The Trek Files: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast

As Star Trek celebrates its 60th anniversary, The Trek Files welcomes a performer who was there before the beginning and then came back for the episode that introduced the series to television audiences. Stunt performer Sandy Gimpel first entered the Star Trek universe as one of the Talosians in "The Cage." When the series went into production, she returned to inhabit one of its most memorable creatures: the shape-shifting M-113 creature, better known to generations of fans as the Salt Vampire, in "The Man Trap."
This week's document is an excerpt from George Clayton Johnson's June 16, 1966 final draft of "The Man Trap." Before the story even begins, a note to the director explains the creature's ability to appear differently to different people and suggests giving "Nancy" an identifiable gesture to help the audience follow her transformations. The script's cast list, meanwhile, simply identifies the creature as a silent role ("CREATURE (?)") giving little indication of the character that would become one of the most recognizable images from early Star Trek.
Sandy joins Larry to remember what bringing that creature to life actually required in 1966: a plaster cast of her head, a custom-made mask and costume, severely restricted vision, and an ingenious low-tech technique for matching her position to actress Jeanne Bal so the two could transform into one another on camera. When the costume made it nearly impossible for Sandy to hit her mark opposite William Shatner, she asked Gene Roddenberry to let her rehearse without it, counted her steps like the dancer she was, and then repeated the movement once she had been sewn back inside the creature.
The conversation also reaches beyond Star Trek, tracing Sandy's remarkable career from dancer and background performer to stuntwoman, stunt coordinator and director.
Documents and Additional References
The Man Trap final draft by George Clayton Johnson (June 16, 1966)
Sandy Gimpel on IMDb
Stunt Lady: Falling for the Stars by Sandy Gimpel
Reference: "The Man Trap"
Reference: "The Cage"
The Trek Files Season 15 on Memory Alpha
All episodes and documents: The Trek Files on Memory Alpha
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Not everyone who appeared on Star Trek got a line, a screen credit, or even their name on the call sheet. Nearly sixty years later, that can turn a face clearly visible on screen into a genuine archival mystery.
This week, The Trek Files welcomes veteran Deep Space Nine assistant director B.C. Cameron for a look at the working life of Hollywood's background performers. The starting point is a mystery explored in the latest Inside the Roddenberry Archive: identifying Al Jones, an uncredited performer prominently seen as one of the thralls in "The Gamesters of Triskelion." The episode's production call sheets tell us which principal actors were required, which sets were in use, and simply how many "atmosphere" players and stand-ins were needed but not necessarily who those background performers were. Separate Extra Talent Call Sheets from Independent Casting provide the missing names, allowing the surviving paperwork to be pieced together and Jones finally identified.
B.C. brings useful perspective to that paperwork. Before spending all seven seasons working as an assistant director on Deep Space Nine, she began her own career as a background performer and stand-in, including an early job standing in for Jane Fonda on Comes a Horseman. B.C. and Larry explore the hierarchy between credited actors, featured performers, union and non-union extras; why call sheets generally listed background by type or number rather than name; and what life was like when tomorrow's paycheck could depend on a call from Central Casting. They also look at how Deep Space Nine developed its own reliable stable of recurring background players and how "Trials and Tribble-ations" required the production to cast performers who could actually match the extras seen in footage shot three decades earlier.
Documents and additional resources
Star Trek, "The Gamesters of Triskelion" production call sheet, October 24, 1967.
Independent Casting Extra Talent Call Sheet for "The Gamesters of Triskelion," October 24, 1967.
Inside the Roddenberry Archive — investigation identifying uncredited "The Gamesters of Triskelion" background performer Al Jones.
"The Gamesters of Triskelion" — Star Trek: The Original Series, production no. 60346.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Trials and Tribble-ations"

Last week, The Trek Files followed Gene Roddenberry to the 1966 World Science Fiction Convention in Cleveland, where he hoped to convince a skeptical audience of serious science-fiction fans that his new television series was worthy of their attention. This week, Glen E. Swanson, author of Inspired Enterprise, returns to examine what happened next.
Our document is a December 1966 letter from science-fiction fan Mike Deckinger, who tells Desilu that he was among more than 1,000 people who watched Roddenberry preview Star Trek at Tricon and witnessed the audience give him a standing ovation. By then, Star Trek had been on the air for three months, and Deckinger was already urging the studio to protect a series he believed was offering television something different: mature stories, intelligent ideas, and contributions from established science-fiction writers. His brief letter gives us a valuable eyewitness account of a moment that Roddenberry himself would recount for years to come.
Glen and Larry then trace the ripples from that weekend through Roddenberry's excited telegrams back to Hollywood, a special award from the convention that Gene kept on his office wall for decades, and the award's later appearance in a full-page trade advertisement promoting Star Trek for Emmy consideration. What began as an attempt to win over one of science fiction's toughest audiences became something more lasting: an early stamp of approval from the community Star Trek most wanted to take it seriously.
Documents and additional resources
Mike Deckinger letter to Desilu Studios, December 7, 1966
Star Trek "For Your Consideration" trade advertisement featuring the Tricon award and endorsements from science and science-fiction figures, 1967.
Glen E. Swanson, Inspired Enterprise: How NASA, the Smithsonian and the Aerospace Community Helped Launch Star Trek — Inspired Enterprise
Glen E. Swanson — official website
Glen E. Swanson, "Mission Impossible: How Star Trek Used the Aerospace Community to Try and Win an Emmy," The Space Review, September 8, 2026 - The Space Review

On September 8, 1966, Star Trek made its American television debut. But just days earlier, Gene Roddenberry was in Cleveland trying to convince some science fictionfans that his new television series deserved to be taken seriously.
On this special 60th anniversary edition of The Trek Files, Glen E. Swanson, author of Inspired Enterprise, returns to examine Roddenberry's appearance at Tricon, the 24th World Science Fiction Convention, over Labor Day weekend in 1966. Our document of the week is the March 8 invitation from Tricon chairman Ben Jason asking Roddenberry to attend the convention, speak to the fans, and bring along both Star Trek pilots. The original Tricon program provides another remarkable artifact: a "sneak preview" of two episodes of a new science-fiction television series called Star Trek.
Television science fiction still had a credibility problem, particularly among fans and writers who had seen Hollywood turn sophisticated ideas into bug-eyed monsters and juvenile adventure. Roddenberry arrived with something to prove: that Star Trek intended to treat science fiction with respect. Glen and Larry explore the expectations surrounding the convention, Roddenberry's deliberate courtship of the science-fiction community, and why taking time away from a frantic production schedule to spend Labor Day weekend in Cleveland may have been one of the smartest promotional decisions he could make.
And that's only half the story. Next week, Glen returns for Part Two, as we examine what actually happened when the lights went down, the Star Trek pilots went up on the screen, and the legend of Tricon began.
Related Documents
Letter from Ben Jason to Gene Roddenberry — March 8, 1966
Tricon Program Book — 24th World Science Fiction Convention, Cleveland, Ohio, 1966
Additional References
Glen E. Swanson – official website
Glen E. Swanson at the Internet Movie Database
Inspired Enterprise
"Mission Impossible: How Star Trek Used the Aerospace Community to Try and Win an Emmy" — Glen E. Swanson, The Space Review

Recorded live at STLV, filmmaker and author Jeffrey Morris returns to The Trek Files with a 1989 research report on the landmark Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Who Watches the Watchers." The production notes scrutinize everything from radiation exposure and memory modification to the logic of sending Riker and Troi undercover, and even question whether Picard telling a Mintakan to "shoot me" feels a little too much like a Kirk move.
Morris calls "Who Watches the Watchers" not his favorite or even the best episode of Star Trek, but the most important: a story about a society struggling out of superstition and fear, and Picard's determination not to push it backward. Drawing from his book "A Future Askew," Morris and Larry Nemecek consider whether our own civilization is approaching a similar crossroads, retreating from science, diplomacy and accumulated knowledge at precisely the moment we need them most. 
From the Prime Directive to fandom activism to the responsibilities of ordinary people, the discussion comes back to a simple idea: Star Trek was never really promising us better gadgets. It was imagining what might happen if humanity finally chose to grow up.
Document of the week:
David Paige Research Report — "Who Watches the Watchers," Second Draft Outline — June 19, 1989

Additional references:
Jeffrey Morris — A Future Askew: Urgent Essays Inspired by the 60th Anniversary of Star Trek
"Who Watches the Watchers"
Michael Okuda
The Making of Star Trek