Star Trek Inspirations

My program for this year was to have been to convert drafts into published blog entries. Life has its way of rolling over programs and plans.

Right now I have twenty-four drafts. Most of these will have to remain drafts for the foreseeable future. Now that I'm on the subject of Star Trek, though, I can turn one of my drafts into an entry, even if it's just a fragment of what could actually be a longer essay and analysis.

Star Trek didn't come along fully formed. There were forerunners in science fiction in print and on film. Last time around, I wrote about three Gothic episodes of Star Trek:

• "The Squire of Gothos"--Written by Paul Schneider, first broadcast on January 12, 1967. I mentioned that there are elements of The Wizard of Oz and "The Most Dangerous Game"  by Richard Connell (Collier's, Jan. 19, 1924) in this episode, but I don't think it was inspired by Connell's story. "The Squire of Gothos" can be included in the fiction of mirrors, though, a new category of story (I think) that could lead to a new draft, but then I would get nowhere at all in reducing my number of drafts.

• "Catspaw"--Written by Robert Bloch, first broadcast on October 27, 1967. Based on Bloch's short story "Broomstick Ride" (Super-Science Fiction, Dec. 1957).

• "Wolf in the Fold"--Written by Robert Bloch, first broadcast on December 22, 1967. Presumably based, in part, on Bloch's story "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" (Weird Tales, July 1943).

So Robert Bloch based two of his Star Trek scripts on his own short stories. The subject of today's entry is a story of a different type, though. That type is an episode of Star Trek that drew from or was inspired by stories or productions by creators who were not the authors of the Star Trek script. I have five examples. I'm sure there are others.

• "The Man Trap" by George Clayton Johnson (Sept. 8, 1966), specifically the vampire creature, seems to have been inspired by "Black Destroyer" by A.E. van Vogt, originally in Astounding Science-Fiction in July 1939.

• "Operation--Annihilate" by Steven W. Carabatsos (Apr. 13, 1967) seems to have been inspired by The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein, originally serialized in Galaxy Science Fiction in September, October, and November 1951.

• "The Apple" by Max Ehrlich and Gene L. Coon (Oct. 13, 1967) is very close to being a reworking of the movie version of The Time Machine (1960), written by David Duncan and adapted from the novella by H.G. Wells (1895).

• "The Trouble with Tribbles" by David Gerrold (Dec. 29, 1967) seems to have been based in part on The Rolling Stones by Robert A. Heinlein (1952), which had an earlier inspiration in the short story "Pigs Is Pigs" by Ellis Parker Butler (1905).

• "Wink of an Eye" by Gene L. Coon and Arthur Heinemann (Nov. 29, 1968) seems to have been inspired by "The New Accelerator" by H.G. Wells, originally in The Strand Magazine, December 1901.

This could go and on. If you have additions to make, please leave comments below.

Text copyright 2026 Terence E. Hanley