David Gerrold David Gerrold , birth name Jerrold David Friedman , is a screenwriter and science fiction author who wrote episodes of and and also worked as a story editor on . He left near the end of that series ' first season in a dispute with Gene Roddenberry . " Star Trek " affiliation . Gerrold wrote the scripts for the TOS episode and its sequel , the TAS episode , as well as another TAS episode , . The first of these was nominated for a Hugo Award in the category " Best Dramatic Presentation " , which he shared with Joseph Pevney . He provided the story , along with Oliver Crawford , for . He also provided an uncredited rewrite of the final draft of the script for . Before his script outline that became " The Trouble With Tribbles " was bought by " Star Trek " producers , Gerrold ( a recent college graduate ) , early in 1967 , submitted a sixty - page outline for a two - part episode , " Tomorrow Was Yesterday " . After that outline was responded to , positive for its quality , negative for its usefulness to the series , Gerrold was invited by producer Gene Coon to submit some script outlines suitable for the program ' s budget . Gerrold submitted , including " A Fuzzy Thing Happened To Me . . . " ( which became Tribbles ) , " The Protracted Man " , " " , and two others with titles Gerrold did not recall some years later . One of the others involved Kirk playing a chess game with his crew as chess pieces , the other involved a spaceship - destroying machine , an idea he noted as eerily similar to Norman Spinrad ' s story that was produced for the same season . Coon saw " Fuzzies . . . " as the best candidate for a potential " Star Trek " episode and guided the young Gerrold through the proccess of developing it into a workable script . Meanwhile , Gerrold was also granted access to visit the set during the production of several episodes ( including ) to gain first - hand knowledge of the series format and audiovisual language . Coon also assigned Gerrold to do a rewrite on Stephen Kandel ' s script of during his " writing student " tenure at the show . After the success of " Tribbles " , Gerrold also came up with both and as story ideas for the third season , however the new producer , Fred Freiberger refused to buy either of them . They were re - developed and produced for the " The Animated Series " five years later . However , Freiberger bought a story idea from Gerrold , " Castles in the Sky " , which was eventually developed into . Unlike Coon , Freiberger did not trust the novice writer ' s capabilities , and assigned television veteran Oliver Crawford to co - write the script with Gerrold . Eventually , Freiberger , dissatisfied with the outcome , pulled both of them out the assignment , and hired Margaret Armen to rewrite the script . A caricature of Gerrold was included in as an in - joke . According to the novelization of the episode by Alan Dean Foster , this individual was named " Hacker , " a name which Gerrold later found insulting . In early October 1986 , Gerrold , together with Robert Justman , Edward K . Milkis and D . C . Fontana were brought back by Roddenberry to form the original production nucleus to " help out " with the pre - production of . ( " " , pp . 9 - 11 ) In 1987 , Gerrold became a story editor on " The Next Generation " , in which capacity he wrote many elements in the Writers ' Bible for the series . Having had an inside track he submitted a series of articles under the column heading " Generations " to " " , the first of which appeared in issue 118 , May 1987 and which ran through issue 123 of October 1987 , often illustrated with production art by Andrew Probert . The intent was , much as Susan Sackett had done in her " Star Trek Reports " columns on for the same publications in the 1970s , to keep readership apprised about the progress of the production of " The Next Generation " . " He left the show near the end of the first season , partly because of the dispute over his controversial script , " Blood and Fire " . The story , which was basically an allegory of AIDS , and involved allegedly homosexual characters , was initially scrapped by the producers . It was re - written by Herb Wright as " Blood and Ice " , removing the gay characters , but it still remained unproduced . Gerrold received credit as Program Consultant for the early part of the first season , from to . However , the main reason for Gerrold ' s departure was the constant harassment by Roddenberry ' s lawyer , Leonard Maizlish ( who was responsible for all " Original Series " production staff members departing the show during or after the first season ) . Gerrold has stated , " " [ I ] finally got the very clear message that Gene ' s lawyer didn ' t like me . And that whatever Gene promised me , the lawyer was going to take away . ( . . . ) what he was doing was significantly undermining everybody that might be a threat to Gene , so that he could stay in control . " " and , " " Gene ' s lawyer ( Leonard Maizlish ) was making it impossible for anybody to do any real work . He was rewriting scripts . He was committing Guild violations . People were very unhappy . It was one of the worst working environments I ' d ever been in . So when my contract came up for renewal , I asked Gene not to [ renew it ] . Later , I found out that Maizlish was telling people what a troublemaker I was , that I ' d been fired because I was mentally ill , that I never did anything useful for the show – real character assassination of the worst sort . " " Producer Justman , one of the " Original Series " veterans who left the production and citing Maizlish ' s actions as " destructive meddling " , has confirmed Gerrold ' s stance as he too left the production because of Maizlish . ( " " , pp . 433 - 434 ) Not being able to divulge the main reasons for his departure at the time , due to his non - disclosure obligations , Gerrold has additionally stated in his last " Starlog " " Generations " column ( published in the October 1987 issue , just after the first time airing of the pilot episode ) , " " My contract with Paramount expired at the end of May and I asked Gene Roddenberry to please not renew it . Why ? In April I was offered the opportunity yo write and " produce " a four - hour science - fiction mini - series for CBS and Columbia Television . The series is called " Trackers " and the Executive Producer is Daron J . Thomas . If the mini - series is a hit , then a regular weekly SF TV series would be developed from it . This was a very difficult decision for me to make . " Star Trek " has always been a home to me . It had always been fun and the people have always been good to work with . But . . . now , it was obvious to me that it was time to leave home . Or as my agent put it : " You can ' t turn down the chance to be the Great Bird of your own galaxy . " " " ( " " , issue 123 , p . 15 ) That series , however , never got off the ground . In addition to writing , he provided the voice for Em / 3 / Green in the TAS episode , and was an extra in and the episode . He originally wanted to appear in a smaller role in ( some sources say he wrote the part of Ensign Freeman for himself ) , but it never came to fruition . Gerrold ' s son Sean , who was twelve at the time of the filming of " Trials and Tribble - ations " , joined his father on the DS9 set . Sean asked his father where the " Enterprise " crew kept their money ( a question which Gerrold himself had once asked Gene L . Coon ) and expressed disappointment that James T . Kirk and Spock were not actually there . ( " " introduction ) Gerrold wrote the novelization of the TNG pilot , ' , and the " Original Series " novel , " The Galactic Whirlpool " , which was developed from his the aforementioned " Tomorrow Was Yesterday " outline . He also wrote the foreword of the " Trials and Tribble - ations " novelization and the introduction of the " Constellations " anthology . Outside fiction , Gerrold wrote " The World of Star Trek " , a behind - the - scenes reference and interview book , and ' , detailing his experiences in the production of the titular episode , both in 1973 . More recently , Gerrold wrote and directed the fan - made internet series " Star Trek : New Voyages " episode " Blood and Fire " ( 2007 ) , which features James Cawley , John Carrigan , Denise Crosby , and Bill Blair . It is a re - working of his " Star Wolf " book " Blood and Fire " ( itself , a re - working of the aforementioned story he originally wrote for TNG ) . This time , the allegory of AIDS and the involvement of homosexual characters , was included . Another episode , a further sequel to " The Trouble with Tribbles " , was planned . After a series of controversial artistic disputes between Gerrold and the " Phase II " production concerning the filming of the episode " Mind - Sifter " and the scrapping of Gerrold ' s own episode " The Protracted Man " , the latter of which that was well documented in a dispute between himself and a fan on the TrekToday bulletin board , Gerrold resigned his position as the series showrunner . Although Gerrold had for many years a contentious relationship with both " Star Trek " and Gene Roddenberry , he has reconciled himself to his association with the show and speaks of his experiences fondly . In 2015 , David Gerrold would become involved in the copyright infringement lawsuit between both CBS / Paramount and Alec Peters , regarding the Star Trek fan film " Axanar " . Although he stated that he had " no dog in this fight " , he had become a creative consultant on the project after reading the script , being quoted as saying " " This is " Star Trek " " " , and later spoke out in favor of fan films and " Axanar " . In 2016 , Gerrold found himself involved in a second copyright infringement lawsuit involving " Star Trek " . A lawsuit was filed by Dr . Seuss Enterprises ( DSE ) against Gerrold and comic book artist Ty Templeton for their proposed " Star Trek " - Dr . Seuss “ mash - up ” book " Oh , The Places You ’ ll Boldly Go ! " . The project generated $ 30 , 000 in a Kickstarter campaign that was promptly shut down ( and the donations frozen ) when DSE asserted their ownership of the Dr . Seuss property . A lawsuit quickly followed in late 2016 accusing the mash - up creators and their publisher ComicMix of both copyright and trademark infringement . The claim was largely dismissed in court in June 2017 , but that ruling was rescinded by the same judge in December 2017 . The DVD box release " " featured a reunion of fan extras in the " Special " Star Trek " Reunion " , including Gerrold , Christopher Doohan , Bjo Trimble , Jo Ann Nolan , and Fred Bronson chatting on the same sound stage used for the rec deck scene . Non - " Star Trek " work . Outside " Star Trek " , Gerrold was , in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s , a free - lance writer for " Starlog " magazine , for which he wrote regular columns ; among others , aside from the one mentioned above , was one called " Rumblings " , which concerned itself with science fiction in general , though not few of them had " Star Trek " as main subject . He has written the " Star Wolf " trilogy , using some scripts not used for " Star Trek " , which enthusiasts sometimes call " " Star Trek " like it should have been " ; apart from his " Star Trek " novels and the tribble s episode , his most famed work may be " The War against the Chtorr " , in which he describes a biological invasion of planet Earth by a hostile ecology . He also wrote the novelization of the 1973 film " Battle for the Planet of the Apes " , which featured Paul Williams , France Nuyen , music by Leonard Rosenman , and cinematography by Richard H . Kline . Gerrold himself appeared in the movie in a small cameo role , as a dead ape in a battle scene . " Martian Child " , a 2007 comedy - drama film based on a novelette and subsequent novel by Gerrold , concerns an author adopting a boy after his fiancée passes away . The story is semi - autobiographical – Gerrold himself adopted a boy in 1992 . The film ' s protagonist , played by actor John Cusack , is also named David in this film . Gerrold served as executive producer for the production . ' Star Trek " stuntman Lauro Chartrand appeared in this film . The original novelette had received a 1995 Hugo Award . "