Edward K . Milkis Edward " Ed ( die ) " K . Milkis was a Hollywood film and television producer hailing from Los Angeles . He began his " Star Trek " career as post - production supervisor on , before ultimately being promoted to associate producer in early for the show ' s third season . He went on to briefly become a post - production producer for during pre - production of that show ' s pilot , . Milkis had already been repeatedly asked in 1964 by Gene Roddenberry – who had known him from the MGM " The Lieutenant " series on which he served as assistant editor – to work on the first " Star Trek " pilot , , but he had to decline as he was not available at the time . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol 27 # 11 , p . 88 ) Two years later , though , the near - debacle with the opticals or ( as – VFX – were still called at the time ) , VFX company Howard A . Anderson Company were producing at the time for the first regular production episode , , and which caused the nervous breakdown of its CEO , Darrell Anderson , constituted a serious crisis and a desperate Roddenberry , now acutely aware that the show was in dire need of a dedicated VFX supervisor , again contacted Milkis . Milkis recalled , " " One afternoon he called and wanted to see me . I agreed to see him the next day and Gene said , " No , no , I mean NOW ! Tonight . " I left my office and went to Desilu where I met with Gene , Bob Justman and Herb Solow . Herb was head of Desilu and I had met Bob briefly at MGM some years before . Gene told me he was having problems with the post - production and they thought that their air dates were in jeopardy . Gene asked if I would come to work after a somewhat lengthy conversation . " " Declining at first , on the basis that he was a film editor and that he did not had any experience with supervising any of the post - production aspects , Milkis relented , " " Confidently , Gene said , " Yes , you do . You do know how to do it " and literally the next day , I was there . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol 27 # 11 , p . 88 ) As post - production supervisor , officially credited as " Assistant to the Producer " for the first two seasons , Milkis started work on the show on , being responsible for the VFX , as well as serving as the primary liaison between all the effects houses and the studio . From season two onward , he officially took over the supervising duties of all other post - production work from Post - production Executive Bill Heath ( credited for having done so for the first two pilots and the entirety of the first season ) , who , as a studio executive , proved to be unsuited for the position . From an organizational point of view , this was a pivotal moment as post - production oversight was transferred from the purview of the studio to the production proper . Heath , an uninitiated , classic , old school studio staffer and incidentally responsible for Anderson ' s nervous breakdown by continuously disallowing his VFX proposals for budgetary reasons , was in over his head for a show as challenging as " Star Trek " was , by far the most technically sophisticated hitherto produced for television . As was discovered by Roddenberry and Justman at the start of the regular series following the VFX debacle , the show was far better served if post - production was situated closer to the actual production under specialized supervision . The format was adhered to ever since in " Star Trek " , and , as time progressed , adopted in the rest of the motion picture industry as well . It was soon realized that the effects demands for a recurrent show like " Star Trek " , the most effects - laden television show in history up to that point in time , far exceeded the capacity and capabilities of the one single VFX company Desilu Studios hitherto employed , or any other for that matter . Together with Producer Robert Justman , Milkis searched for and employed virtually every other Hollywood effects house in existence at the time to divide the VFX workload for the new science fiction show . Described as " cool , calm , and totally unflappable " , Milkis became a key production staff er and was invaluable to Justman , who stated that he " saved our bacon " on many occasions , having further added , " " Without Eddie Milkis we couldn ' t have gotten it done . He came along at just the right time . It was Gene and myself doing the show , and there was no staff . There was nothing , We were physically , emotionally and mentally exhausted by the time we were halfway through the first season . " " . A very appreciative Justman rewarded Milkis by promoting him to associate producer , officially credited as such , at the start of the third season of the series . ( " " , 1997 , p . 262 : " " , 1st ed , p . 265 ) Still , Milkis has admitted that the VFX aspect of his work was the most daunting one , " " Each time a script would call for a new ship , either Starfleet or alien , it sent shudders up my back . It was extremely difficult to get a miniature designed , built in a size which we could afford to make and shoot and have enough detail to meet our creative standards . Of all the post visual effects problems , time and dollar pressures probably showed mostly in this area . " " The ever decreasing budgets for the " Original Series " was something that irked Milkis to no end , " " Another television show on the Desilu lot , , was relegated a bigger budget than " Star Trek " , even though our show was the more difficult one to produce in our minds . The deal Desilu made with CBS " [ note : for " Mission " ] " was better than the deal they were able to make with NBC . NBC never understood " Star Trek " . They moved it around to different time slots in the three seasons it was on the air on three different nights . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol 27 # 11 , pp . 88 - 89 ) In 1993 Milkis has described a typical working day for him in more detail : " I was working from about five - thirty in the morning until midnight , or even sometimes later . That ' s because throughout the first season , we were desperately short on traveling shots of the " Enterprise " . Y ' know , we needed generic shots of the ship flying across the screen , or toward camera , and we also had to shoot a lot of script - specific stuff as well . And as you know , we really worked with two different miniatures . One that was about three feet long , and we ' d use that whenever we needed a pod to blow out or to launch a shuttlecraft or whatever . Basically , whenever we needed to customize or damage the model , we ' d use the small guy . We ' d never do that kind of stuff to the big one ; we needed to preserve her . " Actually , the big model had lights running all around the saucer area and was loaded with detail . It was really intricate . It was also eleven feet long , and impossible to shoot . It was just too big . Anyway , after a full day of running from lab to lab and spending some time in the editing room , I ' d had to go over to a place called Film Effects " [ note : one of the additional VFX houses Milkis and Justman brought in ] " , where we had a guy named Linwood Dunn shooting our miniatures . They had a big stage there , and the first thing we did was to paint the whole thing blue . That ' s because we knew we ' d be doing " blue - screen " effects , which basically allowed us to shoot the ship , the remove this blue - paint background and add in an outer - space panorama . " Anyway , we generally hung the ship about four feet off the floor , and they ran dolly tracks for the camera across right underneath it . Then we ' d shoot , and if the ship was supposed to look like it was flying toward camera , we ' d just dolly in toward the front , then pan away at the last possible second . When we got back to the lab , took out the blue added a background and processed that shot , it ' d look like the ship was " flying " right into camera . We ' d do the same kind of thing whenever the ship was supposed to fly across the screen . If we shot film and dollied left , the ship appeared t move to the right , and vice versa . This wasn ' t really a new process , it was just hard to do , because you could either do it perfectly or not at all . If the color of the ship wasn ' t precisely right or if your lighting was slightly off , the shot wouldn ' t work . You ' d end up not being able to remove the original blue background . You were either perfect or dead . One screwup , and the whole night ' s work would be wasted . " ( " Star Trek Memories " , 1994 , pp . 240 - 241 ) Charged with the post - production editing of the last third season episodes , and residing on an otherwise empty studio lot , Milkis was the very last production staffer to leave the " Original Series " , long after everybody else , cast , support and production staff alike , had unceremoniously left the production . ( " " , 1997 , pp . 413 - 414 ) Two decades later , in early , Milkis , together with " Original Series " co - workers Justman , David Gerrold and D . C . Fontana were brought back by Roddenberry to form the original production nucleus to help out with the pre - production of " The Next Generation " . ( " " , pp . 9 - 11 ) By that time however , Milkis was a full - blown producer in his own right and officially it was stated by the franchise that he had little desire to work in a lower capacity for others , so his work on the series ended in late while the first pilot of that series , , was prepared for filming . ( " " , 2003 , p . 28 ) Yet far more pertinent to his decision to do so , was Milkis ' disgust with Roddenberry ' s uninitiated attorney and business partner Leonard Maizlish , who " destructively " meddled with the creative decision making for the new series . ( " " , 1997 , p . 433 ) In the original series second - season " blooper reel " , Captain James T . Kirk performer William Shatner declares over the opening titles that the series is produced by Desilu , Inc . and was starring " Eddie Milkis . " A private man , shunning every form of public acclaim , caused that virtually no interviews , with the exception of the 1996 " Cinefantastique " interview , with Milkis on his " Star Trek " work – or on any other work for that matter – are known to exist ( nor does any published photograph of him , though an artist ' s impression of his likeness has been featured in the 2014 documentary " " ) , but it was Shatner who persuaded Milkis to talk in - depth to him for his 1993 autobiography , " Star Trek Memories " . These two sessions however – timely ones as it turned out , since Milkis was to pass away only a short time later – , along with the lavish recognition Justman accorded him in his reference book , " " , prevented Miklis ' key role in the production of " The Original Series " to slide into oblivion . Shatner , as already indicated when he made the exclamation in the blooper reel , considered his role so crucial , that he had dedicated an entire chapter to him in his autobiography . Career outside " Star Trek " . Edward Milkis started out in the motion picture industry as an assistant editor for MGM working uncredited as such on films as " Tom Thumb " ( 1958 ) and " North by Northwest " ( 1959 ) . When Edward Milkis was asked to join " Star Trek " in 1966 , he had already left the motion picture industry , after having worked on " The Lieutenant " , and was pursuing a career in real estate , but agreed to help out Roddenberry " for a while " . ( " " , 1997 , p . 262 ) The experience gained in " Star Trek " served Milkis well , when he afterwards formed a partnership with Thomas L . Miller , founding the production company in 1969 in order to produce theatrical features , co - producing such films as " Silver Streak " ( 1976 ) , " Foul Play " ( 1978 ) , and " The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas " ( 1982 ) . Aside from feature films the company also produced TV shows as " Petrocelli " ( whose regulars included TOS guest actress Susan Howard and TNG guest actor David Huddleston ) as well as the hit sitcoms " Happy Days " starring Don Most , Gavan O ' Herlihy and Anson Williams , " Laverne & Shirley " starring David L . Lander and Michael McKean , and " Bosom Buddies " . Being a CEO of his own company was a reason for Milkis to decline tenure on " The Next Generation " . In 1984 he left the motion picture industry for the second time to devote his time and energy to a number of charitable organizations , including the " Guardians of the Jewish Home for the Aging " and the " Weizmann Institute of Science " , the latter of which he presided over as president . He shortly returned to the motion picture industry to serve as an executive producer on his final movie projects , the 1990 TV movie " The World According to Straw " and the 1994 comedy " Exit to Eden " . To this end , to market his services as a free agent , he had founded his own , personal company Edward K . Milkis Productions in 1984 . Edward Milkis passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 65 and was survived by his wife , Marcia , and five children . Both production companies he had ( co - ) founded closed their doors shortly thereafter .