American actor and director (1917–2000), best known as host of One Step Beyond, who directed Errand of Mercy, the original Star Trek episode that introduced the Klingons.
John Newland was an actor who became a director in the 1950s and is best remembered as the host and director of the anthology series One Step Beyond.
His single Star Trek episode is a landmark. In Errand of Mercy, written by Gene L. Coon, war breaks out between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, and Kirk and Spock try to rouse the apparently passive people of Organia against the occupying governor Kor. The Organians finally reveal themselves as beings of pure energy and impose peace on both sides.
The episode introduced the Klingons and John Colicos's Kor, and established the Organian Peace Treaty referred to in later stories.