Michael Okuda is an artist who is best known for his work on Star Trek.

In the mid 1980s he designed the look of animated computer displays for the Enterprise-A bridge in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

This lead to a staff position on Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 as a scenic artist, adding detail to set designs and props. His most famous contribution to The Next Generation is the look of the fictional LCARS computer system used throughout the Enterprise-D and other Starfleet starships, a style that has come to be known among fans as "okudagrams".

Michael also served as a technical consultant on Star Trek along with Rick Sternbach, advising the script-writers on the technology used throughout Star Trek, such as the transporters and the warp drive. This work resulted in a Technical Manual that was distributed to prospective script-writers along with the series bible. The manual was later published in revised and updated form as the Star Trek: The Next Generation: Technical Manual by Pocket Books. Michael then went on to write a number of Star Trek books with his wife Denise.

Michael continued working at Paramount Studios on the Star Trek series that followed The Next Generation, until the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005. He also worked on the Star Trek movies that were produced while the television series were in production.

Bibliography

• Okuda, Michael; & Sternbach, Rick (1991). Star Trek: The Next Generation: Technical Manual. Pocket Books. ISBN 0671704273.
• Okuda, Denise; Okuda, Michael; & Mirek, Debbie (1999). The Star Trek Encyclopedia. Pocket Books. ISBN 0671536095.
• Okuda, Denise; & Okuda, Michael (1996). Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future. Pocket Books. ISBN 0671536109.

External links

• Biography at StarTrek.com