The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek, Volume 1

by Edward Gross

  MARTIN ABRAMS is the cofounder of Abrams Gentile Entertainment (AGE). Previously he had been president of the Mego Corporation, which was the original manufacturer of Star Trek action figures in the mid-1970s.

  LARRY ALEXANDER is a television writer who has written episodes for such series as The Streets of San Francisco, MacGyver, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Phase II.

  HOWARD A. ANDERSON was a cinematographer who worked in special effects and was president of the special-effects house The Howard Anderson Company, which produced the visual effects for TOS.

  MICHAEL ANSARA was a stage, screen, and voice actor. He is known for his portrayals of Cochise in the series Broken Arrow and Commander Kang—who needs no “urging to hate humans”—on three different Star Trek series.

  DEBORAH ARAKELIAN is an Emmy-nominated television writer who wrote episodes of Cagney & Lacey and Quantum Leap. She also worked as a production assistant to Harve Bennett on STII and STIII.

  MARGARET ARMEN is a television writer who wrote episodes for Wonder Woman, TOS, TAS, and Phase II.

  RICHARD ARNOLD is a former research consultant on TNG, holding the position of official “Star Trek archivist.”

  RENE AUBERJONOIS is a screen and stage actor. He is known for his role as Father Mulcahy in the feature film M*A*S*H, Clayton Endicott III on Benson, and Odo on DS9.

  JEFF AYERS is the author of Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion.

  SCOTT BAKULA is an actor known for his roles on Quantum Leap, Men of a Certain Age, and NCIS: New Orleans, and as Captain Jonathan Archer on ENT.

  IRA STEVEN BEHR is a television writer and producer best known as an executive producer and showrunner on DS9. He is currently a writer and executive producer on Outlander and has previously worked on such series as Fame, Alphas, the TV version of Crash, and TNG.

  HANS BEIMLER is a television writer known for his work on TNG and DS9.

  HARVE BENNETT was a television and film producer as well as a screenwriter. He was an Emmy Award–winning producer and occasional writer, and produced STII through STV. Among the TV series he produced were The Mod Squad, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, and the miniseries A Woman Called Golda.

  RICK BERMAN is a former documentarian and producer of The Big Blue Marble for PBS and studio executive who went on to executive produce TNG, later cocreating and producing DS9, VOY, and ENT. He was also a producer on all of the TNG feature films.

  JEROME BIXBY was an author, editor, and television writer. He is known for writing the short story “It’s a Good Life” (adapted into an episode of The Twilight Zone) and writing several episodes of TOS.

  CHRIS BLACK is a television writer and producer. He has worked on such series as Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Reaper, Sliders, Mad Men, Outcast, and ENT.

  JOHN D. F. BLACK is a television writer, producer, and director who is known for his work on such series as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and as story editor on TOS.

  MARY BLACK is the former assistant to John D. F. Black, whom she later married, on TOS.

  ROBERT BLACKMAN is a television and film costume designer. He is known for his work on TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, Pushing Daisies, Rizzoli & Isles, and GCB.

  ROBERT BLOCH was the legendary sci-fi, crime, and horror writer who is best known as the author of the novel Psycho, on which the classic Hitchcock film was based. He also wrote several episodes of TOS as well as episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Thriller.

  RICHARD BLOCK is the former vice president and general manager of Kaiser Broadcasting Corporation who made the original television syndication deal for TOS.

  MARGARET WANDER BONANNO is an author best known for her bestselling Star Trek novels, which include Dwellers in the Crucible and Strangers from the Sky.

  ANDRE BORMANIS is the former science consultant to several Star Trek series and has written for VOY and ENT. He was also technical consultant on Insurrection.

  BRANNON BRAGA is a television writer, producer, and director. He is known for his work on such shows as Threshold, Terra Nova, Flash Forward, 24, Salem, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, TNG, and VOY. He was executive producer and cocreator of ENT. He also cowrote the screenplays for Generations and First Contact as well as the story for Mission: Impossible II.

  LARRY BRODY is a television writer who has worked on shows that include The Six Million Dollar Man, Manimal, The Fall Guy, The New Mike Hammer (which he cocreated), and TAS.

  FRED BRONSON is a journalist, author, television writer, and former network publicity executive at NBC. He is known for his Chart Beat column in Billboard magazine and wrote episodes for TAS and TNG.

  ROLLAND “BUD” BROOKS was an art director on TOS, beginning with the second pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” He also worked on the TV series Hogan’s Heroes, The Untouchables, and Mission: Impossible.

  JUDY BURNS is a television writer who has written episodes for such shows as Knight Rider, The Bionic Woman, and TOS.

  ROBERT BUTLER is a prolific television and film director. He is best known for directing the pilots for TOS, Hill Street Blues, Batman, Remington Steele, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and Moonlighting.

  WILLIAM CAMPBELL was an actor who had a long career appearing in such shows as Bonanza, Gunsmoke, TOS, and DS9.

  STEVEN W. CARABATSOS is a television writer who has written episodes for such shows as Kojak, The Fugitive, and TOS, for which he served as script consultant.

  ROGER C. CARMEL was the actor who played the lovable rogue Harcourt Fenton Mudd on Star Trek (and provided his voice for the animated series’ “Mudd’s Passion”). He was a frequent guest star in such series as Banacek, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Hawaii Five-O and played the villainous Colonel Gumm on Batman. He was being considered to reprise his role of Harry Mudd for Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1986 when he died.

  KIM CATTRALL is a film and television actress. She starred as Samantha Jones in the HBO series Sex and the City and portrayed Valeris in STVI.

  DENNIS LYNTON CLARK is a writer for television and film. He wrote the book as well as the screenplay adaptation of Comes a Horseman and worked on TMP.

  RICHARD COLLA was a television and film director. He directed the three-hour premiere episode of Battlestar Galactica (1978) as well as episodes of Miami Vice and TNG.

  ROBERT L. COLLINS directed numerous TV movies and series including episodes of The Bold Ones, Police Story, and Marcus Welby, M.D. He was the director of the unproduced Phase II pilot and for a time was the original director for what would become TMP.

  STEPHEN COLLINS is an actor, writer, director, and musician. He is known for his role as Eric Camden on 7th Heaven and Captain Will Decker in TMP.

  LESTER COLODNY was a friend of Gene L. Coon’s and a producer, writer, and theatrical literary agent who represented such clients as Neil Simon, Mel Brooks, and Jerry Lewis

  JEFFREY COMBS is a television and film actor. He has portrayed various roles on DS9, VOY, and ENT, and memorably starred as Dr. Herbert West in Re-Animator.

  JAMES L. CONWAY is a film and television director whose work includes Supernatural, Charmed, Burke’s Law, and Sunn Classic Pictures’ Hangar 18 and In Search of Noah’s Ark, as well as episodes of TNG, DS9, VOY, and the two-hour premiere of ENT.

  CHARLES CORRELL was a cinematographer and television director. He was the director of photography on STIII.

  MANNY COTO is a writer, director, and producer for film and television. He is best known as the executive producer and showrunner for 24, Dexter, and ENT, as well as cocreator of Odyssey Five for Showtime.

  ALEXANDER COURAGE was an orchestrator, composer, and arranger of music. He is best known for composing the theme music for TOS.

  YVONNE CRAIG was a ballet dancer and actress. She is best known for her legendary role as Batgirl in the television series Batman as well as the green Orion slave girl Marta in TOS.

  OLIVER CRAWFORD was a screenwriter and author. He worked on a variety of television series including Bona
nza, Perry Mason, and TOS.

  JOSHUA CULP is the former assistant to uncredited TMP screenwriter Dennis Lynton Clark and brother of ENT actor Steven Culp.

  ROBIN CURTIS is a film actress who is best known for her role as Lieutenant Saavik in STIII and STIV. She also appeared in the TNG episode “Gambit.”

  MARC CUSHMAN is best known as the author of These Are the Voyages, a series of in-depth books devoted to the making of TOS.

  MARC DANIELS was a television director who worked on a variety of series, including I Love Lucy, Gunsmoke, and TOS.

  ROXANN DAWSON is a television actress and director. She is best known for portraying the role of B’Elanna Torres in VOY.

  FRED DEKKER is a television director and writer. His films include Night of the Creeps, The Monster Squad, and Robocop III, and he worked as a consulting producer on ENT. He is currently writing a remake of Predator for 20th Century–Fox.

  DEAN DEVLIN is the executive producer of such TV series as Leverage and The Librarians. He was a cowriter and producer on such hit films as Stargate, Independence Day, and The Patriot. He recently directed his first film, Geostorm, for Warner Bros.

  DAREN DOCHTERMAN is a film illustrator and conceptual designer. He has worked on such films as Get Smart, TRON: Legacy, and Monster House and was the visual-effects supervisor on the director’s edition of TMP.

  THOMAS DOHERTY is a professor of American studies at Brandeis University and author of such books as Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema; Hollywood and Hitler: 1933–1939; Teenagers and Teenpics: Juvenilization of American Movies in the 1950s; and Cold War, Cool Medium: Television, McCarthyism, and American Culture.

  JAMES DOOHAN was a television and film actor and veteran of the invasion of Normandy as part of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery. He is best known for his role of Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott in TOS, TAS, and the films based on the series, as well as such shows as Jason of Star Command and Homeboys from Outer Space. His son, Chris Doohan, plays Scotty in the fan film series Star Trek Continues.

  DOUG DREXLER is as visual-effects artist, designer, sculptor, illustrator, and makeup artist. He worked as a makeup artist on Dick Tracy, for which he won an Oscar, and TNG. He went on to work as a designer, digital artist, and effects artist on DS9, VOY, and ENT.

  RENE ECHEVARRIA is a television writer and producer. He has worked on a variety of shows including The 4400, Terra Nova, Castle, and TNG, and as supervising producer on DS9.

  EDDIE EGAN is a veteran publicist/marketer with nearly four decades of experience in the motion picture industry. He was on the Paramount publicity team for TMP and served as unit publicist on STII–IV.

  CLIFF EIDELMAN is a film composer who scored Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

  HARLAN ELLISON is a legendary award-winning author, screenwriter, and raconteur. He has written for The Twilight Zone, Babylon 5, and TOS.

  JOEL ENGEL is a journalist and author of the book Gene Roddenberry: The Myth and the Man Behind Star Trek.

  DAVID FEIN is a producer who oversaw the director’s edition DVD release of TMP for Robert Wise Productions.

  JACKIE COON FERNANDEZ was married to Star Trek writer Gene L. Coon.

  BRAN FERREN is the founder of Associates & Ferren, which created the visual effects for STV. He is the former president of research and development at Walt Disney Imagineering.

  GERALD FINNERMAN was a cinematographer who worked on a variety of television shows including Moonlighting and TOS.

  ROBERT FLETCHER was a costume designer who worked on TMP, STII, STIII, and STIV.

  DENNY MARTIN FLINN was an author and screenwriter. He is known for cowriting STVI with Nicholas Meyer.

  DOROTHY “D. C.” FONTANA is a television writer who is best known for writing for TOS, TAS, and TNG. She also worked on such series as The Streets of San Francisco, Fantastic Journey, Logan’s Run, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

  ALAN DEAN FOSTER is an author known for his works of science fiction and fantasy. He has written novelizations of myriad motion pictures and adapted the Star Trek Log series based on TAS. He also has a story credit on TMP.

  JONATHAN FRAKES is an actor and director. He is best known for his role of Commander William T. Riker in TNG. He also directed the films First Contact and Insurrection as well as episodes of Castle, Leverage, and The Librarians.

  FRED FREIBERGER was a television and film writer. He produced such shows as The Wild Wild West, the second season of Space: 1999, and the third season of TOS.

  MICHAEL JAN FRIEDMAN is a television, radio, and comic-book writer as well as an author. He is the author of many Star Trek novels and has written for VOY.

  BRYAN FULLER is a television writer and producer. In addition to creating and executive producing the popular series Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Hannibal, and American Gods, he was a writer for DS9 and coproducer on VOY.

  JOHN FURIA JR. was a television writer known for working on Bonanza, Hawaii Five-O, and The Twilight Zone. He was a former president of the Writers Guild of America.

  DAVID GAUTREAUX is a television and film actor who was originally cast as Xon in Phase II. He is also known for playing Commander Branch in TMP.

  DAVID GERROLD is a television and film writer as well as an author. He has written for Land of the Lost, TOS, and TAS and wrote numerous popular sci-fi novels including the novelette The Martian Child, which was adapted into a feature film starring John Cusack. He was heavily involved in the development phase of TNG.

  VINCE GILLIGAN is an Emmy Award–winning film and television writer, producer, and director. He is best known for creating the TV series Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul and working as a coexecutive producer on The X-Files.

  JERRY GOLDSMITH was a legendary composer and conductor best known for scoring television and film. He won an Academy Award for his score to The Omen. Among his hundreds of classic movie scores are Planet of the Apes, Patton, Total Recall, TMP, STV, and First Contact.

  JAMES GOLDSTONE was a television and film director. He directed the pilot to Ironside as well as “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” the second pilot for TOS.

  DAVID A. GOODMAN is a television writer and producer. He is an executive producer of Family Guy and wrote the beloved Futurama homage to Trek, “Where No Fan Has Gone Before.” He was also a consulting producer on ENT and is author of The Autobiography of James T. Kirk for Titan Books.

  ROBERT GOODWIN is a producer who worked on Phase II.

  CHRIS GORE is a comedian and writer who was a regular on G4TV’s Attack of the Show. He is the founder of Film Threat magazine.

  PETER GOULD is a television writer and producer known for his work on Breaking Bad and as cocreator of its spin-off, Better Call Saul.

  RICH HANDLEY is a Star Trek comic book historian and contributor to IDW’s Star Trek newspaper strip reprint hardcovers as well as an editor at Hasslein Books.

  DORRIS HALSEY was the founder of the Reece Halsey Agency, which represented Gene L. Coon as well as Henry Miller, Upton Sinclair, and Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World. Born Dorris Vilmos in Budapest, Hungary, Halsey joined the French Resistance in 1940 and was a German prisoner of war after she was caught and imprisoned, sharing a cell with thirty-eight other women.

  DAVID P. HARMON was a television writer and author. He worked on a variety of shows including The Brady Bunch, TOS, and TAS.

  RUSS HEATH is a legendary comic-book artist who has worked for DC, Marvel, and Peter Pan Records, where he worked on illustrations for their Star Trek record album inserts.

  ARTHUR HEINEMANN is a television and film screenwriter and artist. He worked as a writer on TOS.

  CATHERINE HICKS is a television and film actress. She played the roles of Annie Camden on 7th Heaven and Dr. Gillian Taylor in STIV.

  JAMES HORNER was an Oscar-winning conductor, composer, and orchestrator. He has worked on a wide range of films including Titanic, Gorky Park, Aliens, Battle Beyond the Stars, Avatar, S
TII, and STIII.

  GENNIFER HUTCHISON is a former assistant to John Shiban on The X-Files and ENT, producer for Breaking Bad and The Strain, and supervising producer on Better Call Saul.

  GERALD ISENBERG is a longtime film and television producer and former partner of Jerry Abrams, J. J. Abrams’s father. He was hired to produce Star Trek: Planet of the Titans by Paramount in the mid seventies.

  ANDRE JACQUEMETTON is a television writer and producer. He has written for such shows as Baywatch Hawaii, Mad Men, and ENT.

  MARIE JACQUEMETTON is a television writer and producer. She has written for a variety of shows including Baywatch Hawaii, Mad Men, and ENT.

  STEVEN-CHARLES JAFFE is a writer, producer, and director. He has been a producer on a variety of films including Ghost, Motel Hell, Strange Days, and STVI.

  WALTER “MATT” JEFFRIES was an aviation and mechanical artist, set designer, and writer. He is the designer of the original starship Enterprise.

  JOSEPH R. JENNINGS is an art director and production designer. He worked on various Star Trek projects including Phase II, TMP, and STII.

  GEORGE CLAYTON JOHNSON is an author and television writer. He is the coauthor of the novel Logan’s Run. He also wrote episodes of The Twilight Zone and TOS.

  ROBERT H. JUSTMAN was a producer and assistant director on such series as The Outer Limits. He was one of the original producers on TOS and also worked as a supervising producer on TNG.

  STEPHEN KANDEL is a television writer who has written for numerous shows including Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, MacGyver, TOS, and TAS.

  OSCAR KATZ was a television producer and executive who was the head of production at Desilu, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s production company, which produced the first two years of TOS.

  PHILIP KAUFMAN is a director and screenwriter. He is best known for directing such films as The Wanderers, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and The Right Stuff. He was attached to direct the aborted film project Star Trek: Planet of the Titans.

  SALLY KELLERMAN is an actress, author, producer, and singer. She has appeared in the movies M*A*S*H and Pret-a-Porter as well as a variety of television programs including The Outer Limits, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, and TOS.