Nicholas Meyer Nicholas Meyer directed and . He wrote the screenplays for and " Star Trek VI " . Though never credited for his efforts , Meyer rewrote much of the screenplay for " The Wrath of Khan " by combining several elements from earlier drafts . He is also largely responsible for the nautical influence that pervades " The Wrath of Khan " and its sequels , from the military essence of the red - jacket uniforms to the more heated and dramatic character of the battle sequences . Meyer ' s more militaristic take on the " Star Trek " universe was vehemently opposed by its creator Gene Roddenberry , as it did not correspond to his vision for the " Star Trek " universe , but the latter was toothless at the time of " Wrath of Khan " due to the stipulations in the contract he had with Paramount Pictures . The situation , however , came to a head with " The Undiscovered Country " when Roddenberry ( now back " on staff " as the Executive Producer of , though he still had no creative say in the movie ) was angered by the racism he perceived in the production in regard to the Klingon s . A charged meeting between the two parties followed : " " His guys " [ Roddenberry ' s legal staff , headed by the in " Star Trek " - lore reviled Leonard Maizlish ] " were lined up on one side of the room , and my guys were lined up on the other side of the room , and this was not a meeting in which I felt I ' d behaved very well , very diplomatically . I came out of it feeling not very good , and I ' ve not felt good about it ever since . He was not well " [ an ailing Roddenberry would indeed pass away only a short time later ] " , and maybe there were more tactful ways of dealing with it , because at the end of the day , I was going to go out and make the movie . I didn ' t have to take him on . Not my finest hour , " " Meyer later recounted . In , Meyer was interviewed for the special feature " " Star Trek " : The Three Picture Saga " on the DVD box release of ( alongside Garfield and Judith Reeves - Stevens , Peter Krikes , Steve Meerson , Harve Bennett , and Ralph Winter ) , and published his autobiography " The View from the Bridge - Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood " . Yet , his most frank and most elaborate " Star Trek " interview he has ever given to date , was for William Shatner ' s 1994 memoir " Star Trek Movie Memories " . On , it was announced that , in , Meyer will be a writer and consulting producer for ( which had , at the time of the announcement , not yet been given a title ) . Career outside " Star Trek " . A graduate from the University of Iowa with a degree in theater and filmmaking , Nicholas Meyer , prior to his involvement with the " Trek " films , was best known for adapting and directing the 1979 time - travel film , " Time After Time " ( starring Malcolm McDowell and David Warner ) , and for writing the Sherlock Holmes pastiche novels " The Seven - Per - Cent Solution " and " The West End Horror " ( in 1993 , he wrote a third , " The Canary Trainer " ) . He also wrote the adapted screenplay for the film version of " Solution " ( for which he earned a 1977 Academy Award nomination ) , whose cast included Georgia Brown , Joel Grey , Samantha Eggar and Jeremy Kemp . " The Day After " . Though Nicholas Meyer is well known to " Star Trek " audiences , his most influential work , as far as the general public was concerned , was directing the ABC Cold War television movie ( 1983 , and on which Michael Westmore served as make - up artist , earning him one of his many Emmy Award nominations ) , which stunned contemporary audiences for its then graphic display of a nuclear holocaust and its aftermath . According the National Geographic series , , nearly 100 million Americans tuned in for its first broadcast on 20 November 1983 . The documentary further postulated that the movie was a co - influence on then President Ronald Reagan to embark upon the " Strategic Defense Initiative " ( SDI , or popularly known as " Star Wars " ) . Meyer , who was featured in the documentary , mentioned that the producers had trouble finding a director due to the controversial nature of the production , and that he ended up being hired as the third or fourth choice of the producers . It nevertheless won Meyer two 1984 Emmy Award nominations in two categories and a German Golden Screen Award in 1985 . Meyer embarked upon this project directly after " The Wrath of Khan " . " Star Trek " awards . Meyer has received the following awards and award nominations for his work in " Star Trek " . Hugo Awards . In the category Best Dramatic Presentation