
"Reunion" is the 81st episode of the syndicated American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It is the seventh episode of the fourth season.
"Trials and Tribble-ations" is the 104th episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the sixth episode of the fifth season. It was written as a tribute to the original series of Star Trek, in the year of that show's 30th anniversary; sister series Voyager also produced a tribute episode, "Flashback".
"Faces" is an episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager. Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet and Maquis crew of the starship USS Voyager after they are stranded in the Delta Quadrant, far from the rest of the Federation. The 14th episode of the first season, first broadcast by UPN on May 8, 1995, "Faces", was developed from a story by Jonathan Glassner and Kenneth Biller. Biller also wrote the teleplay, which was directed by Winrich Kolbe.
"Birthright" is a story spanning the 16th and 17th episodes of the sixth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the 142nd and 143rd episodes overall.
Foundation Imaging, Inc. was a CGI visual effects studio, computer animation studio, and post-production editing facility.
Klingon culture is a set of customs and practices of Klingons depicted in the fictional Star Trek universe. The fictional Klingon society is based on Klingon traditions and conventions, as well as a constructed language named Klingon. Klingons were created by Gene L. Coon.
Greg Jein was a Chinese American model designer who created miniatures for use in the special effects portions of many films and television series, beginning in the 1970s. Jein was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for his work on the films Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and 1941 (1979), and also nominated for an Outstanding Special Visual Effects Emmy for his work on Angels in America.
Ronald B. Moore is an American visual effects producer and five-time Emmy award winner. Moore was the visual effects supervisor on Star Trek spin-off series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise. He was involved with such films as Ghostbusters and Birdman.
Doug Drexler is an Oscar winning visual effects artist, designer, sculptor, illustrator, and a makeup artist who has collaborated with such talents as Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, James Caan, Meryl Streep, and Warren Beatty. He began his career in the entertainment industry working for makeup artist Dick Smith on such films as The Hunger and Starman. He has also contributed to Three Men and a Little Lady, The Cotton Club, FX, Manhunter and Dick Tracy. Dick Tracy earned Drexler an Oscar, as well as The British Academy Award and the Saturn Award for his special makeup effects on characters such as Big Boy Caprice and Mumbles. Two Emmy nominations in the same field followed for three years working on Star Trek: The Next Generation, where he performed such tasks as aging Captain Picard for "The Inner Light". His final make-up job for the series was the Mark Twain makeup worn by Jerry Hardin in the two part episode "Times Arrow"
The Star Trek franchise features many spacecraft. Various space vessels make up the primary settings of the Star Trek television series, films, and expanded universe; others help advance the franchise's stories. Throughout the franchise's production, spacecraft have been depicted by numerous physical and computer-generated models. Producers worked to balance often tight budgets with the need to depict convincing, futuristic vessels.
a number of Star Trek vets including Dan Curry, Doug Drexler, David Gerrold, Ronald D. Moore and Andrew Probert to sit on the board