Matt Jefferies was the surprised guest of honour Friday at the presentation of a new documentary on the Original Series production designer.

According to a report at StarTrek.com, Paramount lured Jefferies to the studio lot under the pretense that they wanted to discuss special features on an upcoming DVD with him. But when he stepped into the Paramount screening room, he encountered a group of friends and family who had come to pay tribute to him, and then was shown a short video piece about himself, created in preparation for the upcoming Star Trek: Generations DVD.

Present at the event were several Star Trek celebrities, eager to meet the man who was responsible for the original design of the U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701 - and the man whose name has become part of the Trek mythos in the form of the "Jefferies Tubes." Those attending included J.G. Hertzler (Martok), currently working for Paramount to supervise the creation of special DVD features for the Star Trek movies. Many of Jefferies' co-workers and successors were also there, including Star Trek: The Motion Picture production designer Harold Michelson, Original Series model maker Greg Jein, and current Enterprise crew members like illustrator Doug Drexler and producers Dawn Velazquez and Stephen Welke.

The event was organised by Penny Juday, art department coordinator on the TNG movies, who held a short speech in which she announced that Jefferies had recovered from recent health problems. According to the official Star Trek site, Jefferies indeed seemed full of energy, as well as some embarassment over all the attention.

The short Jefferies documentary will be available for viewing once the Star Trek: Generations special edition DVD comes out, but this DVD has not been officially announced yet, and no release date is known. In the meantime, you can find StarTrek.com's article on the event here.

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