15-3 Star Trek IV Call Sheets and B-Tank Memories with Effects Artist Stuart Ziff
The Trek Files: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast
Release Date: 05/26/2026
15-18 The Standing Ovation That Launched Star Trek
The Trek Files: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast
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...
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15-17 Three Days Before Star Trek: Gene Roddenberry at Tricon
The Trek Files: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast
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,...
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15-16 “Who Watches the Watchers”: Jeffrey Morris on the Prime Directive and Star Trek’s Future
The Trek Files: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast
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...
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15-15 The Doomsday Machine and a Future Askew
The Trek Files: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast
Norman Spinrad’s original March 1967 story outline for “The Planet Eater” introduced Star Trek to an unstoppable machine roaming the galaxy, consuming planets for fuel and leaving destruction in its wake. By the time it reached television, the story had a new title, “The Doomsday Machine,” and became one of the most celebrated episodes of the original series. Author and filmmaker Jeffrey Morris joins Larry Nemecek at Star Trek Las Vegas to revisit that original outline and consider its warning through a distinctly 21st-century lens. Drawing from his new book, , Jeffrey explores...
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15-14 Star Trek Fans, 1976
The Trek Files: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast
What did Star Trek fans have to say in 1976? John Champion returns to The Trek Files for a look through Gene Roddenberry’s fan correspondence. This season's selection captures a moment in Star Trek history, ten years after the original series debuted, but before the arrival of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. A Cincinnati attorney credits Spock’s logic for helping persuade a jury. An artist shares his hand-painted “Mr. Spock” portrait… on an egg. A teacher explains how she’s bringing Star Trek into the classroom, while another fan gently reminds Gene that he still owes her...
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15-13 The Day Star Trek Came to Monterey Bay
The Trek Files: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast
Authors John and Maria Jose Tenuto return to The Trek Files to share a seemingly ordinary filming notice distributed to guests at the Monterey Bay Aquarium during production of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. But for John, it’s much more than a production handout, it’s a family keepsake. In April 1986, John’s parents unknowingly visited the aquarium on a day when Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, and the Star Trek IV cast were filming. They saved the notice, recorded the production on a home VHS camcorder, and brought home an extraordinary piece of behind-the-scenes history. Decades...
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15-12 Gene Roddenberry Rewrites The Next Generation
The Trek Files: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast
Following last week’s look at the earliest concepts for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Larry Nemecek welcomes back author and historian Ben Robinson to examine Gene Roddenberry’s handwritten response and the surprising conversation it sparked. Revisiting documents first explored in earlier seasons of The Trek Files, Larry and Ben trace the pivotal weeks of September 1986, when Gene challenged early ideas for a Starfleet Academy-centered series, questioned the show’s heavy emphasis on Klingons, and argued that Star Trek’s true strength had never been its characters alone but the...
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15-11 The Next Generation Before Picard
The Trek Files: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast
Before Captain Picard. Before the Enterprise-D. Before Gene Roddenberry stepped back into the captain’s chair of his own creation... This week on The Trek Files, Larry Nemecek is joined by author and Star Trek historian Ben Robinson to examine one of the earliest surviving documents in the development of Star Trek: The Next Generation: a September 1986 memo from writer Greg Strangis to producer Rick Berman outlining the first concepts for a new Star Trek television series. The document reveals some fascinating ideas: a Starfleet Academy setting, a young captain, a Klingon observer serving...
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15-10 Star Trek II Retakes: The Scenes That Changed The Wrath of Khan
The Trek Files: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is regarded as one of the finest entries in the franchise, but even classics continue to evolve right up until release. This week on The Trek Files, Larry Nemecek welcomes authors and historians John and Maria Jose Tenuto to examine a fascinating production document: a March 23, 1982 retake script created just weeks before the film premiered. The pages reveal subtle but important changes to some of the movie’s most memorable moments, from Kirk’s first encounter with David Marcus to the famous “Remember” scene between Spock and McCoy. How much did Kirk...
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15-9 No Landing Gear Required - The Origin of Star Trek’s Transporter
The Trek Files: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast
What if Star Trek’s most iconic technology was really just a clever budget solution? This week on The Trek Files, Larry Nemecek welcomes back actor, writer, and co-host Tamara Krinsky to explore one of the foundational documents of Star Trek: an excerpt from Gene Roddenberry’s August 1966 Writer-Director Information guide. Among its many insights is an early explanation of the transporter, the device that would become one of the franchise’s most recognizable inventions. What began as a practical solution to avoid expensive weekly landing sequences quickly evolved into a storytelling...
info_outlineThe Trek Files welcomes back visual effects veteran Stuart Ziff for a firsthand trip into the making of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. This time, the documents are original production call sheets from April 1986, detailing the now-legendary “B-Tank” shoot where the Klingon Bird-of-Prey splashed down into San Francisco Bay with George and Gracie the humpback whales.
Stu recalls the practical filmmaking wizardry behind the scenes: giant wave machines, lightning rigs, whale effects, and an enormous outdoor water tank built on the Paramount lot. Along the way, he shares stories about building a mechanical whale eye (for the wrong side of the whale), experimenting with blue dye for the tank water, and watching old Hollywood effects crews create movie magic in real time.
Larry and Stu also circle back to Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Stu’s experiences during the turbulent Robert Abel & Associates era, including a revealing memory involving a young Paramount executive named Jeffrey Katzenberg.
It’s a fond look back at the kind of filmmaking that required wind machines, carbon-arc lightning effects, scuba divers, towels, and “wetsuits for cast and crew.”
Plus: Stu discusses the new documentary being produced about his life and career, and how fans can help support it.
Documents and additional references
- Star Trek IV production call sheets, April 18–24, 1986
- Stuart Ziff documentary campaign: Indiegogo – The Stuart Ziff Documentary
- Reference: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
- Reference: Leonard Nimoy
The Trek Files Season 15 on Memory Alpha
All episodes and documents: The Trek Files on Memory Alpha
Visit the Trekland site for behind-the-scenes access and exclusive merchandise.
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