Douglas "Doug" Edwin Wise (born 21 May 1944; age 80) was an assistant director who has worked on five of the first six Star Trek films. In fact, he started his Hollywood career as Second Assistant Director (2nd AD) on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, credited as Doug Wise. He is the nephew of the film's director, Robert Wise, who gave the son of his brother David his first break in the motion picture industry in March 1978. Robert in doing so, returned the favor, his brother, who at the time was handling his business affairs, did for him, when he arranged for Robert his first employment at RKO studios in the Depression Era. (The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, pp. 77, 79)
Wise has two in-universe characters named after him, a 23rd century Starfleet Commander D. Wise, and a 23rd century Starfleet Captain D. Wise, commanding officer of the USS Endeavour.
Career outside Star Trek[]
After the first Star Trek film, Wise served as 2nd AD on The Final Countdown (1980). He has since worked as First Assistant Director (1st AD) on many films, including Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (along with Pat Kehoe, who worked with Wise as a 1st AD on The Final Countdown), Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. His other film credits include Hard to Kill (1990), Leonard Nimoy's Funny About Love (1990), The Mighty Ducks (1992), Grumpy Old Men (1993), and Barb Wire (1996). Randy Suhr, an assistant director under Wise on Star Trek IV and Star Trek VI, worked with Wise on several of these films. In addition, Wise and Star Trek VI's Second Assistant Director, Katy E. Garretson, worked together a second time on Clifford (1994).
In addition to his film work, Wise was a First Assistant Director on a number of television productions, including Magnum, P.I., Babylon 5 (as well as two Babylon 5 TV movies), and NBC's Freaks and Geeks. He also worked on CBS' Bare Essence (1982, starring Jonathan Frakes, John Larroquette, and Byron Morrow). Wise has even tried his hand at directing – a seventh season episode of Trapper John, M.D. and a fifth season episode of Babylon 5 were helmed by Wise. The Babylon 5 episode in question, entitled "The Fall of Centauri Prime", featured a number of veteran Star Trek performers: besides Babylon 5 regulars Andreas Katsulas and Bill Mumy, the episode guest-starred Simon Billig, Patricia Tallman, and Robin Sachs.
Wise's most recent credit is Kung Pow! Enter the Fist (2002), and Undeclared from the same time period.