Michael Okuda is an American graphic designer best known for his work on Star Trek.
Career
Work in ''Star Trek''
In the mid-1980s, he designed the look of animated computer displays for the USS Enterprise-A bridge in '. This led to a staff position on ' in 1987 as a scenic artist, adding detail to set designs and props. To The Next Generation he contributed the GUI of the fictional LCARS computer system used throughout the USS Enterprise-D and other Starfleet starships. In homage to its creator, this visual style has come to be known among fans as "okudagrams". Okuda also served as a technical consultant on the various TNG-era Star Trek series along with Rick Sternbach, advising the script-writers on the technology used throughout the Star Trek universe such as the transporters and the warp drive. This work resulted in a technical manual which was distributed to prospective script-writers along with the series bible. The manual was later published in revised and updated form as the ' by Pocket Books. Okuda then went on to write a number of Star Trek books with his wife, Denise. He continued working at Paramount Studios on the Star Trek series that followed The Next Generation, and worked as an art supervisor on ', ' and through to the cancellation of ' in 2005. He also worked on the Star Trek movies that were produced while the various television series were in production. He also served as one of the producers when CBS digitally remastered and updated special visual effects for the. Okuda created the Heisenberg compensator as a way to explain how Star Treks fictional transporter might work, despite the limitation of the uncertainty principle. Okuda famously answered the question "How does the Heisenberg compensator work?" with "It works very well, thank you." , Okuda remains involved creatively with the Star Trek franchise. He and Denise Okuda are serving as consultants on the project to upgrade ' to high definition. They also created the text commentaries in the ten Star TrekSpecial Edition DVD movies, as well as special text commentaries for the Star Trek Fan Collection sets. In 2005, Okuda contributed as a consultant for Perpetual Entertainment in their development of the MMORPGStar Trek Online. He also helped with the cataloging of items for the auction of Star Trek memorabilia by Christie'sauction house. The event, and the preparation for it, is included in the History Channeldocumentary film'. In a 2016 interview with Geek Speak Magazine, Okuda said that his "favorite" Star Trek series is: "The Original Series. No question."
The West Wing
In April 2013, Phil Plait reported that Okuda had included an oblique homage to The West Wing in the episode "Imperfection |Imperfection", by having Seven of Nine look at a list of Voyager crew who had died, and there listing Commander J. Bartlett, Lieutenant Commander L. McGarry, Lieutenant Commander T. Ziegler, Lieutenant J. Lyman, Lieutenant S. Seaborn, Ensign Claudia J. Craig and Ensign Charles Young. Plait reported contacting Okuda who revealed that Okuda and his wife, Denise and graphic artist James Van Over, were all huge fans of The West Wing. Plait also contacted actress Jeri Ryan, who played Seven of Nine, and whom Plait describes as "a huge science nerd", who was also unaware of the sight gag until contacted by Plait. Okuda is reported as saying that
one of my rules regarding jokes was that they should never be apparent to the casual viewer. If they were, they would yank the viewer out of the story, and that would be a serious disservice to both. For this reason, I generally tried to keep the text on such gags at the ragged edge of legibility.
, Okuda served as a visual consultant for the up-and-coming Firestorm pilot, a crowd-funded project set up by Jamie Anderson, son of Gerry Anderson, creator of Thunderbirds. Firestorm is to utilize advances in animatronic marionettes, props and miniature set design dubbed 'Ultramarionation'.
