Review by C.J. Bunce
A new behind-the-scenes book on the Star Trek franchise makes a good companion to some classic looks at the series. Star Trek: The Art of Glenn Hetrick’s Alchemy Studios (available here at Amazon) really is a look at the makeups and prosthetics made for Star Trek: Discovery’s five seasons. It’s a continuation of some books we reviewed previously here at borg, especially Star Trek: The Art of Neville Page (reviewed here). We discussed previously at borg some of Page’s greatest works in our review of The Art of Star Trek: The Kelvin Timeline here and more can be found in The Art of Star Trek here. The new book comes from writer Joe Nazzaro, whose other book of Star Trek makeup, Star Trek Beyond: The Makeup Artistry of Joel Harlow, we reviewed here. Star Trek: The Art of Glenn Hetrick’s Alchemy Studios boasts a look into the magic of prosthetic makeup, but it’s also like a Star Trek monster manual.
We’ve seen the source of much of that magic–advances in printed 3D tools–in Nazzaro’s book on Neville Page. Key to that was the Klingon torchbearer armor from Star Trek Discovery, featuring details you really notice in person, but even on your HD screen 3D printing brings entirely new worlds of detail to life. This look at Glenn Hetrick’s creations over five seasons nets a vision of adding ornateness to all the show’s aliens. It also adds a level of monstrosity–shock value via more disturbing makeups then the likes of works Michael Westmore made Star Trek famous for.
Nazzaro takes the reader through chapters on each season, with a focus on his Klingon work, series co-star Saru, and his efforts at updating already established aliens in the Star Trek canon going way back to the most obscure, like the Betelgeusian created for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, where literally only one image of the character existed to reference.
Just like the book on Neville Page, it’s the monsters that feature a facial symmetry of fleshy blobs and bits, preferences for multiple sets of eyes, and pieces of the natural world that seem somehow… off-putting… on a biped. With all the modifications Hetrick made to Westmore’s original designs, the strangest thing may be that the Orions remained only humans with green skin paint.
Take a look inside Star Trek: The Art of Glenn Hetrick’s Alchemy Studios courtesy of its publisher, Titan Books:
Fans of Star Trek makeups will want to track down a copy of Michael Westmore’s Aliens and Artifacts (sometimes available here at Amazon), the only book previous to the J.J. Abrams and Alex Kurtzman with a focus on the makeup and prosthetics in Star Trek. For the next look into the aliens developed for the franchise, check out Star Trek: The Art of Glenn Hetrick’s Alchemy Studios, available now here at Amazon in hardcover from Titan Books.
