The City on the Edge of Forever 

When a temporarily insane Dr. McCoy accidentally changes history and destroys his time, Kirk and Spock follow him to prevent the disaster, but the price to do so is high.

Director:

Joseph Pevney

Writers:

Harlan Ellison, Gene Roddenberry (created by)

Stars:

William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Joan Collins

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
William Shatner	...	Capt. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
Joan Collins	...	Edith Keeler
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
James Doohan	...	Scott
George Takei	...	Sulu
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
John Harmon	...	Rodent
Hal Baylor	...	Policeman
David L. Ross	...	Galloway
John Winston	...	Transporter Chief
Bart La Rue	...	Guardian (voice) (as Bartell La Rue)

Storyline

When an accident causes Dr. McCoy to go temporarily insane, he escapes to a strange planet. There, the search party discovers a device left by a superior, vanished civilization, a time portal that plays the history of Earth for them - but then Bones jumps through it into the past, causing a change in history important enough to make the Enterprise vanish. Kirk and Spock, who fortunately made a tricorder recording, must attempt to go through to just before McCoy's arrival and stop him from changing history in the United States during the Great Depression, where they have no advanced technology available.

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Plot Keywords:

alternate history | james t. kirk character | spock character | leonard mccoy character | montgomery scott character | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 April 1967 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Desilu Productions, Norway Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color Black and White (flashbacks)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

No stardate is logged in the episode. Bjo Trimble assigned a stardate of 3134 based on Harlan Ellison's original teleplay, which covered stardates 3134.6-8.

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Goofs

Kirk and Spock run down a 21st Street in Manhattan that curves; the real West 21st and East 21st Streets do not.

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Quotes

Dr. McCoy: [to Edith] You know, I've convinced myself that this is all in a cordrazine hallucination. But I've decided you're not.

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Crazy Credits

Script Supervisor is written as "SCPIPT SUPERVISOR...GEORGE A. RUTTER" in the credits. This happened on at least two other episodes in season one.

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Alternate Versions

More recent prints omit the shot in which Rodent accidentally vaporizes himself with McCoy's phaser. Instead, the scene ends with him standing in the alley near the collapsed McCoy and looking bewildered.

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Connections

Referenced in Star Trek: Discovery: The Vulcan Hello (2017)

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Soundtracks

Goodnight, Sweetheart
Written by Ray Noble, Jimmy Campbell and Reginald Connelly (as Reg Connelly)
Heard playing from the radio repair shop (with an uncredited vocal performer) and later as part of Fred Steiner's instrumental score (also uncredited)
Due to copyright issues, this music was replaced on some releases in the 1980s and 1990s

User Reviews

The Perfect Confluence

"City on the Edge of Forever" is usually considered one of the best (if not the best) of the series. The praise is well-deserved.

During a meteor storm, McCoy accidentally injects himself with an overdose of cordrazine, which leads him to paranoid insanity. He beams himself down to the planet being orbited by the Enterprise, escapes through a time portal, resulting in the obliteration of the Enterprise's world. Kirk and Spock go back through the portal to try and intercept McCoy (who has interfered with the past), and land in the New York City of the 1930s. They are taken in by Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), a pacifistic social worker, and Kirk begins to fall in love.

As the summary indicates, this episode is the perfect confluence of superb science fiction writing (Harlan Ellison), well-honed directing (Joseph Pevney), and sensitive acting (Shatner and Nimoy in particular). The script is incredibly well-written by one of the best science fiction writers of all time, and uses modest humor (e.g., Spock's clueless insistence on securing platinum, Kirk's explanation of Spock's ears to a policeman, etc.) to keep the story from becoming overly maudlin. For those who believe that William Shatner could not act (i.e., those who had never seen him in his early TV days), his nuanced and sympathetic performance clearly shows how good of an actor he could be. Likewise, Joan Collins acquits herself quite well, and Nimoy is, as always, marvelous. Spock's final line in the 1930s world alone is worth the viewing.