More Memoirs of a Rocket Scientist
Memoir
Date Published: October 7, 2025
Publisher: Pawpress
A life of adventure, science, and survival— one man's journey from
writing for Star Trek® to exploring the edges of the world
After
co-writing "The Tholian Web," a classic episode of the original series of Star
Trek, Chester L. Richards charted a path unlike any other—one that led
him from the wonders of science and engineering to the wilds of uncharted
rivers and exotic creatures with sharp teeth, some of them human. Now, in The
Trek Continues: More Memoirs of a Rocket Scientist, the award-winning author
of From the Potato to Star Trek and Beyond shares a Tholian Web night and the
surprising legacy of the show, and series, in his new, unforgettable
collection of true-life stories about extraordinary people, leading-edge
projects, the love of his life Sarah and oh, those wilds.
Excerpt
INT. A spacious living room in a suburban Southern California home -NIGHT - Nov 15, 1968
While my friend Judy greets new guests, early arrivals mill about her parents’ living room, chatting over snacks. The mood is festive, the place packed. Friends and family have come to help us celebrate — Judy and I had come up with the original story and collaborated in writing “The Tholian Web,” an episode of the Original Star Trek® television series. Now we’re about to see the show we’d created. For the first time. On live TV. With a roomful of expectant friends and family. And I’m saying very little. To be honest, I can’t wait to see how our words will turn out onscreen. We know the folks at the Star Trek offices liked the show. But this is different. This is the first product I’d had a role in putting out to the world.
How would “real” people react?
As I’m waiting nervously for show time, a movement catches my eye — Judy’s father, settling into one of the two chairs reserved for him and Judy’s mom. A tall, rangy man, Mr. Burns had always commanded respect. Beginning as a police officer in Oklahoma, he’d moved on to a post that gave him a much broader mandate. In fact, he’d become an Oklahoma Ranger, teaming up with members of their counterparts the Texas Rangers on various occasions. In the thick of it for years, he had his share of tales of derring-do to tell. Among other things, he was, for a while, partnered with Frank Hamer, the Texas Ranger who took down Bonnie and Clyde. Retired now from on-the-job injuries, this evening must be as much a gratification for him as for Judy and myself. And of course for Judy’s mom.
“Wait!” one of the guests asks. Racing out of the room, she returns quickly, bowl of popcorn topped up. Everyone else signals they’re set.
It’s time. Judy’s mom and dad settled, the rest of us find a spot on the floor, snuggling up together to somehow fit into the space. Eyes look up, lock on the TV. The air in the room is electric. A friend turns on the television — a color TV, rare at the time. The screen comes alive. A cheer goes up — it’s the opening tune and scene: the Star Ship Enterprise approaching against a backdrop of space and stars. Judy’s name and mine appear on the screen. Wild applause!
——
We are on the bridge of the Enterprise. The ship is tasked to find the missing Defiant, a sister ship. They do find it, but the Defiant keeps warping into and out of a parallel universe — seemingly a ghost ship. Captain Kirk leads a boarding party to the Defiant where they discover the crew is indeed dead.
All this is familiar. After all, Judy and I wrote it! But it is fascinating to see how the actors and production people bring our words to life.
Captain Kirk is lost while being transported back to the Enterprise. The crew mourns at his memorial service. But then, he reappears — a spectral figure haunting the bridge and corridors! Is he somehow alive? Is he trapped in this strange region of space? Can he be recovered? Or is he really a ghost, truly dead and forever doomed to wander the ship, an apparition passing through the walls of the Enterprise. The crew of the Enterprise is terrified.
Meanwhile, the Enterprise faces a deadly serious problem: A Tholian ship arrives and a strange, crystal-like, being appears on the screen. He is anything but friendly. It isn’t long before everyone’s cheering the good guys, booing the Tholians, and bombarding the screen with popcorn. People are making comments, laughing. In awe at the wonderful graphics. But oh, those clunky space suits…
The mood changes. The room becomes tense. Clearly, all hell is about to break loose. After the combat skirmish both the Enterprise and the Tholian ship are immobilized and must lick their wounds until repairs can be made. Then the Tholians deploy something new: a web of energy to envelop and capture the Enterprise…
Over dinner at the Mongolian Barbeque Mike Minor had explained the exacting process of the web’s creation. But now I finally get to see his wonderful stop-action animation of the web as it is being woven. I am really impressed.
A few more scenes and the show is over. A cheer and applause charge the air. Our friends get to their feet and head to the kitchen for more refreshments. Judy and I join them, and are inundated with congratulations. Eventually people begin taking their leave.
The evening has been a triumph. I hadn’t realized how wound up I was, wondering how it would go. Now, with everyone’s enthusiastic reactions, I can relax and enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done.
The house is quiet. Time to join Judy on the sofa for post-mortems. We laugh at some of the stuff that had been on the screen. There was that scene where Spock and McCoy are reviewing Kirk’s video. “The dialog didn’t make sense,” I say. “How did that happen?” Judy fills me in. She had frequented the set often during Star Trek’s shooting.
I had only visited once during those times. That was not exactly a thrilling experience. Mostly people sat around for hours while the lighting technicians did their magic. Somehow the light aboard the USS Enterprise seemed to emanate uniformly from the walls themselves. You have to look very carefully at the final product to notice any shadows.
About the dialog that didn’t make sense: It turns out, Judy informs me, the actors didn’t like their parts in the scene. So they swapped each other’s dialog. Of course this completely wrecked the scene’s logic. Judy caught the script trade at the time but nobody else at Star Trek apparently did. We have a good laugh.
I tell Judy that it was wonderful how the actors ran with the humor in a later scene. I know it had been a difficult one for her to write. Unhappy with her relatively flat first version, Judy tossed it and replaced it with a witty gem — a little masterpiece. The scene steals the show. Our friends bombarded the TV with a hail of popcorn when viewing it.
They obviously agreed.
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