Byron Haskin Byron " Bun " Conrad Haskin , was a director , writer , and producer who became the very first associate producer on a " Star Trek " live - action production . In early - , Gene Roddenberry wanted Robert Justman to become the associate producer on , the first pilot episode of Roddenberry ' s . However , Justman rejected the offer , fearing he did not have enough post - production knowledge which such a show might demand . In his stead Justman recommended his friend , Byron Haskin for the work , not knowing that Roddenberry already contacted Haskin , who eventually got the job . Yet , Haskin reciprocated the favor of his friend by insisting Justman to be hired as the assistant director for the same project , a suggestion eventually followed up by studio executive Herb Solow , becoming Haskin ' s successor afterwards . According to Justman , he and Roddenberry didn ' t get along well , explaining why Haskin was not in " Star Trek " beyond the original pilot . Haskin conceived Roddenberry as " " probably another rank amateur , who doesn ' t know diddley and wants me to save his ass " " . Furthermore , Justman adds that Haskin always argued with Roddenberry on the special effects . He frequently pointed out that Roddenberry ' s ideas were unfeasible , but Roddenberry pushed him to stick to them , which led to frequent arguments . ( " " , pp . 29 - 31 , 34 ) . His work on " The Cage " went uncredited on - screen , but was later , as archive footage , seen in and , and he did receive on - screen credit on the latter episode . The character of Doctor Theodore Haskins was named after him . ( ) Career . Having worked worked in the motion picture and television industry from the early 1920s through the late 1960s , Byron Haskin started out as a newspaper cartoonist , then became a commercial - industrial and newsreel cinematographer in the 1920s . He soon turned to special effects ( as were still called in that time , the only introduced decades later ) photography , and worked in Hollywood as a visual effects designer for nearly twenty years . His work as visual effects artist was widely recognized at the time as it had earned Haskin one technical Academy Award in 1939 , supplemented with four co - nominations in 1940 ( for " The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex " ) , 1941 ( for " The Sea Hawk " ) , 1942 ( for " The Sea Wolf " ) , and 1943 ( for " Desperate Journey " ) , all of those shared with Sound Editor Nathan Levinson . Haskin ' s reasons for his later arguing with Roddenberry , who had no experience with these whatsoever , over the effects for " The Cage " , were therefore more than founded . Later he went on to direct mostly science fiction and fantasy films ( often in collaboration with legendary producer / director ) , including such classics as , most conspicuously , " The War of the Worlds " ( 1953 , co - winning him a 1954 Hugo Award ) , " The Naked Jungle " ( 1954 , with Abraham Sofaer ) , " Conquest of Space " ( 1955 ) and " From the Earth to the Moon " ( 1958 ) . In the late - 1940s , and early - 1950s he also directed several productions , including the classic " Tresure Island " ( 1949 ) . Between 1963 and 1964 he directed six episodes of " The Outer Limits " , including " Demon with a Glass Hand " , with Arlene Martel and Abraham Sofaer , written by Harlan Ellison . A none - science fiction and fantasy film Haskin directed , was the 1951 western " Silver City " , where he met and befriended Art Director Franz Bachelin , who he brought in on " The Cage " in October 1964 as replacement for the suddenly departed Pato Guzman . ( " " , 1st ed , p . 44 )