For some of these writers, Star Trek would be their only experience writing for television while others would have long careers in the industry. Even as they all worked brilliantly on other projects and in other careers, though, their Star Trek episodes remain as some of their most memorable work. Certainly, as we approach the show’s 50th anniversary, it’s hard not to marvel at how these episodes and the series, itself, have endured through the decades.

To Fontana, the triumph of the show is how it continues to attract people all these years later.

“That the stories we told in three seasons reached out to people, touched them, kept them coming back, and introduced new people to this show that’s 50 years old, now, and we can still speak to an audience,” she said. “We were telling stories that were about human beings. Human beings in a new environment in space, new worlds, new civilizations as we say, but the simple fact is we were trying to tell stories about humanity, about people in sometimes difficult situations. How does a human being react? What is the best thing to do for these aliens that we don’t know too much about, but we think they have good qualities? We’re going to try and help them.”

In her 1987 Starlog interview , Armen said she, “always felt that Star Trek was a very special series and that it would become a part of history.”

“I loved doing it and I especially loved doing it when I could work with Gene Roddenberry, because he was so creative,” she said. “I’m very proud that I wrote for Star Trek, because it gave you the opportunity to make comments on things that you couldn’t on a regular series. You could make a social comment without them saying, ‘Oh, you’re attacking so-and-so.’ In the future, you couldn’t be attacking anything, although you were. Overall, writing for Star Trek was one of the happiest periods of my career.”

When asked how it felt to have left a mark on such an iconic franchise with her episodes, Aroeste said she wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about it, but told Blastr she has, “always been quite proud of having done that and having something to do with the series. Of having written episodes each of which had a good part for a woman.”

Fontana said the series was a great experience in which they were able to do a science fiction show unlike any others at the time.

“We just felt, you know what? If we go out into space, we’re going to try to be the best human beings we can be, and then if we’re forced to [do] something bad or something in terms of a conflict or war or that kind of thing, then we’re forced to it,” she said. “We’re not going to go looking for it. We’re trying to tell stories about human beings in new situations, meeting new kinds of people and saying, ‘hey, can we work together? Lets see what we can do.’ It was very hopeful, and I still feel that it is. Star Trek is one of the shows that look to the future and try to be the best that we humans can be.”

Without the contributions of these women writers, the legacy of Star Trek would look very different all these decades later. Their work helped shape the series, its unforgettable voyages, and no doubt the careers of other women inspired by their work to write their own entertaining and important stories, perhaps also set among the stars.