The first woman to write for ‘Star Trek’: How D. C. Fontana’s archives at UCLA share insight into the show’s early days

From the day it premiered 60 years ago this September, "Star Trek" has been a groundbreaking franchise. The original series was the first to feature a multiracial main cast and was well-known for tackling issues of social justice and gender equality.

Take, for example, "Tomorrow is Yesterday." In the season 1 episode, Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) takes a 20th-century man on a tour of the 23rd-century Starship Enterprise. The man, surprised to see women on the bridge, asks Kirk whether those women are really working in positions of authority.

"And Captain Kirk said, 'Yes, of course,' really normalizing it," UCLA astrophysicist and "Trek" fan Smadar Naoz recounted of the episode. "It was amazing. We have a long way to go, but 'Star Trek' filled us with hope."

The classic episode was penned by D. C. Fontana, aka Dorothy Fontana, the first woman screenwriter in the "Star Trek" universe. Fontana's work, including 11 episodes credited to her as story editor, inspired millions like Naoz, and her writing lives on beyond the small screen on the grounds of UCLA.

Scripts, outlines and story memos by and about Fontana are tucked in folders at UCLA Library Special Collections, among the papers donated by "Star Trek" creator - and Fontana's former boss - Gene Roddenberry.

Fontana's legacy includes creating many of the episodes that filled in the backstory of the coolly logical Spock - the half-Vulcan, half-human character played by Leonard Nimoy. Through the story outlines, editing memos and other ephemera housed at UCLA, researchers can see how plotlines developed, read jokes between the editors and see how Fontana reined in other writers tackling the soon-to-be iconic Spock.

She vehemently advised rewriting Vulcan-language dialogue in English to avoid "the biggest laugh of the year in Sc. 58 when T'pring utters some kind of large Vulcan pronouncement, and Spock stares back at her saying, 'T'pring! … Klart?'" Fontana wrote. "And Leonard will kill himself if he must do in Sc. 62, in which he behaves like a snorting bull."

How writing by women inspired female scientists

Nimoy was among those who praised Fontana for writing believable, fully developed female characters. The presence of those women in positions of authority on "Star Trek" inspired many girls to become scientists, from astronaut Mae Jemison to UCLA's own Naoz.

Naoz, an avid Trekkie who studies the formation of the universe's first star clusters, black holes and theoretical astrophysics, said her interest in space was sparked at 5 years old while watching original series reruns with her mother.

"I was amazed. They were flying through the stars and visiting other planets, and I wanted to know everything," Naoz said in a Zoom interview with the bridge of a "Star Trek" ship in the background.

After seeing the show, she snuck out of the children's section of the library to find the astronomy books, and later became the first in her family to go to college.

"The first thing I tell my students is that we still don't have enough women scientists in real life or in media," Naoz said. "There were inspiring women in 'Star Trek,' but we need more."

Fontana's mark is stamped even in episodes credited to other writers, said Eric Greene, a cultural critic who analyzed "Star Trek's" political subtext as a contributing author to the book, "Boarding the Enterprise," and who serves as UCLA Strategic Communications' associate director for diversity and campus climate.

"Fontana was profoundly and memorably shaping the emotional architecture of the story and interiority of the characters," Greene said.

Archival gems about 'This guy, D.C. Fontana'

Though in interviews Fontana often downplayed sexism in her career, she acknowledged choosing the genderless "D. C. Fontana" instead of using Dorothy Catherine Fontana professionally to make it easier to get her scripts reviewed on their merits.

In story memos in the Library Special Collections, then-assistant director Robert Justman frequently referred to her as "the mysterious D.C. Fontana." Justman was likely in on the joke, as Fontana already had other TV credits to her name when Roddenberry promoted her from secretary to writer before the show began. While Justman had no qualms writing page upon page of critiques for any episode, including Fontana's, the archives show he also admired her work.

Fontana's first "Star Trek" script, based on a premise by Roddenberry, became the show's second episode, "Charlie X." One of her drafts highlighted parallels between a character named Charlie, a 17-year-old who grew up on a planet seemingly alone, and Spock, both outsiders learning to fit in. In his story edits, Justman heaped praise on Fontana's writing.

"I must express my critical appreciation for this story treatment," Justman wrote. "This guy, D.C. Fontana, shows definite promise as a writer, and I would like to find out more about him."

"It is an excellent first draft," Roddenberry agreed in a long note to Fontana that provides insight into his theories of how to write a good story. "Would be very pleased if all of our other writers performed as well the first time around."

Later in season one, Fontana heavily rewrote "This Side of Paradise." In the episode, pollen from an alien plant makes the crew euphoric and allows the normally repressed Spock to express emotions for the first time - until Kirk cures the delusions. "That's the only place I was ever happy," Spock says in the poignant final line of her draft.

"There's real poetry around how Fontana writes about Spock having to suppress his emotions and how free he felt," Greene said.

In his story edits - often lengthy missives that stretched 7 to 10 pages - Justman began with rare praise.

"As usual, a shootable and well-constructed First Draft from the mysterious D.C. Fontana," Justman wrote. Three pages later, he concludes, saying of his memo: "You will note that it is quite short. That means that I am quite happy."

Developing Spock's mixed-heritage background

By season two, even the network brass were Fontana fans. NBC restrained their concerns after "Star Trek" submitted Fontana's ambitious outline for "Journey to Babel," the episode that introduced Spock's parents and addressed the character's childhood challenges trying to fit in with an emotionally suppressed society as a half-human.

"It can either be developed into one of the most interesting, effective, and audience-appealing shows we have ever done or … do immeasurable harm," wrote an NBC film programming manager. "Our skepticism regarding this storyline becoming a successful screenplay would be very high if D.C. Fontana, who has done some of our most memorable stories, was not doing the play."

"Babel" became a classic, memorably portraying the internal conflict Spock faced trying to please parents from different backgrounds- one from Vulcan, the other from Earth - and trying to belong on Vulcan and alongside the mostly human Starfleet crew.

It struck a chord with audiences, Greene said.

"Kids like me who are mixed race saw Spock as an important mixed-race figure and role model," Green said. "There's no question that that was intentional. One of the reasons the show was as diverse as it was is because the studio wanted all their shows to include non-stereotypical diversity. Fontana knew how to make characters come alive as more than stereotypes."

The 'sisterhood memo'

Though UCLA's Roddenberry archives cover only the original "Star Trek" series, Fontana went on to work as an associate producer for the 1970's animated series and helped launch "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in the late '80s, drafting the "sisterhood memo" to Roddenberry. The 1986 memo - perhaps coincidentally echoing the tenets of the still-new Bechdel Test - sought to improve the representation of women:

"It is important to have relationships between the women of the Enterprise," Fontana wrote. "These women are going to be saying more than 'Hailing frequencies open,' and 'Yes, Doctor.' We have to let them be as fully fleshed-out as characters as the men. If they're going to be important - and you've set it up so they will be - they must have feelings, attitudes, and relationships with each other as well as with the men."

In addition to writing one final "Star Trek" episode for "Deep Space Nine," fleshing out Dax, a popular character considered by many to be an early trans role model, Fontana had a prolific career writing for shows like "Bonanza," "The Waltons" and "Dallas."

In a 2013 interview with StarTrek.com, Fontana explained that she hadn't realized in the '60s that she and other women who went on to write for the show were pioneers.

"At the time, I wasn't especially aware there were so few female writers doing action-adventure scripts," she said. "There were plenty doing soaps, comedies, or on variety shows. By choosing to do action-adventure, I was in an elite, very talented and very different group of women writers."

"Star Trek" celebrates the 60th anniversary of its premiere on Sept. 8, 2026.