Gerald Gurian

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Gerald Gurian
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Personal Information
GenderMale
Career
RolesStar Trek publication editor, Star Trek reference author

Gerald Gurian is a near first generation Star Trek: The Original Series Trekkie who eventually became a publication editor and author of Star Trek reference works in his own rights. Gurian has been featured in the 2016 documentary Building Star Trek.

His first known official franchise contribution was that of behind-the-scenes photo contributor to Star Trek: The Original Series 365, which he followed up in a similar function for Marc Cushman's These Are the Voyages: TOS three-tome reference work. Due to his participation to that publication as an archivist and photo editor, Gurian decided to publish himself a companion, mostly full-color, pictorial series as the source publication was only able to publish his behind-the-scenes pictures in black and white. In order to achieve this, Gurian established his own publishing house , Minkatek Press – named after his pet dog – that, in March 2016, published his first book, To Boldly Go: Rare Photos from the TOS Soundstage - Season One.

A passionate collector of Star Trek memorabilia, those of the Original Series in particular, enticed Gurian to start his own blog, "Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Authority", on 2 March 2008 in order to keep his fellow Star Trek memorabilia collectors appraised of current affairs, citing the following in his opening post,

"Welcome to all fellow Star Trek enthusiasts and Original Series prop & wardrobe collectors. This is the first post in an ongoing series that will concentrate primarily on Star Trek: TOS, but may venture into presentations on the subsequent series and feature films as topics of interest arise. Not only do I hope to touch upon technical issues relating to Star Trek prop and costume authentication, and update readers on the published "doctrine" or history of Star Trek prop creation as advanced by the creators of the series such as Justman, Solow and Roddenberry in their published works – but I shall present special posts dedicated to photo-documenting some of the historic items in private collections and on public display; update readers on the latest thinking of today's most respected Star Trek prop experts (by referencing published internet articles from well-known prop-makers and inviting guest posts); and also hopefully dispell [sic] some of the myths in circulation concerning authentic TOS prop design characteristics – of which there are many. Star Trek: The Original Series prop & wardrobe authentication is certainly a topic that is surrounded by much controversy; and there are honest differences of opinion amongst today's most highly regarded experts. There are also well-intentioned but uneducated fans that tend to oversimplify the process of prop authentication and state mere opinion as fact without sufficient underlying analysis or supporting data from the historical records. I promise never to doctor or misrepresent the statements/writings of experts in presenting information to the readers of this blog." [1]

Over the course of operating his blog, Gurian became acquainted, and started to cooperate on various projects with fellow collector Alec Peters of Propworx. In this function, Gurian helped to authenticate Lot 909, a Captain Kirk tunic from The Original Series in Profiles in History's Hollywood Auction 49, which ultimately sold for US$80,000 ($98,400 including buyers premium).

File:Enterprise-D saucer section model.jpg
The 12' Enterprise-D saucer section model

One of the most notable items of Star Trek memorabilia to become part of Gurian's collection was the 12' 1" long USS Enterprise-D saucer section filming miniature which he acquired from the CBS Archives via Propworx in June 2012 and which was originally constructed by Industrial Light & Magic for its appearance in the memorable crashing landing sequence on the planet Veridian III in the closing scenes of Star Trek Generations. It is seen at right with Gurian's dog, Minka, in a photo published on the StarTrekPropAuthority blog as part of an article about the saucer section model. [2]

Yet, the foremost endeavor Gurian embarked upon was the digital restoration through the commercially available Corel PaintShop software, of his comprehensive and substantial collection of clippings of the series' original 35mm film trims, being the primary focus of his collection, such as deleted scenes, outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage, which were either sold as short clippings, or as framed stills, cut from these clippings, then selling for 8 for US$1 dollar (or 12.5 cents apiece), first obtained from Lincoln Enterprises in the 1970s.

In January 2014, in the midst of his work as photo editor and archivist during the release of the three volume These Are The Voyages: TOS book series, Gurian published a special behind-the-scenes report on his website that provided a detailed overview of his rare Star Trek image collection. [3] The article included many photos of the raw Lincoln clapperboard and filming model clips that he owned, and further revealed that, as part of his rare image holdings, Gurian had acquired Original Series Art Director and Production Designer Matt Jefferies' entire reference collection of Desilu TOS film cells.

Actually, in more than one way, Gurian's "remastering" efforts did resemble those of Curt McAloney (who, likewise had contributed as such to The Original Series 365), but it should be noted that both efforts are in no way whatsoever related to each other.

Holding an University of Toronto BASc degree in Industrial Engineering, Gurian is an engineer in systems design, most recently holding a position as such at General Motors in Detroit, having received the 2007 Boss Kettering Award for technological innovation.

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