(written from a Production point of view)
Don Lee is a visual effects artist who worked for CIS Hollywood on three Star Trek television series and three feature films. During his time on Star Trek he earned three Emmy Awards and seven Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Achievement in Special Visual Effects.
In 1996, Lee was interviewed by Syfy for the The Making of Star Trek Deep Space Nine Trials And Tribble-ations documentary, with an additional 2013 appearance on The Trek Not Taken to boot.
Career outside Star Trek
Lee started to work as digital compositor in the late '80s and worked on films such as the horror film Hellraiser (1987), the fantasy drama Ghost (1990), the science fiction thriller Freejack (1992), the science fiction comedy Honey I Blew Up the Kid (1992), the family movie The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), the comedy Dave (1993, along with Les Bernstien), the action film Last Action Hero (1993), the science fiction comedy Coneheads (1993, with Liz Radley, Adam Howard, and Erik Nash), the comedy sequel Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994), the family comedy The Little Rascals (1994), the thriller Color of Night (1994), the action film Drop Zone (1994), the comic adaptation Batman Forever (1995), the science fiction film Waterworld (1995), the action thriller Eraser (1996), the superhero sequel Batman & Robin (1997), the action thriller Air Force One (1997), the science fiction blockbuster Armageddon (1998), the television series Seven Days (1998), the action comedy Inspector Gadget (1999), the fantasy sequel The Mummy Returns (2001), the action thriller Swordfish (2001), the horror film Queen of the Damned (2002), and the science fiction film Equilibrium (2002).
The following years he worked as visual effects supervisor for the company Pixel Playground on the action thriller Cradle 2 the Grave (2003), the science fiction film The Core (2003), the science fiction sequel Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), the drama Seabiscuit (2003), the fantasy adventure Peter Pan (2003), the drama The Aviator (2004), the fantasy adventure The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), the action film Poseidon (2006), the action remake Miami Vice (2006), the superhero sequel 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), the science fiction film Jumper (2008), the drama The Sensei (2008), and the thriller Eagle Eye (2008).
MOre recent credits as visual effects supervisor include the fantasy sequel Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), the crime thriller Public Enemies (2009), the science fiction film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009), and the comedy Gulliver's Travels (2010).
Star Trek credits
(This list is currently incomplete.)
- Star Trek films
- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (uncredited)
- Star Trek Generations – Digital Compositing Supervisor: C.I.S.
- Star Trek: Insurrection – Digital Compositor
- Star Trek: The Next Generation
- "Deja Q" (uncredited, Season 3)
- "Tin Man" (uncredited)
- "The Best of Both Worlds" (uncredited)
- "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II" – Blue Screen Compositor (uncredited, Season 4)
- "A Matter of Time" – Visual Effects Editor (uncredited, Season 5)
- "Conundrum" – Visual Effects Editor (uncredited)
- "All Good Things..." – Special Video Compositor (Season 7)
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- "The Jem'Hadar" – Visual Effects Compositor (Season 2)
- Season 3 – Bluescreen Compositor (uncredited)
- "The Way of the Warrior" – Visual Effects Compositor (Season 4)
- "Trials and Tribble-ations" – Visual Effects Compositor (Season 5)
- Star Trek: Voyager
Emmy Awards
As Visual Effects Editor/Blue Screen Compositor, Don Lee received the following Emmy Award wins and nominations for Star Trek in the category Outstanding (Individual Achievement in) Special Visual Effects:
- 1990 Emmy Award nomination for the episode "Deja Q", shared with Dan Curry, Ronald B. Moore, Peter W. Moyer, and Steve Price
- 1990 Emmy Award nomination for the episode "Tin Man", shared with Robert Legato, Gary Hutzel, Steve Price, Don Greenberg, Erik Nash, and Michael Okuda
- 1991 Emmy Award nomination for the episode "The Best of Both Worlds", shared with Gary Hutzel, Robert Legato, David Takemura, Michael Okuda, Don Greenberg, Erik Nash, Steve Prive, Syd Dutton, Robert Stromberg, and Bill Taylor
- 1991 Emmy Award nomination for the episode "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II", shared with Robert Legato, Gary Hutzel, David Takemura, Patrick Clancey, Steve Price, Michael Okuda, Erik Nash, Syd Dutton, and Bill Taylor
- 1992 Emmy Award for the episode "A Matter of Time", shared with Dan Curry, Ronald B. Moore, David Takemura, Erik Nash, Peter Sternlicht, Adam Howard, Syd Dutton, and Robert Stromberg
- 1992 Emmy Award for the episode "Conundrum", shared with Robert Legato, Gary Hutzel, David Takemura, Patrick Clancey, Adrian Hurley, Adam Howard, and Dennis Hoerter
- 1995 Emmy Award nomination for the episode "The Jem'Hadar", shared with Glenn Neufeld, David Takemura, Erik Nash, Joshua Cushner, Les Bernstien, Adam Howard, and Patrick Clancey
- 1995 Emmy Award for the episode "Caretaker", shared with Dan Curry, David Stipes, Michael Backauskas, Joe Bauer, Edward L. Williams, Scott Rader, Don Greenberg, Adam Howard, Robert Stromberg, John F.K. Parenteau, Joshua D. Rose, and Joshua Cushner
- 1996 Emmy Award nomination for the episode "The Way of the Warrior", shared with Joshua Cushner, Judy Elkins, Steve Fong, Dennis Hoerter, Adam Howard, Gary Hutzel, Fredric Meininger, Glenn Neufeld, Scott Rader, Jim Rider, and Joshua D. Rose
- 1997 Emmy Award nomination for the episode "Trials and Tribble-ations", shared with Gary Hutzel, Judy Elkins, Paul Maples, Adrian Hurley, Steve Fong, Davy Nethercutt, Kevin Bouchez, Laurie Resnick, Adam Howard, and Gregory Jein
