I wrote, back in 1976, “I handed in my script to rave comments by Gene, Dorothy Fontana…and the then-story editor, John D.F. Black.” I wrote that in 1976, but all through this essay you will find examples of statements from Roddenberry, Coon, Pevney, and any passerby who cared to dump a load of rat-puke on my abilities, attesting to how impossible the script was.

But I wrote that my submission was greeted by raves. Am I deluding myself? Am I trying to save face by saying everyone else is misremembering, lying, altering the past to protect the memory of Roddenberry? Am I simply a writer who wrote a bad script and can’t admit it?

Well, in 1976 I never contemplated writing this book. In 1976 none of the Star Trek memorabilia books had come out. In 1976 none of the cast members or the Paramount staff, or those who worked on Star Trek had spoken out. And in 1976 I had no access to the Star Trek archive of papers—letters, memos, schedules, and on and on—housed at UCLA’s Theatre Arts/Media Library (University Reference Library, 2nd floor).

But it is 1996 as I write this, and all of those sources have been revealed. I wrote in 1976 that I got rave reviews. At that time I was just saying it. Now I have the proof.

Here are some examples:

Robert H. Justman was the Co-Producer of Star Trek. He is co-author with Desilu-Paramount’s Executive in Charge of Production for Star Trek, Herbert F. Solow, of the large recently-published volume INSIDE STAR TREK: The Real Story (Pocket Books, 1976). When I handed in the script he wrote a memo that said:

“Without a doubt, this is the best and most beautifully written screenplay we have gotten to date and possibly we’ll ever get this season. If you tell this to Harlan, I’ll kill you.” (INSIDE STAR TREK, page 278)

William Shatner: “‘City’ is my favorite of the original Star Trek series because of the fact that it is a beautiful love story, well told.” (Direct quote, 9/28/91)

Oh, screw it! I don’t have to justify the quality of the goddam script in footnotes! Go read the damned thing and make up your own mind. But remember, we go in very short order from “this is a brilliant script” to “we can’t shoot this damned thing.”

But Justman—with whom I worked on The Outer Limits prior to Star Trek—on page 277 of the same book describes how we had a similar problem of budgeting a script I had written for The Outer Limits, and how easily we solved it, how amenable I was to suggestions from the very same Justman who later wrote so many memos saying “we can’t shoot this, it’s too expensive.”