In this exclusive interview the legendary Dorothy "D.C." Fontana shares memories and observations from her remarkable 40 year writing career. Fontana, a television writer since the early '60s, is best known for her work on Star Trek. As Gene Roddenberry's secretary, she was among the first to see his original concept for the series in 1964. As story editor and a staff writer, Fontana penned about a dozen adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise — including "Charlie X", the second episode ever aired — and fine-tuned countless others. In particular she had a heavy hand in developing the character of Spock and his family in her script for "Journey to Babel." She continued her ties to Star Trek when she signed on to assist with the Animated Adventures in the 1970s. Fontana also helped launch Star Trek: The Next Generation by co-writing the series pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint," with Roddenberry, along with several other first-season episodes. She also figured prominently in the development of Jadzia Dax by co-writing the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine script "Dax."

Fontana has influenced other TV science fiction by writing for such shows as The Six Million Dollar Man, Babylon 5 and Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict. She has also written episodes of The Waltons, Dallas, Streets of San Francisco, Kung Fu, Bonanza, High Chapparal, Here Come the Brides, The Big Valley and Ben Casey. She was nominated for a Writers Guild Award in 1969 for "Two Percent of Nothing," an episode of Then Came Bronson.

Fontana is also the author of three books: "The Brazos River," "Vulcan's Glory" and "The Questor Tapes" (a novelization of Roddenberry's TV movie about an android who was the precursor to Data).

Included with the main interview are five excerpts in which Fontana specifically talks about the writing and production of specific episodes including "Charlie X," "Journey to Babel" and the Animated Adventures episode "Yesteryear."