I felt that this lady deserved a thread, considering how much Dorothy Fontana contributed to Star Trek.

Here are her TOS credits, courtesy of Memory Alpha:

"Charlie X" (teleplay) (Season 1)
"Tomorrow is Yesterday"
"This Side of Paradise" (teleplay, story with Nathan Butler)
"Friday's Child" (Season 2)
"Journey to Babel"
"By Any Other Name" (teleplay with Jerome Bixby)
"The Ultimate Computer" (teleplay)
"The Enterprise Incident" (Season 3)
"That Which Survives" (story, as Michael Richards)
"The Way to Eden" (as Michael Richards)

She wrote a lot of good episodes, IMO.

Of course, Ms. Fontana would briefly work on TNG, but left due to the due to the meddling of Roddenberry's lawyer, Leonard Maizlish (who stared sticking his nose in when Gene's health started to go). Sadly, I don't think she and Gene ever mended fences before he died.

I think Dorothy Fontana is now the last surviving production member of TOS.

Let us not forget the TAS episode "Yesteryear"

The only episode of TAS that was even considered to be closely canonical.

She also wrote the novel, Vulcan's Glory. This is the only novel she wrote and I have to wonder why. Ms. Fontana is one of Trek's most acknowledged writers and gave us many good episodes.

This has been posted elsewhere, but now that the thread is up, it should be here as well. A few years ago, Dorothy Fontana fessed up and let it be known that she wrote the final shooting script for "The City On The Edge Of Forever". Makes me wonder how much more she had contributed to Trek that to this day is not acknowledged.

Perhaps it's time she told us. Like so many other examples, she's the last person who worked behind the scenes on City left alive.

You're going only by her writing credits. Dorothy was even more instrumental than you guys realize, because her title of 'story consultant' in the first and second season episodes meant she had a hand in on 31 episodes.
I just bought 'These Are The Voyages' Volume 2 off eBay, which details (in more than 600 pages!) all the details of the creation of each and every episode, from original script ideas through to broadcast ratings.
I highly recommend you go to the library and try to find it (or the first or third season volumes), because it'll blow you away, just finding out what might have been.
Even just a few lines of an episode from someone else is the result of not just Roddenberry adding stuff, but D.C. and Gene Coon, too.
I'll check my book, and I'll let you know some new facts.

A few years ago, Dorothy Fontana fessed up and let it be known that she wrote the final shooting script for "The City On The Edge Of Forever".

And she probably kept that secret because IIRC Roddenberry promised Harlen Ellison that any rewrites of his script would be done personally by Roddenberry himself.

Oh, I think her last writing involving the original Trek characters was for a computer game that ended up being canceled in the early 2000s.

I just bought 'These Are The Voyages' Volume 2 off eBay, which details (in more than 600 pages!) all the details of the creation of each and every episode, from original script ideas through to broadcast ratings.
I highly recommend you go to the library and try to find it (or the first or third season volumes), because it'll blow you away, just finding out what might have been.
Even just a few lines of an episode from someone else is the result of not just Roddenberry adding stuff, but D.C. and Gene Coon, too.
I'll check my book, and I'll let you know some new facts.

Excellent, Steve.


And she probably kept that secret because IIRC Roddenberry promised Harlen Ellison that any rewrites of his script would be done personally by Roddenberry himself.

Since both Roddenberry and Ellison are now dead, perhaps Ms. Fontana can finally reveal how much she was involved in the writing, or re-writing, of City.

Okay, here we go. I'm only through the first 8 episodes of season 2, but here are things you guys might not know;

Catspaw:
It was Dorothy's idea to encase the ship in a glass cube and force field.
They couldn't afford to build a giant cat's paw to smash Korob, so it was her idea that the door squashes him, instead.
Metamorphosis:
Scotty was originally part of the shuttle crew, and when she saw that he'd be 'zotzed' (D.C.'s word in a memo) by the Companion, she brought it to the attention of Justman and Roddenberry, and told them that he was already getting electrocuted by Nomad and Apollo, so three times was excessive. As a result, Scotty's off the shuttle and in command of the Enterprise, instead.
Friday's Child;
This was her script and stands out as what WASN'T left in the script. She wanted Eleen to be more ruthless-- "not all mommies want to be mothers", and had been cheating on Akaar behind his back, and wanted to trade her life for the baby that she didn't want. The others saw that she was unlikeable all the way through the script, so changes were made, so that she'd accept her child. There was also no Kras the Klingon in the script, amd Maab was simply executed for treason against the tribes.
It was annoying enough to her that she wanted her pseudonym of 'Michael Richards' put on the script, but the producers convinced her otherwise.
In fact, even now, she's disappointed in this great episode, because it wasn't what she wanted to have produced.
Who Mourns For Adonais?;
Apparently, Scotty was written even more hot-headed, almost irrational, and she toned it down. Also, Carolyn Palamas was supposed to be getting over the death of a boyfriend/shipmate, starts to get interested in Scotty, and then falls for Apollo. It made her seem very scatter-brained so they eliminated the dead boyfriend.
Amok Time;
A different crewwoman, not Chapel, was supposed to be prying into Spoock's affairs and bringing soup. D.C. rightly had that changed to Christine Chapel, who we already knew had a thing for Spock.
Unable to show the SFX aircraft that brings the wedding party to the site, D.C. suggested the more regal appearance on foot with T'Pau carried in a sedan.
There was going to be much Vulcan spoken with subtitles-- she had them cut it down to just specific words spoken (Ahn-woon, kroy-kah), and English spoken by T'Pau and T'Pring.
To choose her champion, T'Pring was going to spin around and around and finally choose Kirk. D.C. changed it to a right-to-the-point choice of Kirk.
D.C. also got her wish to show a devious woman in T'Pring, rather than Eleen. She wrote the part about T'Pring telling Spock about her plan-- (I'm paraphrasing) "..you'd be gone and I'd have Stonn...if you accepted you'd still be off the planet and Stonn would still be there."
The Changeling;
It was Dorothy's idea to have Uhura's mind wiped, rather than some new female character.
She might also be responsible for naming the probe 'Nomad' instead of the scripted 'Altair'.
Her rewrites made up nearly half the script, and she was given credit along with Gene Coon, but she refused.

As I'm going though the book, I'll add more. But, it's become clear to me that the series that we know is the result of MULTIPLE writers for EVERY episode. I already knew Roddenberry would put things in, or change dialog as he saw fit to keep the characters in character, but what we've seen and heard on screen is the result of not just him, but also D.C., Gene Coon, and Robert Justman, as well as the others in charge during the first and third seasons which I have yet to read.
Kinda makes me think our appreciation of the scriptwriters talents are misplaced. Theodore Sturgeon, Gilbert Ralston, Robert Bloch, etc etc-- they've all basked in the praise which sometimes wasn't even theirs to accept!

I think in one of David Gerrold's books about Star Trek it was mentioned she was working on her own show of space travelers. Unfortunately IMDB doesn't mention any such pilot. Although it did list two episodes of The Wild Wild West (The Night of the Deadly Bubble & The Night of the Watery Death both as Michael Edwards.)

Kinda makes me think our appreciation of the scriptwriters talents are misplaced. Theodore Sturgeon, Gilbert Ralston, Robert Bloch, etc etc-- they've all basked in the praise which sometimes wasn't even theirs to accept!

One of my books on writing said something to the effect of, 'A script isn't the finished movie, it's the rough draft.' There's always going to be changes.

As I'm going though the book, I'll add more. But, it's become clear to me that the series that we know is the result of MULTIPLE writers for EVERY episode. I already knew Roddenberry would put things in, or change dialog as he saw fit to keep the characters in character, but what we've seen and heard on screen is the result of not just him, but also D.C., Gene Coon, and Robert Justman, as well as the others in charge

Dorothy really needs to write more about all this. As I said, she's the last survivor of this bunch, so she's the last one who can tell the full story.


I think in one of David Gerrold's books about Star Trek it was mentioned she was working on her own show of space travelers. Unfortunately IMDB doesn't mention any such pilot.

I guess it never got past the script stage.

I know that Dorothy was involved in the Logan's Run TV series. One of the episodes she wrote, The Innocent, is much like Charlie X (a young person with incredible powers). However, this time, there was a happier ending.

Sad news, everyone. Dorothy Fontana passed away yesterday. She was 80 years old. Of course, her contributions to Trek are immeasurable. RIP, Dorothy Fontana.

Indeed, the death of Dorothy Fontana is a terrible loss to Classic Trek fans. She wrote some of the best episodes, IMO.

And she helped get TNG off the ground (even if she did leave that show under bad circumstances).

R.I.P. Dorothy Fontana

On CBS This Morning today, Anthony Mason did a tribute to Dorothy Fontana, highlighted by clips from "Journey to Babel". Co-host Gayle King was completely oblivious to who she was. Even after more than 50 years; she still thought that D.C. Fontana was a man. IMHO, she has been spending way too much time with Oprah.

Hey, Gayle, there is this thing called the Internet, on which you can find out all kinds of info, including who Dorothy Fontana was.

Pretty cutting edge, Gayle, I know. But use it if you don't have the fact before opening your mouth on national television.

That strikes me as rather odd misconception to have. In my experience, writers who go by their initials are more often than not female, especially in the traditionally guy dominated genre of science fiction.

But to me nothing beats Meredith Vieira not knowing what 'Doctor Who' was! I think it was around the time of the 50th anniversary, and she was clueless. I'm familiar with a hundreds of TV series that I've never watched, but I've heard the names. She couldn't have done one minute of research before embarrassing herself?

Hard to believe anyone can be so out of touch in this age of the Internet.

Both Dorothy Fontana and Rene Auberjonois were given tributes at this year's Emmy Awards. I wonder if Gayle King watched the show. You know, to get clued in on who Dorothy Fontana was. More here.

Nice that they included Dorothy. Usually only actors and directors get such honours.

Shows what an impact Dorothy Fontana made on the industry.