Trek producer Paramount Television, TV network NBC, and creator Gene Roddenberry to create an animated spin-off series while The Original Series was still on the air, during its third season (1968–69). Paramount's director of special programming Philip Mayer and Filmation writer/animator Don R. Christensen worked together to create a proposal for a series that would target a young audience and have an educational spin. The main cast of Star Trek: The Original Series would train the teenage crew of a ship called Excalibur about space exploration; the new teenage crew included a Vulcan named Steve, an African-American boy named Bob, and a Chinese boy named Stick. Due to the bitter relationship between Roddenberry and Paramount at the time, however, Scheimer was not able to get the two parties talking to each other in order to agree on a deal for several years. During this time, the project in its original form was phased out. A deal was finally reached in early 1973, and publicly announced in early March 1973. Because of NBC's strong interest in the series, Roddenberry and Filmation were allotted very generous terms: a guaranteed minimum of two seasons with a combined 22 episodes; a budget of US$75,000 () per episode; and full creative control in Gene Roddenberry's hands. Roddenberry and Filmation agreed that the series should be for all ages, rather than the children-oriented approach of the original proposal, and at Roddenberry's suggestion The Original Series script editor D. C. Fontana was hired as the series' story editor and associate producer. Despite the meager payment for writers ($1,300 () per script, with no residuals), the opportunity to write a Star Trek episode without the special effects limitations of live action proved appealing, and many of The Original Series writers joined the staff. Fontana steered the series away from the romantic and sexual elements of The Original Series, as she felt children would not be interested in them, and she wanted The Animated Series to appeal to children as well as adults. Writing The series' writing benefited from a Writers Guild of America, East strike in 1973, which did not apply to animation. A few episodes were written by well-known science fiction authors: "More Tribbles, More Troubles" was written by David Gerrold as a sequel to his episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" from the original series. Here Cyrano Jones is rescued from the Klingons, bringing with him a