RIP Star Trek Writer, Creator D.C. Fontana 1939-2019

She was there from Star Trek's very beginning. Prolific Star Trek and television writer Dorothy Catherine Fontana, D.C. Fontana, died peacefully on December 2 at the age of 80. She started as Gene Roddenberry's secretary where he encouraged her to write. Which she did for various TV shows before joining Gene on his next project - Star Trek. She was part of shows development and became its first female writer in its second episode with "Charlie X." By the middle of the first season she was promoted to Story Editor which meant she continued to mold the series and influence its tone, characters, and more. This included writing drafts for the legendary episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" based on the that was Harlan Ellison's initial draft. Which having read his version, the ability to improve what was a dumpster fire of a script into one of the most critically acclaimed television episodes of all time is no small feat. She eventually went on to write eleven TOS episodes including Journey to Babel, The Enterprise Incident, and The Way to Eden. Babel is most known for introducing Spock's father Sarek, his human mother Amanda, and providing details on Vulcan culture. In effect the Spock we know today is largely a creation of DC Fontana's influence and work.

She later returned to Star Trek with the animated series writing "Yesteryear." During that same period she wrote episodes for Logan's Run, Dallas, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Yet Star Trek beckoned. This time with the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called Encounter at Farpoint which she co-write with Gene Roddenberry and later explorer the Trill species in the Deep Space Nine episode "Dax". She chose the name DC Fontana and occasionally used Michael Richards as a way of getting pass sexists Hollywood standards. Her contribution to Star Trek was critical in defining what Star Trek is and her influence on the show will continued to be felt for the life of the franchise. William Shatner said it up best, "She was a pioneer. Her work will continue to influence for generations to come."

Its worth reading her two part 2013 interview from StarTrek.com about the development of the show - Part 1 | Part 2