Star Trek: Search For The Enterprise

Paul Olson, the guy tasked with painting the refit Starship Enterprise for The Motion Picture is on a new mission, to seek out the original studio model and restore her to her former glory.

In 1978, Paul was working in Los Angeles as an airbrush artist, having acquired the skills through his friends, Peter Lloyd, Bob Hickson, and Ed Scarisbrick. Through a mutual acquaintance of Scarisbrick, Olsen was introduced to Jim Dow of Magicam, who had devised a paint scheme for the The Motion Picture Enterprise, but who did not have the staff capable enough to apply it.

Olsen readily accepted and for the next six or seven months was deeply immersed in applying the paint scheme onto the model. In the process, Olsen got to know the modelers at Magicam quite well, a few of them he befriended, especially Mark Stetson, and among others his close co-worker, responsible for the secondary hull paint application, Ron Gress.

Upon completion of his work on the model, Olsen was asked by Douglas Trumbull to stay on to help out with visualizing some of the V’Ger effects. Olsen did, as a graphics artist (the function for which he received his credit), working alongside Production Illustrator Tom Cranham and Animation and Graphics Artist Alison Yerxa, causing his total involvement to last for sixteen months.

Once the model was complete, the lighting technicians locked it away for 3 days while setting up the Enterprise for filming, after which, Paul was invited onto the blackened stage where he saw the ship sat in drydock – he was struck with awe at the sight.

Since the filming of The Motion Picture, the models paint scheme was dulled down for the next three movies before being re-christened NCC-1701-A for the following two movies.

During the course of filming the movies and during it’s long spell in storage, the model suffered alot of cosmetic damage, chipped surfaces and deterioration of the paint scheme before being auctioned off at the 2006 Christies sale.

This is where the whereabouts of the ship was lost. The model was sold to an anonymous bidder and has never been seen again, so now Paul is requesting the help of all fans to find the owner and restore it with a new paint job and lighting kit.

Paul also has other plans for the model. First up, he wishes to document the restoration project, which he believes will take aroung 12 months to complete, but more excitingly, Paul has written a movie screenplay that has gathered a lot of interest featuring the ship.

So, if you or anyone you know may know the location of this iconic ship, please contact Paul (details below) where you may become part of the documentary itself.

Please share this post with all fellow fans and spread the word far and wide and get this project underway!

You can contact Paul at paul@startrek-enterprise.us

Paul also urges you to purchase his book Star Trek: Creating the Enterprise as proceeds from this book will be used to part fund the project. You can purchase this book at Paul’s website www.startrek-enterprise.us