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 the television western The New Maverick (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), the drama The Jazz Singer (1980), the television drama Evita Peron (1981), the television drama Leave 'em Laughing (1981, with Elisha Cook, William Windom, Bruce French, and TNG set designer Louis M. Mann), the television drama Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (1981), the fantasy drama Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), and the comedy Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987, with Michael McKean, Richard Herd, and art director Harold Michelson).

Following his association as technical advisor with the horror sequel Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984, with Erich Anderson, Lawrence Monoson, and Wayne Grace), Sims became property master on the television miniseries Space in 1985. He then worked as porperty 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), the television series Miracles (2003), NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service (2003-2005), Windfall (2006), In Case of Emergency (2007), Standoff (2006-2007), and the television drama Supreme Courtships (2007, with Daphne Ashbrook, Kurtwood Smith, and John Berg). He also served as assistant property master on the 2005 thriller Flightplan.

More recent work as property master include the comedy Crazy on the Outside (2010, with Kelsey Grammer), the Perfect Couples pilot episode (2010), and the television series remake 90210 (2008-2011).

Star Trek credits 
(This list is currently incomplete.)
 
  (Season 1)
 
 
 
 
  (uncredited)
 
 
 
 
 
 
  (mother creature puppeteer; uncredited)
  (Season 2)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  (Season 3)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  (Season 4)
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  (uncredited)
 
 
  (uncredited, Season 5)
  (uncredited)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  (Season 6)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  (Season 7)

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 
 
 Alan Sims at IATSElocal44.org

es:Alan Sims
Sims, Alan
Sims, Alan
Puppeteers