"Imagine that we're baking a cake," said Star Trek: Enterprise Set Decorator Jim Mees. "The Production Designer decides what kind of cake we're making, and the Art Department then bakes it. Then the Set Decorator comes in — his job is to ice the cake.”

Get a look at the off-screen magic of Star Trek with the latest issue of the Star Trek Communicator (#152, October-November 2004). The annual Behind-the-Scenes issue gives fans a chance to see what goes into making the onscreen magic, featuring in-depth interviews with Mees, Enterprise Set Designers Fritz Zimmerman, Ahna Packard and Lee Cole, Hair Designer Michael Moore and much, much more.

"It's like a puzzle," explains Special Effects Coordinator Rich Ratliff. "You have to figure out how to do this and do that with the guys that you have and the time that you have. I like the fact that it's different all the time, and you have different challenges put to you every day."

The issue also features an interview with Enterprise's new executive producer and writer, Manny Coto, where he talks about writing and working for Star Trek having been a fan all his life. The cover story takes a look at Star Trek fiction (notably the latest multi-novel TNG series), plus articles checking in on John Billingsley ("Phlox"), TNG and Fleetwood Mac alum Mick Fleetwood, and the usual monthly departments, updates and features.

This latest issue of the Star Trek Communicator is on newsstands now, look for it with Patrick Stewart ("Jean-Luc Picard") on the cover.