It takes a universe in itself to create Star Trek and part of it’s creative family comes from a legacy that far outshines most in film. For over a hundred years the Westmore family have been a staple of productions in Hollywood starting with George Westmore’s studio. The family would not only become masters of hair and make up design, but become engrained within Hollywood as the finest in their craft.
In the 1980’s one of George’s grandsons was chosen to lead the challenging task of supervising the looks of a new Star Trek revival. One of the most consistent creative forced in the Next Generation era, Michael Westmore’s stamp was everywhere. Brought on board for pre-production of the Next Generation, Westmore had two primary tasks; design make up for Data that would look not quite human, and to refine make up for Worf that would influence nearly every Klingon on screen for decades.
The Klingon style, a major advance on the applications used from The Motion Picture, would become his most iconic work in the Star Trek Franchise. Taking influence from fossils, the Klingon masks would cover more of the actors face than the initial concept with each design looking slightly different, representing the familial traits being passed down and merged through the generations of each house.
Despite hesitation at moving to a longer production after travelling around for film, Westmore would end up being a core member of the Next Generation of Star Trek, serving all seven seasons of The Next Generation as well as continuing to supervise the make up – both human and alien – for the continuing missions on Deep Space Nine, Voyager and the TNG Movies.
Now retired from working behind the scenes on screen, Westmore’s final works on TV was as a guest backstage during the run of Enterprise. His final make up works on Daasavatheram was also onbe of the most challenging, helping to craft ten distinctly different looks for lead star Kamal Hassan who played all ten roles. Now in light retirement, he’s supported daughter and host of Face-Off McKenzie Westmore s a guest and mentor to younger artists.
Having an eclectic and award winning career. Westmore set a gold standard for make up in Star Trek and helped design a large part of the Universe. From Trill’s spots to the harsher looks of the Jem’Hadar and everything in-between, Westmore influence still inspires make up designs used in Strange New Worlds, Discovery and beyond.
Westmore’s work and career is documented in full with his book Make Up Man, co authored by Jake Page. Make Up Man is on sale at most retailers including Amazon.
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A Fistful of Down To Earth Adventures
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Mark Mitchell; 1969-2026
It's with great sadness we report that our Director of Operations, Mark Mitchell, has sadly passed away suddenly earlier this week. Mark was one of our longest serving members and a huge part of what helped shape what SFCQ2 is today. Having served in leadership as a CO, throughout fleet support and originating the role of Director of Administration, Mark's unyielding dedication to the club and his multiple contributions over the decades undoubtedly make him worthy of his Legend handle. From writing the entire base for our modern Academy to being vital in the fleet restructure, to offering support and advice to countless members to support leadership and direction, Mark's efforts serve, and will likely continue to serve, as the backbone of everything that makes Q2 with his primary goal always being to offer the best of everything and push […]
Gamma Quarter 2403 Promotions & Citations
Throughout it’s entire existence SFC has grown, evolved and thrived due tot he commitment and passion of our officers and crew. Keen members can make a huge difference within their unit or the fleet as a whole, and we like to ensure members are rewarded and recognised for all they bring to the organisation. Starting this quarter, we're opening every new period within the fleet celebrating those who have made an impact and engaged in being a positive influence in their unit or in Q2 overall. The most obvious form of rewards comes from our naval-based rank structure. Utilising the same base rank structure seen on screen, SFC takes members through their journey as a Starfleet officer by giving members a chance to rise throughout the ranks from Ensign to Captain. Having had an active and exciting year, Lt Commander […]
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We've been spoiled with Spock in the past few years with Discovery introducing a younger iteration of the character long before he became the refined man of logic that made him famous, and continued that story through Strange New Worlds and his time under Captain Pike's command. As Strange New Worlds continues, giving more history to the original series line up and the early meetings of Spock and Kirk as it makes way for the beginning of the Kirk era, we thought we'd look back at some moments that made the partnership one of the most popular combinations in science fiction. JOURNEY TO BABEL TOS Season 2 Spock's got a bit of an issue with sharing. Secret brother who was shunned. Secret sister who's fate was classified. And despite trusting the Enterprise crew with his life, it was clearly only […]
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