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City on the Edge of Forever

I remember reading in one of those "behind the scenes" books--I can't remember the title of it now--that apparently there was a scene that was deleted which showed Kirk closing a drawer to a bureau in Keeler's basement (where she later first discovers Kirk and Spock) containing their uniforms.


Yes, this scene was filmed but unused. In fact, there were at least five scenes filmed for this episode that were either deleted or trimmed, including one that involved McCoy going to Keeler and trying to save her after she got struck by the truck.
 
Once Keeler died, the timeline was restored and the trio were brought back by the Guardian. No time had passed on Gateway (or just a short time, as (I think) Scotty notes when they get back).

But that's subjectively for Scotty and the landing party. We don't know how much time passed for Kirk, Spock and McCoy before the Guardian snatched them back.
 
^ For a long time, I didn't think that highly of "The Devil In The Dark"... It was more of murder mystery than a Star Trek episode. Why would a starship crew have any better chance of finding the killer creature than the men who work in the mines, who know the territory better than anyone from the Enterprise?

But then in my adult years, I finally got around to watching the episode again. And then I started to see much more in this episode. I really like it. I'd missed some of the subtleties, like the miners having only Type-I phasers (the Type-II phasers used by the Enterprise team are much more powerful). They also lacked the astute logic of a Vulcan science officer and a sensible starship captain. ;)

Originally I was so put off by the Horta not attacking Kirk, as it did with everyone else. What made Kirk so special? Ah, of course! The Type-II phaser, which the Horta recognized. It was also the realization of just how intelligent the Horta is... just from the brief mind-meld with Spock, it figured out how to communicate in basic English, enough to score words into rock.

The only thing that really bothered me is how the miners knew Type-I phasers were ineffective... and yet, they still put people "on guard"? That's a death sentence. Then later, you have some of them armed with clubs? That's just plain ridiculous. Anyway, the episode really showed some terrific story elements... one of the better ones of TOS.
 
I don't think there's an open "portal" there waiting for anyone to wander through. I think the Guardian re-opens it at the appropriate moment.

That has always been my take on it.

KIRK: If we are successful?

GUARDIAN: Then you will be returned. It will be as though none of you had gone.
 
^ For a long time, I didn't think that highly of "The Devil In The Dark"... It was more of murder mystery than a Star Trek episode. Why would a starship crew have any better chance of finding the killer creature than the men who work in the mines, who know the territory better than anyone from the Enterprise?

A serial killer in a small, close-knit community where anybody, including the mine's head of staff and its security guards, could have been the killer, and everyone was a suspect. They needed help from an outside source.
 
. . . A serial killer in a small, close-knit community where anybody, including the mine's head of staff and its security guards, could have been the killer, and everyone was a suspect. They needed help from an outside source.
Uh . . . did you actually see the episode? That’s a good idea for a story, but it sure isn’t “The Devil in the Dark.” Everyone knew from the start that the killer was some sort of non-human creature.
 
. . . A serial killer in a small, close-knit community where anybody, including the mine's head of staff and its security guards, could have been the killer, and everyone was a suspect. They needed help from an outside source.
Uh . . . did you actually see the episode? That’s a good idea for a story, but it sure isn’t “The Devil in the Dark.” Everyone knew from the start that the killer was some sort of non-human creature.


Sure, but they didn't know what it was exactly, nor how it moved about, what it looked like, or how many of them there were for that matter. All they know was that the killer killed fast and left very little in the way of remains. That qualifies as a mystery to me. And I am sure some of the miners might have worried if it wasn't one of their own orchestrating the killings in order to reduce the competition. After all, the planet was a money-maker!
 
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