Richard D. James in 1994
Richard James in 2001
Richard Dale James (7 April 1936 – 11 November 2024; age 88) was a set and production designer who worked on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. He designed the interiors of the USS Enterprise-D from the second through seventh seasons. He also designed the Danube-class aft compartment (seen only in "Timescape").
James was initially intended to be a temporary replacement for Herman Zimmerman, who had been hired to work on Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. In the event, however, Zimmerman opted against returning to the series, and the producers were satisfied enough with James's work to give him the position permanently. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 1st ed., p. 127)
He was responsible for designing the bridge and the captain's ready room [1](X) of the USS Voyager and the interior for Cardassian ATR-4107. He also recreated the interiors of the USS Excelsior for "Flashback", and created the modified designs for the USS Prometheus interiors.
James and set decorator Jim Mees won an Emmy Award for their work on the Next Generation episode "Sins of The Father". They were also nominated for the episodes "Elementary, Dear Data", "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II", "Unification II", and (with art director Andrew Neskoromny) "Thine Own Self".
Later, James and art director Louise Dorton shared four Excellence in Production Design Award nominations from the Art Directors Guild for their contributions on Voyager.
Career[]
Outside of Star Trek, James was an art director on the 1960s/1970s game show Let's Make a Deal and Battlestar Galactica. He was also art director on Silkwood (1983, featuring Jim Beaver, Bill Cobbs, Graham Jarvis, and Bruce McGill) and The Beast of War (1988, featuring Erick Avari) and was production designer on Getting Even (1983, starring Edward Laurence Albert.
James died 11 November 2024 of complications from an infection. [2]
Star Trek interviews[]
- TNG Season 2 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Two: Production", interviewed on 18 March 1994
- TNG Season 3 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Three: Visual Effects "Sins of The Father"", interviewed on 18 March 1994
- E! Inside Star Trek: Voyager (1995)
- Star Trek: Voyager - Inside the New Adventure (1995)
- All Good Things Blu-ray special feature The Unknown Possibilities of Existence: Making "All Good Things" (2014)