On Day 2, the company traveled to Culver City and Desilu 40 Acres for the third time in the series (the fourth, counting sequences filmed there from the first pilot film). This time, the Jerusalem city built in 1927 for Cecil B. DeMille’s King of Kings was used as the Organian town square. The portion of the village just inside of the gate had been seen before on Star Trek, as an area of the castle on Rigel VII in “The Cage.”
Care was taken and money spent for something that is barely noticeable: Look hard and you will see the livestock in the background as Kirk and Spock first enter into the Organian village. They are painted.
On Day 3, Monday, the company returned to Desilu Stage 9 for additional filming in the dungeon and the hallway outside. Newland then moved onto the Council Chamber set for the first of numerous sequences, including the lengthy scene from Act 1 where Kirk makes his argument to the Organian Elders to accept the help of the Federation against the Klingons.
On Day 4, Tuesday, the balance of the scenes in the Council Chamber on Stage 9 were filmed, taking the entire day. These included the scene that introduced John Colicos as Klingon Military Governor Kor.
Colicos said of Newland, “He was highly-intellectual; a highly-educated man. John was always reading a book. He was very professional, wasn’t interested in any squabbles. If you didn’t know all your lines, he would say, ‘Well, when you’re ready, I’ll be ready,’ and he would just sit and read his book. I think John always felt that television was just a notch beneath him.” (33-1)
“There was no rehearsal time on Star Trek,” Newland said. “You just went in and did it. But with guys like Shatner and Nimoy and the rest of the cast, it was easy. Good actors do very good things to begin with, so it’s just a question of the director knowing how to put it all together.” (125)
On Day 5, Wednesday, the company moved to Stage 10 and Kor’s office in the citadel. The entire day was spent on this set.
On Day 6, the last of the scenes in Kor’s office were filmed -- the climax and surprise ending of the story, as the Organians end the fighting. The sequences outside Kor’s office (in the citadel corridor), were the final shots taken. Newland finished into overtime but otherwise on schedule and budget. Later that night, NBC aired “Court Martial,” the 21st broadcast episode. As it had done the previous week, Star Trek came in at No. 2 from 8:30 to 9 p.m., and then climbed to first place from 9 to 9:30 p.m. A.C. Nielsen awarded the victory to ABC and Bewitched (now at an earlier time period) for that first half-hour, with a 32.9 audience share. Star Trek followed with a 27.7 share, and then My Three Sons with 25.1. During Star Trek’s second half-hour, it brought NBC a 29.4 audience share, besting the CBS movie (at 20.2) and ABC’s new sitcom, Love on a Rooftop, starring Peter Duel, Judy Carne, and Rich Little, which trailed with 27.4% of the television audience.
John Newland later said he enjoyed his single directing assignment on Star Trek. He wanted to return but other commitments precluded his involvement.
Post-Production
Available for editing: February 3, 1967. Music score: tracked.
Bruce Schoengarth and Edit Team #2 did the cutting.
The Westheimer Company provided for the optical effects, including the Klingon weapons hitting the underside of the Enterprise, materialization effects, hand phaser animation, and the transformation of the Organians into the formless masses of light. Coon, in his script, described the effect this way:
AYELBORNE AND CLAYMARE. They smile ... and they suddenly begin to change. They begin to glow ... brighter and brighter ... until at first they are an incredibly brilliant man-shaped object, glowing with the light of the sun ... and then they lose the man shape, and simply begin to glow, brighter and brighter, as if there were two suns in the room.... Two pulsating, incredibly brilliant masses of light. (SUGGESTION: PHOTOGRAPH THE SUN, DOUBLE IT, AND SUPERIMPOSE IT OVER THE FADING FIGURES OF THE TWO MEN.) Now they begin to fade, disappear. There is nothing left of them at all.
Child’s play today. A tall order in 1967. Westheimer did a superb job in realizing Coon’s vision.
As for the Citadel -- that looming fortress on a mountain top used by the Klingons as a home base -- the script merely says:
The MATTE PAINTING should show something that looks rather like a ruined castle, or fortress, in the distance ... very old, decaying, but massive.
As it turned out, no matte painting was needed. What we see is a stock footage shot of Citadelle Laferriere in Haiti. The massive stone fortress was built in the early 1800s by the Haiti resistance fighters to safeguard the island and prevent the French from returning to reclaim their rule. The fortress stands to this day.
Even with the trip to Desilu 40 Acres, all the extras, livestock painted in strange colors, and all the Klingon uniforms and other costumes, “Errand of Mercy,” at $175,527, came in under the studio per-episode allowance by $9,473, lowering the deficit to $74,507. They would need every dime of the savings. “The City on the Edge of Forever” was just around the corner.
Release / Reaction
Premiere air date: 3/23/67.
RATINGS / Nielsen National report, Thursday, March 23, 1967:
Star Trek held second place for its entire hour. The CBS movie was the 1961 World War II era drama The Counterfeit Traitor, starring William Holden.
Robert Justman, the one at Star Trek given the chore of picking which episodes would repeat, passed this one by. It was surprising since this was the only first season episode to feature the Klingons and would be the catalyst for more episodes to come.
“I had an embarrassment of riches during that first season,” Justman said. “And I felt we had episodes more-deserving of a second network airing. And we did.” (94-1)
From the Mailbag
Received the week after NBC’s airing of “Errand of Mercy”:
Dear Sirs... My wife and I consider Star Trek one of the most original and imaginative programs on television. The characterizations are interesting and unusually very consistent from program to program. However, on watching “An Errand of Mercy,” [sic] we noticed the same foolish sequence that appeared on the program some time ago [about the Horta], namely, Mr. Spock’s prediction of the odds against escape, “7826.7 to one.” This is a most illogical thing for Spock to say, because such an accurate prediction requires an absolutely complete knowledge of the situation, with no room for deviation. This may seem like a small point, but it certainly annoys me, probably because I am a scientist.... I realize that the sequence is for laughs, but there is enough humor in the show without having to irritate what may be a large group of viewers. Tom S. (Stanford Research Institute).
Aftermath
“We never thought that they [the Klingons] were going to catch on the way they did,” Dorothy Fontana said. “But let’s face it, in production terms, Romulans and Vulcans were expensive to do because of the ears. You can hide some of it with headdresses and things like that, but you still had the eyebrows ... whereas the Klingons really just had facial hair and slightly darkened skin and that was pretty much it. You could go with that.” (64-2)
The makeup choices, as designed by Colicos and Phillips, returned for “Friday’s Child,” “The Trouble with Tribbles,” “A Private Little War,” “Elaan of Troyius,” “Day of the Dove,” and “The Savage Curtain.” It wasn’t until 1979, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, that the Klingons got a dramatic makeover. The explanation for the different look, given in a future episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation: like the Federation and Earth itself, the Klingon Empire included many different races.
As for the prototype, John Colicos was meant to return. His character was written into the early drafts for “The Trouble with Tribbles,” “A Private Little War,” and “Day of the Dove,” but circumstances prevented his involvement. The character of Kor was next seen in “Time Trap,” an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series from 1974. James Doohan provided the voice. Colicos, as Kor, did eventually return to the Star Trek universe -- for three episodes of Star Trek:
Deep Space 9.
The Prime Directive, first mentioned in “The Return of the Archons,” and refined here by Gene Coon, was the central contention of many episodes to come and remained part of Star Trek from this time forward. The Organian Peace Treaty would return, as well, as the catalyst and subject of several future stories.
Memories
John Colicos said, “It was a great episode. It was wonderful because, in those days, it was basically the United States and Russia in the Cold War projected into the future. The dialog was phenomenal and we had our points of view and what I loved at the end of the thing is that we (Captain Kirk and Kor) turned into two stupid kids bickering, and the Organians said, ‘Just hold it, you are not going anywhere with this war.’” (33-2)
36
Episode 28: THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER
Written by Harlan Ellison
(with Gene Coon, Gene Roddenberry, and D. C. Fontana, uncredited)
(additional story elements by Steven Carabatsos, uncredited)
Directed by Joseph Pevney
From TV Guide CLOSE-UP listing, April 1, 1967:
SOUND BITES
- Guardian of Forever: “Since before your sun burned hot in space and before your race was born, I have awaited a question.” Kirk: “Are you machine or being?” Guardian of Forever: “I am both and neither. I am my own beginning; my own ending.”
- Edith, to Kirk and Spock: “You know as well as I how much you’re out of place here.” Spock: “Interesting. Where would you estimate we belong, Miss Keeler?” Edith: “You? At his side, as if you’ve always been there ... and always will.”
- Kirk: “Peace was the way.” Spock: “She was right. But at the wrong time.... Save her -- do as you heart tells you to do -- and millions will die who did not die before.”
- McCoy: “You deliberately stopped me, Jim. I could have saved her! Do you know what you just did?” Spock: “He knows, doctor. He knows.”
- Guardian of Forever: “Time has resumed its shape. All is as it was before.” Kirk: “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
ASSESSMENT
This is more than Star Trek at its best; it is television at its best.
One of the central challenges of producing meaningful drama in a continuing series is that the lead characters must persevere. Whatever life-and-death situations the writers dream up, the audience has the foreknowledge that the series’ leads will be back next week, unruffled. The future of the show depends on it. For a writer -- or a group of writers -- to come up with a story that challenges the recurring characters of a series and forces them to change or grow in some small way without derailing the entire series is rare. And that is the best way to describe “The City on the Edge of Forever” -- profoundly rare.
Gone With the Wind ... Casablanca ... Love Story ... Somewhere in Time ... and “The City on the Edge of Forever.” They are among the greatest love stories ever depicted on the screen.
Get out your handkerchief.
THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
Script Timeline
Assignment given: March 16, 1966.
Harlan Ellison’s story outline / treatment, ST #7: March 21, 1966.
Ellison’s revised story outline, gratis: May 1, 1966.
Ellison’s 2nd Revised Story Outline, gratis: May 13, 1966.
Ellison’s 1st Draft teleplay: June 3, 1966.
Ellison’s Revised 1st Draft teleplay (designated by him as his Final Draft):
June 13, 1966.
Ellison’s 2nd Draft teleplay, gratis (designated by him as his Rev. Final Draft):
August 12, 1966.
Steven Carabatsos’ 1st Draft teleplay, based on Ellison’s story: October, 1966.
Ellison’s 2nd Rev. Final Draft teleplay, gratis:
December 1, 1966, not received until December 19.
Gene Coon’s story outline, based on Ellison’s story: December 29, 1966.
Coon’s rewrite (“Rewrite 1st Draft”): January 9, 1967.
D. C. Fontana’s rewrite (“Rewrite 2nd Draft”): January 18, 1967.
Fontana’s script polish (“Rewrite Rev. 2nd Draft”): January 23, 1967.
Coon’s script polish (“Shooting Script”): January 27, 1967.
Additional page revisions by Coon: January 30, 1967.
Gene Roddenberry’s rewrite (Final Draft teleplay): February 1, 1967.
Additional page revisions by Coon & Roddenberry: February 2, 3, 8 & 9, 1967.
Note the lengthy sequence of drafts, redrafts, rewrites, polishes, and additions. Therein lies the tale behind the creation of this episode.
Harlan Ellison was one of the first writers Gene Roddenberry hired for Star Trek. Robert Justman said, “Gene was looking to find well-respected and highly-talented science-fiction writers. One of the most prestigious names on his list was Harlan Ellison.” (94-4)
Harlan Ellison, hard at work. “Let’s face it, writing is an excruciating process.” – Robert Justman
Ellison was 32 and, one year before this, had won the Writers Guild Award for “Demon with the Glass Hand,” a 1964 episode of The Outer Limits. He also wrote scripts for Route 66, Burke’s Law, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Another one of his pre-Star Trek jobs, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, resulted in Ellison using Cordwainer Bird for his screen credit. He said, “When I was just starting out, there was a science fiction writer named Cordwainer Smith. His real name was Paul Linebarger. He worked for the CIA, as did his wife, and he couldn’t write fiction under his name, so he invented the name Cordwainer Smith. And he became a real icon in his field; he was a writer above the range of most writers. So when it came my turn to come up with a pseudonym, I wanted to pay homage to Cordwainer Smith, but I also wanted to give the bird to the person who had rewritten me – ‘Here’s the finger in your face!’ So it’s sort of a love/hate pseudonym. I’ve used it with some regularity. I used it on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. And I used it on The Flying Nun.” (58)
Recalling his inspiration for “The City on the Edge of Forever,” Ellison said, “I had been reading a biography of the great evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson and I began toying with the idea of what would happen if Kirk fell in love with a woman like that… wouldn’t it be interesting if they went back in time, and the woman who was so pure and good and decent, who Kirk is desperately in love with, had to die [in order] for time to be put right. And, if he was truly in love with her, how heart-wrenching that would be.” (58-3)
Ellison pitched his idea to Roddenberry in March 1966. Contrary to the recollections of some, the treatment arrived quickly -- in less than a week.
Robert Justman said, “I can still remember reading it and thinking to myself, ‘This is brilliant.’” (94-4)
The story was brilliant, but it was also very different than the episode it inspired. In this early version, it is not McCoy, in a drug induced state of madness, who flees to the dead world where the “time vortex” serves as a passageway to the past, but a depraved crewmember named Beckwith -- a drug dealer and murderer. The story, in fact, begins with Beckwith supplying a powerful narcotic -- the Jewels of Sound -- to a fellow crew member named LeBeque. The latter, the addict, wears “a look of almost orgasmic pleasure” after swallowing the pill and experiencing “the incredible music of the Jewels -- sounds from another time, another space, sounds that reach into LeBeque’s head and strum the synapses of his brain, as lights collide and merge and swivel and twirl and dance in patterns of no-pattern... a man in the grip of an alien narcotic.”
Ellison said, “I was one of the first writers that Roddenberry hired. It was so early in the history of Star Trek that Roddenberry really didn’t know where he was going. The potential for me was wide open, so I was able to go and do what I wanted, and I was able to write the way I always write, which is from my own well of polluted instincts. I figured on a ship that size, with that many people thrown together, it would be like any military unit -there would have to be some people who were just lawless.�
� (58)
After LeBeque threatens to go to Kirk to turn Beckwith in, the drug dealer bludgeons the embittered addict to death. But there are witnesses to the crime. A court martial is conducted, Beckwith is found guilty and Kirk sentences him to be taken to the nearest uninhabited planet to be executed by firing squad. That planet, circling a dying sun, is the dead world of the time vortex.
Kirk and Spock, with a firing squad of 12, beam down with Beckwith. All wear “insulation suits” and “breatherpaks.” Before they can carry out their task, their instruments register radiation coming from over the horizon. With Beckwith in tow, they follow the reading and soon find themselves on a mountaintop near a great city which appears to be uninhabited -- a city on the edge of forever. It is here they encounter “a group of men ... but such men as explorers from Earth have never known.” Ellison described the nine-foot-tall men as, “Old as the chill and dying sun that casts only shadows on this empty planet.”
These are the Guardians of Forever. They have been here, they say, “since before your sun burned hot in space, before your race came into being.” They stand guard over “the time machine created by the Ancients.”
Kirk is intrigued and asks to see an example of the history the gateway can reveal. He picks Earth as the subject and is shown scenes from his own world’s past, up until the time of the great depression in the United States, circa 1930. At this point, Beckwith leaps through the vortex. In a blink, all has changed. Kirk is informed by the Guardians that history has been altered. He and the landing party immediately beam back to the ship to find out if their lives, and their Enterprise, have also been changed. They discover the starship is now a renegade vessel -- a pirate ship, in a sense -- manned by cutthroats. Kirk and his men are able to take control of the transporter room and lock the marauders out. He orders his men to stay and hold the transporter room while he and Spock beam back to the planet. Once there, the Guardians agree to send Kirk and Spock back to the time period to which Beckwith “invaded.” The two men are told they will be seeking a young woman, “Edith Koestler” [the name used in this draft] who was to be run down by a moving van. Beckwith has somehow prevented Koestler from dying. In order to right time, they must stop him from doing this.
These Are The Voyages, TOS, Season One Page 93
