Star Trek: The Animated Series were added to the cast—claiming that Sulu and Uhura were of importance as they were proof of the ethnic diversity of the 23rd century and should not be recast. Nimoy also took this stand as a matter of principle, as he knew of the financial troubles many of his "Star Trek" co-stars were facing after cancellation of the series. Koenig was not forgotten, and later wrote an episode for the series, becoming the first "Star Trek" actor to write a "Star Trek" story. Koenig wrote "The Infinite Vulcan", which had plot elements from the original "Star Trek" episode "Space Seed"
Star Trek: The Original Series Trek", though he remained nominally in charge as its "executive producer". Roddenberry reduced his direct involvement in "Star Trek" before the start of the 1968–69 television season, and was replaced by Fred Freiberger as the producer of the television series. NBC next reduced "Star Trek's" budget by a significant amount per episode, as the per-minute commercial price had dropped from $39,000 to $36,000 compared to the Season 2 time slot. This caused what many perceive as a significant decline in quality for the 1968–69 season. William Shatner felt that the main characters became increasingly compromised or exaggerated while being involved