City on the Edge of Forever

[scotpens]

"The City On The Edge Of Forever" shows how one can do drama, good sense-of-wonder SF and good contextual humour all in one story.

The "mechanical rice picker" scene is a classic bit of Trek humor.

Welcome to Star Trek. City on the Edge of Forever is often the episode I use to introduce Star Trek to people. I have to add that if you haven't yet watched any episodes of the Andy Griffith Show, you are in for a treat. The first five seasons that were filmed in black and white are classics.

As a Trek-related aside, the opening title sequence of The Andy Griffith Show was filmed at Franklin Canyon Reservoir, which was also the location for "The Paradise Syndrome" (aka "The One With the Indians").

 

[Photoman15]

I consider it one of the best, but i can't help thinking it would have been nice to see it filmed according to Harlan Ellison's original treatment.

The one thing that always irritated me about the story is that the landing party had no idea McCoy was both hiding right under their noses and running circles around them and still he went unnoticed by their tricorders.

Harlan's original treatment would not have worked as a Star Trek episode for a few reasons (Yes, I have and read his book about it all).

First, No matter what Harlan says, Gene's vision was that Star Fleet Officers were the best of the best. Beckwith would never have been on the Enterprise.

Secondly, Beckwith is an ND (non-descript), a one-off character. No viewer cares about him or has invested any time into him. That is why McCoy was chosen to be the antagonist. The Big "7" weren't even in the teaser and the beginning of Act 1.

Third, while Soldier and his "fate" work really well in a novel juxtaposing his contribution vs Sister Keeler's to history, for the average ST viewer in 1966, who cares. The audience was less involved with him than a redshirt.

Harlan won his award (for the original treatment)
and the aired episode won it's award, and never the twain shall meet .

 

[JustKate]

You know, I do like this episode, but I don't really understand why it is rated SO highly by so many Trek fans. The story is very interesting, and the drama and romance are fine, but the plot contrivances really distract me. At least they did last time I watched it. Plus, I don't tend to enjoy episodes in which Shatner has this many opportunities to emote. (A lot of women swoon with Shatner gets romantic, but all I can say is I'm not one of them.) I should be rewatching it soon, so I'll see if my opinion has changed.

 

[Maurice]

First, No matter what Harlan says, Gene's vision was that Star Fleet Officers were the best of the best. Beckwith would never have been on the Enterprise.

Two words disprove that: Marla McGivers.

Third, while Soldier and his "fate" work really well in a novel juxtaposing his contribution vs Sister Keeler's to history, for the average ST viewer in 1966, who cares. The audience was less involved with him than a redshirt.

Untrue. "Trooper" was a great dramatic counterpoint, and it was more about Kirk's reaction to his death being meaningless than it was about Trooper himself.

Harlan won his award (for the original treatment)...

He won for the first draft script, not the treatment.

 

[The Transformed Man]

Great episode! It's definitely one of my Top 5 along with "Conscience of the King," "Balance of Terror," "Court Martial," and "Devil in the Dark." Good stuff!

 

[antiquityscion]

You know, I do like this episode, but I don't really understand why it is rated SO highly by so many Trek fans. The story is very interesting, and the drama and romance are fine, but the plot contrivances really distract me. At least they did last time I watched it. Plus, I don't tend to enjoy episodes in which Shatner has this many opportunities to emote. (A lot of women swoon with Shatner gets romantic, but all I can say is I'm not one of them.) I should be rewatching it soon, so I'll see if my opinion has changed.

I agree with you, but I think the reason it gets the attention it does is that it has a lot to do with Joan Collins being in it, and that it was a fairly unique plot twist for its time: the hero has to let his love interest die. And, this was before the other Trek shows, too, where time travel was almost featured in every 10th episode.

 

[scotpens]

The most important difference between Ellison's script and the final draft, IMO, is that in Ellison's version, Spock stops Beckwith from saving Edith. At that critical moment, Kirk is frozen with indecision. In the filmed version, it's McCoy who tries to save Edith and Kirk prevents him from doing so.

Would Kirk have even momentarily considered changing history, allowing Nazi Germany to conquer the world, and causing the death of "millions who did not die before," all for the love of a woman? Not our Kirk! And what about Spock, who would have been stranded on Earth (and in a "primitive" era at that) for life? Pretty shabby way to treat your friend and First Officer, wouldn't you say?

Kirk had to sacrifice his personal happiness for the greater good. He's the hero; that's his job.

 

[Maurice]

^^^In the original script it's Beckwith who almost saves Edith, which sets up the wonderful irony that the worst of us can do something noble, but in this case the one noble act this man would have made destroys history.

The problem with the scripted story really isn't that Kirk can't let Edith die, but that Kirk is paralyzed by indecision. All it would have taken was for Kirk to think he could have his cake and eat it too and it would have worked, i.e. he thinks he can change the conditions of the test, save Edith, but not let her change history.

 

[Photoman15]

First, No matter what Harlan says, Gene's vision was that Star Fleet Officers were the best of the best. Beckwith would never have been on the Enterprise.

Two words disprove that: Marla McGivers.

She was not doing anything illegal as a crew member. She happened to become under the influence of Khan. Then she repented (saving Kirk) but decided to stay with Khan.

Third, while Soldier and his "fate" work really well in a novel juxtaposing his contribution vs Sister Keeler's to history, for the average ST viewer in 1966, who cares. The audience was less involved with him than a redshirt.

Untrue. "Trooper" was a great dramatic counterpoint, and it was more about Kirk's reaction to his death being meaningless than it was about Trooper himself.

Sorry about that, I meant Trooper (haven't seen the book for a while). Yeah, so what? The audience wouldn't have cared and there was only 52 minutes to tell a story. That was extraneous.

Harlan won his award (for the original treatment)...

He won for the first draft script, not the treatment.

Okay, again, haven't seen the book for a while. But still he won for the draft that had Beckwith and the jewels and Trooper, so he got his recognition for the story (which he deserved). It just wasn't a STAR TREK EPISODE (as opposed to a ST story).

 

[Photoman15]

^^^In the original script it's Beckwith who almost saves Edith, which sets up the wonderful irony that the worst of us can do something noble, but in this case the one noble act this man would have made destroys history.

And on STAR TREK, starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForrest Kelly, who the hell is Beckwith to save save someone? The show has it's heroes whose job it is is to be.... ah, heroes.

 

[Maurice]

Saying we don't care about the guest stars is disingenuous, because it's how the main characters relate to the guest stars that's important. That's why Beckwith could have worked, just perhaps not as in the first draft.

McGivers is a traitor to her oaths and a loathesome creature. Hardly the best of the best.

And the problem with judging Harlan's script is that we only get to judge the first draft (which is what won the award). First drafts are routinely wrong about a lot of things. Ellision himself says that by his second draft the Guardians are gone, Beckwith is gone, and McCoy's the one who goes nuts. So we can't really say what's the Trek writing staff's and what's Ellison's.

 

[scotpens]

As a side note, what about the illegal drug Beckwith was selling to the Enterprise crew — the mysterious Jewels of Sound? The name sounds like a golden oldies collection. Were the properties or effects of the drug ever described?

 

[Photoman15]

Saying we don't care about the guest stars is disingenuous, because it's how the main characters relate to the guest stars that's important. That's why Beckwith could have worked, just perhaps not as in the first draft.

McGivers is a traitor to her oaths and a loathesome creature. Hardly the best of the best.

And the problem with judging Harlan's script is that we only get to judge the first draft (which is what won the award). First drafts are routinely wrong about a lot of things. Ellision himself says that by his second draft the Guardians are gone, Beckwith is gone, and McCoy's the one who goes nuts. So we can't really say what's the Trek writing staff's and what's Ellison's.

If I recall, Beckwith had already addicted a culture to the drugs, either killed someone or was at least willing to to cover up his "dealings" and was still preying on his fellow crewmates. That is not redeemable. At least definitively not in a 52 minute STAR TREK episode which must focus on Kirk and (main) crew.

Marla, on the other hand, while what you said, followed the 50s-60s thing of doing whatever her "man" told her to do. That she happened to fall in love with Khan was unfortunate for her and she paid for that (later on Ceti-Alpha 5).

 

[ElBurro]

"The City On The Edge Of Forever" shows how one can do drama, good sense-of-wonder SF and good contextual humour all in one story.

The "mechanical rice picker" scene is a classic bit of Trek humor.

Welcome to Star Trek. City on the Edge of Forever is often the episode I use to introduce Star Trek to people. I have to add that if you haven't yet watched any episodes of the Andy Griffith Show, you are in for a treat. The first five seasons that were filmed in black and white are classics.

As a Trek-related aside, the opening title sequence of The Andy Griffith Show was filmed at Franklin Canyon Reservoir, which was also the location for "The Paradise Syndrome" (aka "The One With the Indians").

Loved the 'mechanical rice picker' scene

Interesting little factoid about the Franklin Canyon Reservoir. I'm a total trivia junkie

You know, I do like this episode, but I don't really understand why it is rated SO highly by so many Trek fans. The story is very interesting, and the drama and romance are fine, but the plot contrivances really distract me. At least they did last time I watched it. Plus, I don't tend to enjoy episodes in which Shatner has this many opportunities to emote. (A lot of women swoon with Shatner gets romantic, but all I can say is I'm not one of them.) I should be rewatching it soon, so I'll see if my opinion has changed.

I can say unreservedly, that I am not one of the women who swoon over romantic Shatner. In fact I tend to and shout something at the t.v.

And on STAR TREK, starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForrest Kelly, who the hell is Beckwith to save save someone? The show has it's heroes whose job it is is to be.... ah, heroes.

I disagree with that. I think it would have been good to have someone else be the hero for two reasons. 1) In this context, it would be interesting to see someone who was the antagonist throughout the story come good in the end 2) It mixes it up a bit, having a one-off hero, rather than a lead character.

 

[Photoman15]

And on STAR TREK, starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForrest Kelly, who the hell is Beckwith to save save someone? The show has it's heroes whose job it is is to be.... ah, heroes.

I disagree with that. I think it would have been good to have someone else be the hero for two reasons. 1) In this context, it would be interesting to see someone who was the antagonist throughout the story come good in the end 2) It mixes it up a bit, having a one-off hero, rather than a lead character.

But that's not how episodic television works (and especially back when TOS was done).
One, the star(s) of the show wouldn't go for it, second, the producers and more important the networks wouldn't. Why have a guest star hero the show when you want to show your characters are the heroes.

On the New Hawaii 5-0, you're not gonna get Officer Kiwanali solve the crime of the week and go and tell McGarrett what he did.

Even on HOUSE, MD, you rarely get one of his team figuring out the disease of the week. House, in a moment of "Eureka", associates something that's going on somewhere else with the symptoms of his patient and cures them. And his team could be considered to be the equivalent of Spock, McCoy, et al.

The stars have to be the heroes, or else they wouldn't be the stars.

 

[Maurice]

Marla, on the other hand, while what you said, followed the 50s-60s thing of doing whatever her "man" told her to do. That she happened to fall in love with Khan was unfortunate for her and she paid for that (later on Ceti-Alpha 5).

And, to my point, is not "the best of the best". Maybe she's a different grade of crap than Beckwith, but she's still not a shining example.

 

[WendellM]

what about the illegal drug Beckwith was selling to the Enterprise crew — the mysterious Jewels of Sound? The name sounds like a golden oldies collection. Were the properties or effects of the drug ever described?

Ellison's March 21, 1966 treatment has:

possibly half a dozen strange and wondrous jewels. But they are not jewels, They are the infamous and illegal Jillkan dream-narcotics, the Jewels of Sound. They are faceted solids, but not stone, more like a hardened jelly that burns pulsingly with an inner light: gold, blue, crimson, orange.
​

and

only one exposure is needed to make a man a confirmed addict. Swallow one Jewel, experience the Circe call of the strange music and lights the Jewels offer, and you are lost forever.
​

and

Beckwith gives him the Jewel and the Enterprise Lieutenant swallows it. CAMERA HOLDS past Beckwith smiling knowingly at LeBeque, and as a look of almost orgasmic pleasure crosses the Lieutenant's face we REVERSE ANGLE from LeBeque's POV and we SEE THRU HIS EYES as Beckwith's face begins to shimmer with weird lights, like a Van deGraaf generator. Then we HEAR the incredible music of the Jewels—sounds from another time, another space, sounds that reach into LeBeque's head and strum the synapses of his brain, as the lights collide and merge and swivel and twirl and dance in patterns of no-pattern
​

"Shortly" thereafter, Spock informs him that he's "been walking around this control country like a man under water for the past two hours" and suggests that he leave the bridge.

 

[DFScott]

"City on the Edge" is not just a great Star Trek episode. It is one of the great pieces of television ever produced. Very few scripts ever written, shot, and broadcast have achieved so deep an introspective of three main characters simultaneously.

And think about it. It achieves this brilliance as both a sci-fi script and as a plot with perhaps the least special FX of any Trek show, or perhaps no more FX than a Twilight Zone episode. For a great deal of the show it's two guys in plaid and blue jeans sharing an apartment together. This is the same series where a doomsday weapon consumes inhabited planets, where a galactic food storehouse is overrun by millions of fuzzy blobs, where aliens with an attitude trap starships in spider webs made of Buckyball spheres. And what's the climactic scene of this episode? It happens when a guy is taking his girlfriend to a movie.

All of the great consequences which we are faced with in this script, are things that the actors and the dialogue lead us to believe in our minds. And they do this without tricks, and while exposing the bare naked humanity (sorry, Spock) of the three main characters.

I happen to believe this script could not have been as great as it was had either Harlan Ellison or Gene Roddenberry conceived and produced it on his own. Rather, it was the culmination of a dichotomy: Ellison's rather extreme human commentary brought to Earth by Roddenberry's practical nature and understanding of identifiable human characters.

DF "Stone Knives and Bearskins" Scott

 

[Photoman15]

Well, let's include Dorothy Fontana, who (finally) admitted to Ellison that they gave it to her to do the (I believe last) rewrite.

(and to some extent, Gene Coon)

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

First, No matter what Harlan says, Gene's vision was that Star Fleet Officers were the best of the best. Beckwith would never have been on the Enterprise.

Two words disprove that: Marla McGivers.

She was not doing anything illegal as a crew member. She happened to become under the influence of Khan. Then she repented (saving Kirk) but decided to stay with Khan.

Now you're just making excuses.

In fact during the original Star Trek we saw bigots and fools of several varieties serve aboard the Enterprise. There was nothing "un-Star Trek" about Beckwith; the problems which resulted in the major rewrites to the script were structural and budgetary.