Star Trek Community Remembers VFX Pioneer Douglas Trumbull, ‘Picard’ Will Name A Ship In His Honor

https://trekmovie.com/2022/02/09/star-trek-community-remembers-vfx-pioneer-douglas-trumbull-picard-will-name-a-ship-in-his-honor/

On Monday, legendary visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull passed away at the age of 79. The Academy Award-winner died from complications from mesothelioma, according to a post from his daughter on Facebook. Among his lifetime of achievements was his Oscar-nominated contribution to the first Star Trek feature film. His passing has generated an outpouring of memories from the film and sci-fi community as well as prominent Star Trek personalities.

Director Robert Wise, who had worked with Trumbull on The Andromeda Strain, brought him in to take over the visual effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The previous effects team was unable to complete work in a timely manner, requiring Trumbull to enlist fellow FX pioneer John Dykstra (Star Wars) to help complete the visual effects in time to meet an unmovable release date. Their efforts earned them an Academy Award nomination. Trumbull’s work on Star Trek The Motion Picture (which is detailed in his 2019 TrekMovie interview) included finishing the USS Enterprise model as well as directing some of the movie’s sequences, like Spock’s spacewalk.