Dorothy C. Fontana

On her early years and influences, her education, and her interest in writing

On her first job in television as a secretary at Screen Gems in New York, where she decided to write for television

On moving to California and working at Revue Studios, where she was mentored by Samuel Peeples; on selling her first television story for The Tall Man;  on writing scripts for Shotgun Slade and Frontier Circus

On the challenges of being a woman writer and using D.C. Fontana on her scripts so that she would be given a chance

On becoming secretary for Del Reisman and Gene Roddenberry on The Lieutenant; and her early involvement in the Writers Guild

On the original concept and vision of Star Trek, the pilot process, and the sale of the series to NBC; on Desilu Studios where the series was filmed

On Star Trek's production schedule; on other pilots being produced by Gene Roddenberry; on being hired on Star Trek

On Star Trek's initial production crew and on developing the look of the series and of the starship

On Star Trek's creation of aliens using "the Horta" from "The Devil in the Dark" episode as an example; on the technology used in Star Trek's world

On the casting of Star Trek; on her duties on the series; on being promoted to story editor; on working with the writers

On the direction given to Star Trek writers; on writing a television script; the minimal censorship issues

On the working environment in the Star Trek production offices; on Gene Roddenberry's working style

On the cast of Star Trek and their characters; on the Star Trek episode "Charlie X"; on the Star Trek episode "This Side of Paradise", which elevated her to story editor on the series

On her favorite Star Trek episode "Journey to Babel" about Spock's parents; on the Star Trek episode "Friday's Child", over which she argued with Gene Rodenberry about the portrayal of women; she had a different ending; on the Star Trek episode "By Any Other Name"

On the Star Trek episodes "The Ultimate Computer" and "The Enterprise Incident and on establishing continuity on Star Trek; on "Captain Kirk's" many love interests on Star Trek ; on her favorite episodes of Star Trek including "The Trouble with Tribbles"

On her least-favorite episode of Star Trek; Klingons; on Gene Roddenberry's "Great Bird of the Galaxy " nickname; on leaving the series at the end of the second season but remaining as a freelancer

On her freelance writing work including Bonanza, The Big Valley, Here Come the Brides, and Then Came Bronson

On her writing process and philosophy

On being associate producer of Star Trek: The Animated Series

On Star Trek: The Animated Series storylines; on writing for The Streets of San Francisco; on being executive story consultant on Logan's Run

On writing for The Land of the Lost, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Dallas; on writing the episode "The Beau" for The Waltons

On writing a Buck Rogers in the 25th Century script; on the development and casting of Star Trek: The Next Generation

On the characters of Data, Picard and Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation; updating the 1960s technology and worldview for The Next Generation; on some of the episodes she wrote; on leaving the series after the first season

On Star Trek and Gene Roddenberry's legacy and Star Trek fan culture

On working on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,  Babylon 5, and Earth: Final Conflict; on writing animation scripts

On Captain Simian & the Space Monkeys and He-Man; on writing for various animated series, and on how the technology has changed; on writing Lonesome Dove: The Series

On then-current projects; on her involvement in the Writers Guild; on writing for interactive video games

On advice to an aspiring writer; on career highlights and regrets; on how she'd like to be remembered