Gene L . Coon " " To me , in many ways , Gene L . Coon was the heart and soul of " " . " " Eugene " Gene " Lee Coon , commonly known as " Gene L . Coon " , sometimes credited under the pseudonym " Lee Cronin " , was a writer and producer for . He produced the first season of the series from to and the second season from to , earning him a 1967 Emmy Award nomination . Coon was hired as line producer in , when associate producer / story editor John D . F . Black left , and Gene Roddenberry felt he needed someone to handle everyday production business and do re - writes of the scripts , or else he and Robert Justman would soon be unable to cope up with the demanding work . He was Roddenberry ' s fourth choice for the job , as Fred Freiberger , Samuel A . Peeples and James Goldstone all declined the offer . ( " " , 1st ed , p . 245 ) Upon being hired by Roddenberry , an enthusiastic Coon had nothing but praise for the strictly to scientific believability adhering creator of the series , " Gene created a totally new universe . He invented a starship , which works , by the way , and is a logical progression from what we know today . He created customs , morals , modes of speaking , a complete technology . We have a very rigid technology on the show . We know how fast we can go . We know what we use for fuel . We know what our weapons will do . And Gene invented all these things . He did a monumental job of creation . He created an entire galaxy , and an entire rule book for operating within that galaxy , with very specific laws governing behavior , manners , customs , as well as science and technology . Now , that ' s a hell of a job . He didn ' t create a show . He created a universe , and it works , and it works well . This was a massive , titanic job of creation . One of the most impressive feats of its kind that I ' ve ever seen . You can submit our ship or our technology or anything you want to NASA and they will say , " Well , it ' s pretty far out , but I don ' t see why it shouldn ' t work . " Nobody can tell us that it ' s scientifically impossible or that it won ' t work . " ( " The Making of Star Trek " , p . 74 ) The lavish praise for Roddenberry notwithstanding , Coon himself contributed substantially to the " totally new universe " , as much of the framework of the " Star Trek " universe , was established under Coon ' s tenure on the series ; the Klingon s were introduced ( ) , the galactic governing body United Federation of Planets was named ( ) , Starfleet Command was firmly established as the ' s operating authority ( ) , and the Prime Directive was first articulated ( ) , as well as introducing Zefram Cochrane ( ) , Khan Noonien Singh , and the Augment s ( ) . James T . Kirk actor , William Shatner , has flat - out attributed the creation of all of these to Coon in his book " Star Trek Memories " ( 1995 , p . 219 ) . Besides writing and producing the series , Coon often did uncredited rewrites on the scripts , just like he did in " The Wild Wild West " . ( " The Star Trek Compendium " ) He was also known for his ability to write scripts in a very short time . For example , Coon wrote over the course of four days . ( " The World of Star Trek " ) Coon left the series mid - season 2 , partly because of being tired and worn - out by the constantly exhausting work , and partly because of his dispute with Roddenberry , who disliked the more light - hearted , comedic approach taken by the show under Coon ' s guidance ( especially the three straight - out comedy episodes , , , and ) . Despite leaving the series as producer and head writer , Coon continued writing to " Star Trek " , using his pseudynom " Lee Cronin " . ( " " , " " ) For all Coon ' s positive contributions , one of his later episodes , , ironically turned out to be one of the least , if not the least , appreciated " Original Series " episodes . Coon was invited , by D . C . Fontana , to write for but declined her offer , being uninterested in it . As such , he was one of only a few people who turned down the invite . ( ) Nevertheless , in his stead he suggested his friend and last student / protegé , Russell Bates , which turned out to be an inspired suggestion , as his episode won the sole Emmy Award either " Original Crew " television series had won . In a short 2008 vidcast interview , given for Larry Nemecek ' s TrekLand blog , Bates related that his Emmy - winning episode had been a subtle homage to his mentor for what Bates believed to be TOS " s episode . Bates was only partially wrong in his beliefs , as that episode , while not conceived by Coon , was heavily revised by him for it to become the episode as ultimately featured . Gene Coon already died in 1973 , before witnessing for himself the spectacular resurgence in syndication of the series he so much helped to take shape . Had he lived , Coon might have come to regret the glowing praise he had for Roddenberry back in 1968 , as Roddenberry himself had never been able to bring himself to return the compliment , and worse . As it turned out , Coon himself had not been able to counteract Roddenberry ' s " revisionist " ( typified as such by former colleague David Gerrold in the 2014 documentary " " ) absconding of his contributions during the latter ' s vigorous " Star Trek " convention and lecture campaigning during the entire 1970s and early 1980s , more or less claiming Coon ' s contributions to " Star Trek " as his own , after Roddenberry had belatedly realized that his contributions were among the most popular for " Star Trek " , and which had made the second season so beloved in the first place . By consistently keeping Coon ' s name under wraps all this time , Roddenberry nearly succeeded in relegating Coon to oblivion , were it not for others , who had worked closely with Coon at the time , like Shatner , Herb Solow and Justman , who were of a different mind , refusing to let Roddenberry get away with it , in such writings as " Star Trek Memories " ( dedicating an entire chapter to him , significantly entitled , " The Unsung Hero " ) , and " " . In the latter book ( 1997 , p . 430 ) , Solow has summarized this state of affairs as follows , " " My displeasure grew over the years as he reinvented the origins of " Star Trek " , further enlarging the " Star Trek " legend and the Gene Roddenberry myth . While there is no denying that Gene created the root , the core from which the series grew , there were other important contributors to its growth : Gene Coon , Bob Justman , Matt Jefferies , and me " [ also including Leonard Nimoy ' s portrayal of Spock , the " brightest of all stars in the " Star Trek " universe " , according to Solow ] " . Unfortunately , the credit for our contributions was washed away in the wake of Gene ' s disinclination to honor them , and by doing so , he assumed their authorship . " " Though both books were published after Roddenberry ' s death , Shatner actually took it up a notch while the " Great Bird of the Galaxy " was still alive . Even though he had not nearly as large a bone to pick with Roddenberry as , for example , his co - star Leonard Nimoy had , Shatner apparently felt damned if he would let Roddenberry get away with the perceived injustice . On shortly before celebrating the 100th episode of , the Producers Building at the former Desilu studio lot was renamed " Gene Roddenberry Building " , and Shatner was one of the speakers at the dedication ceremony . During his speech , Shatner purposely dropped Coon ' s name a few times , in an effort to embarrass Roddenberry . Very shortly after Roddenberry ' s death five months later , Shatner , not in the slightest rueful , explained himself , " " In my opinion , Gene Coon had more to do with the infusion of life into " STAR TREK " than any other single person . Gene Roddenberry ' s instincts for creating the original package are unparalleled . He put it together , hired the people and the concept was his and set in motion by him , but after 13 shows other people took over . Gene Coon spent a year and set the tenor of the show and there were several other producers who were writer / producers who defined its character . Gene " [ Roddenberry ] " was more in the background as other people actively took over . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol 22 # 5 , p . 39 ) Shatner in particular , has not let the issue slide , nor did he mellow over time , when he , as late as 2008 , wrote in even harsher tone in his autobiography , " " , " " After the first thirteen episodes writer / producer Gene Coon was brought in and Roddenberry became the executive producer , meaning he was more of a supervisor than working on the show day - to - day . After that his primary job seemed to be exploiting " Star Trek " in every possible way . " " Others have come to agree ( in principle ) with Shatner & co . , as Coon has been endowed with meaningful monikers like " The Other Gene " ( ; ) , " The Half of Star Trek ' s Genes " ( By Fontana ) and specifically , " The Forgotten Gene " , popularized by Mark A . Altman and Robert Meyer Burnett , who had the sobriquet prominently featured in the credit roll of their popular 1998 " Star Trek " inspired comedy / parody , " Free Enterprise " ( which featured Shatner ) , all of them ensuring that Coon ' s " Star Trek " legacy is currently all but " Forgotten " . Career outside " Star Trek " . Coon was a who served during World War II ( from to ) and in post - war occupied Japan , then joined the Marine Corps Reserves in 1948 before being called back into active duty in 1950 for service in Korea , serving from to . Between his discharge in 1946 and his enlisting in the reserves , Coon attended and , in 1948 , graduated from , the Frederich H . Speare Professional School of Radio Broadcasting in Hollywood , California . Coon ' s former protégé Russell Bates has , in 2008 , filled in some additional details on Coon ' s earlier life , which had hitherto been unknown . He possibly met Gene Roddenberry as he worked on several television productions such as " " in the late 1950s and early 1960s , among others " Have Gun - Will Travel " , and " The Lieutenant " . Coon wrote two novels , " Meanwhile , Back At The Front " and " The Short End , " both of which dealt with the Korean War conflict . Soon after , Coon began writing for the movie and television screen . In 1957 he wrote two films for Universal Pictures , " The Girl in the Kremlin " and " Man in the Shadow " . Both films featured William Schallert in the cast , while the latter co - starred Orson Welles and also featured Paul Fix . He also wrote the script for the 1964 film ( featuring Seymour Cassel ) - best known for being Ronald Reagan ' s final acting role before entering politics . Coon began to write for television in the late 1950 ' s . Among his many contributions , he wrote two episodes of " Zorro " , both of them featuring Ken Lynch , an episode of " My Favorite Martian " ( starring Ray Walston ) , and an episode of " Have Gun - Will Travel " , on which Gene Roddenberry served as one of the leading writers . He also wrote an episode of " Bonanza " which featured Leonard Nimoy and another episode which featured Michael Forest and Anthony Caruso . Following his tenure on " Star Trek " , Coon produced the series " It Takes a Thief " , which co - starred Malachi Throne . Novice writer Glenn A . Larson served on the series , and Coon took him on as an apprentice , helping him develop the story line of " Adama ' s Ark " , which evolved into the classic " Battlestar Galactica " science fiction series a decade later . He also wrote an episode of " The Sixth Sense " featuring William Shatner , and two episodes of the Harve Bennett - produced " The Mod Squad " , starring Tige Andrews and Clarence Williams III , and directed by Lawrence Dobkin . With Gene Roddenberry , Coon wrote " The Questor Tapes " , an unsold 1974 pilot which was directed by Richard Colla and featured Majel Barrett and Walter Koenig ; Robert Foxworth played the title character . Data , the android from " The Next Generation " was based on Questor . Though the series was not picked up , it did earn him , posthumously , and Roddenberry a 1975 Hugo Award nomination in the category Best Dramatic Presentation . Coon died before the project was completed , and D . C . Fontana ' s novelization of the pilot is dedicated to his memory . Coon divorced his first wife , Joy , in 1968 , and married his radio school sweetheart , model - actress Jacqueline Mitchell . Joy died one year later of cancer , and refused to allow her ex - husband to visit her in the hospital . Coon was shattered by the event . ( " " , pp . 347 - 349 , 428 ) Coon , a chain smoker of cigarillos , died of lung cancer in 1973 , only a week after being diagnosed . He visited Robert Justman ' s office one day , wearing a portable oxygen tank and mask , gasping and coughing . Justman urged him to go in for medical tests , despite the fact that Coon said his breathing difficulties stemmed from the " Goddamned LA smog . " ( " " , pp . 428 - 429 ) Emmy Award nomination . As Producer , Coon received the following Emmy Award nomination in the category Outstanding Dramatic Series :