On Credits and Creators: Star Trek's Evolving Main Titles

Still from Star Trek's first season main title sequence (1966-67)

This piece is in response to several passages by Marc Cushman and Susan Osborn about Star Trek’s opening credits, the first found in These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season One:

Since it was now known that either this episode [“The Man Trap”] or “Charlie X” -- the only two episodes ready, other than the second pilot film -- would be the first to air, Roddenberry arranged for the opening title credit on both episodes to read “Created by Gene Roddenberry.” After these two programs, and some pressure from the studio, his name did not appear in the opening title sequence...until the next season, when this became the norm.

--Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season One (First Edition, August 2013), p.175

Cushman and Osborn do not precisely establish when Roddenberry allegedly arranged for his “created by” credit to be added to the main titles of these two episodes. However, it would have to have been sometime after August 4, 1966, when "Charlie X" was still being slated to air sixth, according to an airdate memo sent from Bob Justman to Gene Roddenberry:

As per our discussion earlier today, herewith follows our date schedule for STAR TREK:

     1) "THE MAN TRAP"   9-8-66

     2) "THE CORBOMITE MANEUVER"   9-15-66

     3) "MUDD'S WOMEN"   9-22-66

     4) "THE NAKED TIME"   9-29-66

     5) "WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE"   10-6-66

     6) "CHARLIE X"   10-13-66

     7) "BALANCE OF TERROR"   10-20-66

     8) "THE ENEMY WITHIN"   10-27-66

Needless to say, after the first two shows on the air, the balance of this schedule would be tentative and subject to change.¹

Two details, however, suggest that Cushman and Osborn are referring to a date several weeks later than August 4, 1966. First, “Charlie X” wasn’t actually ready to air until sometime after August 29, 1966 — production status reports indicate it was still being scored and dubbed on that date. Second, those same production status reports indicate that “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was being re-cut as of August 29, 1966, and therefore it wasn’t ready to air, either.

The authors elaborate upon this account in their follow-up book, These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season Two:

In another attempt to keep Leonard Nimoy from getting too much credit, a change was made to the opening title sequence. Gene Roddenberry’s name now came before Nimoy’s. “Star Trek...created by Gene Roddenberry...starring William Shatner...and Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock.” And the creator’s name would return at the end of the episode, as Executive Producer.

Herb Solow said, “I again marveled at [Gene’s] seemingly unending drive to fashion himself the single master, the absolute proprietor of Star Trek.”

Roddenberry later said, “It was done that way with many shows from that period. Still is. The Fugitive was a Quinn Martin Production -- stated in the opening titles, not only with a separate [title] card but with Bill Conrad’s voiceover. All QM shows opened that way. Irwin Allen took acknowledgement in the opening titles of his shows. The main title sequence of Star Trek was designed that way at the start of the first year, but, after two episodes [“The Man Trap” and “Charlie X”] I took my name off. Having that credit seemed to bother certain people. With the second year, I had it put back in. And it still bothered certain people. Perhaps my name shouldn’t have been in the titles at all -- front or closing. Just Desilu and NBC. They would have still found something to complain about.”

--Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season Two (eBook Edition, March 2014)

The proposition that Roddenberry's season two credit was altered to put Leonard Nimoy in his place appears to entirely be the invention of Cushman and Osborn. Neither their interview with Roddenberry, nor the archival record, supports this speculation. I must also point out that the Herb Solow quote used in this passage doesn’t have anything to do with Roddenberry’s “created by” credit in the main titles. It’s been quoted, out of context, from a section of Inside Star Trek: The Real Story that pertains to Roddenberry taking fifty percent of Alexander Courage’s performance royalties for the Star Trek theme music:

With Gene taking half of Sandy's sole credit and royalty, I again marveled at his seemingly unending drive to fashion himself the single master, the absolute proprietor of Star Trek. I'm not sure Gene ever realized the result of his actions.

- Herbert F. Solow, Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (1996), p.185​

Since the Solow quote is completely unrelated to the matter, it appears that These Are The Voyages’ principal source regarding the evolution of Star Trek’s opening credits is an interview Cushman conducted with Roddenberry in either 1982 or 1990 (the book’s citation is unclear about the date). Unfortunately, little of what Cushman and Osborn assert in this case is corroborated by the archival record. In fact, much of what Roddenberry recounts to Cushman, and what Cushman and Osborn assume based upon this recollection, is actually contradicted by the archival record.

The paper trail begins with a June 6, 1966 memo from Shirley Stahnke to Bernie Weitzman (with Gene Roddenberry on carbon copy), which outlines the studio’s contractual obligations in terms of screen credit. Relevant to this discussion are the following notes:

GENE RODDENBERRY: Gene Roddenberry shall receive separate card ‘Created By’ credit and separate card as Producer or Executive Producer among major credits (may be combined if Norway elects).

WILLIAM SHATNER: First star billing on a separate card; such billing will be on main titles but not necessarily above the title. If any other performer receives billing on main and end titles, then Shatner will receive like billing.

LEONARD NIMOY: Co-starring as Mr. Spock or Also starring as Mr. Spock, on a separate card in first position to all other regular performers, is no less than 75% of the size and type afforded star.²

This memo appears to have been overlooked when Bob Justman created a tentative format for Star Trek’s credits and sent them to Gene Roddenberry on July 29, 1966, since he did not properly afford the “co-starring” or “also starring” billing contractually due to Leonard Nimoy. Perhaps this was because Justman had not been on copy on Stahnke’s earlier memo; perhaps these facts had simply been forgotten in the intervening weeks since that earlier memo was sent.

Bob Justman’s tentative main titles (July 29, 1966)

In the memo attached to these credits, Justman wrote:

Attached you will find tentative format and Main and End Credits for STAR TREK.

Please favor me with any comments you might care to make.³

A memo from the week before — July 22, 1966 — went into specific detail about each shot in the main titles, including the “created by” credit:

Panel 5: as the ship passes the razzle dazzle becomes STAR TREK by panel 7. As STAR TREK is ready to recede (quartering angle going away) in panels 8 & 9, "Created by" credit comes on.⁴

On August 5, 1966, someone — probably Roddenberry — fired off a list of editing comments regarding the main titles. The memo said, in part:

We have no ship passage before the “created by” credit. Suggest we consider doing it as done in the original pilot titles where “created by” credit dissolved in under the STAR TREK.

Would like “Gene Roddenberry” on “created by” credit diminished in size. (This is being done.) STAR TREK can be held a little longer and remain larger than the “Gene Roddenberry” credit.⁶

This paperwork indicates that Roddenberry’s “created by” credit was intended for every episode of the first season — not simply the first two to air — and that this credit was determined at least seven weeks prior to the broadcast premiere of the series, not less than two, as implied in These Are The Voyages. These credits match the main titles that were originally aired for “The Man Trap” on September 8, 1966 (these credits are reproduced on most DVD releases of the series, although they have been changed for the Blu-Ray version to match the main titles as they appear later in season one).

Original main titles from "The Man Trap" (September 8, 1966)

We know the main titles that appear for “The Man Trap” on DVD were those that originally aired because they match the episode’s revised credits memo dated August 8, 1966⁵:

Revised credits for “The Man Trap” (August 8, 1966)

The paperwork at UCLA, including the following credits memo for “Mudd’s Women” (by this date, it was slated to air fifth), confirm that Roddenberry’s “created by” credit was still being included in credit memos issued as late as August 23, 1966:

Credits for Mudd’s Women (August 23, 1966)

This credits memo⁷ also indicates the first of several changes to the main titles — as penciled into this document, "starring" billing was added to William Shatner's credit, a change which began with the broadcast of “Where No Man Has Gone Before” on September 22, 1966. This change in billing may have been contractual, but since Shatner’s contract does not survive in the UCLA files, I can only offer this as one possible explanation. To date, I have found no documentation in the show files that offers a more concrete answer.

The credits were changed again on August 26, 1966, when Bernie Weitzman sent Gene Roddenberry an urgent memo following a phone call with Joe Youngerman, the executive secretary of the Directors Guild of America:

Please be advised that I called Joe Youngerman yesterday regarding a waiver under the credit provisions of the DGA agreement with reference to the opening titles whereby “Created By” credit is given to you and without affording Director’s credit on the opening titles.

It was the DGA’s decision through Mr. Youngerman that no waiver will be granted to any studio in such a case. He would be happy to meet with you and discuss your thoughts as a courtesy but he emphatically denied my request for a waiver.

Therefore, we must revise the opening titles by either moving the “Created By” credit into the end titles and only retain the stars and/or guest stars’ names or move the Director’s credit into the main titles and therefore move up the Writer’s credit as well.

This must be done immediately.⁸ 

Two decades after the fact, Roddenberry recalled that his “created by” credit had bothered “certain people” at the studio and the network, but in fact Desilu and NBC had approved the show’s credits, and no objection from either party survives in the show files at UCLA. In actuality, it was the Directors Guild of America's objection that ultimately led to a change in the main titles, due to the fact that a “created by” credit without the “directed by” credit in the main titles violated their basic agreement at that time.

“The Man Trap” and “Charlie X” were too far along in post-production to have their credits changed, but beginning with “Where No Man Has Gone Before” and continuing for the remainder of the first season, Gene Roddenberry would no longer be credited as the creator of Star Trek in the show’s main titles. Instead, this credit was shifted to the end of Act IV and, later, to the show’s end credits.

Act IV title card from “The Menagerie, Part II” (November 24, 1966)

End title card from “The Squire of Gothos” (January 12, 1967)

As a result of all these changes, for one broadcast, Star Trek's main titles were changed to the following format:

Original main titles from "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (September 22, 1966)

Two and a half weeks later, on September 13, 1966, Bob Justman sent Ed Perlstein a memo indicating the main titles would have to be changed again, this time to accommodate a revised credit for Leonard Nimoy:

As per our discussion this morning, we are requesting a change in the Third Card on the STAR TREK Main Title. The Third card presently reads: “LEONARD NIMOY as Mister Spock.”

From now on, starting with the fourth show on the air entitled, “THE NAKED TIME”, #6149-7, and for all succeeding shows, the copy of the Third Card of the Main Titles is to be changed as follows:

          Also Starring

          LEONARD NIMOY as Mister Spock     (75%)

Please note that Leonard’s credit is to be no more than 75% of the type that we afford to William Shatner.

I have already spoken to Bill Heath about this change and he will get right to work on it.

Insofar as Bill and I can determine at present, we will not be able to change the Credits prior to air on the show entitled ‘WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE’. However, when we get ‘THE MAN TRAP,” “CHARLIE X” and “WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE’ back from the network after their air dates, we shall at that time effect the Main Title changes in the event of re-runs. They’re going to have to be changed anyway, so that the ‘Created by’ Credit of Gene Roddenberry will be coming out to satisfy the Director’s Guild.”⁹

Although left unsaid in the memo, this change must have happened because either Justman or someone else with the production was reminded of their contractual obligation to Nimoy. Therefore, beginning with “The Naked Time,” and continuing for the rest of Star Trek’s first season, the opening titles now appeared like this:

Original main titles for “The Naked Time” (September 29, 1966)

The main titles, as Cushman and Osborn correctly point out, were changed again at the beginning of the second season. Regarding the way screen credit would be presented that year, Bob Justman sent a memo to Gene Roddenberry on April 6, 1967, which said:

I have had our contractual obligations researched by the Legal Department and can discover no objection to giving DeForest Kelley on our new Main Title. In addition, I have checked with Stan Robertson and he assures me that NBC welcomes the idea, as they think very highly of DeForest Kelley and the character he has helped create. Therefore, we can carry out our intention to give DeForest Kelley credit on our new Main Title for next season. 

In addition, there is no objection from the Writers Guild, the Directors Guild or NBC with regard to the way we wish to give our Directing, Writing and Producing Credits next season. Therefore, as per our previous discussion, the Writing Credit for the shows next season will appear on the same card as the Episode Title at the beginning of Act I. It will be followed immediately by the Directors Credit Card. There will be no further credits at this part of the show and the Producer’s and Executive Producer’s Credits will come as before at the end of Act IV. Of course, we must be careful about the use of Narration at the head of Act I, as it should not start until all visual credit material has disappeared from the screen.¹⁰

Cushman and Osborn quote the first paragraph of this memo in These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season Two when discussing DeForest Kelley's addition to the main titles (more on this in a bit). However, they completely neglect the second half of the memo, which begins to explain why Star Trek's main titles were not simply revised to include the writing and directing credits at the beginning of Act I during the rest of the first season (something another Desilu show, Mission: Impossible, did during many of its episodes, apparently without complaint from the DGA, during the 1966-67 broadcast season).

Main titles for Star Trek's second season (1967-68)

A later memo, sent from Justman to Marc Daniels and Joseph Pevney on April 18, 1967, further illuminates the issue:

We wish to acquaint you with some information about a slight change in format for "STAR TREK" this coming season. In the past, we have had to allow sufficient footage at the beginning of Act I, so that we could superimpose the episode title immediately after FADING IN. In addition, any Captain's Log Narration has had to wait until after the episode title. This coming season, in addition to the episode title at the beginning of Act I, we shall be superimposing the writers credit and the directors credit. Since we shall probably be carrying the writers credit on the same card with the episode title, this means that most of the time we shall only be having to handle a total of two cards, rather than one card, at the beginning of Act I. I would guess that allowing an additional footage of about ten feet would be sufficient to handle this requirement.¹¹

Allowing for two extra title cards at the beginning of Act I would have required more footage to ensure that the writing and directing credits were not run over close-ups or dialogue. If Act I quickly began with voice over narration, even more padding would be needed, since Justman wanted to hold any narration until the credits had finished (this would have been a problem with Kirk's Act I captain's log in "The Corbomite Maneuver," just to name one example). In some cases, the extra footage needed may have been unavailable; by the time the Directors Guild of America's complaint was received, eleven first season episodes (plus the first pilot) had already been filmed. Shifting the "created by" credit to the end titles or combining it with Gene Roddenberry's "produced by" credit at the end of Act IV were far more economical options than re-editing the first act of nearly a dozen shows, some of which needed to be delivered to NBC immediately.

Regarding DeForest Kelley's addition to the second season main titles, Cushman and Osborn write, in part:

On December 1, 1966, Justman wrote Roddenberry, stating his desire to provide Kelley with better compensation, including a more visible credit, “because of the performance he gives us” and because Kelley was “one helluva nice guy.” Justman added, “He has been more than the kindly ship’s doctor to all of us...”

Kelley’s agent found a way to get his client compensation beyond co-star billing. Star Trek quietly raised the good doctor’s salary from $850 to $1,250 per episode.

--Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season Two (eBook Edition, March 2014)

Discussing the same memo from Justman, as well as Kelley's subsequent salary bump, biographer Terry Lee Rioux presents a much different account from the one found in These Are The Voyages:

On December 1, 1966, Justman wrote to Roddenberry that he was way ahead of De's agent, Jimmy McHugh, Jr., because Justman himself had ensured that DeForest received better credit than he was actually contracted for. This, Justman wrote, was "because of the performances he gives us" and because Kelley was "one helluva nice guy. He has been more than the kindly ship's doctor to all of us." Justman and Roddenberry found a way to compensate Kelley before costar billing was possible. They quietly raised his salary to about $2,500 per show.

--Terry Lee Rioux, From Sawdust to Stardust: The Biography of DeForest Kelley, Star Trek's Doctor McCoy (2005), p.158-159

Neither account is entirely accurate. Cushman and Osborn's claim that Justman's December 1, 1966 memo indicated "his desire to provide Kelley with better compensation," is without any basis in fact. In actuality, Justman's three page memo to Roddenberry is entirely about billing — not once does the matter of compensation arise. Additionally, Cushman and Osborn's claim that Justman expressed a desire to give Kelley "a more visible credit" in this memo is also untrue. Justman's memo, part of which I have excerpted below, is actually a thorough defense of the billing DeForest Kelley had been receiving during the first season, not a plea for improved credit:

Had Stanley Lieberman or DeForest Kelley been watching our show every Thursday night, they would notice that in almost every instance DeForest has had better credit than we were contractually obligated to furnish him. As far as I am concerned, I would not change DeForest Kelley's contract at present in any way whatsoever. Granted he has been wonderful and is a wonderful person. But option time will come up and at that time I think we should get into it. I shall now list below a resume of the screen credit that DeForest has received to date and will be receiving in the future...

I think you will agree with me that we have been more than fair and actually have been way ahead of DeForest's agent in every respect. I, Bob Justman, have personally seen to it that DeForest received better credit than he was contractually entitled to. I have done this for several reasons. The most important reason is I felt that he deserved it because of the type of performance he gives us. Another reason, which may be just as important or perhaps more so, is the fact that DeForest Kelley is one helluva nice guy. He has been more than the kindly ship's Doctor to all of us. And we wanted him to know without making a special point of it that we appreciated what sort of person he is.

I do feel that it's about time that his agent realized what sort of people we are.¹²

Given the fact that their only quotes from this memo are also found in From Sawdust to Stardust, as well as the fact that they completely mischaracterize the content of the memo, I suspect Cushman and Osborn never actually read the original document.

Regarding the matter of compensation, Kelley did receive an unscheduled raise, but this happened in March of 1967 — alongside his promotion to the main titles, not before it, as claimed be Lee Rioux. Moreover, Kelley's salary for Star Trek never amounted to the $2,500 figure quoted in From Sawdust to Stardust. Terry Lee Rioux may have been confused by a May 6, 1968 memo¹³ from Marvin Katz to Howard Barton, which quoted that amount if the series went to a potential fourth season:

Memo from Marvin Katz to Howard Barton (May 6, 1968)

Incidentally, this memo indicates that Kelley's promotion to the main titles was not contractual until the show's third season. During Star Trek's second season, the producers were only obligated to give the actor "featured billing...on a separate card."¹⁴

Memo from Ed Perlstein to Shirley Stahnke (March 20, 1967)

Finally, These Are The Voyages correctly notes that Kelley's salary was raised to $1,250 per episode for Star Trek's second season, although the authors make this raise sound much more dramatic than it was by omitting the fact that Kelley's contract already mandated an increase to $1,100 per episode.

Main titles for Star Trek's third season (1968-69)

Beginning with Star Trek's second season, the show's credits became more or less standardized. During the third season, the typeface went from gold to blue, but the main titles were otherwise the same, at least visually. It's harder to evaluate the ways the main titles changed in terms of sound, due to the inaccurate ways the show's sound mix has been presented on home video, but that is a topic for another time.

Special thanks to Neil B., George N., and Maurice M. for reading various drafts of this piece. Any errors that remain are entirely my own.

Endnotes:

1 Memo from Bob Justman to Gene Roddenberry, August 4, 1966, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection,  Box 27, Folder 2

2 Memo from Shirley Stahnke to Bernie Weitzman, June 6, 1966, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection,  Box 27, Folder 18

3 Memo from Bob Justman to Gene Roddenberry with tentative credits attached, July 29, 1966, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection,  Box 27, Folder 18

4 Projection Room Notes - Star Trek - Opticals, Star Backgrounds, Miniatures, Titles, July 22, 1966, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection,  Box 27, Folder 18

5 Revised credits memo for “The Man Trap,” August 8, 1966, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection, Box 1, Folder 9

6 Editing Notes on Star Trek Main Title, August 5, 1966, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection, Box 27, Folder 18

7 Credits memo for “Mudd’s Women,” August 23, 1966, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection, Box 2, Folder 8

8 Memo from Bernie Weitzman to Gene Roddenberry, August 26, 1966, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection, Box 27, Folder 18

9 Memo from Bob Justman to Ed Perlstein, September 13, 1966, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection, Box 27, Folder 18

10 Memo from Bob Justman to Gene Roddenberry, April 6, 1967, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection, Box 27, Folder 18

11 Memo from Bob Justman to Joe Pevney and Marc Daniels, April 18, 1967, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection, Box 27, Folder 18

12 Memo from Bob Justman to Gene Roddenberry, December 1, 1966, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection, Box 28, Folder 15

13 Memo from Marvin Katz to Howard Barton, May 6, 1968, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection, Box 28, Folder 15

14 Memo from Ed Perlstein to Shirley Stahnke, March 20, 1967, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection, Box 28, Folder 15

Sources:

The Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection (1964-1969)

Inside Star Trek : The Real Story (Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman, 1996)

From Sawdust to Stardust: The Biography of DeForest Kelley, Star Trek's Doctor McCoy (Terry Lee Rioux, 2005)

These Are The Voyages: TOS, Season One (Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, 2013)

These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season Two (Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, March 2014)

D.C. Fontana’s Story Outlines for “The Enterprise Incident”

Still from "The Enterprise Incident" (September 27, 1968)

In These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season Three, authors Marc Cushman and Susan Osborn make a number of claims about the story outlines D.C. Fontana wrote for “The Enterprise Incident” in early 1968. For the purposes of this piece, I am focusing on the following passage:

“Ears” was one of four assignments Roddenberry had given Fontana on March 29. The others – “Joanna,” “Survival,” and “Van Vogt’s Robots” -- were not tied to a breaking news event, therefore less time urgent.

NBC had no problem with Star Trek exploiting a real life news story for a higher Nielsen share as long as the approach was pro-American, and so the network representatives agreed the script should be developed quickly. All haste was recommended -- the Pueblo crisis was already into its third month.

Fontana made the necessary changes and sent in her revision, dated April 19. Sarek was out and Spock was now the one negotiating with the Romulan commander (still a male), looking to buy time and distract the enemy long enough to allow Kirk to complete the covert mission.

It was now clear from the get-go that Kirk was up to something in letting the Enterprise enter the Neutral Zone. Many aspects of the story structure were in fact now very much like the episode to be produced. And, with network permission to parallel “The Pueblo Incident,” as the news services were now calling it, the title of Fontana’s story was changed to the more obvious “The Enterprise Incident.” 

Three days later, on April 22, at Freiberger’s request, Fontana created a 2nd Revised Outline, establishing that the Romulans now use Klingon-made ships.

--Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season Three (eBook Edition, April 2015)

Almost immediately, Cushman and Osborn misrepresent the details here. To start with, Fontana’s third season story assignments were handed out on February 21, 1968 — not March 29. For the latter date to be correct, it would mean that Fontana pitched and sold four stories to Star Trek, then turned around and wrote and submitted a sixteen page outline for "The Enterprise Incident," all in a single work day. Not only does the paperwork not support such a rushed timeline (a third season writers report¹ indicates the February 21 date), but Cushman and Osborn contradict themselves when discussing “That Which Survives” in a subsequent chapter:

During a February 21, 1968 pitch session, four of D.C. Fontana’s ideas interested Gene Roddenberry for Star Trek ’s third season. “Van Vogt’s Robots” was jettisoned early on, with nothing being written. “Survival,” “Ears,” and “Joanna,” however, made it to story outline, with “Survival” chosen to be developed first.

--Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season Three (eBook Edition, April 2015)

If the other three stories were viewed as less urgent than “Ears,” Fontana had a strange way of showing it. As Cushman and Osborn point out in their later chapter, the show files at UCLA indicate Fontana turned in the story outline for “Survival” first, on March 9, 1968, more than three weeks before the initial outline for “The Enterprise Incident” was delivered to the studio.

Regarding NBC’s attitude towards the story and its contemporary political parallels, there’s no record of their position in the show files at UCLA. What the authors present in that regard is pure speculation. As to whether or not the network wanted the episode developed quickly, there is an April 3, 1967 memo from Roddenberry to Freiberger, which asks:

We should check out with Stan Robertson of NBC whether or not this has promotion possibilities, too, and if so, should we lay it in early in our schedule to get Dorothy to work on it before other scripts?²

NBC's reply to Roddenberry's inquiry is not recorded in the show files, but the episode did become the first one Fontana took to teleplay for the third season, and it was slated to film fourth, early in the season.

It is true that Sarek had been featured in Fontana's first draft story outline for the episode, dated March 29, 1968:

Sarek appears in D.C. Fontana's first draft story for "The Enterprise Incident" (March 28, 1968)

It is also true that Sarek was dropped from the story after this draft. However, it is not true that Fontana's first draft story outline was titled "Ears." That had been her title when the story outline was assigned on February 21, 1968, but by the time Fontana delivered her first draft on March 29, 1968, the title had been changed to "The Enterprise Incident." This can be seen on the outline's cover page (which also indicates "Ears" as an earlier title, in pen):

Cover page of D.C. Fontana's first draft story for "The Enterprise Incident" (March 28, 1968)

It is true that the Romulan Commander was still male at this stage in the story's development; the character wouldn't become female until the episode went to teleplay, as this page from Fontana's final draft of the story outline shows:

Detail from page 3 of D.C. Fontana's second draft story for "The Enterprise Incident" (April 22, 1968)

However, it is absolutely untrue that Fontana wrote a revised draft of the script on April 22 at Fred Freiberger's request. The April 22nd "draft" did not establish "that the Romulans now use Klingon-made ships," either:

Comparison showing April 19 and April 22, 1968 "drafts" in fact have identical text

I use the word "draft" in quotes because it's clear, after comparing the two documents, that their text is in fact identical — they are the exact same draft. What appears to have happened is that Fontana completed her story outline on April 19 (a Friday) and sent it to the studio, where it was delivered on April 22 (the following Monday). In fact, you can see that delivery date stamped on the cover page of the April 19 version below:

Cover page of D.C. Fontana's 2nd draft outline of "The Enterprise Incident" (April 19, 1968)

As was often the case, upon receipt, Fontana's draft was re-typed in a standardized format. Apparently, when Cushman and/or Osborn read these story outlines, they did so without paying any attention to detail. The result is a chapter that provides incorrect dates, a wrong title, and invents details that are not supported by the archival record. These types of lapses are, frankly, inexcusable, especially from a pair of authors who want to be taken seriously as archival television historians.

Top image courtesy of Trek Core.

Update: The original version of this post included a photograph of Fontana's April 22, 1968 story outline that did not identify the Romulan Commander's gender, despite my text to the contrary. This has been corrected. Thanks to author Christopher L. Bennett for pointing out this error.

Endnotes:

1 Writers Report, March 29, 1968, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection, Box 35, Folder 15

2 Memo from Gene Roddenberry to Fred Freiberger, April 3, 1967, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection, Box 21, Folder 7

Sources:

The Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection (1964-1969)

These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season Three (Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, eBook edition, April 2015)

Fact Check: Richard Arnold on Mission Log

Screenshot of Mission Log Podcast website (accessed June 2015)

In 2014, Richard Arnold – a former assistant to Gene Roddenberry and research consultant on Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1989-1991 – recorded an interview with Ken Ray and John Champion for Mission Log, a weekly Star Trek podcast produced by Roddenberry Entertainment. Since that interview was released, I've been asked by several readers to fact check some of Arnold's claims, particularly those regarding the original Star Trek television series. It has taken a bit longer than originally planned, but I can finally present this piece, which fact checks a number of claims made by Arnold during the course of the interview.

If you haven’t listened to it, Richard Arnold’s interview can be streamed or downloaded from the Mission Log website. It can also be found on iTunes, along with every other episode of the podcast. Readers of this blog will be particularly interested in Mission Log's Discovered Documents section, which features scans of story outlines, memos, call sheets, ratings reports, newspaper clippings, and more from Gene Roddenberry's private archives, including material unavailable in the public collections at UCLA.

In the interest of full transparency, I should disclose that I've met Mission Log co-host John Champion a couple of times, and briefly corresponded with him online about writing this piece. To date, I haven't met Ken Ray, nor have I met Richard Arnold, although I have seen Mr. Arnold at a number of conventions run by Creation Entertainment over the years. Some of Mr. Arnold's comments below have been slightly edited for clarity. I’ve included the time stamp of each quotation for those who would like to follow along with the podcast itself.

Still from 'I, Mudd' (1967)

The Enterprise Crew

[Roddenberry] wanted it to be half men, half women from the beginning and the network said, ‘No, the audience would think there's too much hanky-panky going on.’ He said, ‘Okay, we'll make it a third women and two-thirds men, because a third healthy women could certainly handle two-thirds men.’ He did whatever he could to try and make it as fair as he could, but again, he was fighting censors, he was fighting [NBC], he was fighting [the] front office, so there wasn't a lot that he could do in the original series, but he did have Uhura in a traditionally male position – communications officer – in today's navy, rarely female. 

--Richard Arnold on Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast (2014), 1:02:03 - 1:03:04

Arnold is repeating an anecdote that Roddenberry loved to tell (it can be heard on the 1976 Inside Star Trek album). In short, Roddenberry claimed that NBC asked him to reduce the percentage of women on the Enterprise from being one-half of the crew to a more palatable one-third. To date, however, I've been unable to find any archival evidence that Roddenberry ever intended the crew of the Enterprise to be 50% female.

The first time the gender breakdown of the crew was even mentioned in the writer-director's guide was the third revision, dated April 17, 1967. That version indicates that the ship "has a crew of 430 persons, approximately one-third of them female." Previous versions of the writer-director guide, as well as Roddenberry’s early pitch document (dated March 11, 1964, it references a 203 person crew) contain no specifics as to the number of women onboard the Enterprise.

Other archival evidence, such as an August 12, 1966 memo from Gene Roddenberry to Joe D’Agosta, the show’s casting director, lead me to be further skeptical of Roddenberry’s claim that NBC wanted the number of women onboard the Enterprise reduced (the subject line of the memo reads, “female extras”):

NBC has requested that, for purposes of believability, we use more pretty young females in backgrounds, corridors, and rooms aboard the Enterprise. Can we see that more young women extras are used in these areas?

Still from 'Who Mourns for Adonais?' (1967)

Gene Roddenberry and Religion

Directors and actors would sometimes make changes on the set... There were a couple of occasions on the original series where Gene's very clear instructions in the Writer's Guide [that] we do not support [or] condone any specific religion [were ignored]... I think there were notes on his copy of the script that he sent out to everybody for ‘Balance of Terror’ when we were in the chapel and they were getting married: ‘Absolutely no religious symbols or dialogue.’ It had to be as generic as possible so as not to offend anybody, or at the same time say, ‘We're this,’ or, ‘We're that.’ 

--Richard Arnold on Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast (2014), 17:02 - 18:38

No draft of The Star Trek Guide (one draft can be found online; all three revisions, as well as a plethora of related notes and memos, can be found in the collections at UCLA) contains any reference to religion whatsoever. It's possible that Arnold is remembering something from the Star Trek: The Next Generation series bible, although a version available online doesn't seem to contain any reference to religion, either.

Regardless, although on-set changes occasionally happened, they were strongly discouraged by Star Trek’s producers, as evidenced by several terse memos from Roddenberry to various members of the production staff early in the show’s run.

On the subject of 'Balance of Terror,' here's what the revised final draft (dated July 18, 1966, a week before the chapel scenes were filmed) says about the chapel:

INT. ENTERPRISE - CHAPEL - FULL SHOT

Simple... a chapel designed to accommodate all faiths of all planets... 

Of course, it's possible that Roddenberry sent out the more absolute dictum that Arnold remembers, but so far I have found no evidence of this at UCLA.

Originally, at the end of the episode, McCoy scans Carolyn Palamas and she's pregnant, and the question is, is it going to be human or God? Broadcast standards did not want that in the episode! That was cut. I can't imagine them convincing Gene that he had to put in something about one God being enough. I can't imagine it getting by him. I can't imagine him saying that that would be okay. That wasn't Gene at the time, it certainly wasn't Gene later. 

--Richard Arnold on Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast (2014), 19:15 - 19:50

Kirk's line from 'Who Mourns for Adonais?' ("Mankind has no need for Gods. We find the one quite adequate.") may have conflicted with Roddenberry's point-of-view later in life, but it was certainly in the episode's shooting script, and I've found no evidence that Roddenberry objected to the line in 1967.  There's also no evidence that the line was inserted at the behest of NBC's Broadcast Standards department. The closest comment on the subject from Broadcast Standards that exists in the UCLA files is a letter from Jean Messerschmidt dated March 15, 1967, which approved the story, but cautioned the producers to make sure, "that the religious aspects be treated with dignity and good taste."

That same letter also instructed the producers that "Carolyn's pregnancy not be treated lightly or as commendable," but allowed the plot point to go forward, at least at that point. Contrary to claims in These Are The Voyages – TOS: Season Two (2014), there's no evidence that network censors stopped the filming of the tag scene at the last minute (more on this to come in a later piece, I hope). Broadcast Standards may have ultimately nixed the scene during post-production, but thus far I haven't found any proof of this in the archival record.

Unfortunately, Gene Coon and Gene Roddenberry were taking a break, and this is a story that Gene Roddenberry told me, [because] Coon had died before I came out to L.A. He told me that they had taken a break, and they came back, and they didn't even know that they had shot [the tag scene for ‘Bread and Circuses’] that way. Even though it was the end scene for ['Bread and Circuses'], it was something they shot at the very beginning before they got back, so it was already in the can. I seem to recall Gene having gone out to the location at some point. I don't think he was even aware that this had changed. 

It was one of those, ‘Oh, God, how did this get by us?’ Because when Uhura says that one of their commentators on the radio was trying to put down their religion, but he couldn't, and Kirk just doesn't get it. ‘It's not because it was the sun in the sky, it's because he was the son of God,’ and they all had that knowing, "ah" look. 

It's like, Lord, that is not this show, and of course it wasn't. It wasn't the only time that things got by. It was a story that Gene and Gene had written themselves. It's not something that either of them would have put in...I think that got changed on set by either the actors or the director...I don't think that's the script they handed the actors. 

--Richard Arnold on Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast (2014), 21:58 - 23:20, 28:43 - 29:01

In actuality, the tag scene in 'Bread and Circuses' was shot exactly as it was scripted by Gene Coon and Gene Roddenberry. It's not something that was changed by the director (Ralph Senensky) or one of the actors. Roddenberry may well have told Arnold that the actors or the director were to blame, but it's not what happened. Compare these September 14, 1967 page revisions (my transcript reflects some hand-written deletions and changes, as the script was being re-written by Roddenberry as the episode was shot) to the dialogue as aired, and you'll see they are nearly identical:

ANGLE ON UHURA - AT HER CONSOLE

turning with interest to overhear:

                                                        SPOCK
                                       ... would evolve a philosophy
                                       of total brotherhood. Worship
                                       of the sun is almost always a
                                       primitive superstition-religion...

                                                        UHURA
                                                  (interrupting)
                                       I'm afraid you have it all wrong,
                                       Mr. Spock. All of you.

GROUP AT COMMAND CHAIR - INCLUDING UHURA

Kirk, Spock and McCoy turning toward Uhura questioningly.

                                                        UHURA
                                                  (continuing)
                                       I've been monitoring old style
                                       radio waves, heard them talk about
                                       this? Don't you understand? Not
                                       the sun in the sky... the Son,
                                       the Son of God!


                                                        KIRK
                                                  (half to self)
                                       Ceaser and Christ... they did
                                       have both. And the word is
                                       spreading only now.


                                                        McCOY
                                       A philosophy of total love, total
                                       brotherhood.


                                                        SPOCK
                                                  (nods)
                                       It'll replace their Imperial Rome.
                                       But it'll happen during their
                                       twentieth century.


                                                        KIRK
                                                  (nods)
                                       It would be something to watch,
                                       to be a part of. To see it happen
                                       all over again.

Still from 'The Corbomite Maneuver' (1966)

Production: Seasons One and Two

They started early, in the spring, shooting for September [of 1966]. They hadn't been on the air yet, and they were already through more than a dozen episodes, so that the people who were being brought in to write – and Gene wanted good, solid writers, and he wanted people from the science fiction community – there was nothing to show them. There were all the scripts they were working on, and the episodes they were cutting, but nothing had aired, nobody was a fan yet. 

--Richard Arnold on Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast (2014), 12:56-13:22

Arnold's timeline is a bit off here. NBC’s pick-up of Star Trek as a weekly series was announced in Daily Variety on March 1, 1966. Writing assignments were handed out shortly thereafter, and the first story outlines were delivered by mid-March. By early April, John D.F. Black had joined the staff as an associate producer, and nineteen writers were working on eighteen different stories in various stages of development. On May 24, 1966, the cameras began rolling on 'The Corbomite Maneuver.' This was in (late) spring with an eye for a September premiere date, but it wasn’t particularly early in terms of television production. To draw a useful comparison, Mission: Impossible assigned stories at the same time that season, and began production only a week later than Star Trek, on May 31, 1966 (as reported in Daily Variety).

It is true that Gene Roddenberry sought out members of the literary science fiction community to write for Star Trek. Some, like Harlan Ellison and Jerry Sohl, had their work produced for the series. Others, like A.E. van Vogt and Robert Sheckley, were paid off for their proposed stories before having the chance to write a teleplay. When Arnold implies that the first season was through “more than a dozen episodes” and still bringing in new writers, however, he’s way off-track. The thirteenth Star Trek episode produced (counting both pilot episodes) was 'The Conscience of the King,' and it didn’t finish filming until September 21, 1966. By that date, 38 stories had already been assigned, including every story that became an episode of the first season with the exception of 'Arena,' 'The Devil in the Dark,' 'Errand of Mercy,' and 'Operation—Annihilate!' Three of those episodes were penned by producer Gene L. Coon, and the fourth by departing script consultant Steven Carabatsos. None were the work of freelancers (Fredric Brown’s after-the-fact story credit on 'Arena' notwithstanding).

It also isn’t true that there was nothing to show potential writers for the show. By mid-September of 1966, two episodes had aired and a half dozen other shows in various stages of editing could be seen. Even as early as March of 1966, when most of the show’s freelancers actually came on board, both pilot episodes had long been completed, and attendance records in the Roddenberry collection at UCLA indicate that dozens of freelance writers (including many literary sf authors) were screened at least one of the pilots. Prospective writers could also read the seventeen page writer's guide, the first draft of which was completed on March 15, 1966.

They always shot bridge first – same with [Star Trek: The Next Generation]. They would finish the bridge on any episode and then move on to the other sets. Meanwhile they're constructing whatever planet sets they need on their swing stage, and then they move there, and then they go back and start the bridge again, and so on. 

--Richard Arnold on Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast (2014), 20:12 - 20:31

Shooting sometimes began on the bridge set, but this was not always the case on the original Star Trek. The schedule for 'Amok Time,' for example, began in the Enterprise corridor set and subsequently moved to Spock's quarters. The bridge wasn't scheduled to go before the cameras until the third day of production. 'The Deadly Years' started its schedule with planet exteriors, and then shot material in sickbay and the medical lab. The bridge wasn't scheduled until the second day of filming. 'I, Mudd' didn't shoot on the bridge until its final day of production. There are many other examples.

Film trim from 'Bread and Circuses' (September 12, 1967; source: Antiques Navigator)

With 'Bread and Circuses,' it's obvious they went off on location, but they shot all the bridge stuff first and anything else they needed on the ship for that episode. You don't go back to reshoot, not when you're under such pressure from the network to get the stuff out as fast as possible. They did not have the seven shooting days that [Star Trek: The Next Generation] had; they had six, and then eventually they were being almost forced to try and do it in five. It didn't happen often, but they tried [in] the third season particularly. 

--Richard Arnold on Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast (2014), 20:32 - 21:02

Arnold is certainly right about reshoots; given the pressures of a television schedule, these were exceedingly rare on Star Trek, as they would have been on any weekly television series at that time. However, Arnold's other comments here are incorrect. A number of Star Trek episodes were shot in at least seven days – during the first season alone, when the studio was most lenient about overtime, a total of fourteen episodes took seven days (or longer) to complete. When Desilu became Paramount Television, the production was pressured to finish episodes at a faster pace – but at that point, they were trying to finish shows in six days, not five. In fact, the only Star Trek episode to be shot or scheduled for five days was 'The Doomsday Machine,' which was filmed before the Gulf+Western takeover that led to tighter shooting schedules.

The shooting schedule for 'Bread and Circuses' at UCLA is not complete – it only covers the first two days of filming – however, none of the scenes planned for those two days took place on the bridge (instead, the production planned to shoot in Bronson Canyon and the Paramount Test Stage). Although the daily production reports for 'Bread and Circuses' do not exist in the public collections at UCLA, film trims such as the one above suggest the shooting schedule was followed. In addition, revisions of the episode's "son of God" tag scene (by Roddenberry, who rewrote the troubled script as it was being filmed) include the dialogue as broadcast and are dated September 14, 1967 (the third day of production on the episode). All of the evidence suggests that Arnold's chronology of the production is simply wrong.

Still from 'The Empath' (1968)

The Gulf+Western Takeover and Reduced Budgets

When Charles Bludhorn, [at the] end of the second [season] and all the third, when it became one company, Gulf+Western, bought Paramount and Desilu, and they wanted to know why the show was costing so much. They were saying, Lost in Space or whichever series, I think it might have been Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, costs so much less, and Gene had to explain very patiently, and very detailed, [in] several pages, single-spaced, [that] they don't have to do this, they don't have to do that, they're set in the same time then we are now, we have to create all our costumes, etc. He explained why it had to cost more, but they still pared down their budget. It was pretty awful. I think they were doing it for just over a hundred thousand dollars an episode, which is horrifying now. 

--Richard Arnold on Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast (2014), 21:03 - 21:56

The memo Arnold mentions here was written by Gene Roddenberry (based on detailed information compiled by Bob Justman) and sent to John Reynolds, President of Paramount-Desilu Television. It can be found in the UCLA special collections, but is more readily available on pages 298-300 of David Alexander's Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry (1994). In the memo, Roddenberry presents twenty-six reasons why Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea cost so much less than Star Trek (a budgetary comparison done by Justman at this time shows an episode of Allen's series coming in at $166,485, while comparable episodes of Star Trek totaled $189,696 and $195,674).

Additionally, while it's true that Star Trek's budget was cut further to the bone after the Paramount-Desilu merger (in fact, it was cut every season), Arnold's figure of "just over a hundred thousand dollars" is way off track. In actuality, the average budget per episode during the third season was a little over $179,000.

Still from 'Bread and Circuses' (1968)

Battles over Credit

[Roddenberry and Coon] turned the script over to a writer named John [Kneubuhl] and he added some things to it, and sent it back, and they said, ‘Okay, go ahead and do it in first draft.’ He did, and then he sent it back and they said, ‘Okay,’ and then he started to work on finalizing it, and it was just too much. His health wasn't good, and he finally said, ‘I can't do this.’ He turned it back to them and they then went back and started from their original story and Gene Coon took it through first draft, and turned it over to Gene [Roddenberry], who then kind of rewrote it and did the final version. The writing credits on it should have been story by Gene Roddenberry and Gene Coon, teleplay by Gene Roddenberry and Gene Coon. Gene [Roddenberry] never really battled that much for credit; he didn't need it. 

They find out that the Writer's Guild is going to do an arbitration on that script and they're, like, ‘Why?’ ‘Because John Kneubuhl wrote the script,’ and they said, ‘No, the one that he turned in and then turned back to us, we didn't use. We went back to our original and we went from there. We didn't use his script.’ Despite Gene making it extremely clear what the entire genesis of that script was, the Writer's Guild still went with John Kneubuhl and gave him the story credit, even though it was not his story, it was their story, and only gave Gene Roddenberry and Gene Coon the teleplay credit. 

--Richard Arnold on Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast (2014), 23:24 - 25:08

It is unlikely that Roddenberry and Coon were surprised by the WGA initiating arbitration for 'Bread and Circuses.' An October 2, 1967 memo from Gene Roddenberry to Adeline Reilly matter-of-factly indicated that, "Although there will be an automatic arbitration in regards [to] the original writer, neither Gene Coon nor I want any arbitration between ourselves." Arbitration is automatic when someone who is a production executive (per the WGA, this includes all directors, producers, and story editors) “is proposed for credit and there are other writers on the project who are not production executives.”

Arnold's account of the writing process does roughly match a September 19, 1967 letter from Gene Coon to Mary Dorfman (of the Writer's Guild of America, West, Inc.), in which the departing producer detailed the development of the story and script:

Gene Roddenberry and I sat down and developed the story idea, which you have in your possession at this time, included among other pertinent material.  We then called in John Kneubuhl, gave him the story, which, while not completely developed, was considerably developed.  John added a few pages to the story, we had it approved and then he went into First Draft; then into Second Draft.  But he had many personal problems and his health failed him, and one day John called me and told me that he simply could not finish the screenplay and requested that he be withdrawn from the project.

This was granted.  At this time, I went back to the original story, the one written by Roddenberry and me, and wrote a brand new First Draft, with different structure, dialogue, character development, and so on, which you will see in the first mimeographed copy of the script.  When I had finished with a First Draft, Re-Write and a Polish, Gene Roddenberry stepped in and contributed a complete Re-Write, with new structure and character, based upon NOT THE KNEUBUHL SCRIPT, but upon my script, which was, in its turn, a complete original and not a simple Re-Write of the Kneubuhl effort.

That said, to date, I have found no evidence in the files at UCLA that John Kneubuhl was awarded "story by" credit for 'Bread and Circuses' at any time during arbitration. The episode itself gives the "written by" credit to Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon, which matches the October 10, 1967 credit memo for the episode at UCLA.

Arnold may have been recalling the version told by Marc Cushman and Susan Osborn in These Are The Voyages – TOS: Season Two (2014). In that book, the authors claim that, "After arbitration, it was determined Roddenberry and Coon would indeed share the “written by” credit. Surprisingly, considering the story originated with the producers, the Guild determined John Kneubuhl would receive a “story by” credit. Of this, Kneubuhl declined."

However, Cushman and Osborn's account makes little sense, as it would be against guild policy to award "written by" credit when another writer was to receive "story by" credit. If someone does have evidence that Kneubuhl was ever awarded screen credit and declined, I would love to see it. As it stands, I suspect that the WGA ultimately sided with Roddenberry and Coon, and awarded them the full "written by" credit they receive on the episode as it was originally broadcast.

We talked about the other one, ‘A Private Little War,’ where, again, they had turned it over to Don Ingalls, who did a good job on it, but it wasn't what Gene wanted. He wanted to make his comments on Vietnam, etc., so he ended up having to rewrite it, but did not try to get the writing credit for it, but Don Ingalls was so angry with Gene that he took his name off it and used the name ‘Jud Crucis’ – Christ on a cross – because he felt he'd been crucified by Gene, and didn't speak to him for years because of that. And yet he still got the money for it, as John Kneubuhl got to keep his money [for ‘Bread and Circuses’] even though they never used anything that he did.  

--Richard Arnold on Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast (2014), 25:14 - 26:05

While it's true that Roddenberry did a complete re-write of 'A Private Little War,' it's an exaggeration to suggest that he didn't use anything that had been written by Don Ingalls (who, after arbitration, received story credit; Roddenberry received full credit for the teleplay). Ingalls' story outlines and first draft teleplay certainly have their differences when compared to Roddenberry's final, aired version, but the broadcast episode's premise, most of its characters, and many of its narrative turns come straight from Ingalls.

Additionally, although David Alexander's Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry (1994), claimed that the pseudonym Ingalls used on the episode, "Jud Crucis," was shorthand for "Jesus Crucified," Ingalls himself offered a different explanation for the pseudonym in the pages of Starlog:

His pseudonym, which he has only used twice in 32 years, comes from 'judicious crucis,' which he describes as 'a form of combat in which two kings would send out their two Paladins to battle each other, rather than two armies. Whoever won the fight, won the war.' 

--Lee Goldberg, Paladin in Blue, Starlog (June 1992), p.37

For what it's worth, that same feature in Starlog also claimed that Roddenberry and Ingalls' "differences on the script...hurt neither their abiding friendship, nor Ingalls' fond memory of the series."

Regarding Arnold’s comments about money, of course Kneubuhl and Ingalls were paid to write. Whether or not their work was produced in part or even at all is immaterial – Kneubuhl and Ingalls were professional writers with a contract; they were not working on spec. Stories that were cut off before they even had the chance to become teleplays were bought and paid for the same as stories that became the episodes we know and love. Residuals, on the other hand, were another matter. Since they were based on screen credit, Roddenberry likely received a healthy share of residual payments over the years for both 'A Private Little War' and 'Bread and Circ,' thanks to frequent re-runs of the series following its cancellation in 1969.

Still from 'Turnabout Intruder' (1969)

The Ratings

Star Trek was considered a failure by just about everybody. Only recently has NBC or Nielsen, somebody has finally released the actual ratings for the original series. They were better than they admitted. They basically were telling Gene that the show [was a ratings failure. That was] one of their excuses for cutting the budget, I'm sure. 

--Richard Arnold on Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast (2014), 41:05 - 41:28

In all likelihood, Arnold is thinking of the ratings conclusions of author Marc Cushman, which I've thoroughly examined and debunked previously. As evidenced by the Roddenberry papers donated to UCLA, as well as documents from the Roddenberry archives published on the Mission Log website, Roddenberry frequently saw Star Trek's actual Nielsen ratings during the run of the series, as well as ratings provided by Arbitron and Trendex. As a result, it would have been difficult for NBC to pull wool over his eyes regarding the size of the Star Trek's audience.

Additionally, it should be noted that NBC wasn't the entity that slashed Star Trek's budget during the show's third season – that was entirely Paramount's doing. NBC actually paid a larger license fee per episode during the 1968-69 broadcast season of Star Trek (the annual license fee increase was contractual).

[Gene Roddenberry] could have had it back on the air within a year. That was the first time they came back to him, when they discovered that the Nielsen ratings were actually wrong, and that the new demographics showed that it had been NBC's most popular show when they cancelled it – in the most important demographic, not overall, but in the 18-35. They said, ‘Congratulations, you just cancelled your most successful show.’ 

--Richard Arnold on Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast (2014), 51:42 - 52:10

Many sources have made similar claims, suggesting that NBC did not have access to demographic information when they decided to cancel Star Trek. Shortly after the show’s cancellation, the story goes, Nielsen began measuring demographics, and NBC realized it had cancelled its most popular show with young adults.

The problem with these accounts is that they’re not accurate. In truth, Nielsen not only measured demographics in the late 1960s, but the networks considered demographics when they renewed or cancelled programming. NBC’s vice president of research even cited Star Trek’s young demographic as the reason for its renewal in a 1967 interview, despite the fact that the show had low overall ratings (read more about this here). You can read more information about Star Trek and demographics in this piece at Television Obscurities, which comes highly recommended.

Images courtesy of Trek Core.

Editor's Note: Roddenberry Entertainment recently announced "The 366 Project," which "will see one piece of Trek history posted to Roddenberry Entertainment’s social media channel each day beginning in 2016." How cool is that?

Sources:

The Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection (1964-1969)

The Robert H. Justman Collection of Star Trek Television Series Scripts (1966-1968)

Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry (David Alexander, 1994)

Inside Star Trek : The Real Story (Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman, 1996)

"Cult Television as Digital Television’s Cutting Edge," in Television as Digital Media (Roberta Pearson, p.105-131, 2010)

These Are The Voyages: TOS, Season One (Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, 2013)

These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season Two (Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, March 2014)