Out of respect for Ellison, I think the shot of Kirk holding back McCoy is symbolically brilliant. Seeing the Kirk/Spock/McCoy dynamic as self/mind/heart respectively, Kirk is essentially holding back his heart from saving Keeler, at the behest of the voice of reason telling him what must be done. Kirk looking away and never looking back is a brilliant choice by Shatner and the filmmakers.
@Mr Sack Yeah Roddenberry was absolutely right to make it Kirk’s decision. Having Spock, the epitome of dispassionate reason, intervene to stop Kirk would not only have been trite it would have completely taken away the powerful tragedy of Kirk’s decision which was so wonderfully realised in the ending of this great story and which has given it such enduring appeal.
spock reminded kirk that when miss keeler stumbled on the steps at the apartment" had you not stopped her from falling, she may have died right there .kirk reminded spock that " it isn't time yet, mccoy has not come along yet". this is also the scene where we have the case of the missing shoe that miss keeler was wearing before she stumbled on the steps ,and then when she walked up the steps her right foot was missing the shoe. I do not know if there was any significance to this or was it a "BLOOPER" that was not corrected ????
this was clearly the more impactful ending. had spock held kirk back, then it would have potentially poisoned their friendship while making kirk look weak. kirk holding mccoy back made it more tragic, but also kirk more of the captain he came to be.
Agreed , All stellar performances , especially Edith's , when she totally "Buys" Spock's gentile sarcasm to her "What on earth" question ...Her expression was so good , she didn't have to utter a single word to end the scene...Quentin could really expand on this episode in a movie...
@Charles Ross It's called actors arrogance for a reason..........................they forget for the bigger money that they have recieved since said episode.............
@Charles Ross He didn't want to do ST: TWOK. Felt that it wasn't that prominent of a role and he didn't get enough screen time. Until a family member pointed out that even when he's not on screen they're constantly discussing Khan - so he agreed to do it.
@@stevebrescia3764 But the thing is, they could have just brough Her with them into the 23rd Century, so it was not necessary for Her to die in the first place.
That last bit where McCoy says, "I could have saved her, do you know what you just did?", and Spock replies, "He knows, Doctor, he knows." Right there is the story. Kirk allows Edith, a woman he's in love with, to die knowing that it preserves not only his future, but the future Edith dreamed would happen.
So you're saying, if she knew that her death was the cost of that future, she would have gladly chosen that. Perhaps at some point that would have given Kirk solace, though it still would not make up for the loss.
@@dennisobrien19 If Edith lived, Kirk would probably have never been born. Her activism kept America from entering the second world war. Thus, the entire history of Earth changed and there would never be a Federation with starships.
This was a gut-puncher back in 1967. Never had seen anything like this before. The only show that came close to this were some of the twist endings of the Twilight Zone.
At the end, when all history was restored, Kirk was deeply shaken by his experience, an experience real to him. In the TNG episode, The Inner Light, Picard also had a deeply personal experience, and when he was returned to the here and now, he could not quickly shake his "real to him" experience in that, now long dead, world. To drive it home, the flute he learned to play in that other life, was found aboard the probe the Enterprise encountered, and Picard new how to play the song he invented. One of my favorite TNG episodes. Both City and Inner Light were haunting episodes!
Together with In the Pale Moonlight, the best episodes of the franchise. All three have this special element. Kirk can't shake the impact of not being allowed to save Edith, Picard can't forget the life he lived even though it was not technically real, and Sisko has to come to grabs with having been part of a political assassination that goes against everything he believes in. And both Sisko and Kirk in the end have to accept it and live with it to move on.
And for years I thought I was the only one who highly valued The Inner Light from TNG…! Time and time again in these posts I read about that TNG episode being among fans most favourite…
It's still amazing how they begin with a shipboard accident, then evolves into an incident on a ruined planet, then they travel back in time and THERE have the real story involving multiple locations, and then travel back - all in one hour. Just amazing efficiency.
This is the Number One best concept, best written, best acted, best cast (Joan collins), best directed, best shot, and best edited of the entire Star Trek franchise
I'm not necessarily agreeing with you but this episode is definitely in my top five. Other contenders for the best episode include `Plato's Stepchildren` which had the first interracial kiss on television and was every bit as well directed, edited, etc.
It is most definitely one of the very best. Whenever I introduce youngsters to Star Trek it is always one of the ten or so I show. I rate it among the top 3. It is certainly great in all the ways you mention. Flawless. I still think the best Star Trek are the choice episodes of the original series, like this one. Ethical dilemmas just as with the best later stuff like Star Wars and Anakin and Dr Who and his flawed nature.
Ellison was so damn wrong. The truly heroic thing for Kirk was to do the hardest thing possible - let someone you love die for the greater good. Had it ended in the way Ellison had wanted, it would have not been some great sacrifice for Kirk. It would show Kirk to be selfish. The pain in Shatner's face while holding onto McCoy illustrates what a tragic sacrifice he is making. The reason this episode won the awards that it did, and is considered among the best of the series is because of that tragic ending.
Yeah, I just saw a clip from "The Deadly Years" where Kirk blames Spock for his loss of command due to his own senility. Very painful for Spock. But had Kirk not been able to act for the greater good, then he wouldn't deserve the power and responsibility that comes with command. He'd be something like Captain Merik who washed out of Starfleet due to his failure on the psychosimulator test and betrayed his crew in "Bread and Circuses." Or Captain Ron Tracey that interferes with a primitive society, killing thousands in the hopes of a serum of immortality in "The Omega Glory."
I want you to know I watched this in the hospital on my phone three days after having a massive heart attack. This was my favorite episode, and I never knew the back story. Thanks man.
I think the acting that bones did in this is highly underrated, this episode really shows McCoy to be one of the most versatile actors. His temporary insanity is absolutely haunting better than any stupid CGI effect they use today and he did it without a lot of make up and it is absolutely terrifying, his acting should have received a Pulitzer for this episode alone, it’s too bad we didn’t see more character development with Mccoy, and the same can be said about U’hura. It would’ve been nice to have seen her take some leader ship.
I hate the word "underrated;" it's so overused on TH-cam, and is often wrong. I think people think his acting is correct. Also Pulitzer Prize is for journalism, not TV shows; that's called an Emmy.
I always love the last line of the show when Kirk just heartbroken and wrecked looks ahead with that thousand yard stare of a haunted man whose kickstarting the dark trek that will be and is post tramatic stress and becoming a worn torn starfleet warrior of the spaceways. KIRK: Lets get the hell out of here.
Great analysis; I’ve watched The City on the Edge of Forever well over a 100 times; Joan Collins, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Deforest Kelley is a cast worthy of a motion picture, let alone a TV epidsode.
I read where Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) spoke with Roddenberry once (I also read that they had an affair at some point) and said, "I see what you're doing with this series, Gene, you're writing morality plays..." and supposedly Gene goes, "Shhhhhh! Don't say that out loud..." Brilliant.
"Do you know what you just did?" "He knows Doctor. He knows". One of the most powerful interchanges in all of Star Trek and there as a result of the tensions in the creation of this episode
Had this been a "one off" TV movie or film, Ellison's ending would have been the right call. But we the viewers and Roddenberry were invested in Captain Kirk's ability to courageously sacrifice for the good of all. Therefore they made the right call for the series and that collaboration is what makes this one of the greatest Star Trek episodes in the series.
This was filmed on the same set as Andy Griffith, you can see when Kirk is walking with her down the street, they pass Floyds Barber shop and the fix it shop by the courthouse
And that is what a tv studio is for........the rental of different tv or movie productions that film on the same lot within filming schedules.....nowadays they film up in Toronto or Vancouver Canada...which is why this gives a weird look to productions that look out of place from these 1950s-1995 tv or movies that filmed and had that HOMEY style sense of space on one's tv screen.......................even the backlot of disney looked like americana usa, did it not??
@@mac11380 I'm glad a few states and cities have become more film friendly bringing productions back to the USA. Georgia, New Orleans, and Detroit among them.
@@toonrog9957 In '76 I was an extra in the remake of King Kong and the sequence I was in (Kong captured and escaping from Shea Stadium) was filmed at this Desilu 40 acre backlot in Culver City.
Excellent celebration of the greatest episode of Star Trek original series. Capped with the acknowledgement of Kirk’s crushing feeling of loss as his crew look puzzled at his lack of joy that the timeline was restored and the Enterprise is up there again. “Let’s get the hell out of here.” RIP Ellison. With respect the rewriting of the ending so that Kirk stops McCoy from saving Edith Keeler rather than Spock stopping Kirk, the rewrite was the right thing to do. Kirk is bigger than life, or the death of one he loves. It is Kirk’s special gift to all of us!
Ellison was wrong. It would have been a cheat for Kirk to try to save her and be prevented by Spock. For this to work, Kirk had to pay up. Ellison's ending would have let Kirk off the hook, destroying the full impact of the story.
@@4CardsMan Cool. Kirk is not infallible and we've seen episodes where he has shown some weaknesses. But bottom line, he is the greatest commander ever in the Federation and and tapping his great mental strength and stopping McCoy was a demonstration of why he is who he is! :)
Not just the best episode of Star Trek, best thing on Television for years before and after. Every non fan that I have convinced to watch this episode likes it and has thanked me for calling it to their attention.
I know what you mean. I saw this first run in 7th grade and even then knew that there was something special about it....and not seeing it again for several years if someone had asked me how long Spock and Kirk waited in the past I would have said several months, when in actuality in was only a few days.....a lot was packed into those few days....
I'm proud to say, and therefore exercising bragging rights, that D.C.Fontana (Dorthy Fontana) a famous Star Trek scriptwriter is an alma mater of my high school. She was graduated from Passaic Valley High School in Little Falls N.J. in the late 1950s way before my time. Nobody knew about her when I graduated because Star Trek was still very young. She wrote the script for one of my favorite first season episodes, "Tomorrow is Yesterday".
daffidavit I LOVE "Tomorrow is Yesterday" . It was basically a re-telling of the 1948 Charles Mantell Air Force plane crash, whilst pursuing a giant UFO over Godman Field in Kentucky by Capt. Charles Mantell. Famous case, well-done episode.
It's funny when I first watched "The City" I saw it a different way. I thought OMG she only crosses the street to get to Kirk, the man she loves. So without Kirk and company going back in time, she wouldn't have been hit by the truck. In a way Kirk was responsible for his future.
OH what a web we weave - when Time Travel we try to perceive! Spock noted in the Tricorder readings taken BEFORE McCoy jumped back in time that Edith Keeler died in "some sort of traffic accident" . IF it was NOT to get to Jim Kirk, then it was for another reason. Either way, Fate would have her die. The OTHER way to look at it is a Time Travel PARADOX, where in order for Time to play out ' as it should', McCoy, Kirk and Spock MUST travel back to New York in 1933 and make sure she dies - thus creating a Time Loop and their own Future... I feel Captain Janeway's headache coming on!
Yes. I like this episode a lot. Involves time travel dilemma like never before. Shocking and heartbreaking outcomes. One time you hear Captain Kirk say, "Let's get the hell out of here!" at least in the series. Powerful message too. My family always liked this series of Star Trek. My Dad liked the old classic cars too. What happen to Dr. McCoy was horrible. Drove him mad. Good video. Thanks!
Its so interesting to watch this episode and know that, when it was written, the 30s were only 30 years ago. so much had happened since that time that its hard to imagine the scope of the effects of those events on people living in the sixties.
They still had some things they didn't know. Like the Nazis were not researching the atom bomb, because they thought it would take too long, but were researching a nuclear reactor. Likewise the idea that they had turned a collapsed society around due to brutal efficiency as stated in "Patterns of Force." I'm told they weren't efficient but rather corrupt.
The best writing is allegory. Roddenberry conceived of this idea and put it into a sci-fi setting. Some of these writers that contributed were really good. Ellison was one of them. Fontana was great. RIP Fontana.
Also, if you look at the exact second, that Edith dies, they do this camera zoom, that’s twice on his face and twice on her face, which really quite simply drives home that she was looking at him. The second she died. That’s a scary scene. It still brings me to tears every time I watch it.
She figures out something when she sees them meet. I can't find clips of her and Dr. McCoy, so have to go on memory that he reveals he's a medical officer on board the USS Enterprise. Of course everything that happened is erased almost as if they had never gone, which is why they return in their uniforms.
@@sandal_thong8631yes, he does tell her he’s the chief medical officer on the USS Enterprise, to which she says, “I don’t mean to disbelieve you, but that’s hardly a navy uniform.” “That’s quite alright, he responds, I don’t believe in you either.”
In an interview, Quentin Tarantino said he would like to take a classic episode of TOS and bring it to his full pontial on the big screen, with a large budget and modern special effects. I sure hope there would be an adaptation of "City", more closely resembling the grandeur Ellison had in mind, but was not feasible on a 60s TV budget.
But that's the problem with people who try to recreate TOS. They think that if they just use better special effects somehow it would be "better". The reboot movies prove that's wrong. The original Wrath of Khan that came out in the 80's was WAY better than the newer version "Into Darkness" despite Cumberbatch's wonderful work in it. Even when you ask people about what happened in "Into Darkness" they struggle to remember the story, but never with the old version of Wrath of Khan. People remember that one and can retell it to you. Why? Because the reboot places the special effects above all else and the effects or machinery is NOT what made TOS so amazing. It's not what made it memorable. It was the CHARACTERS and how they expressed themselves through the storyline of a future world that made the show what it was. Anyone who says they'll bring TOS to it's "full potential" with special effects is guaranteed to make it worse than it was before because they have zero understanding of where it's true potential lies.
I completly agree with you. But Tarantino was always more focused on characters and character interaction than special effects. By "grandeur" I meant, a 120 minute cinematic version of this story could explore all it's aspects and broad implications, for the characters and history as a whole. The exact opposite from the epileptic, theme park ride-like Abrahms movies.
If Tarantino just redid an episode as a two hour film- It would be City, and it would be the *original* script, not the sanitized NBC melodrama that aired. The Ellison script had everything Tarantino has in his most successful movies. It is a script like Pulp Fiction of multiple characters trying to avoid their destiny. Star Trek fans would DESPISE IT. It would however be a work of art.
cloudtoground. This is strange. Very strange to middle year Star Trek fans. The first year 1966/67 could have taken this. Bonanza was real gritty at first, as was Gunsmoke, Have Gun and Big Valley. The later Utopia Trek fantasy government socialist universe cemented by TNG would tear their eyes out. Only a director as shock oriented would try to do this script. Roddenberry passed and had it forcibly rewritten by his script girl. It ended gritty, but the broadcast show was mostly light hearted (like her Time Travel episode), until the punch in the gut. The script (unaltered) won the writers guild award in 67/68. The episode won the Hugo. No later Star Trek individual script would. Original viewers would have watched it and said wow. At least I would have.
It would be wrong to put Keeler’s death on Spock’s hands. The final decision rests with the Captain. He has to bear the responsibility in the end. All due respect to Ellison.
I tend to agree with this, after much consideration. Ellison’s perspective was that in the aired version Kirk does the expected, conventional thing you would expect any jut-jawed hero to do. All true. But in giving-over the decision to Spock, the original draft robs Kirk of agency. In the end, the captain of the Enterprise is the central character of “City,” not his first officer.
@@michaelhall2709 Kirk would have still had full agency in his decision to not let Keeler die. What could be more romantic than him literally offering her the universe for love?
A excellent analysis of not only the award winning episode but of the philosophy that made the series truly loved by those drawn to reason and rational worldwide.
Best episode of TOS ever. Still holds a tight grip over 55 years on. And Kirk's last line *"Let's get the hell out of here"* has to be one of the most iconic. *RIP* to the poor bum who vaporised himself with Bones' phaser while Bones is unconcious.
@@56postofficeI think this was Dorothy Fontana's attempt to keep some of the character of "Trooper," from Ellison's original script, in the story. i.e. a broken man whose death meant nothing to the timeline but, in the original, everything to Kirk. (In Ellison's original script, Trooper saves Kirk's life by rolling the little wooden cart his legless body sits on between Kirk and the phaser's blast. (Troop was a homeless survivor of Verdun, who sold pencils and apples for a meager living. )
I personally can't imagine Ellison's ending working nearly as well as what actually was filmed. If Spock had been the one to allow Kirk's true love to die like that, it would have permanently poisoned his relationship with Kirk. Even a best friend can't do that and expect there to be no consequence.
I hate to have to contradict Mr. Ellison, but Roddenberry was correct. Kirk *would not* just say F*ck it. Forget the ship, the timeline and everything else, I've got to save her. He would want to, but wouldn't be able to actually bring himself to do it. He was a starship captain. He faced decisions and responsibilities that would break the majority of people. Dozens of decisions a day. Hundreds or thousands of lives depending on every one of those decisions being right. No, such a person has a very developed since of responsibility that would not allow him/her to act in the manner in which Mr. Ellison cast him.
@@cherylresnick-cortes8022 Actually, I want to agree with Mr. Ellison as loving and being loved is the sole reason for out existence, our one great purpose. But in this case, the cost was just too high. And for Kirk to act in a manner such as Mr. Ellison dictates here would show that he did not deserve to sit in the Center Seat of that bridge, that Starfleet had made a mistake in elevating him to the rank of captain and assigning him command of a front line capital asset.
My favorite episode and wonderful in so many respects. One little line uttered by Scott...illustrates the paradox of time travel. Scott: " What happened Sir, you only left a moment ago? " We can assume that K and S...spent about a week or two in 1930 New York.
It's just my humble opinion, but I feel like they've completely ruined Trek with the latest incarnations of the series. Most of it is simply fan service and nostalgic pretenses for the sake of views and sales, but they've all but abandoned the true beauty and principles put forth by the older series. They've exchanged high concept sci-fi for crude action, and thought-provoking plot and vision for mind-numbing spectacle and cheap thrills. It's a troubling reflection of our society's supply and demand for quick fixes growing ever more insatiable. As our technology progresses in the real world, our collective minds as a society seem to devolve, and where old Trek gave us hope for the future these latest offerings show a dystopian cynicism that is so stale it's almost expected.
Star trek was a turning point in my life. It introduced logic and morality that was not religion based. Even now I still live by the belief that the good of the many outweigh the good of the few.
We don't think like that unfortunately. Whether it's women in combat roles or allowing unchecked illegal immigration...we're doomed by our "good intentions".
I liked the comic versions of representation of City, Guardians of the Forever and their explanation of changes in time depending on action made and how it deepens relationship between Kirk and Edith, but the TV series ending strikes a right note to it as you explained in video. This episode gave Kirk first time true no win scenario.
I attended an early ST convention back in the late ‘70s in Cleveland and when Roddenberry asked for questions I asked him what episode was his favorite. He said TCOTEOT.
While I understand Elison's vision I completely disagree with his view on the final product. Drama wise Kirk reluctantly stopping McCoy Works. Had Spock stopped Kirk it would change the nature of their relationship on a fundamental level. It would also cause me to lose ALL respect for this true interpretation of Kirk. From TOS to his final TMP film had become one of the most tragic and heroic characters in Star Trek. Much like JJ Abrams' version, I really despise Ellison's take.
Agreed. This is also why Nimoy and Kelly did not embrace the idea of their characters betrayal in the early draft for Star Trek V. Kirk as Captain making that monumental decision on his own to allow Edith to die works best.
@@BronzeAgeBryon Yeah that's the only real point of contention I have with Shatner's original vision for ST5. I understood he wanted to have the crew be fractured but come back together in the end, however that's a tale that should occur during the original series, not this point in time after everything they've gone through together.
My only quibble with this classic episode is that she exerts enough influence to prevent the US from entering the war but that would have been impossible after Japan bombed Pearl Harbour. No one could have stopped the US from declaring war on Japan at that point. Being an ally of Japan, Germany then declared war on the US. Still, great episode.
Well Japan only attacked Pearl Harbor due to pursuing a naval dominance of the South Pacific. Hitler's motive and reason for declaring on the USA was to get Japan to declare against the USSR. So either Japan does that because the pacifist USA is so little threat they can leave the Pacific to later thus causes USSR collapse in two front war enabling Hitler to take most of the developed world OR Japan is so successful at Pearl that it prevents US intervention in Europe. Thus also causing the USSR to fail. It's Hitler capturing the USSR's resources that would end the war in his favor.
This is the exact episode I remembered as a sci-fi fan when mom decided she liked the Mr. Spock character who was logical beyond belief in this Star Trek TOS series.
City On The Edge Of Forever was written by Harlan Ellison. I got to meet him when I was a kid. He was doing a photo shoot in a friend's living room. The photograph of him with the pipe leaning on the sculpture. I remember watching the shoot and thinking to myself "Really?"
Can we just take a moment to appreciate that this was episode Number TWENTY-EIGHT in its FIRST season... and not even the last one in the string. Back then they knew what a "season" was supposed to be.
Only original music I learned from somebody else's TH-cam video connected to this episode was the arrangement of and variations of Goodnight Sweetheart, even the "Vintage" version blaring forth from the radio repair shop was arranged by Fred Steiner.
Fun fact: the City on the edge of forever was the set of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith show. Kirk and Edith walk hand in hand past the courthouse, Opie’s stairs and Floyd’s Barbershop (with the name still on the window.)
@@fmlazarYes, absolutely true, and Roddenberry lied about Ellison's real professionalism, which was the real reason for Ellison's enmity throughout the years.
In a fan fiction I wrote in the 80s, Edith Keeler, was informed, by a friendly time traveler, who predates the Q. What both Futures would be like. In the end. She willingly walks in front of the truck. Despite the assertions of some of my fellow fans, the truck was not driven by Joan Rivers.
Wow--I'd forgotten just how powerful this episode was. In the mid '60s I was a "trekkie" and saw most TOS episodes; I've since become a Whovian, but still enjoy Star Trek (currently getting caught up on Discovery; also, I particularly like the Romulans). To my mind Ellison's ending wasn't true to Kirk's persona, and therefore had to be changed. The story as a whole is as heartbreaking as Doctor Who's Doomsday, where Rose and the tenth Doctor are forever separated; many companions have fallen in love with the Doctor since 11/23/1963, but in this case the tenth Doctor fell in love with Rose (some of us could see Nine falling in love with her; others try to deny that Ten was in love. Such is life (and human nature)). Thank you for an excellent presentation, and for some fond but heartbreaking memories! Live long and prosper.
Interestingly at 6:00 Harlen talks about a love so great you would sacrifice everything. In a way, the episode with the Actavichron that sends Spock and McCoy to the ice age has a character who would sacrifice everyone else to not be alone in the distant past. That character was played by Mariette Hartley in All Our Yesterdays.
At the conclusion, they end up accidentally travelling back in time three days, due to the last minute blending of matter and anti-matter to save them from a deadly orbit into a dying planet. It leads to Spock saying that they have three days to live again, and Kirk wryly answers, "Not those last three days!"
Of course Kirk would NOT try to save her in the end. Ellison didn't understand Kirk's character. I, as an 11 year old girl at the time in 1967 after watching StarTrek since the previous September, understood Kirk better than Ellison.
McCoy: "I could have saved her." I would think that just as likely they both would have been killed by the oncoming car. But in the story that's how McCoy saved her An extremely quick thinking Kirk prevented that. This was possibly the most emotional moment in all of Star Trek.
Welll...maybe not that...and that there ....and over here we have THAT...[ oh mah gawwwd....]....and of course she said that and that...and he rebutted such....well said...sez I....heheheheehehe.....just sayin'....that maybe some changes are of what is that of what was.....
How the writer can go through this entire video crediting everything and everyone for the success of "...CIty...", short of immaculate conception, the Industrial Revolution and Ghandi, without mentioning the performances given and chemistry created by William Shatner and Joan Collins is beyond me. THEY, along with everything else painstakingly detailed here, are key reasons why this episode is a timeless standout. Without actors, a script remains just that.
What Star Trek captured with basically zero budget in 1966 for 3 seasons with everyone and everthing against them is absolutely remarkable and unforgetable. It is as watchable today as it ever was. So far ahead of its time, most people could not even get it especially the network dummies with their heads up their you know what's.
Kirk, holding back McCoy, was the right choice for all the right reasons. Kirk's integrity remained intact. His devotion to the Federation and his ship were all wrapped up in that one, tragic moment. And nothing is more important than his ship.
My favorite Star Trek episode is the one with Gary Lockwood. The Enterprise goes to the edge of the galaxy, and encounters a mysterious force. People with ESP have there powers enhanced. Gary Lockwood tries to take over the ship. Captain Kirk has some difficult decisions to make. This episode addresses the frailty of the human condition and the affect power has on people. It’s a must watch Star Trek Episode.
What’s your favorite Star Trek episode and/or movie?
Matt Draper - TNGs original Borg cliffhanger.
For me it has to be “In the pale moonlight” from DS9. I just love me some grey morale and dark monologue xD
Great choices!
That's a classic!
Great pick! DS9 was great at presenting grey morality in Star Trek.
Out of respect for Ellison, I think the shot of Kirk holding back McCoy is symbolically brilliant. Seeing the Kirk/Spock/McCoy dynamic as self/mind/heart respectively, Kirk is essentially holding back his heart from saving Keeler, at the behest of the voice of reason telling him what must be done. Kirk looking away and never looking back is a brilliant choice by Shatner and the filmmakers.
Yeah, I don't think Harlan got Roddenberry's concept of the triad representing the three parts of a person: mind, heart, and soul.
@Mr Sack
Yeah Roddenberry was absolutely right to make it Kirk’s decision. Having Spock, the epitome of dispassionate reason, intervene to stop Kirk would not only have been trite it would have completely taken away the powerful tragedy of Kirk’s decision which was so wonderfully realised in the ending of this great story and which has given it such enduring appeal.
spock reminded kirk that when miss keeler stumbled on the steps at the apartment" had you not stopped her from falling, she may have died right there .kirk reminded spock that " it isn't time yet, mccoy has not come along yet". this is also the scene where we have the case of the missing shoe that miss keeler was wearing before she stumbled on the steps ,and then when she walked up the steps her right foot was missing the shoe. I do not know if there was any significance to this or was it a "BLOOPER" that was not corrected ????
🏆✨
this was clearly the more impactful ending.
had spock held kirk back, then it would have potentially poisoned their friendship while making kirk look weak.
kirk holding mccoy back made it more tragic, but also kirk more of the captain he came to be.
The reaction of Kirk when she dies is just heartbreaking. Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley's performances are all excellent.
Agreed , All stellar performances , especially Edith's , when she totally "Buys" Spock's gentile sarcasm to her "What on earth" question ...Her expression was so good , she didn't have to utter a single word to end the scene...Quentin could really expand on this episode in a movie...
@Charles Ross It's called actors arrogance for a reason..........................they forget for the bigger money that they have recieved since said episode.............
@Charles Ross
He didn't want to do ST: TWOK. Felt that it wasn't that prominent of a role and he didn't get enough screen time. Until a family member pointed out that even when he's not on screen they're constantly discussing Khan - so he agreed to do it.
I'll never forget the first time I saw that moment 😢
@@stevebrescia3764 But the thing is, they could have just brough Her with them into the 23rd Century, so it was not necessary for Her to die in the first place.
That last bit where McCoy says, "I could have saved her, do you know what you just did?", and Spock replies, "He knows, Doctor, he knows." Right there is the story. Kirk allows Edith, a woman he's in love with, to die knowing that it preserves not only his future, but the future Edith dreamed would happen.
Exactly , and the repeating of "He Knows"...gives us a rare glimpse of Spock's human side , with a slight show of empathy for his Captain / Friend
So you're saying, if she knew that her death was the cost of that future, she would have gladly chosen that. Perhaps at some point that would have given Kirk solace, though it still would not make up for the loss.
@@dennisobrien19 If Edith lived, Kirk would probably have never been born. Her activism kept America from entering the second world war. Thus, the entire history of Earth changed and there would never be a Federation with starships.
@@stevebrescia3764 Vulcans have empathy
@@dennisobrien19
No, Dennis, he definitely never implied that.
This was a gut-puncher back in 1967. Never had seen anything like this before. The only show that came close to this were some of the twist endings of the Twilight Zone.
Rod Serling was a class of his own, exactly like Gene Roddenberry!
The writing was absolutely brilliant on both shows.
Best single hour of television ever
At the end, when all history was restored, Kirk was deeply shaken by his experience, an experience real to him. In the TNG episode, The Inner Light, Picard also had a deeply personal experience, and when he was returned to the here and now, he could not quickly shake his "real to him" experience in that, now long dead, world. To drive it home, the flute he learned to play in that other life, was found aboard the probe the Enterprise encountered, and Picard new how to play the song he invented. One of my favorite TNG episodes. Both City and Inner Light were haunting episodes!
Together with In the Pale Moonlight, the best episodes of the franchise. All three have this special element. Kirk can't shake the impact of not being allowed to save Edith, Picard can't forget the life he lived even though it was not technically real, and Sisko has to come to grabs with having been part of a political assassination that goes against everything he believes in. And both Sisko and Kirk in the end have to accept it and live with it to move on.
And for years I thought I was the only one who highly valued The Inner Light from TNG…! Time and time again in these posts I read about that TNG episode being among fans most favourite…
@@SolaChristus It's the highest rated Star Trek episode on IMDb last time I checked.
@TrueFact I'm strangely gratified to hear that.
It's still amazing how they begin with a shipboard accident, then evolves into an incident on a ruined planet, then they travel back in time and THERE have the real story involving multiple locations, and then travel back - all in one hour. Just amazing efficiency.
props
A masterpiece episode.
Maybe the best of any science fiction show ever.
God l love Star Trek. Even the cheesier episodes. And this was a great episode!
Brain and brain what is brain? - Spock's Brain
This is the Number One best concept, best written, best acted, best cast (Joan collins), best directed, best shot, and best edited of the entire Star Trek franchise
To your point, it's been over a year since you made this comment and no
one has disagreed with you.
I'm not necessarily agreeing with you but this episode is definitely in my top five. Other contenders for the best episode include `Plato's Stepchildren` which had the first interracial kiss on television and was every bit as well directed, edited, etc.
Not sure I agree but I can't bring myself to disagree.
It is most definitely one of the very best. Whenever I introduce youngsters to Star Trek it is always one of the ten or so I show. I rate it among the top 3. It is certainly great in all the ways you mention. Flawless. I still think the best Star Trek are the choice episodes of the original series, like this one. Ethical dilemmas just as with the best later stuff like Star Wars and Anakin and Dr Who and his flawed nature.
Ellison was so damn wrong. The truly heroic thing for Kirk was to do the hardest thing possible - let someone you love die for the greater good. Had it ended in the way Ellison had wanted, it would have not been some great sacrifice for Kirk. It would show Kirk to be selfish. The pain in Shatner's face while holding onto McCoy illustrates what a tragic sacrifice he is making. The reason this episode won the awards that it did, and is considered among the best of the series is because of that tragic ending.
Yeah, I just saw a clip from "The Deadly Years" where Kirk blames Spock for his loss of command due to his own senility. Very painful for Spock.
But had Kirk not been able to act for the greater good, then he wouldn't deserve the power and responsibility that comes with command. He'd be something like Captain Merik who washed out of Starfleet due to his failure on the psychosimulator test and betrayed his crew in "Bread and Circuses." Or Captain Ron Tracey that interferes with a primitive society, killing thousands in the hopes of a serum of immortality in "The Omega Glory."
This is, without a doubt, the best episode of the Original Star Trek Series.
I want you to know I watched this in the hospital on my phone three days after having a massive heart attack. This was my favorite episode, and I never knew the back story. Thanks man.
Thank you for letting me know! I wish you a full and speedy recovery!
Wishing u well and health bro..
Peace and Long Life
@@eyecomeinpeace2707 Thank you! Im doing great now!
Live long and prosper
With The Andy Griffith Show being in perpetual reruns, Mayberry is truly the city on the edge of forever.
"let's get the hell out of here" best line ever in tos
The chemistry between Shatner and Collins is so obvious. Saw an interview of them together many years later and it was still there.
I think the acting that bones did in this is highly underrated, this episode really shows McCoy to be one of the most versatile actors. His temporary insanity is absolutely haunting better than any stupid CGI effect they use today and he did it without a lot of make up and it is absolutely terrifying, his acting should have received a Pulitzer for this episode alone, it’s too bad we didn’t see more character development with Mccoy, and the same can be said about U’hura. It would’ve been nice to have seen her take some leader ship.
I hate the word "underrated;" it's so overused on TH-cam, and is often wrong. I think people think his acting is correct. Also Pulitzer Prize is for journalism, not TV shows; that's called an Emmy.
@@sandal_thong8631 This comment is highly underrated and deserves a Pulitzer 😂
I always love the last line of the show when Kirk just heartbroken and wrecked looks ahead with that thousand yard stare of a haunted man whose kickstarting the dark trek that will be and is post tramatic stress and becoming a worn torn starfleet warrior of the spaceways.
KIRK: Lets get the hell out of here.
"thousand yard stare". You're dating yourself. I haven't heard line that for years.
@@philipmann5317 It's still current in the trade.
@@arcadiaberger9204 I first read it years ago, when I was a kid. I guess because of the image it evokes it's still used.
@@philipmann5317 Why change it? It's perfect.
The way the credits stay on the planet instead of ending in space like others is haunting as well, like a part of kirk was left behind
I never thought of the ending that way before.
Thank you for that observation!
Brilliant observation thank you
Dark Shadows did that too. The credits always rolled over the final scene's location, but empty of people. It definitely leaves a melancholy feeling.
Great analysis; I’ve watched The City on the Edge of Forever well over a 100 times; Joan Collins, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Deforest Kelley is a cast worthy of a motion picture, let alone a TV epidsode.
TOS is still the best Star Trek. It's because of the moral, ethical questions and dilemmas, that make TOS the best.
So using your logic Enterprise is the second best star trek series?
I still love the original the most too. But then it's the one l grew up with as a kid.
I mean....those sorts of things were common to a lot of classic star trek adaptations including next generation and ds9.
I read where Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) spoke with Roddenberry once (I also read that they had an affair at some point) and said, "I see what you're doing with this series, Gene, you're writing morality plays..." and supposedly Gene goes, "Shhhhhh! Don't say that out loud..." Brilliant.
@@sevensixfour5838
You really need to say what's on your mind, buddy, instead of couching it in riddles.
This was a wonderful analysis. This episode is reason enough for why Star Trek is so brilliant and why the TOS episodes will always be timeless.
"Do you know what you just did?" "He knows Doctor. He knows". One of the most powerful interchanges in all of Star Trek and there as a result of the tensions in the creation of this episode
Had this been a "one off" TV movie or film, Ellison's ending would have been the right call. But we the viewers and Roddenberry were invested in Captain Kirk's ability to courageously sacrifice for the good of all. Therefore they made the right call for the series and that collaboration is what makes this one of the greatest Star Trek episodes in the series.
This was filmed on the same set as Andy Griffith, you can see when Kirk is walking with her down the street, they pass Floyds Barber shop and the fix it shop by the courthouse
And that is what a tv studio is for........the rental of different tv or movie productions that film on the same lot within filming schedules.....nowadays they film up in Toronto or Vancouver Canada...which is why this gives a weird look to productions that look out of place from these 1950s-1995 tv or movies that filmed and had that HOMEY style sense of space on one's tv screen.......................even the backlot of disney looked like americana usa, did it not??
@@toonrog9957 I am sure it did. Over taxation and over regulation sent studios out of the USA to save money is at least a few of the reasons.
@@mac11380 I'm glad a few states and cities have become more film friendly bringing productions back to the USA. Georgia, New Orleans, and Detroit among them.
@@toonrog9957 In '76 I was an extra in the remake of King Kong and the sequence I was in (Kong captured and escaping from Shea Stadium) was filmed at this Desilu 40 acre backlot in Culver City.
That is one cool bit of trivia. Thanks for pointing it out.
Excellent celebration of the greatest episode of Star Trek original series. Capped with the acknowledgement of Kirk’s crushing feeling of loss as his crew look puzzled at his lack of joy that the timeline was restored and the Enterprise is up there again. “Let’s get the hell out of here.” RIP Ellison. With respect the rewriting of the ending so that Kirk stops McCoy from saving Edith Keeler rather than Spock stopping Kirk, the rewrite was the right thing to do. Kirk is bigger than life, or the death of one he loves. It is Kirk’s special gift to all of us!
Ellison was wrong. It would have been a cheat for Kirk to try to save her and be prevented by Spock. For this to work, Kirk had to pay up. Ellison's ending would have let Kirk off the hook, destroying the full impact of the story.
@@4CardsMan Cool. Kirk is not infallible and we've seen episodes where he has shown some weaknesses. But bottom line, he is the greatest commander ever in the Federation and and tapping his great mental strength and stopping McCoy was a demonstration of why he is who he is! :)
Not just the best episode of Star Trek, best thing on Television for years before and after. Every non fan that I have convinced to watch this episode likes it and has thanked me for calling it to their attention.
Didnt McCoy have a phaser which the homeless guy dropped when he zapped himself...leaving a phaser back in the 1930's...?????
I amazed how they compacted so much story into a 1 hour episode. Kudos to the editor.
props
I know what you mean. I saw this first run in 7th grade and even then knew that there was something special about it....and not seeing it again for several years if someone had asked me how long Spock and Kirk waited in the past I would have said several months, when in actuality in was only a few days.....a lot was packed into those few days....
I'm proud to say, and therefore exercising bragging rights, that D.C.Fontana (Dorthy Fontana) a famous Star Trek scriptwriter is an alma mater of my high school. She was graduated from Passaic Valley High School in Little Falls N.J. in the late 1950s way before my time. Nobody knew about her when I graduated because Star Trek was still very young. She wrote the script for one of my favorite first season episodes, "Tomorrow is Yesterday".
daffidavit I LOVE "Tomorrow is Yesterday" . It was basically a re-telling of the 1948 Charles Mantell Air Force plane crash, whilst pursuing a giant UFO over Godman Field in Kentucky by Capt. Charles Mantell. Famous case, well-done episode.
High regards for D. C. Fontana =b d=
@@nickarons79 Howdy neighbor.
daffidavit Hey what’s up Daff?
She also ghost-wrote the City treatment credited to Roddenberry.
This episode is what made me fall in love forever with Star Trek OS when I was 8.
This makes me want to watch Star Trek
GoodOle JMar it’s a good series
I have enjoyed this High-Watermark episode of American TV for 52-years! Since the first grade, 1967. Lots of great Sci-Fi on TV in 1967.
It's worth it, trust me. I'm currently finishing season 2 of TOS.
GoodOle JMar. Good thing is that STAR TREK is on every night of the week in 2019!
Get all of them on Netflix!
It's funny when I first watched "The City" I saw it a different way. I thought OMG she only crosses the street to get to Kirk, the man she loves. So without Kirk and company going back in time, she wouldn't have been hit by the truck. In a way Kirk was responsible for his future.
Something I'm sure his character would ponder for years to come.
Wibbly wobbly timey wimey
OH what a web we weave - when Time Travel we try to perceive!
Spock noted in the Tricorder readings taken BEFORE McCoy jumped back in time that Edith Keeler died in "some sort of traffic accident" . IF it was NOT to get to Jim Kirk, then it was for another reason. Either way, Fate would have her die.
The OTHER way to look at it is a Time Travel PARADOX, where in order for Time to play out ' as it should', McCoy, Kirk and Spock MUST travel back to New York in 1933 and make sure she dies - thus creating a Time Loop and their own Future...
I feel Captain Janeway's headache coming on!
@@randynutt5660 "I hate temporal mechanics"
You really don’t know that because maybe she would have been walking on the street at the same time anyways without him
This is a well made commentary on TOS and "City". Correct analysis of TOS, too. It's most about dilemmas, ethics, morals. Well done.
Yes. I like this episode a lot. Involves time travel dilemma like never before. Shocking and heartbreaking outcomes. One time you hear Captain Kirk say, "Let's get the hell out of here!" at least in the series. Powerful message too. My family always liked this series of Star Trek. My Dad liked the old classic cars too. What happen to Dr. McCoy was horrible. Drove him mad. Good video. Thanks!
I've only seen this episode once but it has always stuck with me. Incredibly haunting. Definitly one of the best star trek episodes.
If you thought the episode was awesome, read the original script sometime before all the cooks started stirring in it.
This was the best episode of Star Trek.
Its so interesting to watch this episode and know that, when it was written, the 30s were only 30 years ago. so much had happened since that time that its hard to imagine the scope of the effects of those events on people living in the sixties.
They still had some things they didn't know. Like the Nazis were not researching the atom bomb, because they thought it would take too long, but were researching a nuclear reactor. Likewise the idea that they had turned a collapsed society around due to brutal efficiency as stated in "Patterns of Force." I'm told they weren't efficient but rather corrupt.
The best writing is allegory. Roddenberry conceived of this idea and put it into a sci-fi setting. Some of these writers that contributed were really good. Ellison was one of them. Fontana was great. RIP Fontana.
Hands down “The city on the edge of forever.”
Dream Catcher stone knives and bearskins
Which, curiously, is more or less the complete opposite of "thumbs down".
Harlan was an amazing writer! RIP.
Also, if you look at the exact second, that Edith dies, they do this camera zoom, that’s twice on his face and twice on her face, which really quite simply drives home that she was looking at him. The second she died. That’s a scary scene. It still brings me to tears every time I watch it.
She figures out something when she sees them meet. I can't find clips of her and Dr. McCoy, so have to go on memory that he reveals he's a medical officer on board the USS Enterprise. Of course everything that happened is erased almost as if they had never gone, which is why they return in their uniforms.
@@sandal_thong8631yes, he does tell her he’s the chief medical officer on the USS Enterprise, to which she says, “I don’t mean to disbelieve you, but that’s hardly a navy uniform.” “That’s quite alright, he responds, I don’t believe in you either.”
In an interview, Quentin Tarantino said he would like to take a classic episode of TOS and bring it to his full pontial on the big screen, with a large budget and modern special effects. I sure hope there would be an adaptation of "City", more closely resembling the grandeur Ellison had in mind, but was not feasible on a 60s TV budget.
But that's the problem with people who try to recreate TOS. They think that if they just use better special effects somehow it would be "better". The reboot movies prove that's wrong. The original Wrath of Khan that came out in the 80's was WAY better than the newer version "Into Darkness" despite Cumberbatch's wonderful work in it. Even when you ask people about what happened in "Into Darkness" they struggle to remember the story, but never with the old version of Wrath of Khan. People remember that one and can retell it to you. Why? Because the reboot places the special effects above all else and the effects or machinery is NOT what made TOS so amazing. It's not what made it memorable. It was the CHARACTERS and how they expressed themselves through the storyline of a future world that made the show what it was. Anyone who says they'll bring TOS to it's "full potential" with special effects is guaranteed to make it worse than it was before because they have zero understanding of where it's true potential lies.
I completly agree with you. But Tarantino was always more focused on characters and character interaction than special effects. By "grandeur" I meant, a 120 minute cinematic version of this story could explore all it's aspects and broad implications, for the characters and history as a whole. The exact opposite from the epileptic, theme park ride-like Abrahms movies.
Give Tarantino or Whedon a chance, and dump that hack Abrams.
If Tarantino just redid an episode as a two hour film- It would be City, and it would be the *original* script, not the sanitized NBC melodrama that aired. The Ellison script had everything Tarantino has in his most successful movies. It is a script like Pulp Fiction of multiple characters trying to avoid their destiny.
Star Trek fans would DESPISE IT. It would however be a work of art.
cloudtoground. This is strange. Very strange to middle year Star Trek fans. The first year 1966/67 could have taken this. Bonanza was real gritty at first, as was Gunsmoke, Have Gun and Big Valley. The later Utopia Trek fantasy government socialist universe cemented by TNG would tear their eyes out.
Only a director as shock oriented would try to do this script. Roddenberry passed and had it forcibly rewritten by his script girl. It ended gritty, but the broadcast show was mostly light hearted (like her Time Travel episode), until the punch in the gut.
The script (unaltered) won the writers guild award in 67/68. The episode won the Hugo. No later Star Trek individual script would. Original viewers would have watched it and said wow. At least I would have.
Debately the best written episode of the original star trek series of the 1960s. Excellent writing for any genre.
It would be wrong to put Keeler’s death on Spock’s hands. The final decision rests with the Captain. He has to bear the responsibility in the end. All due respect to Ellison.
props
I tend to agree with this, after much consideration. Ellison’s perspective was that in the aired version Kirk does the expected, conventional thing you would expect any jut-jawed hero to do. All true. But in giving-over the decision to Spock, the original draft robs Kirk of agency. In the end, the captain of the Enterprise is the central character of “City,” not his first officer.
@@michaelhall2709 Kirk would have still had full agency in his decision to not let Keeler die. What could be more romantic than him literally offering her the universe for love?
Hands down, the best episode ever!
City on the edge of forever is my favorite with The Menagerie coming in a close second.
TRIBBBBBLES!
same here.
@@gertraba4484
Tribbles is lame. But it's got the greatest bar fight in cinematic history, as well as the dialog leading up to it and the aftermath.
A excellent analysis of not only the award winning episode but of the philosophy that made the series truly loved by those drawn to reason and rational worldwide.
My favorite episode since the 1960's. Brilliant acting by Mr. Shatner.
Thank you for unpacking this wonderful episode!
STTOS cannot be beat.
The finest piece of science fiction to ever be made for the small screen. Tho several have come close City still takes the prize IMHO.
My favorite episode ending in ANY iteration of _Star Trek..._
*Kirk:* (Broken, but Stoic, quietly tells his crew) _"Let's get the Hell out of here..._
Best episode of TOS ever. Still holds a tight grip over 55 years on. And Kirk's last line *"Let's get the hell out of here"* has to be one of the most iconic.
*RIP* to the poor bum who vaporised himself with Bones' phaser while Bones is unconcious.
I think since everything was restored as to "how it was" he was still alive and never killed.
@@dwlopez57 Good point.
@@56postofficeI think this was Dorothy Fontana's attempt to keep some of the character of "Trooper," from Ellison's original script, in the story. i.e. a broken man whose death meant nothing to the timeline but, in the original, everything to Kirk. (In Ellison's original script, Trooper saves Kirk's life by rolling the little wooden cart his legless body sits on between Kirk and the phaser's blast.
(Troop was a homeless survivor of Verdun, who sold pencils and apples for a meager living. )
I personally can't imagine Ellison's ending working nearly as well as what actually was filmed. If Spock had been the one to allow Kirk's true love to die like that, it would have permanently poisoned his relationship with Kirk. Even a best friend can't do that and expect there to be no consequence.
I hate to have to contradict Mr. Ellison, but Roddenberry was correct. Kirk *would not* just say F*ck it. Forget the ship, the timeline and everything else, I've got to save her. He would want to, but wouldn't be able to actually bring himself to do it. He was a starship captain. He faced decisions and responsibilities that would break the majority of people. Dozens of decisions a day. Hundreds or thousands of lives depending on every one of those decisions being right. No, such a person has a very developed since of responsibility that would not allow him/her to act in the manner in which Mr. Ellison cast him.
Agree 100%! Thanks Kelly Rayburn.
@@cherylresnick-cortes8022 Actually, I want to agree with Mr. Ellison as loving and being loved is the sole reason for out existence, our one great purpose. But in this case, the cost was just too high. And for Kirk to act in a manner such as Mr. Ellison dictates here would show that he did not deserve to sit in the Center Seat of that bridge, that Starfleet had made a mistake in elevating him to the rank of captain and assigning him command of a front line capital asset.
Balance of Terror was a great one as well as the Doomsday Machine
My favorite episode and wonderful in so many respects. One little line uttered by Scott...illustrates the paradox of time travel. Scott: " What happened Sir, you only left a moment ago? " We can assume that K and S...spent about a week or two in 1930 New York.
It's just my humble opinion, but I feel like they've completely ruined Trek with the latest incarnations of the series. Most of it is simply fan service and nostalgic pretenses for the sake of views and sales, but they've all but abandoned the true beauty and principles put forth by the older series. They've exchanged high concept sci-fi for crude action, and thought-provoking plot and vision for mind-numbing spectacle and cheap thrills. It's a troubling reflection of our society's supply and demand for quick fixes growing ever more insatiable. As our technology progresses in the real world, our collective minds as a society seem to devolve, and where old Trek gave us hope for the future these latest offerings show a dystopian cynicism that is so stale it's almost expected.
If Discovery was full of fan service it would be popular. It certainly does NOT have fan service.
Well, SOMEbody got a thesaurus for his birthday!
Star Trek: Enterprise was the only worthy prequel.
Woke ( totalitaian ) america 2022 vs hope ( utopian ) america 1968
Can we have a discussion on Star Trek that DOESNT turn into an anti NuTrek polemic?
Star trek was a turning point in my life. It introduced logic and morality that was not religion based. Even now I still live by the belief that the good of the many outweigh the good of the few.
We don't think like that unfortunately. Whether it's women in combat roles or allowing unchecked illegal immigration...we're doomed by our "good intentions".
I liked the comic versions of representation of City, Guardians of the Forever and their explanation of changes in time depending on action made and how it deepens relationship between Kirk and Edith, but the TV series ending strikes a right note to it as you explained in video. This episode gave Kirk first time true no win scenario.
A really nice video essay on what may still be the best episode in any Star Trek series or movie. Well done, sir.
I was a kid when I first saw this episode on a black and white TV. The story still came through clearly and sadly.
I attended an early ST convention back in the late ‘70s in Cleveland and when Roddenberry asked for questions I asked him what episode was his favorite. He said TCOTEOT.
While I understand Elison's vision I completely disagree with his view on the final product. Drama wise Kirk reluctantly stopping McCoy Works. Had Spock stopped Kirk it would change the nature of their relationship on a fundamental level. It would also cause me to lose ALL respect for this true interpretation of Kirk. From TOS to his final TMP film had become one of the most tragic and heroic characters in Star Trek.
Much like JJ Abrams' version, I really despise Ellison's take.
Agreed. This is also why Nimoy and Kelly did not embrace the idea of their characters betrayal in the early draft for Star Trek V. Kirk as Captain making that monumental decision on his own to allow Edith to die works best.
@@BronzeAgeBryon Yeah that's the only real point of contention I have with Shatner's original vision for ST5. I understood he wanted to have the crew be fractured but come back together in the end, however that's a tale that should occur during the original series, not this point in time after everything they've gone through together.
Well said.
The Absolutely Greatest Science Fiction Episode In History Not Just The Greatest Star Trek Episode 🙏🙌❤️💯
This is my favorite episode, Doomsday Machine is a close 2nd.
My only quibble with this classic episode is that she exerts enough influence to prevent the US from entering the war but that would have been impossible after Japan bombed Pearl Harbour. No one could have stopped the US from declaring war on Japan at that point. Being an ally of Japan, Germany then declared war on the US. Still, great episode.
Well Japan only attacked Pearl Harbor due to pursuing a naval dominance of the South Pacific. Hitler's motive and reason for declaring on the USA was to get Japan to declare against the USSR. So either Japan does that because the pacifist USA is so little threat they can leave the Pacific to later thus causes USSR collapse in two front war enabling Hitler to take most of the developed world OR Japan is so successful at Pearl that it prevents US intervention in Europe. Thus also causing the USSR to fail. It's Hitler capturing the USSR's resources that would end the war in his favor.
@Doktor Rotwang Good counterpoint.
One of my favorites, "A Piece of the Action", sorta outlandish, but fun.
i don’t even watch Star Trek but you sir, can make me interested in anything.
This was one of my two favorite TOS episodes. The other is the doomsday machine.
This is the exact episode I remembered as a sci-fi fan when mom decided she liked the Mr. Spock character who was logical beyond belief in this Star Trek TOS series.
City On The Edge Of Forever was written by Harlan Ellison. I got to meet him when I was a kid. He was doing a photo shoot in a friend's living room. The photograph of him with the pipe leaning on the sculpture. I remember watching the shoot and thinking to myself "Really?"
As a kid, were you taller than Harlan at that point? : -)
This is considered the GREATEST Star Trek episode by many people,Matt.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate that this was episode Number TWENTY-EIGHT in its FIRST season... and not even the last one in the string. Back then they knew what a "season" was supposed to be.
The City on the Edge of Forever, Errand Of mercy were 2 of my favorites of the original series.
“Arena” was my favourite.
Only original music I learned from somebody else's TH-cam video connected to this episode was the arrangement of and variations of Goodnight Sweetheart, even the "Vintage" version blaring forth from the radio repair shop was arranged by Fred Steiner.
Harlan Ellison is popping up everywhere on my TH-cam reccomends lately. Cool.
I'd been hoping to cover this one for awhile, but his passing spurred me on to do it. Might be similar for other recent videos?
Gene Roddenberry, so ahead of his time.
and his band of writers had the ability to touch the hearts and souls of the viewers
Gene didn’t do it all by himself - it took an army to get it done . It was a team effort
5:05 Strange picture. Everyone on the right side is gone. Everyone on the left is still with us.
.Wrong
SpockBoy You mean 5:05.
Yes
And excellent review of "City." Puts the contentious ST episode in plain context for all to follow. Thank you for this.
Fun fact: the City on the edge of forever was the set of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith show. Kirk and Edith walk hand in hand past the courthouse, Opie’s stairs and Floyd’s Barbershop (with the name still on the window.)
His was my favorite episode. Very powerful.
Thank you Gene for rewriting the story into something much better.
He didn't write it at all. It was ghost-written by D.C. Fontana and he just stuck his name on it.
@@fmlazarYes, absolutely true, and Roddenberry lied about Ellison's real professionalism, which was the real reason for Ellison's enmity throughout the years.
In a fan fiction I wrote in the 80s, Edith Keeler, was informed, by a friendly time traveler, who predates the Q. What both Futures would be like. In the end. She willingly walks in front of the truck. Despite the assertions of some of my fellow fans, the truck was not driven by Joan Rivers.
Well that sounds like an interesting piece of fan fiction that out an interesting new twist on the story.
Wow--I'd forgotten just how powerful this episode was. In the mid '60s I was a "trekkie" and saw most TOS episodes; I've since become a Whovian, but still enjoy Star Trek (currently getting caught up on Discovery; also, I particularly like the Romulans). To my mind Ellison's ending wasn't true to Kirk's persona, and therefore had to be changed. The story as a whole is as heartbreaking as Doctor Who's Doomsday, where Rose and the tenth Doctor are forever separated; many companions have fallen in love with the Doctor since 11/23/1963, but in this case the tenth Doctor fell in love with Rose (some of us could see Nine falling in love with her; others try to deny that Ten was in love. Such is life (and human nature)). Thank you for an excellent presentation, and for some fond but heartbreaking memories! Live long and prosper.
Interestingly at 6:00 Harlen talks about a love so great you would sacrifice everything. In a way, the episode with the Actavichron that sends Spock and McCoy to the ice age has a character who would sacrifice everyone else to not be alone in the distant past. That character was played by Mariette Hartley in All Our Yesterdays.
Ty for this video.
Poignantly accurate.
Arguably THE best episode in the entire Star Trek franchise.
The Naked Time doesn't involve time travel. It's an episode revolving around a disease that makes the crew act like they're drunk
At the conclusion, they end up accidentally travelling back in time three days, due to the last minute blending of matter and anti-matter to save them from a deadly orbit into a dying planet. It leads to Spock saying that they have three days to live again, and Kirk wryly answers, "Not those last three days!"
@@ChrisMaxfieldActs I don't remember that part. I'm too inthralled by Sulu eyes some boys while shirtless, trying to poke them with his 'sword'
Of course Kirk would NOT try to save her in the end. Ellison didn't understand Kirk's character. I, as an 11 year old girl at the time in 1967 after watching StarTrek since the previous September, understood Kirk better than Ellison.
My favourite episode by far!
McCoy: "I could have saved her."
I would think that just as likely they both would have been killed by the oncoming car. But in the story that's how McCoy saved her
An extremely quick thinking Kirk prevented that.
This was possibly the most emotional moment in all of Star Trek.
I think we got the best version
Man I remember I was in school when watched this episode. I cried a lot.
Everything is as it was.
Welll...maybe not that...and that there ....and over here we have THAT...[ oh mah gawwwd....]....and of course she said that and that...and he rebutted such....well said...sez I....heheheheehehe.....just sayin'....that maybe some changes are of what is that of what was.....
How the writer can go through this entire video crediting everything and everyone for the success of "...CIty...", short of immaculate conception, the Industrial Revolution and Ghandi, without mentioning the performances given and chemistry created by William Shatner and Joan Collins is beyond me. THEY, along with everything else painstakingly detailed here, are key reasons why this episode is a timeless standout. Without actors, a script remains just that.
What Star Trek captured with basically zero budget in 1966 for 3 seasons with everyone and everthing against them is absolutely remarkable and unforgetable. It is as watchable today as it ever was. So far ahead of its time, most people could not even get it especially the network dummies with their heads up their you know what's.
Zero budget you say..Dr Who says, hold my beer..😂
Kirk, holding back McCoy, was the right choice for all the right reasons.
Kirk's integrity remained intact. His devotion to the Federation and his ship were all wrapped up in that one, tragic moment. And nothing is more important than his ship.
My favorite Star Trek episode is the one with Gary Lockwood. The Enterprise goes to the edge of the galaxy, and encounters a mysterious force. People with ESP have there powers enhanced. Gary Lockwood tries to take over the ship. Captain Kirk has some difficult decisions to make. This episode addresses the frailty of the human condition and the affect power has on people. It’s a must watch Star Trek Episode.
Is this the one where he sings the old song ' I'll take you home Kathleen' ?
I love how they use old Mayberry sets on this episode and Miri.
This is my favorite episode
Sorry Harlan Ellison, I prefer the aired version of the story.
Did you read Ellisons book.