Robert Justman's "Klingon on the Bridge"

J is for Justman. On the 18 October 1986, Robert Justman sent a memo to Star Trek's Creator, Gene Roddenberry. The memo concerned the use of the show's writers guide/bible in the Star Trek universe. Justman's memo begins with the sentence,

"Despite your aversion to using Klingons in the new series, I think I've thought of something which might just change your mind."

 In case you were wondering, Robert Justman put forward the idea of a resident Klingon serving aboard the Enterprise played by Michael Dorn. Obviously, Justman had a few hurdles to bypass. Some say Roddenberry's optimistic view of the future was preachy and slow. To neutralize this problem, Justman suggested that the military skills and prowess of the Klingon species might cause such a person (like Worf) to be well-suited for a role in the ship's crew.

"These are Klingons! They'll attack!"

When Roddenberry dug his heels in about excluding the Klingons, he said, "Bob, we've passed all that. We don't need Klingons." However, Justman persevered, challenging the Creator's opinion, pointing out that the acceptance of a Klingon in Starfleet would mean that Human attitudes had grown, which happily played ball with Roddenberry's optimistic view of the future.



Do you remember K'Ehleyr? Didn't Susie Plakson make a great Klingon?

Qapla! Long live the Klingon Empire.

I Am Spock

I Am Spock is the title of Leonard Nimoy's second autobiography, published in 1995 which is a fascinating read.

Leonard Nimoy's second book exploits the logic of the Vulcan Science Officer from Star Trek's universe, revealing a series of private conversations between Mr Spock and Mr Nimoy. This unique book contains a saga of Leonard's experiences as an actor, director, and producer of Star Trek Stories.

A letter in the Foreword section of "I Am Spock" addressed to Mr Leonard Nimoy at Earth's Sol Star System poses the question - Would you consider writing the foreward to my new book? - followed by Mr Nimoy and Spock dialog from Leonard's first autobiography published in 1975.

Can you guess its title?

Live Long and Prosper.

Hugo Gernsback

H is for Hugo. This award is the premier award in science Fiction named after Hugo Gernsback, founder of the first ever sci-fi pulp magazine, Amazing Stories. In 1953 "World SF Convention" gave the first Hugo Award at the 11th World Science Fiction Convention. Since 1955 the Hugo Award for best Science Fiction and Fantasy has been handed over to winners annually for pure excellence.

Theres more than a dozen types including best written and dramatic work. The Hugo Awards are among the highest honors bestowed in science fiction and fantasy, art, publishing and writing. The distinctive design of the Hugo Award Rocket is a service mark of the World Science Fiction Society. The awards themselves are voted on and administered by the World Science Fiction Convention, also known as Worldcon.


Star Trek: The Original Series was nominated eight times for Best Dramatic Presentation, and swept the nominees in 1968. It won the award twice.

Star Trek: The Next Generation was nominated three times, and also won twice.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Enterprise were each nominated twice (Enterprise for Short Form, after the category was split in 2002), but never won.

Nine of the first eleven Star Trek films except for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek Nemesis were nominated for Best Dramatic Presentation. None won the award.

Gene Roddenberry won a special award for Star Trek in 1968.

Hugo Gernsback is known for writing a non fiction in 1952 titled "Evolution of Modern Science Fiction." The novel for which he is best remembered is "Ralph 124C 41+"

Have you read Amazing Stories? Do you like watching the Hugos? Who do you want to see win?