Ellison subsequently accused him of "taking a chainsaw " to the script. Roddenberry disliked the new version sufficiently that he convinced Ellison to come back and rewrite it again. On December 19 Ellison submitted a further revised teleplay, dated December 1. Justman suggested in a memo that Roddenberry might be able to rewrite the latest version to one which could be usable.

Taking this advice in hand, Roddenberry rewrote the script over the Christmas—New Year period, handing in a new version on January 9, His changes included the elimination of the evil version of the Enterprise and the addition of some comedy elements. Justman was pleased with Roddenberry's changes and told Coon that it was close to being filmable but that he still expected it to exceed the budget for a single episode.

"Star Trek" The City on the Edge of Forever (TV Episode ) - IMDb

Dorothy Fontana was hired as a new story editor, replacing Carabatsos. She had previously been Roddenberry's secretary and was well aware of the script's problems from reading the previous versions. When she arrived at work for her first day in her new role, Roddenberry gave her a copy of his revision and told her to try rewriting it. She later referred to that day as "walking into a hornets' nest", and the script itself as a "live grenade".

Among the changes in her version was the introduction of the drug cordrazine. Ellison specifically criticized this change, as his most recent version of the script called for an alien creature's venom to cause the symptoms in McCoy. He said that "Gene [Roddenberry] preferred having an accomplished surgeon act in such a boneheaded manner that he injects himself with a deadly drug! Justman praised Fontana's version, saying that it was the version which was most likely to be shot.

But he suggested that it had now lost the "beauty and mystery inherent in the screenplay as Harlan originally wrote it. Still unsatisfied with the script, Roddenberry set about rewriting it once more, entitling the result, dated February 1, the final draft.

The City on the Edge of Forever (episode)

Coon and only supervised by Roddenberry. In response, Roddenberry threatened to have Ellison blacklisted by the Writers Guild of America , and the writer was eventually convinced to be credited by name. None of the other writers involved in the work chose to seek credit for the script, since they agreed with Roddenberry that it was important for Star Trek to be associated with writers such as Ellison.

Joseph Pevney was assigned as the director of this episode. He had previous experience in directing full-length films, and later explained that "The City on the Edge of Forever" was the closest episode in Star Trek to that same level of work and challenge, stating that he treated it as a film. He praised Ellison's level of detail in the s setting, and for the general idea behind the episode.

The crew were surprised when actress Joan Collins expressed an interest in appearing in the series. When her oldest daughter was enthusiastic about the show, Collins decided to accept the offer from the studio. Pevney said "Joan Collins was very good in it. She enjoyed working on the show and Bill and Leonard were both very good to her Using her was a good choice. Although some sources have credited the voice of the Guardian to James Doohan , it was actually performed by Bartell LaRue.

The actor later appeared onscreen in the episode " Bread and Circuses ", and provided further voiceover work in " The Gamesters of Triskelion ", " Patterns of Force " and " The Savage Curtain ". Also returning to Star Trek in this episode, was David L. Galloway and John Winston as Lt. Filming began on February 3, , with an expectation that it would take six days to film. The shoot was completed a day and a half behind schedule on February The shoot began on location at the Desilu Forty Acres , with Pevney aiming to complete all the location filming in a single day in order to complete the episode in the allocated six days.

The site had been used previously for the episodes " Miri " and " The Return of the Archons ". Extensive work was completed during the daylight hours, on the set which had been used for other series such as The Andy Griffith Show , with Floyd's barber shop appearing in some of the shots. The filming continued into the night, and with Pevney running out of time, he was not sure when to stop.

The problem was that other series such as Rango and Gomer Pyle had the sets booked up for the next several days, and they were unsure whether they would have time to return and film the missing scenes. These were used to represent the interior of the mission where Keeler nurses McCoy back to health. DeForest Kelley felt that McCoy should also fall for Keeler; [33] so Pevney shot the scenes with that element included but never included it in the final cut. The following two days were spent on the same sets, while on day 5 the action moved to the bridge set for the Enterprise.

This day's shoot was meant to include scenes in the transporter room and in the Enterprise corridors, but by now the production was a full day behind and these were pushed to the following day. Part way through day 6, the filming moved to a neighboring set for the exterior ruin shots and the Guardian of Forever, which was used for the next two and a half days.

Harlan Ellison long maintained that the ancient ruins were the result of someone's misreading his description in the script of the city as "covered with runes. His work on Star Trek tended to focus on the use of violins and cellos to highlight romantic moments, and he did not use violas in any of his works on the series.

It had been licensed to appear in the episode, [41] and at first, Steiner sought to use motifs from "Goodnight, Sweetheart" as the basis of his score.


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He wanted this to be subtle and introduce the melody of the song over time, but Justman realized what Steiner was attempting and rejected it on the basis that he did not want the song introduced too early in the episode. Another work of Steiner's which was rejected for "The City on the Edge of Forever" was an alternative main title track using saxophone and celesta which he had hoped would set the episode in the tone of the s. This was rediscovered when a disc soundtrack of The Original Series was being compiled by La-La Land Records, which they hypothesized was because the accompanying vocals appeared on a separate track.

City on the Edge of Forever, The

By the time "The City on the Edge of Forever" was released in the s for home media use, such as on VHS and Laserdisc , the licence for the use of "Goodnight, Sweetheart" had lapsed and was instead picked up by a different studio. Steiner was not contacted or informed of the changes to the soundtrack requirements, [44] and this was instead composed by J. Since the royalties had been paid, [ citation needed ] all subsequent releases have included the original "Goodnight, Sweetheart" music and with the s scores omitted. During the second half-hour it remained in second place with A High Definition remastering of "The City on the Edge of Forever", which introduced new special effects and starship exteriors as well as enhanced music and audio, was shown for the first time on October 7, , in broadcast syndication in the United States.

It was the fifth remastered episode to be shown. This episode has been held in high regard by those who have worked on Star Trek. Roddenberry ranked it as one of his ten favorite episodes, [52] and said it was his favorite alongside " The Menagerie " and the second pilot, " Where No Man Has Gone Before ". Fontana said it was one of her two favorite episodes that she was not credited for, alongside " The Trouble with Tribbles ".


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    7. The main cast have also said it was among their favorites. Shatner has often chosen either this, or " The Devil in the Dark " as the best episode, saying "'City' is my favorite of the original Star Trek series because of the fact it is a beautiful love story, well told.


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      7. They said that having Kirk allow Keeler to die was "horrifying and heart-rending, adding another dimension to his character. Zack Handlen of The A. Club gave the episode an 'A' rating in , describing it as "a justly revered classic". But he said that McCoy's accidental overdose was a "stretch" and gave the episode "a surprisingly awkward start, with little indication of the greatness that is to follow. Handlen suggested that it would have made a better final episode of the season, instead of "Operation: They were concerned that the episode might not live up to the memory when they re-watched it, but said "it remains an incredible episode, often imitated but rarely surpassed in science fiction in any medium.

      Keith DeCandido gave the episode a rating of ten out of ten when he reviewed it for Tor. He said that the episode centered on people, which he saw as a common theme among the great episodes of Star Trek. DeCandido supported the view of Spock, that while Keeler's compassionate nature was to be applauded, it was at the wrong time and as war with Nazi Germany was the only way. However, he criticised it as well, saying "complete crock of pseudo-scientific claptrap.

      But he felt that it was fearless in comparison to modern science fiction, in that there was no attempt to make it self-aware, nor introduce a comedic character to ground it. Franich said that the ending was "one of the all-time great moments in Star Trek history". The Wrath of Khan: Kirk's reaction before beaming up at the end of the episode is one of William Shatner's most moving moments in all of Trek.

      TV included it on a list of ten episodes to watch prior to the launch of the television series , calling it "one of the most heartbreaking episodes" of the series. Justman later said that the submission of the original unfilmed version was out of spite, [74] and Roddenberry said in response to the victory "many people would get prizes if they wrote scripts that budgeted out to three times the show's cost.

      Coon reportedly said at the time: When he won, the Star Trek party rose to their feet and applauded, since they believed it would bring credibility to the series. Herbert Franklin Solow later recalled that this elation turned to horror when Ellison began talking about the interference of studio executives in the writing process, before holding aloft a copy of the original script and yelling "Remember, never let them rewrite you! Larson claimed that it was Coon who had rewritten the original script and it was this version that was submitted to the Writer's Guild, [11] Ellison said that " pandas will fly out of Glen Larson's ass!

      He explained that as the credited writer, he had the option of which version of the script to submit to the Guild. This was based on the filmed version, and not Ellison's original. But since the script remained credited to Ellison, he won the award once more. It was 25 years before another television program won that award again, the next occasion being for the episode " The Inner Light " from Star Trek: However, he was not present.

      Changes included an expanded field of ruins on the Guardian's planet, as well as updated visuals of the planet from space. Rossi explained that they sought to tie the purple cloth backdrop used in the original version into the redesign, but was concerned that the "giant purplish desert flats" as seen from space were instead misconstrued as oceans. During the period in which the script was being developed, Roddenberry asked Ellison for his help in saving the show.

      Ellison wrote on their behalf to the combined membership of the recent World Science Fiction Convention to ask them to write in to NBC in order to save the show. Ellison said he felt used, while Roddenberry said he was being unfair and had unjustly condemned the episode, loudly and in public.

      However, this did not last. Kirk promptly falls in love with Edith and is devastated when Spock completes his tricorder and discovers that in order to repair history, they must let Edith Keeler be killed in an auto accident. If they allow McCoy to save her — as he did before — she will start an effective pacifist movement that will delay the United States' entrance into World War II, thus allowing Hitler's Germany to develop the atomic bomb first and conquer the planet.

      When the moment comes, a heartbroken Kirk stops McCoy from saving Edith, and the three officers journey back through the Guardian, where they find things as they should be again. City on the Edge of Forever, The Caption: The Guardian of Forever. Spock builds a memory circuit. Kirk and Edith look at the stars Color Black and White flashbacks.

      Edit Did You Know? Trivia With regards to this episode, Joan Collins has stated, "To this day, people still want to talk about that episode - some remember me for that more than anything else I've done. I am amazed at the enduring popularity of Star Trek and particularly of that episode.

      I couldn't be more pleased - or more honoured - to be part of Star Trek history. Collins' memory of her Trek experience seems hazy, however. In her autobiography, Past Imperfect p. Spock, she identifies her character as Edith Cleaver instead of Edith Keeler, and she also claims that Spock, not Kirk, allowed her character to be killed - a plot point that was not in the version of the script that was actually shot. Most significantly, she claims Edith tried to "prove to the world that Hitler was a nice guy. Goofs When McCoy first runs into the area of the portal and away from the landing party, he puts his hand on a brown metal or concrete beam lying flat on the ground in ruins.

      However, the beam can be seen moving back and forth with his light touch-obviously a prop. Quotes [ Having arrived in Earth's distant past, Captain Kirk steals clothing so he and Spock can blend in but is halted by the sudden appearance of a policeman ] Policeman: You're a police officer.

      I recognize the traditional accoutrements. I see you've noticed the ears.

      Crazy Credits The closing credits are set against a combination background of stills from that episode and previous episodes. Alternate Versions Syndication versions since the early s and most home video prints replace a recording of "Goodnight Sweetheart" heard in this episode with a generic instrumental track due to music rights issues. The original recording was heard in reruns prior to then and on an early 's VHS release by Paramount. The original version was restored when the series was released to DVD.