Daren Ross Dochterman (born 2 July 1967; age 57) is an American artist and illustrator for Hollywood films. He was a production illustrator on the Star Trek: Voyager first season episode "Caretaker". Later, he was the visual effects supervisor involved in the making of the 2001 Star Trek: The Motion Picture (The Director's Edition) DVD home video release, and a concept designer on Star Trek Beyond and Star Trek: Picard.
Recommended for the position by producer David C. Fein, the director's edition project won them both a Video Premiere Award. Aside from his expertise, Fein had an additional reason to recommend him, as he said this of Dochterman, an avid Star Trek: The Original Series fan, "If there is anybody who was intimately involved with this as us from beginning to end it has to be Daren. He is truly the keeper of the flame for STAR TREK and helped play the role of the fan, as well as the artist and craftsman. We love his work; he is brilliant and I cannot say enough about him. This project would never have been the same without him." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 8, p. 25) In his turn, Dochterman recommended the visual effects company Foundation Imaging for the additional and supplementary CGI effects, and, upon approval, subsequently served as the primary liaison between production company Robert Wise Productions and the team of digital modelers at Foundation. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 8, p. 25) It actually was Dochterman who built and mapped the first version of the CGI refit-Constitution-class model for the project in his spare time, [1] but has conceded that he "[...] did my best to come up with a workable ship. I used my model in some rough composites as we were storyboarding it and it looked OK. But specifically for end shots it had to be much more detailed. So I handed that model over to the guys at Foundation Imaging." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 8, p. 55)
Dochterman was featured in the "Redirecting The Future" documentary on the DVD, in which he, and his co-workers discuss the work they have done for the project. In addition, he and his co-workers were featured in an after-the-fact, separately produced audio commentary, released in 2007 as a podcast on StarTrek.com, the official Star Trek website, and which, at the time, could be downloaded at the site. [2](X)
Besides the live-action Star Trek productions, Dochterman has been a prolific contributor to the popular Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendar series published by Pocket Books, providing several CGI illustrations for their outings, much of which reproduced in their book derivatives. Among his contributions was included an original CGI Constitution-class model, he had constructed as a pitch for what eventually became the 2006 remastered Original Series. His pitch not only included the ship, but all the visual effects as seen in the original episode "The Doomsday Machine", which he single-handedly replaced with CGI versions. [3](X) His model was ultimately passed over in favor of that of CBS Digital. [4]
On 27 September 2009, Daren Dochterman moderated a media event called the "Star Trek Designers Talk Trek History At Art Directors Guild Event", held at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, and in which production designers John Jefferies, Joseph R. Jennings, Herman F. Zimmerman, and Scott Chambliss were honored for their Star Trek contributions, discussing in depth their work on the franchise. [5]
Outside the official Star Trek framework, Dochterman also designed the main title sequence for the popular fan-made internet series Star Trek: New Voyages, developed by and starring James Cawley. Additionally, Dochterman has constructed a CGI Phase II Constitution-class model for use in the fan production, premiering in the 2012 vignette "Going Boldly". [6]
In 2015-16 Dochterman was again employed by the official franchise when he worked as a prop concept artist on Star Trek Beyond, reuniting him with Star Trek veteran John Eaves, with whom he had previously worked on several motion picture projects, and became reunited with him yet again as fellow concept designer on Star Trek: Picard which premiered in January 2020, though neither receiving an official credit for it.
"The Art Trek Song"
While Dochterman was working in the art department of Star Trek, he soon found out for himself that he was working in a pressure cooker, always under the stress of immutable deadlines and demands. In this regard, Michael Okuda – who was head of the Scenic Art Department – once remarked,
Herman Zimmerman [head of the Art Department] used to remind us that there is always more than one way to solve any particular design challenge. It was his way of telling us not to get too fixated on any particular design element, because there are sooooo many factors that you can't control. Even when you think you understand all the requirements for a design, you're often surprised by a last-minute request from the director, or an unexpected budget problem, or a producer who wants a different approach, or a change in schedule, or any of a hundred things that fall into the category of what we called "oh, by the way...."
You'd think that this would be frustrating, and at times it was. But the odd thing is that it sometimes inspired us to stretch ourselves in different directions, and surprisingly, it sometimes even resulted in better work. [7](X)
In order to reflect the nature of Star Trek's high pressure working environment, Dochterman composed a good-humored song, lamenting the fate of the scenic artists and production illustrators employed in the department:
- The Art Trek Song
- Words by Daren Dochterman, with apologies to Jerry Goldsmith
- (Sung to the tune of Star Trek: The Next Generation)
- WE REALLY HATE WHAT YOU DREW...
- AND WE REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT WE NEED...
- WE JUST DON'T CARE WHAT YOU DO...
- JUST MAKE IT LIKE SOMETHING WE'VE NEVER SEEN.
- YOU DON'T NEED SLEEP...
- JUST MAKE IT CHEAP.
- WE NEED TWELVE BY WEDNESDAY NOON.
- GO GET THE ONE FROM BEFORE...
- YOU KNOW, THE ONE WE SAID WE DIDN'T LIKE.
- DRAW IT AGAIN ONE MORE TIME...
- SO THAT WE CAN DECIDE AND CHANGE OUR MIND...
Scenic Artist and then-coworker Doug Drexler has stated, not without fondness, "This song was a favorite pinned to the department 'Wall of Shame,' otherwise known as the bulletin board." The song has remained on the bulletin board for as long as the television franchise was in production, and was saved by Drexler for posterity when the department closed down after the television productions were suspended in 2005. [8](X)
Career outside Star Trek
Dochterman was raised in New York City, New York, and spent his teenage years in Chicago, Illinois. He attended the University of Southern California from 1985 through 1987, leaving after being repeatedly rejected by the university's prestigious School of Cinema-Television. He then worked independently as a model builder, prop maker, and graphic artist for about a year before landing his first Hollywood job, working as the Assistant to the Art department (there meeting and befriending fellow New York City film buff David Fein) on The Abyss (1989). Dochterman even appeared in the film as a new reporter; Star Trek: The Next Generation guest star Ken Jenkins also had a role.
Dochterman next worked as an assistant to production designer Leslie Dilley on 1990's The Exorcist III, starring Brad Dourif. His first project as a professional illustrator was the 1991 film Guilty by Suspicion, which featured Voyager star Roxann Dawson and Next Generation guest star Robin Gammell. He subsequently served for a brief spell as executive director for David Fein's newly-founded company Sharpline Arts, which produced special features for home video format releases, but decided to continue his career on his own. [9] Since then, he has worked as a production illustrator on such films as Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Seven (1997), Down Periscope (1998, starring Kelsey Grammer), My Favorite Martian (1999, starring Christopher Lloyd, Wallace Shawn, and Ray Walston), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), We Were Soldiers (2002), Clockstoppers (2002, directed by Jonathan Frakes), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), The Terminal (2004, featuring Jude Ciccolella and Zoe Saldana), The Chronicles of Riddick (2004, alongside Gregory Jein, Ve Neill and Glenn Hetrick), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006, starring Patrick Stewart, Famke Janssen, Kelsey Grammer and Rebecca Romijn, with Shohreh Aghdashloo, Chelah Horsdal, Julian Christopher, and John Pyper-Ferguson) and Get Smart (2008, starring The Rock). He was also an illustrator on the pilot for Earth 2, starring Clancy Brown.
In addition, Dochterman was a storyboard or effects storyboard artist on films such as Beverly Hills Cop III (1994, starring Eddie Murphy), For Better or Worse (1995, starring and directed by Jason Alexander), Nixon (1995, featuring David Paymer, Robert Beltran, Paul Sorvino, Bill Bolender, Richard Fancy, Tony Plana, Saul Rubinek, and Wilson Cruz), Multiplicity (1996, featuring Ann Cusack, John de Lancie, and Harris Yulin), The Nutty Professor (1996, starring Eddie Murphy), Courage Under Fire (1996), Flubber (1997, starring Robin Williams,featuring Clancy Brown and Wil Wheaton), and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003). His resume also includes visual effects illustrations for Addams Family Values (1993, starring Christopher Lloyd, Carel Struycken and Carol Kane), property concept art on Casper and Outbreak (both 1995), and concept designs for The Chronicles of Riddick (2004).
Dochterman later worked as a conceptual illustrator on The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) and Creature from the Black Lagoon. He was also a conceptual illustrator on G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009, starring Rachel Nichols). On the latter project Dochterman worked again with concept designer John Eaves, with whom he became acquainted and had previously worked with on Sky High (2005) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). Dochterman also collaborated with James Clyne on X-Men, as well as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Poseidon (2006).
DVD Exclusive Award
Daren Dochterman won the following DVD Exclusive Award (at the time called Video Premiere Award) as visual effects supervisor in the category Best New, Enhanced or Reconstructed Movie Scenes,
- 2001 for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Director's Edition, shared with David C. Fein and Michael Matessino
Bibliography
Further reading
- Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 8:
- "Behind the Scenes: The Director's Edition", pp. 24-26
- "Behind the Scenes: Director's Edition VFX", pp. 52-59
External links
- DarenDoc.com – official site
- Betafive.com – official portfolio site
- Daren Dochterman at the Internet Movie Database