Walter Matthew Jefferies was an American aviation and mechanical artist, set designer, and writer. He is best known for his work on the original Star Trektelevision series, where he designed many of the sets and props, including the original StarshipEnterprise, and the bridge and sick bay.
Besides creating interiors and exterior of the Enterprise, Jefferies was responsible for designing props, sets, the Klingon logo and D-7 battle cruiser. Years later, his concept sketches were revisited and used to design the Starship Enterprise, the Olympic class U.S.S. Pasteur, the Daedalus-class and pre-Federation Vulcan ships. Jefferies worked with NASA engineers in designing the Enterprise and the technology it used. Contrary to popular belief, Jefferies did not create Star Trek's original shuttlecraft design: although Jefferies submitted his own concept, it was too complex to build with the show's shoestring budget. Gene Winfield's much simpler design was used instead, and Jefferies designed only its interior. Jefferies had a very pragmatic design ethic: reasoning that a starship's engines would be extremely powerful and potentially dangerous, he positioned them far away from the rest of the ship, with the added benefit of modular design so that they could be ejected quickly in an emergency. Figuring that whatever could go wrong would, he put all of the ship's workings on the interior for easy access, eliminating the need for spacewalking in case of exterior repairs. The bridge panels were given an ergonomic design for comfort and ease of use. He was opposed to the idea of PADDs, as well as the goose-neck viewers that appeared in the first pilot. Moreover, he disliked the idea of a large engine room because by his reckoning the entire ship could be run by a single panel on the bridge. Later, Jefferies' work on the bridge of the Enterprise influenced the design of the U.S. Navy master communications center at the Naval Base San Diego. When Jefferies saw he fell asleep. He never watched subsequent incarnations of Star Trek, remarking that they had turned his Navy-esque bridge into "the lobby of the Hilton." Within the Star Trek universe, Jefferies tubes and Captain Jefferies, designer of the NX-class starships, are named in his honor. According to Jefferies, the Enterprise was Starfleet's 17th starship design and it was the first in the series, therefore the ship had the number "1701". This story is documented in one of his sketches. In June 2003, Jefferies was the guest of honor at the presentation of a documentary about him prepared for the special edition of the Star Trek Generations DVD. Jefferies died the following month in Los Angeles of congestive heart failure.
Personal life
Jefferies died July 21, 2003 in Los Angeles of congestive heart failure. He was survived by his wife, Mary Ann Jefferies, and his brothers John and Richard. His brother Philip died in 1987.
