How D.C. Fontana Helped Star Trek Live Long and Prosper

About this episode

This episode explores the significant contributions of D.C. Fontana to the Star Trek franchise and her impact on storytelling.

Gene Roddenberry’s name is synonymous with Star Trek, but he relied on a team to bring his vision to life. Most of his writers were men with one exception, the trailblazing Dorothy Fontana. Professionally, she went by D.C. Fontana to counter the belief that women couldn’t write genres like war, Westerns or sci-fi. Fontana became story editor and wrote some of the most beloved episodes of The Original Series, became the de facto showrunner on The Animated Series, and helped launch The Next Generation. She excelled at building character relationships and alien species – especially Vulcans – and worked closely with Leonard Nimoy to develop Spock. I talk with writers and podcasters Jarrah Hodge, Ian Spelling, Brian Drew and Laurie Ulster about how Fontana quietly shaped a franchise and influenced generations of fans through Star Trek’s 60th anniversary. Special thanks to The Writers Guild Foundation Archive for clips of D.C. Fontana from their series, The Writer Speaks. This episode is sponsored by Mizzen + Main. Our listeners get 20% off their first purchase at mizzenandmain.com using the promo code IMAGINARY20. To support Imaginary Worlds, you can donate to the show on Patreon and…

People in this episode

Host: Eric Molinsky

Guests: Jarrah Hodge, Ian Spelling, Brian Drew, Laurie Ulster

Topics covered

• Star Trek
• D.C. Fontana
• screenwriting
• female writers
• science fiction
• character development

Keywords

• Star Trek
• D.C. Fontana
• Gene Roddenberry
• screenwriter
• Vulcans
• Spock
• The Original Series
• The Animated Series
• The Next Generation

Sponsors

Mizzen + Main

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Writers Guild Foundation Archive

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