Dan Curry papers, 1967-2008
LSC.2294
Finding aid prepared by Sabrina Ponce, 2016; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé.
UCLA Library Special Collections
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1575
(310) 825-4988
spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
Online finding aid last updated 28 August 2017.
Title: Dan Curry papers
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2294
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
7.6 linear feet
(12 boxes)
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1987-1991
Date (inclusive): 1967-2008
Abstract: Dan Curry, born Daniel F. Curry, is an Emmy Award-winning fine artist and filmmaker. He is best known --- and has won seven
Emmy awards for --- his work as Visual Effects Producer of
Star Trek: The Next Generation,
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,
Star Trek: Voyager, and
Star Trek: Enterprise. This collection documents Curry’s work as visual effects producer of these series, as well as his work on other motion picture
and television projects. The bulk of the collection dates from 1987 to 1992, and includes collected screenplays, montage storyboards,
memos, recorded material, and Curry’s personal notes and hand-drawn illustrations.
Language of Materials: Materials entirely in English.
Physical Location: Stored off-site at SRLF. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance through our electronic
paging system, using the "Request items" button.
Creator:
Curry, Dan
Conditions Governing Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in
advance through our electronic paging system using the "Request items" button.
Conditions Governing Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are
retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
COLLECTION CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: Audiovisual materials in this collection will require assessment and possible digitization
for safe access. To review these audiovisual materials, you must notify the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk
in advance of your visit.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Dan Curry papers (Collection 2294). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
This collection was donated by Daniel F. Curry and Ubolvan C. Curry in November 2015.
Processing Information
Biography/History
Dan Curry, born Daniel F. Curry, is an Emmy Award-winning fine artist and filmmaker. Born in New York City in 1946, he graduated
from Middlebury College in Vermont with a major in Fine Arts and a minor in Theater. Upon completion of his degree, he joined
the Peace Corps and served in Northeast Thailand building small damns and bridges. After his service, he stayed in Asia as
a freelance artist where he accepted numerous film, production design, and architectural commissions, a highlight being a
commission from the King of Thailand to be a production designer for the Royal Ball.
Upon his return to the United States, Curry worked for a time as a biomedical illustrator and a teacher of fine arts at a
small college in New York before attending graduate school at Humboldt State University for a Master’s degree in Fine Arts.
Upon completion of this degree in the late 1970s, Curry began work in the entertainment industry directing and supervising
visual effects, title design, matte painting, and martial arts and weapons design among other elements of the filmmaking process.
He is best known – and has won seven Emmy awards for – his work as Visual Effects Producer of
Star Trek: The Next Generation,
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,
Star Trek: Voyager, and
Star Trek: Enterprise. Additionally, he directed an episode of
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1993), and occasionally acted in short films and an episode of
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993). He continues to work on visual effects for various motion picture and television projects while maintaining an online
gallery of his artwork.
Scope and Content
With material dating between 1967 and 2008, this collection documents Dan Curry’s work as visual effects producer of several
Star Trek series, as well as his work on other motion picture and television projects. The bulk of the collection dates from 1987 to
1992, during which time Curry was first visual effects supervisor, then visual effects producer of
Star Trek: The Next Generation. As a result, this collection’s strength lies in the screenplays, montage storyboards, and memos collected by Curry as well
as his personal notes and hand-drawn illustrations pertaining to this series. The collection also contains similar, although
a lesser amount of, material for
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,
Star Trek: Voyager, and
Star Trek: Enterprise. Most of the recorded material in the collection includes element reels, comp reels, and episode cuts of
The Next Generation, but
Voyager and
Enterprise are also represented. Finally, the collection also consists of scripts, screenplays, and other records documenting Curry’s
work on various film and television projects.
Organization and Arrangement
This collection is arranged in four series primarily by project type, and therein chronologically. Files were given the title
of the specific
Star Trek episode, motion picture, or television project to which their contents relate. The general arrangement reflects Dan Curry’s
original order where present. The series and subseries of this collection are organized as follows:
- Series 1:
Star Trek, circa 1987-2002
- Subseries 1.1:
Star Trek: The Next Generation, circa 1987-1994
- Subseries 1.2:
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, circa 1993-1997
- Subseries 1.3:
Star Trek: Voyager, circa 1994-2000
- Subseries 1.4:
Star Trek: Enterprise, circa 2001-2004
- Series 2:
Star Trek VHS Tapes, circa 1967-2005
- Series 3: Motion Picture Projects, circa 1988-1992
- Series 4: Television Projects, 1990-2008
Related Material
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Curry, Dan -- Archives
Motion picture producers and directors--United States--Archives.
Television producers and directors--United States--Archives.
Series 1:
Star Trek
1987-2002
Scope and Content
This series mostly contains scripts annotated by Curry and montage storyboards for several series of
Star Trek. Curry also compiled copies of scripts, memos, hand-drawn screenplays, illustrations, and other personal notes on selected
episodes into folders he labeled with these episodes’ titles. These folders are the highlight of the collection, as they document
Curry’s creative thought process and the amount of work he put into producing the visual effects for these episodes. Where
applicable, multiple folders were created for one file to preserve this arrangement.
Organization and Arrangement
This series is arranged in four subseries organized chronologically by
Star Trek series and record creation date. Folder titles utilize episode titles and the following popular acronyms for the series: “TNG”
for
Star Trek: The Next Generation, “DS9” for
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “VOY” for
Star Trek: Voyager, and “ENT” for
Star Trek: Enterprise.
Subseries 1.1:
Star Trek: The Next Generation
1987-1994
Box 1, Folders 2-3
TNG: "Datalore"
circa 1987
Box 1, Folder 4
TNG: "Too Short a Season"
circa 1987
Box 1, Folder 5
TNG: "When the Bough Breaks"
1987
Box 1, Folder 6
TNG: "Home Soil"
circa 1987-1988
Box 1, Folders 7-8
TNG: "Coming of Age"
circa 1987-1988
Scope and Content
Includes one diffusion transfer (Polaroid) print of the matte painting of the "Relva 7." Also contains material on "Home Soil,"
as included by Dan Curry.
Box 2, Folder 1
TNG: Stock Element Lists
circa 1987-1988
Box 2, Folders 2-3
TNG: "The Arsenal of Freedom"
circa 1988
Box 2, Folder 4
TNG: "We'll Always Have Paris"
1988
Box 2, Folder 5
TNG: "Symbiosis"
circa 1988
Box 2, Folder 6, Box 3, Folders 1-2
TNG: "Conspiracy"
circa 1988
Box 3, Folder 4
TNG: "Elementary, Dear Data"
1988
Box 3, Folder 5
TNG: "Loud as a Whisper"
1988
Box 3, Folder 6
TNG: "Unnatural Selection"
1988
Box 3, Folder 7
TNG: "The Measure of a Man"
1988
Box 3, Folder 8
TNG: "Where Silence Has Lease"
1988
Scope and Content
Includes printed posts on a "Sci-Fi Fantasy Forum" discussing the episode. Praises of the visual and special effects were
highlighted before receipt of the collection.
Box 4, Folder 1
TNG: "The Dauphin"
1988-1989
Box 4, Folder 2
TNG: "A Matter of Honor"
1988-1989
Box 4, Folder 3
TNG: "Contagion"
1988-1989
Box 4, Folder 4
TNG: "High Regard"
1988-1989
Box 4, Folder 5
TNG: "Time to the Second"
1989
Box 4, Folder 8
TNG: "The Royale"
1989
Scope and Content
Contains memos and one montage storyboard (Act 4 missing).
Box 5, Folder 1
TNG: "Samaritan Snare"
1989
Box 5, Folder 2
TNG: "Send in the Clones"
1989
Box 5, Folder 5
TNG: "Peak Performance"
1989
Box 5, Folder 6
TNG: "Shades of Gray"
1989
Box 5, Folder 7
TNG: Second Season Book O' Shows
1989
Box 6, Folders 2-3
TNG: "The Survivors"
1989
Box 6, Folder 5
TNG: "Captain's Holiday"
1990
Box 6, Folder 6
TNG: "Hollow Pursuits"
1990
Box 7, Folder 1
TNG: "Transfigurations"
1990
Box 7, Folder 4
TNG: "Suddenly Human"
1990
Box 7, Folder 5
TNG: "Future Imperfect"
1990
Box 8, Folder 3
TNG: "Galaxy's Child"
1990-1991
Box 8, Folder 4
TNG: "Identity Crisis"
1991
Box 9, Folder 2
TNG: "The Mind's Eye"
1991
Box 9, Folder 6
TNG: "Unification Part II"
1991
Box 9, Folder 8
TNG: "The Masterpiece Society"
1991
Box 10, Folder 2
TNG: "The First Duty"
1992
Box 10, Folder 3
TNG: "The Perfect Mate"
1992
Box 10, Folder 4
TNG: "All Good Things"
1994
Subseries 1.2:
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Bulk, 1997
circa 1993-1997
Box 10, Folder 6
DS9: "Call to Arms"
circa 1997
Scope and Content
Also contains contemporaneous material on
Star Trek: Voyager as grouped together by Dan Curry.
Box 10, Folder 7
DS9: "Sacrifice of Angels"
circa 1997
Subseries 1.3:
Star Trek: Voyager
circa 1994 - 2000
Box 10, Folder 8
VOY: "Caretaker"
circa 1994
Box 11, Folder 1
VOY: Images of Voyager and Defiant (photocopies)
undated
Subseries 1.4:
Star Trek: Enterprise
circa 2001-2004
Box 11, Folder 3
ENT: "Impulse"
circa 2004
Scope and Content
Consists of an application for an unspecified award for "Impulse" in the category of "Outstanding Visual Effects in a Television
Series."
Series 2:
Star Trek VHS Tapes
Bulk, 1987-1992
circa 1967-2005
Scope and Content
Contains 90 VHS tapes of various
Star Trek episodes as broadcast, office copies, element reels, comp reels, work prints, and other recorded material pertaining to the
making and visual effects of
Star Trek. Also includes a small amount of accompanying notes.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
COLLECTION CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: Audiovisual materials in this collection will require assessment and possible digitization
for safe access. To review these audiovisual materials, you must notify the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk
in advance of your visit.
Box 13
Star Trek: The Original Series
1967
Scope and Content
Contains one tape of an episode titled "The Trouble with Tribbles."
Boxes 13-15
Star Trek: The Next Generation
circa 1987-1993
Scope and Content
Contains sixty-four tapes. Includes a copy of the episode of TNG that Dan Curry directed, "Birthright, pt. 2," as broadcast
in March 1993.
Box 15
Star Trek: Voyager
1994-1999
Scope and Content
Contains six tapes. One tape titled "Director's Raw Material For Reel" contains clips from Star Trek TNG, DS9, and Voyager.
Box 15
Star Trek: Enterprise
2002-2005
Scope and Content
Contains sixteen tapes.
Box 15
Assorted Recordings
undated
Scope and Content
Contains two tapes containing Main Title Design Emmy submissions, and one tape titled "Creature Comforts."
Box 12, Folder 5
VHS Tape Notes
circa 1991, 1993
Scope and Content
Contains copies of notes found with two VHS tapes: "DRE #9 Cloud Tank" ("Dan & Ron Element Reel," 1993) and "
Star Trek TNG #205 Smoke (Dry Ice) DRE-007 W/Window" (1991).
Series 3: Motion Picture Projects
circa 1988-1992
Scope and Content
Contains Curry’s work on title and logo design, collected scripts and screenplays (some annotated and hand-drawn by Curry),
correspondence, and personal notes pertaining to assorted motion picture and television projects. Materials for
Thunder Strike and
Stroke of Midnite (both unproduced),
Moe’s World, and
The Truman Show were collected by Curry, but do not evidence any participation in the production of these projects.
Box 11, Folder 7
Hometown Films Logo
circa 1988
Box 11, Folder 8-9
Thunder Strike
circa 1990
Box 12, Folder 1
The Truman Show
circa 1991
Box 11, Folder 11
Correspondence: The American Film Institute
1990
Series 4: Television Projects
1990-2008
Scope and Content
Contains one script and screenplays for
The Flash, collected by – though not explicitly linked to – Dan Curry. Also contains hand-drawn screenplays for
Chuck, for which Curry was visual effects supervisor.
