RIP Dorothy Catherine "D.C." Fontana

Haere Lintesereg

Sad news, she was one of the finest writers of Star Trek. She passed away last night at age 80.

https://intl.startrek.com/news/dc-fontana-1939-2019

Data1001

"Dorothy Catherine Fontana, the legendary television writer better known by her gender-hiding nom de plume, D.C. Fontana, has passed away on December 2 at the age of 80, following a short illness, announces the official Star Trek site."


https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/284756/dc-fontana-star-trek-writer-passes-away-at-80


If you're not familiar with her, this article goes into just how important she was to the legacy of the franchise:
https://www.startrek.com/article/7-things-you-should-know-about-d-c-fontana

From the article:

Fontana, asked by StarTrek.com what she considers her greatest contribution to Star Trek, replied, "Primarily the development of Spock as a character and Vulcan as a history/background/culture from which he sprang."

Dirk Gunderson

Sad day for the Trek universe.

Beratis Kesla Redjac

According to a press release from the American Film Institute, Dorothy Fontana passed away in her home in Los Angeles this week at the age of 80.

RIP D.C. Fontana. "My shoes are too tight, and I've forgotten how to dance"

MirrorMartigan

Beratis Kesla Redjac wrote: »

"My shoes are too tight, and I've forgotten how to dance"

That is my favorite Babylon 5 quote.

MirrorMartigan

Very sad news indeed. Not only did she write for Star Trek, but also Babylon 5, and even the drama series Dallas. A great talent was truly lost.

marschallin

I think what’s so impressive about her is that she had a job in Hollywood writing when not a lot of women did that sort of thing. And when I say “not a lot” I’m sure there was hardly any, especially on prime time TV. I mean, I’m not going to pretend I can even begin to know what it was like in the 50s and 60s for women writers in Hollywood, but I’m sure it was more difficult than many of us can imagine.

I’m glad Roddenberry and the folks at Trek recognized her talent. D.C. Fontana wrote some of the best episodes of the original series. At her best, she combined the external drama expected of an hour-long show with internal drama that illuminated the characters—such as in Journey to Babel.

Even “Encounter at Farpoint”, a script that is pretty uneven, contains some high-concept, thought-provoking stuff. Q was eventually turned into a joke character, but the initial conception of him was far more menacing. If you go around some of the posturing and ham-handed execution, the questions Q raised struck at the very heart of the Starfleet itself. Picard and crew dismissed nearly everything he said, but I think he made some very good points. (Now that Im writing this, I wonder if the original script was a bit more nuanced than what it ended up being?)

At any rate, Fontana’s work will still be remembered even though her voice is silent. RIP.