Jörg Hillebrand (born 2 April 1980; age 44) is a research consultant (or "research assistant" as he was officially credited) who worked on the second and third seasons of Star Trek: Picard. It did earn him his own individual Internet Movie Database entry, on top of his (second) in-universe reference as a Starfleet officer.
Hillebrand was no stranger to Star Trek as he had already been heavily involved in Trekdom as a fan. Since 2004, he has served for nearly two decades as the primary research contributor on Bernd Schneider's Star Trek reference website, Ex Astris Scientia (EAS), creating numerous Star Trek minutia analyzing articles for the site. Afterwards, he also became an administrator on Memory Alpha as User:Jörg. His work on EAS brought Hillebrand in frequent contact with Star Trek production luminaries, of whom Doug Drexler, Mike Okuda and Rick Sternbach were the most conspicuous ones. This in turn has led Okuda to endow Hillebrand with his first in-universe reference, the "Type 12 Hillebrand detonator", retconned into the 2013 remastered TNG-R: "Night Terrors" episode, seven years before Hillebrand was officially commissioned by the live-action franchise from November 2020 onward.
In recognition of his efforts for Picard, Hillebrand was sent the actual gold-plated display model of the USS Enterprise-D, seen in Jack Crusher's crew quarters aboard the USS Enterprise-G in "The Last Generation", by an appreciative Production Designer Dave Blass. [1] A grateful Hillebrand himself in turn, has on his Twitter account credited both Blass as well as showrunner Terry Matalas for the opportunity to serve his stint at the live-action franchise.
Based on the strength of his work for EAS, Hillebrand had before his involvement with the live-action franchise already been invited to serve in a similar function on the print franchise, having received credit for his research contributions in several licensed Star Trek reference books, those from Eaglemoss Collections in particular, often in conjuncture with Schneider. An unusual, but similar print credit Hillebrand received, was that of "Star Trek Researcher" for Profiles in History's May 2011 Hollywood Auction 44; he was credited by name on the second page of the auction catalog.
Hillebrand is in daily life occupied as a teacher English and biology at the Gymnasium (grammar school) in the German town Haren on the bank of the river Ems. [2]
Bibliography[]
Star Trek reference books in which Hillebrand is credited/acknowledged by name – thus excluding the ones where credits are lumped together under EAS only.
- Hollywood Auction 44 catalog, 2011
- Klingon Bird of Prey Owners' Workshop Manual, 2012
- Star Trek: Shipyards - The Borg and Delta Quadrant: Akritirian to Krenim, 2021
- Star Trek: Shipyards - Starfleet Ships 2294 to the Future, 2nd ed, 2021
- Star Trek: Shipyards - Delta Quadrant: Ledosian to Zahl, 2021
- Star Trek: Shipyards - Alpha Quadrant and Major Species: Acamarian to Ktarian, 2022