I've read some of the staff rewrites of "City" and they largely did the script no favors. There's a point at which there are attempts made to keep the best parts of Ellison's version but at the point the Genes come in all that flies out the window and we get corny humor and Edith's corny on-the-nose speech.
Ellison's script needed work, yes. But the staff wasn't up to the challenge, and they ripped the soul out of the script in the process.
RIP to the irascible bastard.
I read the IDW graphic novel but I'm not sure how faithful that was to the original script. I'd be interested to see the evolution to the final draft too.
I would have loved to see an actual city in the episode but I rather like the Guardian in preference to the humanoid aliens in the comic. It adds to the air of mystery. I also think that a criminal crewman or just a criminal / troubled character (they do visit a Psychiatric colony in Dagger of the Mind) who finds redemption with Edith might have been a more powerful message. This would only have required minor tweaks.
At what point was Grace written out of the script? I know he was fond of her (they dated for a while afterwards) so part of his anger about changes might have been to do with that, especially if he thought that anybody pushing for the changes might have been involved with the assault or her firing.
Rand was written as an action heroine in the comic. I wondered to what extent he had intended that in the sixties and if so, why Uhura, who took on the Rand role, was relegated to saying she was afraid. Dreadful if they took an empowered female role and deliberately neutered it!
Edit: Just browsed his original script. It would have made a fine episode in its own right with minimal tweaks. Rand did still get to help defeat space pirates, jury rig the transporter, and command a security team, so Uhura's role sucks by comparison. Still , you can see plenty of other tweaks for him to be annoyed about.
Ha ha just looked at one of the early rewrites bringing in McCoy and excising Rand. All Yeoman not-Rand does is scream and run off to fetch the men. Reminds me of Yeoman Mears whose only job is to switch on the tricorder and Spock doesn't even trust her to do that.
Very sad. I was always firmly in the camp of the showrunners regarding the City writing debates, based on the available information. But I wasn't there, and even if we all knew the real story, that's one tiny matter in a rich, full and generous life. He was a titan of science fiction and will be very much missed. RIP.
