D. C. Fontana

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Dorothy Catherine "D. C." Fontana, is a screenplay writer, best known for her work in the Star Trek television franchise, produced by Paramount Studios.

Originally Gene Roddenberry's secretary, she has written for Star Trek since the onset, starting with Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) from 1966 through 1968. During that time she wrote such memorable episodes as "Tomorrow is Yesterday", "Friday's Child", and "Journey to Babel". She wrote several episodes in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation starting with the 1987 pilot episode, "Encounter at Farpoint", and the episode "Dax" of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 1993.

She also wrote the episode "Yesteryear" for Star Trek: The Animated Series, the only episode of that series which contains material considered canonical under the current definition.

She has also written for other science fiction shows, such as; The Six Million Dollar Man in 1974, Babylon 5 in 1995 (the episodes "A Distant Star", "Legacies", and "The War Prayer"), and Earth: Final Conflict in 1997.

Her writing credits also include children's shows, like He-Man and The Masters of the Universe in 1983 (episode "Battle Cat"), and The Transformers: The Beast Wars in 1996, and also the television drama series Dallas.

Fontana also wrote under the name J. Michael Bingham. This pseudonym was used for the story and teleplay credits for "The Naked Now", an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The story credit was shared by John D. F. Black, who had written "The Naked Time", the Star Trek original series episode of which "Naked Now" was a sequel.

In March 2005, the producers of the Internet-based fan-made Star Trek series Star Trek: New Voyages announced that Fontana will write an upcoming installment of the series featuring a guest appearance by TOS veteran Walter Koenig reprising his role of Pavel Chekov. [1]

Bethesda Softworks reports that Fontana wrote the storylines for Star Trek: Legacy and Star Trek: Tactical Assault along with her partner Derek Chester.[2]

The makers of Deep Space Nine have said that the character of science fiction writer "K. C. Hunter" (played by Nana Visitor) was inspired by Fontana.

Fontana's name was "spoofed" as the name of the character "D. C. Montana" (played by Tim Russ) on the short-lived sci-fi television series The Highwayman. Tim Russ plays Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager.

She is also a long-time member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, having served as Mistress of the Lists for the Kingdom of Caid.