In "The City on the Edge of Forever," Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) is treating Mr. Sulu (George Takei) and accidentally injects himself with an overdose a drug when the Enterprise is buffeted by a distortion in time. Experiencing delusions, McCoy flees the bridge and then transports to the planet below. He is followed by Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and a landing party. There they encounter The Guardian of Forever, a sentient portal to other times. It is while the Guardian of Forever is displaying images of Earth's history that McCoy escapes through it and into the past. After being informed by the Guardian of Forever that McCoy has changed the timeline, Kirk and Spock then go back in time to 1930s New York City in an effort to retrieve McCoy and restore the timeline. This proves to be tragic for Kirk, as he meets and falls in love with Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), the operator of the 21st Street Mission. Unfortunately for Kirk, in order to preserve the timeline, Edith must die.
While "The City on the Edge of Forever" was the second to last episode of Star Trek's first season, the episode originated several months before the show even hit the air. Creator Gene Roddenberry wanted established genre writers to write episodes for the show, and so he approached Harlan Ellison. Mr. Ellison then developed a ten page outline in which Captain James T. Kirk travels back in time and falls in love with a woman who must die in order to preserve the timeline. Harlan Ellison turned his outline in on March 21 1966. This was well Star Trek's writers guide, the show's bible with information on its characters, its setting, and so on, was written, something that would present problems with the episode going forward.
To some degree Harlan Ellison's original outline for "The City on the Edge of Forever" ran contrary to Star Trek as we know. The outline involved a crewman involved in illegal drug trafficking, who kills another crewman when he finds out. The crewman is then taken to the surface of a planet to face execution by firing squad. Gene Roddenberry would object to the idea that drug trafficking would exist in the 23rd Century, and it would later be established that the Federation was very reticent about the death penalty. In fact, in the entire series the only crime mentioned for which the death penalty existed as a punishment was for visiting the planet Talos IV (mentioned in the two-part episode "The Menagerie"). Other problems with the outline was the fact that the Enterprise had to wear spacesuits on the surface of the planet, and the planet was inhabited by 9 foot tall Guardians of Forever. Both the spacesuits and the 9 foot humanoids would have made the episode prohibitively expensive.
The first outline was revised and it was after the second outline that Harlan Ellison was given the go-ahead to write the script. This script would still present problems for Star Trek's staff. Part of the problem remained the sheer cost to shoo the episode. Another part of the problem was Kirk and Spock acting out of character, with the two even getting into an argument about the barbarism of human beings. Associate producer Robert H. Justman then asked Harlan Ellison to revise the script. Unfortunately, Mr. Ellison's revised draft would also prove to be too expensive to film. The script would see revisions by producer Gene L. Coon, story editor D. C. Fontana, and Gene Roddenberry himself. None of them were credited for their work on the episode. Harlan Ellison was angry about the revisions and even expressed the desire to have the episode credited to "Cordwainer Bird," the pen name he used when he was unhappy the way a teleplay had turned out. Gene Roddenberry was able to dissuade Mr. Ellison from this, although animosity existed between the two men for the rest of their lives.
At the time that Joan Collins was cast in "The City on the Edge of Forever," she was already an established movie star, having appeared in such films as The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955), The Opposite Sex (1956), and The Bravados (1958). In fact, she was so much a movie star that Star Trek would be only her fourth guest appearance on a TV show, after appearances on The Human Jungle, Run for Your Life, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. At the time she was asked to appear on Star Trek, she was not even familiar with the show. She then asked her children about the show. Her eldest daughter spoke up and said that she do it and it was a great show. She read the script and thought it was very good, and she found it interesting. As it turned out, "The City on the Edge of Forever" would be a very pleasant experience for Joan Collins. She got along very well with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and Deforest Kelley.
Even with the extensive re-writes to reduce the cost of the episode, "The City on the Edge of Forever" went over its budget. Budgeted at $191,000 (which was already over the normal cost of first season Star Trek episodes, which was $175,000), it ultimately cost $245,316. Much of "The City on the Edge of Forever" was shot at Desilu Forty Acres (formerly the RKO Forty Acres), which had previously been used for the episodes "Miri" and "Return of the Archons." Desilu Forty Acres was a popular lot for sitcoms to be shot, with such classics as The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Andy Griffith Show, My Three Sons, and Hogan's Heroes. In fact, fans of classic television will probably recognize the New York City of "The City on the Edge of Forever" as Mayberry from The Andy Griffith Show. Floyd's Barber Shop even appears in several scenes of the episode. Other scenes were shot where My Three Sons usually was.
"The City on the Edge of Forever" would be well received even as it first aired. As mentioned earlier, Harlan Ellison's original version of the teleplay won the Writers Guild of America award for Best Episodic Drama on Television and the episode itself won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. The Star Trek crew and cast have consistently named it was one of the greatest Star Trek episodes ever made and it consistently ranks in lists of the best Star Trek episodes, often in the top five.
As to why "The City on the Edge of Forever" continues to be so highly regarded, much of it is the script. While it may have ultimately been written by committee, it turned out to be one of the strongest scripts of any Star Trek episode. It not only successfully recreates New York City during the Depression, but it also provided a believable romance for Kirk, one that must end in tragedy in order for history to be preserved.
Of course, much of the reason for the episode's success has to be Joan Collins's performance as Edith Keeler. As played by Joan Collins, Edith Keeler was not only beautiful (Miss Collins cannot help but be beautiful), but intelligent, compassionate, and ahead of her time. Joan Collins made it believable that Edith Keeler, a woman living in 1930s New York City, would be a pacifist who foresaw a time when there would be no more war. What is more, Joan Collins and William Shatner had real chemistry. The friendship that developed between the two resulted in genuine affection on screen.
"The City on the Edge of Forever" remains one of the best loved Star Trek episodes, as well as one of Joan Collins's best remembered appearances on television. It is in many ways a complex episode, one that not only demonstrates the dangers of time travel, but also gives us one of the most believable and most tragic love stories ever told on the series.
Thanks for this informative post, its lovely to hear how this episode happened and of course Joans role in this. Thanks for joining the blogathon and bringing this well researched post with you,
ReplyDeleteI learned so much that will add to my appreciation of City on the Edge of Forever. The combination of the tragic romance, the star power of the cast, and the rare opportunity to see these characters in a time somewhat approximating our own are irresistible.
ReplyDeleteGreat post with lots of detailed background! Sometimes you don't want to know how the sausage gets made, but in this case the lessons are instructive. Some creative people are not well-suited for a collaborative medium like TV. I saw Harlan Ellison speak, and he didn't mince words about his painful Star Trek experience and the idiocy of TV executives. Harlan was a brilliant, creative person, but his initial instincts in this case were all wrong, and fortunately "script by committee" resulted in not only one of the best Star Trek episodes, but one of the best in all of '60s TV drama! But man, poor Harlan could really hold a grudge.
ReplyDeleteWonderful, well-researched article, Terence, on one of my all-time favorite Star Trek (classic series or otherwise) episodes! I knew about some of the kerfuffle between Ellison and Roddenberry, but I'd never read so much of the behind-the-scenes story before. Despite Ellison's complaints, I think it was a truly brilliant, touching episode. As you mentioned, Ms. Collins' sympathetic performance goes a long way to sell the story, as well.
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