Star Trek: The Original Series
Russel Bates knew the series' story editor, D. C. Fontana, through "Star Trek: The Original Series" producer Gene L. Coon, whom Bates had apprenticed under. Fontana told Bates about "The Animated Series", asking him to try writing something for it. Bates did pitch several stories for the show's first season, but all of them were rejected. Bates met David Wise at the Clarion Science Fiction Writer's Workshop. Wise suggested that after the workshop was over they collaborate to try to sell a story for "Star Trek".