Alan Sims

Alan James Sims is a property master of the art department who worked on and . His ex-wife Deniece appeared in the second season episode in , when the script asked for a pregnant Bringloidi woman. For this episode, he also hired animal trainers and provided an African pygmy goat from his own property. ("Departmental Briefing Year Two: Memorable Missions – Up The Long Ladder", TNG Season 2 DVD special features) Sims was also responsible for hiring the trained that swooped down and attacked Neelix in the episode . "Instead," recalls Sims, "the hawk spotted a crow and went off after it in the opposite direction. It took hours to find him. The delay was a nightmare." (Star Trek 30 Years, p. 46) Sims appreciated the idea of the creation of Ten Forward because it gave him the opportunity to create a lot of food and alien beverages for episodes such as . ("Departmental Briefing Year Two: Production – Props", TNG Season 2 DVD special features)
Sims received a co-author's credit for the reference book Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts. Lt. , whose name was seen on a graphic in the TNG episode , was named for Sims. The SIMs beacon, seen throughout the spin-off shows, was also named after him.
== Career outside Star Trek ==
Alan Sims started to work in the art department in the late 1970s, as set dresser on the musical drama New York, New York in 1977. He worked as leadman on the television miniseries How the West Was Won (1978-1979) and on (1978, with Eugene Roche, Graham Jarvis, and Gene LeBell). Sims became assistant property master and worked on the drama Heaven's Gate (1980, with set designers Nancy Mickelberry and William Ladd Skinner), (1980), the television drama Evita Peron (1981), the television drama Leave 'em Laughing (1981, with Elisha Cook, William Windom, Bruce French, and Next Generation set designer Louis M. Mann), (1981), (1983), and (1987, with Michael McKean, Richard Herd, and art director Harold Michelson).
Following his association as technical advisor with (1984, with Erich Anderson, Lawrence Monoson, and Wayne Grace), Sims became property master on in 1985. He then worked as property master on the second season of The A-Team (1984-1985, starring Dwight Schultz), the television science-fiction thriller Assassins (1986, with Karen Austin and Jonathan Banks), and the Heart of the City episode "Cold Steal and Neon" (1986).
Following fourteen years of work on Star Trek, Sims worked as property master on the television pilot Bram and Alice (2002), the television comedy Alligator Point (2003), (2003), (2003-05), Windfall (2006), In Case of Emergency (2007), (2006-07), and the television drama Supreme Courtships (2007, with Daphne Ashbrook, Kurtwood Smith, and John Berg). He also served as assistant property master on (2005).
Later work as property master include the comedy Crazy on the Outside (2010, with Kelsey Grammer), the Perfect Couples pilot episode (2010), and (2008-11).
== Star Trek credits ==
(This list is currently incomplete.)
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== Star Trek interviews ==
* E! Inside Star Trek: Voyager ()
*Star Trek: Voyager - Inside the New Adventure, 1995
* TNG Season 2 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Two: Production" ("Props"), interviewed on 
* TNG Season 2 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Two: Memorable Mission" ("Up The Long Ladder"), interviewed on 5 October 2001
* TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Inside Starfleet Archives Year Six" ("Extraordinary Props"), interviewed on 5 October 2001
==Bibliography==
*Star Trek: Aliens & Artifacts (2000) – Co-author
== External links ==
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* at 
es:Alan Sims
Sims, Alan
Sims, Alan
Category:Puppeteers