Harlan Ellison's Acclaimed Star Trek Script Comes to Comics

[Khan 2.0]

Could be interesting. I wonder if they got the idea from Dark Horse doing the same thing with the original The Star Wars script.

probably. I hope IDW does a 'lost/alternate movie' range, adapting early drafts or discarded stories.

e.g. Trek I Planet of the Titans, Trek II Roddenberrys JFK, Trek VI Bennetts Starfleet Academy, Trek VII Yesterdays Enterprise The Movie, Trek VIII Borg in the Renaissance, Trek IX Heart of Darkness. Trek XI Spiner/Logan Crossover Nemesis sequel or Bermans The Beginning trilogy

 

[zarkon]

Preview art: http://www.startrek.com/article/original-city-on-the-edge-of-forever-teleplay-set-for-miniseries

Lovely cover art, but I'm really not a fan of the interior art at all

 

[Daddy Todd]

I like the idea of adapting Ellison's version, but I don't know how they're gonna get 5 issues out of a 50-page teleplay. They either have to add a bunch of new material, or "decompress" the narrative to a point of excruciating s l o w n e s s.

 

[Stevil2001]

The Tiptons using excruciating decompression? Surely not!

 

[Allyn Gibson]

The Tiptons using excruciating decompression? Surely not!

Seriously! Assimilation2 couldn've been done by DWM in three eight-page episodes.

Okay, okay. Four.

Damn, now I've just imagined a Parkhouse/Ridgway Assimilation2 and I'm going to sit here in my cubicle and cry for a while.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Could be interesting. I wonder if they got the idea from Dark Horse doing the same thing with the original The Star Wars script.

probably.

Or it could just be case of IDW finally getting around to doing this, but Dark Horse beat them to the punch with their project. I think it's been known for a long time that Ellison's original treatment was very different from the actual episode.

"Presenting Harlan Ellison's brilliant original script for 'City on the Edge...' has been a goal of ours since IDW first began publishing Star Trek comics in 2007."
--IDW’s Editor-in-Chief and CCO Chris Ryall
http://www.idwpublishing.com/news/article/2754/

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I hope IDW does a 'lost/alternate movie' range, adapting early drafts or discarded stories.

e.g. Trek I Planet of the Titans, Trek II Roddenberrys JFK, Trek VI Bennetts Starfleet Academy, Trek VII Yesterdays Enterprise The Movie, Trek VIII Borg in the Renaissance, Trek IX Heart of Darkness. Trek XI Spiner/Logan Crossover Nemesis sequel or Bermans The Beginning trilogy

There isn't a "Trek VII Yesterdays Enterprise The Movie" script. Rick Berman said later that, in retrospect, that story could have worked for a generations crossover. I'm not sure I really agree with him; I'm not sure the best way to introduce Star Trek: The Next Generation to film is with an alternate timeline version of Picard's crew.

The alternate path on Generations was Maurice Hurley's script, which had Picard consulting with a holodeck Kirk when the Federation was attacked by an enemy from outside normal space.

As for the rest of your list, don't forget Roddenberry's "The God-Thing" and the Eddie Murphy Star Trek IV. There's also Walter Koenig's pitch for Star Trek VI, "In Flanders Fields." And some of the early developmental scripts for Star Trek II would be interesting.

 

[Khan 2.0]

I'm not sure the best way to introduce Star Trek: The Next Generation to film is with an alternate timeline version of Picard's crew.

true i guess it couldve been the Ent D in the 23rd century... 'Tomorrows Enterprise'

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'm not sure the best way to introduce Star Trek: The Next Generation to film is with an alternate timeline version of Picard's crew.

true i guess it couldve been the Ent D in the 23rd century... 'Tomorrows Enterprise'

Maybe.

Personally, I think "All Good Things..." would've been better suited to a crossover film. Replace the pre-"Farpoint" Enterprise-D with a post-Khitomer Enterprise-A, and have Picard "leap" into the A's replacement for Valeris on its journey home.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

So is this the version of the story where Kirk orders a firing squad for a guy dealing drugs on the Enterprise?

The firing squad is present only in Ellison's first story outline, from March 1966. It is not present in the revised outline (May 1966, iirc), nor in any of the two and one half versions of his teleplay that I've read.

Sir Rhosis

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

An alternative (and much better, imnsho) cover for IDW's adaptation of Ellison's "City on the Edge of Forever":

http://www.startrek.com/uploads/assets/articles/city-original.jpg

 

[Christopher]

I like the first cover better. It's nicely evocative of vintage paperback SF novel covers. This, while well-rendered, is more of a generic floating-heads-in-space cover, aside from that buttressed palace or whatever in the background (perhaps a rendering of how Ellison originally described the Guardian or its environs?).

 

[DarthPipes]

I like the first cover better. It's nicely evocative of vintage paperback SF novel covers. This, while well-rendered, is more of a generic floating-heads-in-space cover, aside from that buttressed palace or whatever in the background (perhaps a rendering of how Ellison originally described the Guardian or its environs?).

I miss those old vintage paperback SF covers myself. I think they're far more interesting then photoshopping the characters onto a cover. The photoshops almost always look awful and unimaginative.

 

[Therin of Andor]

have Picard "leap" into the A's replacement for Valeris on its journey home.

Funny you should say that. When ST VI came out, George Takei was again suggesting (with renewed vigor) at conventions a "Captain Sulu/Excelsior" series or movie with a young Picard being involved. And he also was recommending ST VI's enthusiastic cameo player, Christian Slater, in the role.

 

[Clark Terrell]

Whoa. Is Ellison finally mellowing in his stance on Star Trek? I think that may be one of the signs of the Apocalypse...

I agree. I thought he'd never agree to be part of something like this because he was so bitter about his story being modified the first time around.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

^^^Exactly why he has agreed, it seems to me. The story is being done his way.

Like the first cover, btw.

Sir Rhosis

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Whoa. Is Ellison finally mellowing in his stance on Star Trek? I think that may be one of the signs of the Apocalypse...

I agree. I thought he'd never agree to be part of something like this because he was so bitter about his story being modified the first time around.

If he were as bitter in 1967 about "City" as he was in 1996 when White Wolf published his long screed, then "City" would certainly have gone out as "Written by Cordwainer Bird." In my opinion, the fact that it didn't and he let it go out with his name on it speaks volumes about how Ellison felt about "City" at the time.

I suspect that Ellison's views hardened as Roddenberry began to trash him and mischaracterize the script as the years went on.

 

[Clark Terrell]

I suspect that Ellison's views hardened as Roddenberry began to trash him and mischaracterize the script as the years went on.

Roddenberry trashed anyone who had the nerve to disagree with him, particularly when it came time to produce the films.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

Main and alternate covers for Issue 2.

http://www.startrek.com/article/first-look-city-on-the-edge-of-forever-2

 

[Sir Rhosis]

Anybody know the exact release date of the first issue? I keep seeing "June." You'd think, with Tuesday, 5-27-14, being Ellison's 80th birthday, they might release it then.

Anybody in the know out there?

Sir Rhosis