Steven W. Carabatsos (born 2 October 1938; age 86) is a former writer for the television shows Ben Casey, Peyton Place, and The Big Valley before joining Star Trek: The Original Series as Story Consultant in August 1966.
The World of Star Trek [page number? • edit] recalls a practical joke involving Gene Roddenberry that was played on Steve Carabatsos. According to Roddenberry:
"Matt Jefferies got hold of a weather balloon and we got some helium. We poured about a pint of cheap perfume in it and then we put the balloon in his office and blew it up so it completely filled his office and pushed the door closed against it and waited for Steve to come to work. He opened the door and walked right into this thing and we knew the only way he could get into his office was to break it, and breaking all the helium and air mixed with perfume would make his office smell like a Turkish whorehouse for a month, and indeed, that's what happened."
In addition to his duties as Story Consultant, he co-wrote the teleplay to the first season episode "Court Martial" (with Don M. Mankiewicz) and wrote the episode "Operation -- Annihilate!". Furthermore, he heavily rewrote the teleplay for "Miri" after problems arose with Adrian Spies' original draft, and was one of the many writers who contributed to "The City on the Edge of Forever". Carabatsos left the show in early 1967 (the last episode he worked on as story consultant was "Space Seed"). After Star Trek, he went on to write for the television show Kojak and wrote several movies.