'The City on the Edge of Forever'....51 years ago today
- Thread starter TrickyDickie
- Start date
I doubt it was particularly original. It may well have been a new concept for the majority of the viewing audience but it was a well used trope in science fiction stories well before this. But those were very much a niche audience. Gene Roddenberry understood that and he pillaged a lot of ideas from science fiction stories and presented them to a mass audience for the first time.
How could they?
KIRK
there. It's vital we stop him before he does
whatever it was that changed all history.
Guardian, if we are successful...
GUARDIAN
though none of you had gone.
Interesting notion! So if Scott and Uhura went through after and fixed it, they might have been able to get back but not Kirk and Spock ;-p
I wonder if the episode would have been more fun as a two parter with more crew going back, like in Time's Arrow. Uhura dealing with post war society would certainly have been interesting for her character.
No but Mirror Mirror has a bigger landing party and the presence of scenes involving them didn't detract from the overall story.
The episode is good and chock full of good character moments as it is. There's no harm in postulating whether some interesting character moments for Uhura could have been included if three people had gone back instead of two.
More to the point, there's no indication the Guardian would have allowed anyone to come back to the present who had not originally gone through it. It's not like TVH, where Our Heroes had control over the method of time travel.
My approach is that there is no indication that it wouldn't, either. Thus another shameless plug for my story in the fanfic section. (It would be nice to get some feedback on that, even if it is of the negative variety.)
In any case, when something is left pretty much open-ended and not definitively stated to one side or the other, I feel that people are free to explore their own interpretations.
They could have easily changed the script to allow them to go back with or without Edith, or without changing the timeline back. It makes it more dramatic to think they would have been stuck back in the 30s if they failed though.
In TAS though people seemed to be able to enter and return through the Guardian at will, Not having to fix timelines at all.
It depends on what there is for comparison.
There is always room for something even more dramatic, depending upon the content of the alternative.
You know, when it comes right down to the shizznits, all that stuff about "All is as it was before" is quite a conceit. It could only be as it was before if none of them had been there at all. I think Spock was realizing that the Guardian was a narcissistic asshole. Kirk, too. If necessary, I think he would have shorted-out the bastard, just like Nomad.
Weirdly, Starfleet signs off on further historical exploration despite very clear evidence that it's a disaster waiting to happen.
You know, when it comes right down to the shizznits, all that stuff about "All is as it was before" is quite a conceit. It could only be as it was before if none of them had been there at all. I think Spock was realizing that the Guardian was a narcissistic asshole. Kirk, too. If necessary, I think he would have shorted-out the bastard, just like Nomad.
"Jim, you survived all that business with Sylvia, and I think that proves all this black-cat-crossing-your-path stuff is a lot of superstitious hooey. So, we've got a special assignment for you...."
The exact details of how Kirk, Spock and McCoy return after Edith is killed are unknown to us. Was it immediately after? Did they go back to their room to change into their uniforms, or did the Guardian take care of all that?
I think it would be reasonable to infer that they changed back into their clothes themselves, but it's not an absolute because it wasn't shown.
They couldn't leave them behind. They're high tech.
It's implied they only come back if they are successful, otherwise they could just come back then jump back through again, over and over. That's why Kirk says...
GUARDIAN: Then you will be returned. It will be as though none of you had gone.
UHURA: Captain, it seems impossible. Even if you were able to find the right date...
SCOTT: Then even finding McCoy would be a miracle.
SPOCK: There is no alternative.
KIRK: Scotty, when you think you've waited long enough. Each of you will have to try it. Even if you fail, at least you'll be alive in some past world somewhere.
UHURA: Captain, it seems impossible. Even if you were able to find the right date...
SCOTT: Then even finding McCoy would be a miracle.
SPOCK: There is no alternative.
KIRK: Scotty, when you think you've waited long enough. Each of you will have to try it. Even if you fail, at least you'll be alive in some past world somewhere.
Which in itself is still pioneering. The dude who invented the 1st catamaran probably hadn't envisioned it being used to settle the islands of the pacific, but some other folks came along & were like "I bet we could" lol
It is strange that the guardian says " it will be as if none of you had gone" because the poor man that McCoy finds is killed by the phaser self destruct activation.
