Ron Thornton is a British-born cinematographer and was a key member of the visual effects company Foundation Imaging. He worked on a number of Star Trek productions.

Much of Ron Thornton's early visual effects career was spent working with miniatures and motion-control technology, on British television series such as Doctor Who, Blake's 7 and The Tripods, prior to his move to America, where he initially worked on Babylon 5 adopting CGI techniques that he later brought to Star Trek. He remembered, "The reason I got into CGI work in the first place is purely because the limitations of motion control suddenly disappeared." Thornton went on to say that he specifically meant the limitations of shooting models. Thornton was also attracted to animating such CG creations as Species 8472 for Star Trek: Voyager. Regarding the task of giving a performance to such a being, he noted, "That's something I love to do." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #16, pp. 36 & 37)

Ron Thornton was instrumental in the changeover of Foundation Imaging from Babylon 5 to Star Trek. He recalled, "It was only after Babylon 5 decided not to renew us that I turned around to them [meaning Star Trek: Voyager's producers] and basically begged for work. We were in such dire straits; I had to lay everybody off–and I never thought that was going to happen–but Voyager was really wonderful and started coming in with stuff." Thornton also said, "When Babylon 5 decided they were going to do it on their own, it was absolutely devastating, but it ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me." Thornton was so eager to work on Star Trek that he would have liked Foundation Imaging to be given more work on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine than they ultimately were. "I would love to do more work on the show," Thornton said, during the sixth season of the series, "but it's very much up to the supervisor." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #16, pp. 35, 38 & 39)

Star Trek credits Edit

External link Edit

• Ron Thornton at the Internet Movie Database