On the 34th anniversary of Armstrong's footprint comes the sad news of Matt Jefferies' passing. God may have no need for a starship but a serious design team assembles nonetheless as the pioneers of Trek proceed into the undiscovered country. Gene gave the Enterprise spirit, but Matt gave it form.

Forty years ago, fresh off a month's vacation, Jefferies was dropped unexpectedly into a new job working on "some space show." In one of history's serendipitous (if not divine) connections a fellow wartime pilot named Gene Roddenberry described his new "Wagon Train to the Stars" - and assigned Jefferies the task of designing the new wagon. It had to be "instantly recognizable" and furthermore, "make it look like it's got power." Boy did it ever! Still powerful decades later, his designs yet carry fresh generations into their dreams.

NCC-1701 was an iterative product, the saucer and cigar shape emerging after many weeks involving dozens of drawings under Matt's direction. Her magnificent bridge emerged from early series art director Pato Guzman's circular shape and split-level approach. (Jefferies cared little for the latter since it made problems in positioning the camera). Station by station he identified control locations and readout panels using wall-mounted paper and a practical, modular approach to the design.

And the tubes! In their creative discussions he insisted to Roddenberry that the ship be smooth, sparing extravehicular difficulty with maintenance and repair. Hence access to internal systems required special conduits for the crew, conduits starships bear to this day bearing his name. (If "Enterprise" ever introduces us to "Captain Jefferies" of "First Flight" may he heed the respect found in that name.)

In fact, so much of everything that looks like TOS looks like his handiwork. The Klingon battle cruiser. The hand phaser. All sorts of props. Someone else may have done the communicator (though I doubt it) and Wah Chang did the tricorder, but it's harder than not to find something uninfluenced by his efforts. His devotion to keeping it believable must forever be saluted as the best tested recipe for creating good Trek.

Though we never met he was my teacher, as a natural visionary with a knack for nuts and bolts. His job was to forge power into our common future, and he convinced us so well that he'd actually hurled a ship into space that uncounted numbers enlisted in that future. The rebounding success of his effort is immeasurable.

We are not the less to lose him. We are more to have known him at all.


Back to Dr.TOS
Back to top