I was working on my Star Trek Timeline a bit tonight, and I was wanting to nail down the date of the 1930s sequences of "The City on the Edge of Forever" a little more precisely.
We know that the year is definitely 1930, as Spock says that the newspaper article he saw about Edith Keeler's death was dated 1930. When viewing the newspaper article from the alternate timeline about Keeler consulting with FDR, Kirk reads the date and says, "February 23rd, 1936 -- Six years from now," so it's presumably early in the year. A February date would also jibe with the winter coats seen throughout the episode.
There is a calendar seen on the wall at the 21st Street Mission, but unfortunately, it doesn't conform to any month in 1930:
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x28hd/thecityontheedgeofforeverhd478.jpg
As we can see, the month starts on a Thursday and has a holiday on the 14th. It also has at least 30 days. According to Memory Alpha, the year and month were taped over on the page, which seems uncommon foresight for a pre-VCR age. The only holidays I can think of that fall on the 14th are Valentine's Day (Feb. 14th) and Flag Day (June 14th), and neither one is a national holiday that people would miss work for. And the only month in 1930 that started on a Thursday was May, which seems much too warm of a season for COTEOF.
Also mucking things up is Edith's reference to seeing a Clark Gable movie before he was a known star. Gable was only an extra in his only movie release in 1930. Apparently the final draft script originally referenced the more era-appropriate Richard Dix (who had movies released in late 1929 and 1930), but it was thought that Dix wouldn't be remembered by mid-60s audiences, so it was changed to Gable.
I suppose February is the best overall fit, but I'd love to hear if anyone else here has any theories about it. How about it, folks? Any ideas?
We know that the year is definitely 1930, as Spock says that the newspaper article he saw about Edith Keeler's death was dated 1930. When viewing the newspaper article from the alternate timeline about Keeler consulting with FDR, Kirk reads the date and says, "February 23rd, 1936 -- Six years from now," so it's presumably early in the year. A February date would also jibe with the winter coats seen throughout the episode.
There is a calendar seen on the wall at the 21st Street Mission, but unfortunately, it doesn't conform to any month in 1930:
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x28hd/thecityontheedgeofforeverhd478.jpg
As we can see, the month starts on a Thursday and has a holiday on the 14th. It also has at least 30 days. According to Memory Alpha, the year and month were taped over on the page, which seems uncommon foresight for a pre-VCR age. The only holidays I can think of that fall on the 14th are Valentine's Day (Feb. 14th) and Flag Day (June 14th), and neither one is a national holiday that people would miss work for. And the only month in 1930 that started on a Thursday was May, which seems much too warm of a season for COTEOF.
Also mucking things up is Edith's reference to seeing a Clark Gable movie before he was a known star. Gable was only an extra in his only movie release in 1930. Apparently the final draft script originally referenced the more era-appropriate Richard Dix (who had movies released in late 1929 and 1930), but it was thought that Dix wouldn't be remembered by mid-60s audiences, so it was changed to Gable.
I suppose February is the best overall fit, but I'd love to hear if anyone else here has any theories about it. How about it, folks? Any ideas?
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