American writer whose unsolicited script The Empath was bought and produced for the third season of the original Star Trek, one of the few fan submissions the series filmed.
Joyce Muskat was a Star Trek viewer with a background in the theatre who submitted a script to the series without an agent. It was read by the producer Robert Justman, bought, and produced in the third season as The Empath, which remained her only screen credit.
In the episode Kirk, Spock and McCoy are imprisoned beneath the surface of Minara II by two Vians, who torture them to test whether Gem, a mute woman able to absorb the wounds of others, will risk her own life for strangers. Her answer decides which of the planets of the Minaran system the Vians will save.
The story's spare setting reflected its author's stage experience, and it gives DeForest Kelley one of McCoy's most selfless moments.