American visual effects pioneer (1942–2022) who took over the effects work on Star Trek: The Motion Picture late in production and delivered sequences such as the drydock flyby and the V'Ger cloud.
Douglas Trumbull (1942–2022) was an American effects artist and director celebrated for his work on 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Blade Runner.
He was brought on to Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979 after the original effects contractor was dismissed, leaving a very large number of shots to complete in a few months. Working alongside John Dykstra's team, he produced the long reveal of the refitted Enterprise in drydock, the journey into the V'Ger cloud and Spock's spacewalk.
The film's effects earned an Academy Award nomination. Trumbull's lighting of the Enterprise model, as if lit by its own floodlights, influenced how starships were photographed in later films.