SCRIPT REVIEW: “Harlan Ellison’s The City on the Edge of Forever,“ Part II: The Original Teleplay (1995)

a junior officer named “Beckwith” who’s pushing drugs on the enterprise, and he’s gotten a man named “La Beck” hooked on “The Jewels of Sound,” a particularly interestingly thought-out and entirely addictive psychotropic drug. Beckwith is doing this to get information about their missions, and to trade with the local natives on whatever new worlds they come to in order to make a personal fortune. When his hitch in Starfleet is up, he intends to retire a wealthy man.

(While this may seem inconsistent with Trek as realized today, it’s important to note that economics did furtively come in to play on TOS, and the entire franchise had not become so rigidly communistic as it became in the TNG era)

After a near-accident while under the influence, La Beck has had enough and decides to give himself up. Before he can do so, Beckwith kills him, and is quickly captured by security. He’s placed on trial, found guilty, and will be executed and buried just as soon as they can find an uninhabited world. We’re told that the Enterprise is in “The Coal Sack Nebula” which is “In Between Galaxies” and that planets are few and far between, so this might take a while. (In fact, the Coalsack isn’t in between galaxies, but it is pretty far away - about 600 Light Years).

Presently they find a burned out, dead, ancient world orbiting a dying star that shouldn’t be able to support life, but somehow does. They beam down to execute Beckwith, and bump in to “The Guardians of Forever,” nine extraordinarily tall ancient humanoids who guard the focal point of time on this planet, and haven’t had a visitor since “Before the dinosaurs originated” on our world. Kirk gets fascinated by their time portal - here described as a glowing column - and while the Guardians are showing him earth’s past, Beckwith escapes and dives through in to the past. The Guardians freak out because history has been changed, and Kirk and company head back to the ship.

Once there, they discover the Enterprise no longer exists in this new timeline, and it’s been replaced by a pirate ship called “The Condor.” A fistfight ensues in the transporter room (Which looks exactly like the one on the Enterprise), and the good guys win, managing to seize that one compartment and block themselves in while the pirates try to cut their way through the door. Yoeman Rand tells Kirk and Spock to get back to the planet and try to figure a way out of this while she and the rest of the landing party try to buy them some time, and this they then do.

Back on the planet, the Guardians agree to help, and send Kirk and Spock back to a period about a week prior to when Beckwith will emerge in the past. They’ll all be drawn to a focal point in time, and messing with that catalytic person will mean the changes to history will be permanent. We get some mucking about in Chicago in the past with Kirk and Spock trying to fit in, and trying to track down the focal person who, of course, turns out to be a soup kitchen missionary named Edith Koestler. Kirk makes contact with her and falls in love