The Okudas have written several books on Star Trek, including the new edition of the "Star Trek Encyclopedia", "Star Trek Chronology: A History of the Future".

They are also co-producers of the new CD-ROM "Captain's Chair". Michael is the Scenic Art Supervisor and Technical Consultant on both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, and Denise is a Scenic Artist on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the Video Coordinator on Star Trek: Voyager.

Michael Okuda: Hi everyone! Good to be here!

Denise Okuda: "Hi" everyone.

Q: I have asked this question to three different Star Trek chat guests, but haven't received an answer as of yet. I was hoping that you could answer my most cherished question. I spend days and nights thinking and hoping that someday I could be a part of the production team of Star Trek. But this goal is not easily reached. Could you tell me any information on obtaining this goal. It would mean the world and my life to me
bidnste

MO: There is no single, simple answer as to how to get a job on Star Trek.

It does help to know someone, but I knew literally no one in LA at the time I was first hired on Star Trek IV. I think the best thing to do is to do as much work as possible in as many different areas as possible so that if and when an opportunity becomes available, you're in a position to jump. This usually means doing a lot of unpaid/cheap work and putting in a LOT of long hours. However, "luck" is an elusive thing. I believe that "luck" in finding jobs is, in significant part, due to having worked very hard to be in a position to take advantage of opportunities that arise.

Q: Will you be doing any work for the new movie?
Max

DO: We hope so.

MO: Max: How are things at the Institute?

Q: Have you ever been in an episode?
Becky the Beautiful

MO: Rick Berman and Bob Justman once asked if I wanted to appear as Noonien Soong for "Datalore," but unfortunately, I didn't have time to do it, given my responsibilities on the show.

Q: Which show has been the most interesting to work on? The most difficult?
Michelle

DO: The MOST FUN to work on was the DS9 episode, "Trials and Tribble-ations." Everyone on the production team gave 200% and I hope it showed on the episode. It was amazing to watch the video assist monitor of the original series corridors and not be able to tell if this was a lost episode from the 60's or present day "reality"

MO: Generally, pilot episodes are the most difficult episodes, since they have the highest percentage of new material because you're building all-new sets.

Q: I heard you liked M*A*S*H and Gilligan's Island... is that true? Have you ever named a character after one of those characters?
Gulliver

MO: M*A*S*H and Gilligan's Island are certainly among my all-time favorite television shows. Unfortunately, since I'm not a writer for the show, I've never had the opportunity to contribute character names. On the other hand, some extremely small (and illegible on television) character names from both shows may have found their way into some readout screens. (Don't bother trying to find them... they're too small to read.)

Q: Why isn't Doug Drexler paid more money -- he's invaluable to the organization! And a Space hero beyond belief. Signed Rick Berman.
Moogie

MO: You mean that Doug is being paid? He told me he's doing it for free! I'll have to talk with him about that.

Q: Why aren't you working with Bill Gates to develop a computer keyboard that looks similar to one of the Okudagrams?
Stark

MO: Tell Bill to give me a call!

Q: I've heard that there are some "in" jokes on the little graphics on the sets. Can you share some with us?
Melissa

MO: There are actually very few jokes on the set graphics, mainly because you NEVER want them to be readable on camera. One of the ones that we do use occasionally is a "Buckaroo Banzai" quote that says "No matter where you go, there you are."

Q: Did you two get married on the Star Trek sets? Did you meet on the Star Trek sets? Did you know there was a wedding in the Star Trek chat room?
CraigDMan

DO: We met through a friend here at Paramount but no, we were not married on the sets.

Q: Has any of your best work ever ended up on the cutting room floor?
Randy

DO: It's the nature of television and film that some things just don't make it on film. I can't thing of anything specific right now but there have been times when a director will tell you he's going to shoot in a particular direction and when it comes time for the cameras to roll, he's done a 180.

Q: Is there a "Gene Roddenberry Philosophy" and if so, what is it?
Orion

MO: Gene's philosophy might be summed up in one of the advertising lines for the first Star Trek motion picture, "The human adventure is just beginning." Gene believed that we are, as he put it, a "child species," on the verge of maturity, and that when we grow up, we're going to be really remarkable. I think everyone, from Rick Berman on down, have tried to embrace Gene's voice, but at the same time, Gene himself pointed out that his (and our) primary job was to entertain, and that we must do that before we can imbue the show with a philosophy.

Q: How did you come up with the LCARS interface for the Enterprise and Voyager?
Aaron

MO: The LCARS interface was developed as a solution to a number of practical and production parameters: It had to look futuristic. It had to be something we could create quickly and relatively inexpensively. It had to tie in with the look that Herman Zimmerman (our production designer) had set for the overall show.

Q: What has been the most difficult episode for each of you, to work on?
KobayashiMaru

MO: Once again, the pilot episodes tend to be the most difficult because they have the greatest amount of new material that has to be generated.

Q: How complete is the latest Chronology?
Nasr123

MO: The updated Star Trek Chronology goes up through the fourth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the second season of Star Trek: Voyager. It's amazing how much more new material had been generated by the show in the (relatively) few years since we did the first Chronology.

DO: It is difficult to keep the books up to date because the episodes continue and we have to meet specific deadlines.

MO: The Star Trek saga is getting more complex, largely because our writers are writing more complex episodes that have more complicated ties into the earlier continuity. I think this is part of the ongoing fun of the show, that the Star Trek universe IS so cohesive.

Q: So about how many hours a week do you put in on the sets? Aaron

DO: It varies. If we have a difficult episode (like the one we are filming right now on DS9) we'll have more on-set duties. As video supervisor, I run between both Voyager and DS9 and if we are filming a heavy story specific video day, I might spend most of the day on set.

Q: You did a great job updating the Star trek encyclopedia book. The New CDROM is great too!
JosephTrek101

MO: Thanks! We enjoyed working on both. Doug Drexler did an amazing job with those color illustrations, too!

DO: Thanks! We very much enjoyed working on the second version of the Star Trek Encyclopedia. Doug Drexler outdid himself with the illustrations. We all worked well as a team and it was nice to have smooth sailing.

Q: Do you attend conventions very often? I love the new Encyclopedia and would like to get a signed copy...
Canologbar

DO: As much as Mike and I enjoy attending conventions but because of work schedules and the fact that we are just exhausted come the weekend, we don't get to as many as we'd like.

Q: Who was your best PA in the DS9 Art Department?
Rod

DO: We had this GREAT production assistant a couple of years ago. We had pizza every Thursday, he made us different types of flavored coffee and generally took great care of us. We miss him but he's moved on to bigger and better things.

MO: (He is now an associate producer on a major science fiction television show, so it goes to show that working hard in the art department can pay off!)

Q: What are your favorite Non-Trek or sci-fi TV shows?
Enigma

MO: Hmm... Third Rock from the Sun. Babylon 5. Earth: Final Conflict.

DO: E.R., NFL football, Babylon 5 and Earth: Final Conflict.

Q: Which series do you like the most?
Gabriela

MO: Assuming you mean the Star Trek shows, it's a tough question to answer. Each show has meant something special to me. ST:TNG was the first Star Trek series I worked on, so it's special for that reason. I'm very proud of some of the things we've done on Voyager and DS9, and I enjoy working with my colleagues on both shows and I grew up watching the original Star Trek, so it has a very special place in my heart.

Q: Given the advances in Microchip technology when do you feel the average American household will reach the level of computer technology of the 24th century?
Kahless

MO: One of the toughest problems we, as designers, face is how do we keep our fictional technology ahead of reality. The fact is that many things that Star Trek has "predicted" has already happened. And many other things are on the horizon. I'm typing this into a Power Macintosh that is capable of voice recognition, something that seemed incredibly advanced just a few years ago.

DO: I think that 24th century technology is happening today. There are some houses designed to allow voice command to turn on lights or change the temperature in the backyard swimming pool. I believe Bill Gates has built such a house.

Q: Where can I buy the CDROM or Star Trek encyclopedia?
Brad

DO: We've been told that both the "Captain's Chair" and "Star Trek Interactive Encyclopedia" CD-ROMS are out in the stores.

Q: Did you film the original series "Enterprise" bridge for "Captain's Chair" - the one you built for "Trials and Tribble-ations"?
Toni

MO: The classic TOS series bridge, seen in the Star Trek Captain's Chair CD-ROM, is actually a digital simulation created by Jay Roth of Electric Image. We think the re-created TOS Enterprise bridge is one of the coolest parts of the Captain's Chair. It gives you a sense of what it must have been like to actually walk around on those sets. Look at it this way: It's virtually impossible to get a tour of the Star Trek sets (and it's completely impossible for the original Enterprise bridge). The Captain's Chair let's you do just that. And it does it for the TNG Enterprise-D, the Defiant, the Voyager, the Enterprise-E, plus one additional (secret) bridge. By the way, the Starship Voyager visual effects (shots of the ship flying in space), were done by Foundation Imaging, which also does a lot of the CGI visual effects for Star Trek Voyager and Babylon 5.

Q: Which is more difficult - a futuristic set, or something period like Ship in a Bottle
BaT'aL

DO: In fact, we are currently filming a Deep Space Nine episode that takes place in 1953. It's been a lot of fun and something we don't get to do that often. Our set decorator, Laura Richarz, has really knocked herself out and come up with some really cool stuff.

Q: What do you both think of Earth: Final Conflict?
Da' an

MO: Actually, I think Earth: Final Conflict is my favorite of the new science fiction television shows. It is a fun show, and it is pleasant to see how much of an effort they are making to be sure that Gene Roddenberry's voice comes through very strongly in all the scripts. I also think their computer screen graphics are very well done.

DO: Both of us like the show very much. I think the thing I enjoy the most is hearing Gene's voice again. I'm sure there are many different voices bringing a television show together but Mike and I can feel Gene's hand in the making. We miss him a great deal and it's wonderful to feel him again in our house.

Q: When "synthesbian" actors become more and more commonplace, how possible is it that brand new TOS episodes might be created digitally?
Rick

MO: That's a tough question. The technology exists to create credible synthetic sets, much as was done with the re-created TOS bridge in The Captain's Chair. The question of actors, however, is a much more complex one. It is possible today to create images of characters that are recognizably similar to specific humans (Shatner and Nimoy, for example). On the other hand, capturing the nuances of their performances, digitizing their acting skills if you will, is something that I suspect is still several orders of magnitude beyond current software and hardware.

Q: What do you think is the most useful skill or talent that a graphic artist can have?
Rob

DO: Patience.

Q: What types of computers do you use for your work? SGI? Sun? NT?
Bob1427

MO: Macintosh.

It's not that Macs are the only possible choice (our colleagues at Foundation Imaging use NT machines to very good effect), it's just that Macs are the first and only machine designed from the ground up to be easy to use. This may seem like a small thing, but my job is to do stuff for the show. Anything that distracts from that (i.e. dealing with computer problems) is unwelcome. Besides, we like to "think different."

DO: Not only do we use Macintosh computers in both Star Trek art departments, we use them as well for on-set computer playback. We also have Macs at home and have written more than one of our books on PowerBooks.

Q: Tell us something about being a scenic artist on Star Trek.
Peg

MO: Scenic art on Star Trek is basically responsible for the graphics. We are responsible for the control panels, on-set signage, computer/video readout graphics, alien written languages, graphic detailing on props and sets.

Q: Who were your heroes/inspirations?
John

MO: Jim Henson. Albert Einstein. Richard Feynman. Isaac Asimov. Neil Armstrong. Robert Goddard. Margaret Mead. Saul Bass. Dr. Seuss.

DO: Gene Roddenberry. My dad. Jonas Salk. Walt Disney. Buckaroo Banzai

Q: BTW, congratulations on the fantastic job you two have done on your publishing projects. Excellent work!
Rick

MO: Thanks! We are especially pleased that the updated Star Trek Encyclopedia is doing so well. It's actually caught a lot of people (including Pocket Books) by surprise... their warehouse in New York is completely out!

Q: It seems that Star Trek episodes are becoming more active. TNG missions rarely included a fight, but lately on DS9 and Voyager there have been a ton of battles. Is this due to better CGI or ratings?
Nasr123

MO: Star Trek evolves with the times. The audience and the producers change, and so does the show. We think new visual effect technologies (including CGI), makes it possible for the battles to be more spectacular, but this is not the main reason for greater amounts of action on the show.

Q: I think Star Trek is the key to our future, and if more people watched it, the world would be a better place.
Joseph101

MO: Thank you for that sentiment!

DO: We feel the same way.

Q: What is your favorite episode? (Any series)
David

MO: We have several favorite episodes. "Metamorphosis." "Trials and Tribble-ations." "Yesterday's Enterprise." "The Visitor." "Scorpion, Parts I and II." "Journey to Babel." "Measure of a Man."

DO: It's difficult to pick favorite episodes but here goes: "Metamorphosis" (TOS), "Journey to Babel" (TOS), "Duet" (DS9), "The Visitor" (DS9).

Q: Are there any plans to update the TNG-era Technical Manual?
Clifton

MO: Not at this time. On the other hand, Rick Sternbach, Herman Zimmerman, and Doug Drexler are currently hard at work on a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual. Doug has already done literally piles of cool illos for the project, and Herman is currently hard at work on designing some never-before-seen details of the Promenade for the book.

Q: How much fun was it working on the Captain's Chair?
Joe

DO: Working on "Captain's Chair" was great fun. We really enjoyed bringing the original series Bridge to life (through Jay Roth at Electric Image) and still can't believe how amazing real it turned out. We walk around the sets each day during production but somehow "walking" through them in the CD-ROM brings our a different level of exploration. Several of our co-workers have come up to the art department and tried their luck in finding the secret bridge.

Q: What do you think of the Star Trek fan sites that try to copy your graphics? Do you ever see them?
Danielle

MO: I haven't seen too many of them, but of those I have seen, I've been impressed at the effort that went into them, not merely into the re-creations of the art, but into attempts to model the (theoretical) organization and functionality.

Q: Why aren't there more CD-ROM products for the Mac? Yours are great and Thanks for making them cross-platform!!!
Dilbertthe Dog

MO: We can only speak for our products. We are pleased that Simon and Schuster Interactive has made the effort to insure that The Captain's Chair and the Interactive Star Trek Encyclopedia are, in fact, hybrid disk that will work on both Windows and Mac machines.

Q: How did you get started working with Star Trek?
Brian

MO: I sent in some sketches, on spec, to the producers of the Star Trek films. Ralph Winter, (exec producer of Star Trek IV) called me and said he liked some of my concepts, as well as my suggestions on how to do these things inexpensively. After Star Trek IV, I sent my portfolio to Gene Roddenberry shortly after Star Trek: TNG was announced. Gene liked my stuff enough to pass it on to Bob Justman and Herman Zimmerman, who hired me for ST:TNG.

DO: My first experience working for Star Trek was the feature film, "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" under the art direction of production designer Herman Zimmerman. He later hired me to work on DS9.

Q: What are the chances of there being another spin-off?
ROD

MO: At this point, we don't know, although we certainly hope that Paramount will decide to make another spin-off.

Q: Thanks for answering. Do either of you feel that there is an element of "awe" missing from the current shows. TOS was about pioneering, currently the ST universe is almost too familiar.
Rick

MO: I think that is one of Voyager's strengths. That it is set in a totally unfamiliar part of space. The ship is passing through, so we may encounter a new alien civilization for a few episodes, but we will leave them behind and meet new, (and hopefully different) unknowns.

Q: What is this I hear about a secret bridge in "Captain's Chair"?

MO: Hmm... the "secret bridge" in the Star Trek Captain's Chair CD-ROM is something of an "Easter egg." It is an undocumented feature, a surprise for those who explore the various bridges and happen to stumble on it.

Q: Didn't you work with Lee Cole on one or more Trek movies?
Clifton

DO: We were fortunate enough to work with Lee Cole when she working briefly on DS9 designing some of the consoles on the Defiant Bridge. She regaled us with stories from her work on ST-TMP.

Q: Are there any Easter eggs to look for in the Encyclopedia?
Kaycee

MO: The new Encyclopedia has a ton of new features. One of the "Easter eggs" is some behind-the-scenes commentary by TOS producer Bob Justman, sprinkled throughout the text of the book. Another is several spreads of uniform and costume diagrams for both Starfleet and alien civilizations. There are also large numbers of diagrams of new starships (including the new ships seen in Star Trek: First Contact), and there is an all-new alphabetical listing of (almost) all the actors who appeared in all the different Star Trek shows and movies, as well as an index of all the credited production personnel.

Q: What product do you both really want to do? (or have you done it?)
Eric

DO: At the risk of repeating ourselves, I'd have to say that "Star Trek Captain's Chair" is one of the coolest, Star Trek products ever to hit the shelves. It's like getting five starship bridges in one box. Talk about the ultimate Star Trek toy, this is it.

Q: When do you think replicators will really be invented and cure world famine? That was an excellent idea for the show!!!
Joseph

MO: Replicators are one of those things that we have very little idea how to do at this time. Unfortunately, even when/if it becomes a reality, it will probably be cheaper to grow food by farming (or whatever technology is in use at the time) than it would be by replication. Therefore, it is unlikely that replicators will be a solution to famine.

Q: Okay, I LOVED Captain's Chairs... I love finding all of the cool stuff hidden in it! You must have had a lot of fun making it. Are there going to be more!!?
Betty

DO: I'd love to "walk" through the original series Enterprise and not just the Bridge. Send your cards and letters to Simon and Schuster Interactive.........

Q: Who is the biggest anime fan and the one responsible for the in-joke references we often see in the display readouts?
Clifton

MO: Rick Sternbach is a BIG anime fan. He gets a big kick out of sneaking in the occasional anime gag.

Q: Michael and Denise - do you have a favorite Enterprise? 1701, A, B, D, or E?
Rick

MO: No bloody A, B, C, D, or E!

Q: What do you see yourselves doing in the future? Will there be life after Star Trek?
Grace

MO: You bet!

Q: Are there any plans to update the Omnipedia CD?
Jason

MO: The Omnipedia has been superceded by the new Star Trek Encyclopedia, Interactive Edition, and CD-ROM.

Q: What is/are your favorite aspect/s of Star Trek?
Jason

MO: Exploring strange, new worlds.

DO: Seeking our new life and new civilizations.

MO: And boldly going where no one has gone before!

Q: I realize that Voyager addressed the "unknown" aspect missing from the other show, yet the sense of pioneering is different. It's like being lost in the ocean in today's world, as opposed to riding along with Magellan and Columbus. Do either of you miss that in the current shows?
Rick

MO: I think Janeway's commitment to Starfleet's principles, even in the face of adversity, speaks highly of her spirit of exploration.

Q: Will we ever see the Q continuum? Where they live?
Brad

DO: I believe we saw the Q continuum in the Voyager episode, "Death Wish."

Q: will Omnipedia owners still receive a free update?
Joseph

MO: The first update to the Star Trek Omnipedia was provided free by S&SI to all registered owners. The second update (now a four-disk set), is available for sale at your favorite retailer.

Q: What is your favorite Enterprise deck?
Gabriela

DO: Seven. (I'll let you guess which ship)

MO: The poop deck.

Q: Sorry to get techie, but what software is used to create the battle scene effects in the current episodes of Trek?
Rick

MO: Some of the big visual effects shows were done by Foundation Imaging and Digital Muse using Lightwave 3D software on NT machines. They do amazing work!

Q: What's it like to work on Star Trek?

MO: Working on Star Trek is one of the most rewarding experiences in my professional life. It is a great honor to be part of this very special family of people, working on a program that so many people have embraced.

Thanks for coming in and chatting with us!!

DO: It was great fun. Thanks for having us.

MO: Thanks for all the great questions. It's been fun.

Be seeing you!