D . C . Fontana Dorothy Catherine Fontana is a writer and script editor who has the distinction of being one of the few people to have worked on , as well as , , and . " Deep Space Nine " is her favorite " Star Trek " spinoff . She especially liked the show ' s strong characters . When writing , Fontana has used pseudonyms , including Michael Richards and J . Michael Bingham . Fontana worked as a writer for a few television series before " Star Trek " , then briefly worked as Gene Roddenberry ' s secretary , before she became a writer on the show . The first episode she penned was , based on a premise by Roddenberry entitled " The Day Charlie Became God " . Fontana wrote several notable " " episodes , including and . Also , after the departure of Steven W . Carabatsos , she was promoted to story editor ( after successfully re - writing ) . At the age of 27 , Fontana became the youngest story editor in Hollywood at the time , and also one of the few female staff writers . ( " " , introduction ) She remained in this capacity until the end of the second season . She left the story editor position before the third season went into production : " " I had told Gene Roddenberry that I did not wish to continue on " Star Trek " as story editor because I wanted to freelance and write for other series . I did , however , want to continue to do scripts for " Star Trek " . Gene was agreeable to this , and I was given a contract in February of which called for a guarantee of three scripts , with an option for three more . Whenever anyone has asked why I chose to leave " Star Trek " s story editorship , I have always given this reply . " " However , Fontana was very unhappy with the rewrites done on her third season scripts , including and ( originally submitted as " Joanna " by Fontana , featuring Doctor McCoy ' s daughter ) . Fontana ' s other noticeable contribution to " The Original Series " was her discovery and introduction to Gene Roddenberry of costume designer William Ware Theiss . During her years on the " Original Series " she was an active contributor to the officially endorsed fanzine " " , for which she conducted interviews with several key production staffers , most notably the one with Theiss , the only published one on record . Four years after the end of the " Original Series " , she became the associate producer and story editor of , for which she also wrote the episode . In early October 1986 , nearly two decades after leaving the original " Star Trek " , Fontana , together with her " Original Series " co - workers David Gerrold , Edward K . Milkis and Robert Justman , were brought back by Roddenberry to form the original production nucleus to help out with the pre - production of . ( " " , pp . 9 - 11 ) Serving as Associate Producer on the first thirteen episodes of the first season , Fontana was – along with Gerrold – mainly responsible for being a story editor and story consultant . She co - wrote the pilot , with Roddenberry , earning a Hugo Award nomination , co - invented the " LCARS " concept , and wrote four other episodes of the season , before departing ( along with all the " Original Series " production staff veterans ) due to the meddlings of Roddenberry ' s lawyer , Leonard Maizlish . Unlike her fellow writer Gerrold , Fontana had chosen not to elaborate on the conditions under which she had left the production ; that was until 2014 , when she unequivocally identified Maizlish as the malefactor for her decision to do so , in William Shatner ' s documentary , " " . Then Research Consultant , Richard Arnold confirmed in the documentary , " " I think he " [ Maizlish ] " thought he was speaking with Gene ' s voice , but I think Gene never heard the way he spoke to other people . Gene had these wonderful relationships with people who worked with him on the Original Series , like Dorothy Fontana , and Leonard was horrible to Dorothy . " " Shortly returning to the live - action franchise later on , she also penned , her last involvement with " Star Trek " , in which a great deal of Jadzia Dax ' backstory was fleshed out . In the DS9 episode , the character Kay Eaton , who had to pose as a male to get her science fiction stories published , was an homage to Fontana . The " Enterprise " episode also honored her work on the episode by including her name ( along with that of the episode ' s director , Michael O ' Herlihy , on a mission patch for the Earth - Saturn probe ( a copy of which was sent to Fontana by Michael Okuda ) . In 2006 , she gave an interview in in which she talked about writing for three " Star Trek " series . She notes how unhappy she was with the way Roddenberry re - wrote the episodes they wrote together . She used the pseudonym " J . Michael Bingham " for , as she was especially unhappy with the episode . She liked writing much more . Outside of " Trek " , Fontana wrote scripts for dozens of shows , including " Babylon 5 " and " Earth : Final Conflict " . In a 1974 episode scripted for " The Six Million Dollar Man " , " The Rescue of Athena One " , Fontana pays homage to " Star Trek " by having Lee Majors ' character of Colonel Steve Austin speak the line " " Space . . . it really is the final frontier , isn ' t it ? " " Fontana wrote the stories of the video games " " ( unreleased ) , " " , " " and " " all with Derek Chester , and an episode of the fan production " Star Trek : New Voyages " , the episode " To Serve All My Days " in 2006 , on which she worked alongside Jack Treviño and Ethan H . Calk .