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(written from a Production point of view)

Barbara Jean Affonso (born 5 December 1947; age 76) was a studio model maker who has been in the employ of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Though employed at ILM since 1983, she has worked as model maker on two Star Trek productions only.

Affonso's first Star Trek contribution was for the Star Trek: The Next Generation first season episode "Encounter at Farpoint", though she went uncredited for it. For that production she was one of the staffers who created the Old Bandi City maquette. (Cinefex, issue 37, p. 12) She was however, fully credited as chief model maker for her contributions for Star Trek: First Contact in 1996. On the latter production she has worked amongst others on the Borg cube model, as well as on the Borg sphere model.

Career outside Star Trek[]

Barbara Affonso was a relative latecomer in the motion picture industry, having worked in the world of theater previously. A production she has worked on, was for example the stage production of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part One for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival of 1981 as costume designer. [1]

After having joined ILM in 1982, Affonso worked in the 1980s as model maker on Return of the Jedi (1983, with ILM staffers Charles Bailey, Stewart Barbee, Philip Barberio, Craig Barron, William Beck, David Berry, Andrea Biklian, Marty Brenneis, Sean Casey, Wade Childress, Terry Chostner, Bob Chrisoulis, Donald Clark, Harold Cole, Samuel Comstock, Michael Conte, Peter Daulton, Don Dow, Tom Duff, Patricia Rose Duignan, Selwyn Eddy, John Ellis, Scott Farrar, Alex Jaeger, John Knoll, Stewart Lew, Ease Owyeung, and Pat Sweeney), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Starman (1984), Explorers (1985), Howard the Duck (1986), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Willow (1988), and Back to the Future Part II (1989, starring Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Thomas F. Wilson).

Her credits as chief model maker include Ghostbusters II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Jurassic Park (1993), Congo (1995), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Galaxy Quest (1999), and Space Cowboys (2000). As set decoration supervisor she also contributed to Fire in the Sky (1993).

Other credits in the model department include Hook (1991), The Mummy (1999), and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002). Not having worked for any other motion picture company, the latter production was also Affonso's last recorded industry credit.

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