Ahead of celebrations of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s forthcoming Centennial, the Gene Roddenberry Estate, OTOY and iconic Star Trek artists Denise and Mike Okuda, Doug Drexler and Daren Dochterman have unveiled ‘The Roddenberry Archive’ – a multi-decade collaboration to collect and preserve his legacy at the highest levels of fidelity and historical accuracy.
The associated imagery teased so far is, simply, incredible, and this looks like a project to watch.
The Roddenberry Archive is cataloguing key texts and documents from Gene Roddenberry’s life and career as well as canonically memorialising quiescent reference 3D models of the Starship Enterprise – including studio models as filmed on set and life-size 1:1 scale ‘in Universe’ versions.
A preview of The Roddenberry Archive will be announced at Creation in Las Vegas later today, on a panel at 3.45pm PT (Friday 13th August 2021) featuring Rod Roddenberry, Denise and Mike Okuda, Daren Dochterman, and OTOY’s Jules Urbach.
In the years ahead, the archive will continue to map out iconic reference designs from the Gene Roddenberry era of Star Trek – which includes the original Star Trek television series, the original six Star Trek motion pictures, and Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as its direct spin-offs.
The archive will capture deep 3D asset metadata from assets, images, blueprints, and models using RNDR, OTOY’s blockchain GPU computing network. In order to capture original studio and physical assets at the highest level of photographic fidelity, the archive will leverage OTOY’s LightStage Academy-Award-winning facial scanning service, generating the first comprehensive lighting and reflectance data set for future archival use.
Iconic artist Mike “Beeple” Winklemann is joining the Roddenberry Archive project as a creative consultant, and, alongside legendary painter and illustrator Alex Ross, will help commemorate the Roddenberry Archive and cross-link it to both the Alex Ross and Beeple RNDR Archives announced earlier this year.
The Roddenberry Archive team is further collaborating with holographic display pioneer, LightField Lab, to recreate a projected life-sized representation of the Starship Enterprise indistinguishable from reality on one of the world’s first fully immersive holographic installation experiences.
According to Rod Roddenberry, “I cannot think of a more capable and innovative company to trust with these materials. OTOY’s work will allow generations to experience my father’s contribution to humanity with the greatest historical accuracy possible. This project will protect an optimistic vision of the future, that has inspired so many and remains so important today.”
Denise and Mike Okuda, Star Trek artists and authors of the Star Trek Encyclopedia, said, “we are delighted that Gene Roddenberry’s work is being collected and preserved for future study. In particular, we are excited that reference models of his most famous creation, the Starship Enterprise, will not only allow future fans to experience the magic of Gene’s imagined universe, but it will allow this icon of science fiction to be preserved so it can be re-created authentically in years to come.”
The Okudas added, “Gene’s work was not only an important part of popular culture, but his creations – including Star Trek – have to show us that science and technology can enable a brighter future for humanity if we work hard, and if we are ethical and compassionate.”
Founder and CEO of OTOY, Jules Urbach said, “When watching Star Trek, I was inspired by Gene Roddenberry’s belief in human ingenuity, creativity and imagination to leverage technology to push the boundaries of what we can accomplish as a civilisation.”
Urbach added, “At OTOY, our mission to develop technologies that empower artists to realize their creative visions is deeply inspired by Gene. It is an absolute honor to use these same technologies to preserve and bring his legacy to life for future generations.
“Growing up with Rod and spending so much of my formative years in the Roddenberry household makes this a deeply personal project for me as well.”
Founder and CEO of Light Field Lab, Jon Karafin noted, “There is no better way to commemorate Gene Roddenberry’s legacy than recreating his vision with holographic technology. Imagine one day being able to experience iconic moments from Star Trek as if you were aboard the Enterprise.”
Karafin added, “We are on a mission at Light Field Lab to redefine the way people experience media with real holograms that until today existed only in science fiction. We are honoured to take part in the Archive project.”
Discussing his involvement with The Roddenberry Archive, Beeple said, “I am very excited to support Gene Roddenberry’s and Alex Ross’ respective RNDR archives, which like my own, help preserve a creator’s lifetime of work and concepts on the blockchain in maximum detail.”
• Visit roddenberry.x.io to view an introductory video about the project and get additional details about the archive – including blogs, behind the scenes production photos, and more
• Read the full announcement, with many more photos plus videos here on OTOY
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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