Jack B. Sowards (March 18, 1929 - July 8, 2007) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

who wrote '' Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'', and the 1988 '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' episode "

Where Silence Has Lease "Where Silence Has Lease" is the second episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', the 28th episode overall. It was originally released on November 28, 1988 in broadcast s ...

". Sowards created the term

Kobayashi Maru The ''Kobayashi Maru'' is a training exercise in the ''Star Trek'' franchise designed to test the character of Starfleet Academy cadets in a no-win scenario. The ''Kobayashi Maru'' test was first depicted in the 1982 film '' Star Trek II: The ...

(a simulation test in ''The Wrath of Khan''), naming it for his next-door neighbors in

Hancock Park Hancock Park is a city park in the Miracle Mile section of the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The park's destinations include the La Brea Tar Pits; the adjacent George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, which displa ...

. A native of

Texarkana, Texas Texarkana is a city in Bowie County, Texas, United States, in the Ark-La-Tex region. Located approximately from Dallas, Texarkana is a twin city with neighboring Texarkana, Arkansas. The Texas city's population was 36,193 at the 2020 census ...

, Sowards had numerous writing credits which extended from episodes of '' The Bold Ones: The Lawyers'' in 1969 to an installment of ''B. L. Stryker'' in 1990. He was nominated for the

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...

for "The Invasion of Kevin Ireland", the September 26, 1971 episode of ''The Bold Ones: The Lawyers''. He also received a

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films bel ...

nomination for his work on ''The Wrath of Khan'' and shared a

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier ...

nomination for it as well. He wrote episodes for ''Daniel Boone'', ''High Chaparall'', and ''

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on ...

'', where he also served as a story editor. He wrote several Movies of the Week for the Spelling/Goldberg Company, including '' Deliver Us From Evil (1973 film)'' with George Kennedy, Jan Michael Vincent, and Jack Weston, '' Cry Panic'' with John Forsythe and Anne Francis, and '' Death Cruise'' with Richard Long, Kate Jackson, and Tom Bosley. His long career with Quinn Martin Productions resulted in several episodes of ''

The Streets of San Francisco ''The Streets of San Francisco'' is a television crime drama filmed on location in San Francisco and produced by Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros. Television (QM produced the show on its ...

'' and ''

Barnaby Jones ''Barnaby Jones'' is an American detective television series starring Buddy Ebsen as a formerly retired investigator and Lee Meriwether as his widowed daughter-in-law, who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles, California. The show was or ...

''. He served as the Executive Story Consultant for multiple seasons in the mid-70s.

References

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* * 1929 births 2007 deaths American male screenwriters Writers from Arkansas Screenwriters from Arkansas 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-screenwriter-stub