We've already covered Star Wars cross-sections back in Part 1, so it's only fair we cover the Star Trek cross-sections of Christopher and Matt Cushman. Christopher Cushman's story begins with the opening of the first Star Trek movie and the release of a cross-section poster of the Enterprise-A drawn by another master of the cutaway, David Kimble. Fast-forward a few years and Cushman is working as an automotive illustrator at GM in Detroit, when in walks Kimble.
The two quickly struck up a friendship, but when Cushman asked about doing a Star Trek poster with Paramount, the parent company, Kimble complained that he had been screwed out of profits. Undaunted, Cushman found a company to become a Star Trek licensee and began work on an epic 77-inch-wide poster of the new Enterprise-D. Mike Okuda, who pretty much invented all of the graphic design in Star Trek, contributed technical details that helped to fill the Enterprise with a startling amount of detail. Click here to see the largest version of the poster I could find on the web.
The poster was a huge success and a copy was even included in the Smithsonian's permanent Star Trek collection. Unfortunately, as per David Kimble's legacy of being screwed, Christopher Cushman was screwed out of his royalties on the poster. He took the case to court and was even awarded damages by a jury that was apparently big fans of Star Trek! Even more unfortunately, the company ended up filing for bankruptcy and Cushman never received any payment.
Christopher's brother, Matt, followed in his footsteps and was soon working on a poster of the original Enterprise. Christopher again contacted Paramount and worked hard to make sure his brother would not end up in a similar legal situation. The poster ended up being an even bigger success that Christopher's and helped to create some Star Trek canon along the way.
