Star Trek at 50: Harlan Ellison' s City on the Edge of Forever graphic novel

Star Trek Harlan Ellison's The City on the Edge of Forever The Original Teleplay
Original Teleplay: Harlan Ellison
Adaptation By: Scott Tipton and David Tipton
Art by: J.K. Woodward
Covers by Juan Ortiz and Paul Shipper

Karen: Back in August I reviewed what many consider to be the finest episode of Star Trek ever made, "City on the Edge of Forever." In that post I discussed that there were huge differences between author Harlan Ellison's story, and the resulting final episode. The changes that were made in Ellison's story had nothing to do with quality of the writing -the show's staff all agreed that the script was brilliant -but it was felt that it veered too far from the established norms of the show.

Karen: Ellison's original story has been published  since the episode aired, so fans have had a chance to read it for themselves. But of course, we've never been able to see what it would have looked like if the episode had been produced using his script -until now. In 2015, IDW, with Ellison's blessing and assistance, produced a mini-series that told Ellison's story in five issues, and this was collected in a very nice hardback, which is what I used for this review.

Karen: The art in this book is by J.K. Woodward, who I profess I have never heard of before, but seeing as how I don't regularly buy comics now, that's no slight on him. Woodward utilizes a painting method, similar to Alex Ross, who, based on comments around here, folks seem to either love or hate -I'm in the love camp. I also appreciate Woodward's style. He captured the spirit of the show well. There were times when clearly he was working from photographs of the actors, and while it was obvious, I didn't mind really - it wasn't distracting to me, except a couple of times. When he was depicting characters who were not regulars on the show, such as the story's antagonist, Beckwith, the character's appearance seemed perhaps less defined. I think it was a smart decision to depict Kirk and Spock in the same clothes they wore in the episode. In the notes in the back, Scott Tipton says this was a conscious decision to both provide familiarity and present the story as if it were an alternate version of the filmed episode. Juan Ortiz and Paul Shipper both provided covers for the individual issues and they are reproduced in the book. Ortiz created the brilliant Star Trek: The Art of Juan Ortiz poster book a few years ago.

Karen: The story reads quite well, and from what I can gather, the Tiptons essentially translated Ellison's work to the comic page. They've done a fine job. It is engaging, thoughtful, and more lyrical than the actual episode. I've read a couple of collections of Ellison's short stories. I've enjoyed his work and I've always felt he brought a quality of surrealism to his stories. It is the same here, particularly in the depiction of the actual 'city on the edge of forever,' which combines elements that seem purely dreamlike with the more realistic science fiction setting of Trek. In the episode, the Guardian of Forever is a strange, oval-shaped entity, neither being nor machine -or maybe both; here, in the original story, there are multiple Guardians, tall, bearded men, ancient, drained of color, who almost seem to be a part of the icy mountains surrounding them. Could this have worked on the show? I don't know. It seems almost too fantastic. Why is it easier to accept a lop-sided donut than nine-foot tall men? Perhaps it is simply my bias from seeing the televised episode so many times.

Karen: The instigating point of the story is completely different here than in the episode. In the show, McCoy accidentally injects himself with a drug, cordrazine, which causes him to go temporarily insane. He beams down to the planet below them, from which they have been monitoring time disruptions. It is McCoy's departure into the past and his actions there that cause the timeline to change drastically. In Ellison's original story, an officer named Beckwith, who has been dealing drugs on board the Enterprise, flees after another officer threatens to turn him in, and Beckwith kills him. I have to admit, I can understand why this was changed for the show. Given how the crew was portrayed, and the general standards set forth by the network, I don't see how this was going to work in any case. But here, taken as the idea of almost an alternate universe (a Star Trek What If? perhaps) it's intriguing to consider. 

Karen: Another major divergence between the two stories occurs after Beckwith jumps through the Time Vortex, altering reality. The landing party beams back up to what they think is The Enterprise, only to find that they are aboard The Condor, a pirate ship! They fight off the pirates and secure the transporter room, and leave Yeoman Rand in charge -yes, you read that right -with Kirk and Spock beaming back down, to convince the Guardians to let them go back to try to fix things. This entire sequence was excised from the script for the episode, it seems chiefly due to expense. It's interesting that Ellison provided a much more capable representation of Rand. Of course, by the time the story was filmed, Grace Lee Whitney was no longer a part of the cast.

Karen: Once in the past, the Captain and First Officer find themselves on a street corner in New York in 1930. A crowd is gathered around a man standing on a crate, ranting against immigrants -wait a minute, what year is it again? "What kind of country is this where men have to stand in bread lines just to fill their bellies? I'll tell you what kind! A country run by foreigners! All the scum we let in to take the food out of our mouths, all the alien filth that pollutes our fine country!" Spock is uncharacteristically offended; he remarks to Kirk, "Is this the heritage Earthmen brag about? This sickness?" Kirk responds, "This is what it's taken us five hundred years to crawl up from." The mob spots Spock and the two have to make a break for safety. I truly wish they had filmed this rather than the insipid scene with the policeman and the silly 'rice-picker' dialog. I know they were injecting some levity into the episode but I think this commentary was-and unfortunately still is -timely and worthwhile.

Karen: One of the things that became quite apparent reading this book was how different Edith Keeler was in the original story. She's still appealing, but she seems to have a little less iron to her spine here. There are a couple of scenes from the episode that stand out which aren't in the original story: the one where Edith confronts Kirk and Spock in the basement, and the speech (however corny it might be) that she gives in the mission. In fact, in the episode, she is shown several times in the mission, and it gives us a sense of her devotion to her cause. Here, we see her speaking to groups of people but mostly we see her with Kirk, and the focus is more on how he is affected contemplating her loss. In this case, I felt that the episode provided her with more of a voice.

Karen: But Kirk's sense of impending doom is just as real here. Although Ellison has Kirk and Spock arrive at their discovery of Keeler's importance, and her fate, through somewhat bizarre fashion, Kirk's desire to be with Edith is tangible. In a discussion with Spock over Edith's role as a catalyst, the Vulcan presses his Captain, as he senses that he is becoming too involved with this woman, who must die for their future to live. The Kirk we see here is far more alone than the solitary figure we saw in the first season of the show; so much so he even contemplates bringing Edith forward in time! But Spock tells him that Edith must die in order to preserve the future. The sequence is portrayed by Woodward in black and white, as Kirk is recalling it from memory, and it heightens the drama of the exchange.

Karen: Spock is able to calculate where and when Beckwith will appear, but they make a mess of catching him. Kirk enlists the aid of a disabled World War One veteran called Trooper (drawn to resemble Ellison) to be on the lookout for Beckwith. After some time (it is difficult to tell exactly how much -a couple of days?) Trooper comes back with information that Beckwith is hiding out in a back alley. Kirk and Spock go after him, but again fail to catch him -and he uses a phaser and disintegrates Trooper. Either later, or another night, Edith is again speaking on a corner, trying to inspire hope in the downtrodden. Spock speaks admiringly of her. Edith finishes and sees them, and crosses the street to join them. But she doesn't notice a truck coming down the street. Kirk and Spock realize that this is it: the moment of her death. Suddenly Beckwith appears on the opposite side of the street. He too sees the truck barreling down towards her. Amazingly, Beckwith runs into the street, to save Edith. Kirk staggers forward, torn about what to do. But Spock races out and tackles Beckwith, preventing him from saving Edith. She turns, too late, as Kirk can only watch in horror as she is struck by the vehicle. 

Karen: This is just as gut-wrenching as it was on the show. Woodward clearly used Shatner's expression from these scenes for his art in the book. The way this was resolved in Ellison's story versus the finished product was a bone of contention between the two camps for many years as I understand it. I have to say, I find the episode more compelling, for a few reasons. In the show, Kirk not only doesn't save Edith, he is responsible for preventing McCoy from saving her. He is the decision maker; the ultimate responsibility for what happens falls on his shoulders, not Spock's. I think this makes Edith's death and Kirk's grief even more tragic, as he knows his direct action resulted in the death of the woman he loved. Also, having McCoy be the potential rescuer for Edith allows for a real dramatic impact. When the three men are reunited on the steps of the mission, it's pure joy, but only for a few fleeting seconds, as Edith's fate is imminent. McCoy's angry reaction, when Kirk restrains him, is also powerful.

Karen: However, the denouement of Ellison's work is really quite beautiful, and it's sad that it couldn't have been retained in some way. Back on The Enterprise, with time restored, Spock comes to Kirk's cabin, ostensibly to relay information from the bridge, but really the Vulcan appears to be checking up on his Captain, who is lost in thought. Spock calls him 'Jim' and says, "On my world the nights are very long. The sound of the silver birds against the sky is very sweet. My people know there is always time enough for everything. You could come with me for a rest. You would feel comfortable there." It's pretty. I don't know that it's Spock, really, but it sounds wonderful. (This scene actually reminded me of the final scene in the third season episode "Requiem for Methuselah" where Spock uses the Vulcan mind meld to make a distressed Kirk "forget" -did they crib it from this?). Spock tells Kirk that he is troubled by why Beckwith, a thoroughly deplorable person, would try to save Edith, risking his own life. Kirk talks about how sometimes "even the worst among us does the great noble deed." The conclusion reminds me so very much of a typical Outer Limits episode, which of course Ellison wrote some of the best. With Beckwith, we are able to examine the confusing, conflicting duality that exists in us. This is something the episode does not have. 

Karen: But does it need it? As it stands, it focuses much more squarely on Kirk's sacrifice -his sacrifice of Edith, his love, his potential happiness, to restore reality. The episode is strong without it. But the original story, which has a slightly different emphasis, and some alternate twists and turns, is certainly worth exploring. I could see that this might have been an excellent Outer Limits actually - although probably cost prohibitive but it would have worked just as well if trying to get across the idea of man's duality rather than focus on one man's tragedy.

Karen: On a somewhat related thought, I was thinking about the various Star Trek films lately, and Generations popped in my head. I've never been fond of it, for a variety of reasons, one being Kirk's death. But it occurred to me that one thing I would have loved to see is that when Picard went to find Kirk in the Nexus, he arrived in New York City, circa 1960. He sees Kirk, playing with some kids in the street. They are talking excitedly about the nascent space program, and Kirk tells them some day all the nations will work together and travel to the stars. A woman's voice comes from a doorway, calling for Jim. He turns and we see Edith come out. They have been reunited, and are deeply in love. This makes it even harder for Kirk when Picard tells him he needs his help and he has to leave the Nexus. But Edith herself tells him he should go -and she'll be waiting for him. Man, I would really prefer that over the Shatner horseback-riding ego-stroke that we got.

Discuss: Gold Key Star Trek Comics

Karen: Even though I am a huge Trek fan, I've only encountered a handful of the Gold Key Star Trek comics. My uncle, who had a number of comics dating mainly from the 50s and 60s, had a couple of issues, and I recall being fairly puzzled by them. They didn't look much like the shows I saw on TV. The uniforms weren't the same and some of the characters looked completely different. I learned many years later that the artists who worked on the title were mainly based in Italy, and had never seen the show!

Karen: What I never realized until now was how long the title ran: there were 61 issues produced by Gold Key, from 1967 through 1979. I had thought they stopped turning out the title in the early 70s. The cover art was often quite fanciful -and sometimes if the words "Star Trek" hadn't been there, you wouldn't have known it had anything to do with the show. The earliest issues, by the way, had photo covers, not uncommon with Gold Key and Dell comics that were spin-offs of TV shows or movies.

Karen: I can't tell you much about the stories in these comics. From what I gather though, they were similar to the art, in that they didn't follow all that closely to the source material. A brief perusal of some plot summaries reveals mummies, space pirates, and the crew becoming giants, among other unique ideas.  I found two websites that provided a wealth of information on these comics: Curt Danhauser's Guide to Gold Key Star Trek Comics, and Star Trek Comics Checklist. You can find plot synopses and cover art as well as much deeper dives on these books on these two great sites. Based on what I read here, it appears that the series improved around the mid -1970s, with both art and story becoming much more faithful to the show.


Karen: Although I don't have any real connection to these books, I find them oddly fascinating. They're like a strange translation of Trek. But I could see if you grew up reading them, they would hold a special place in your heart. Has anybody collected these comics, or do you have any fond memories of them?

(Note how these two later issues - 49 and 56 - connect to the episodes "City on the Edge of Forever" and "Metamorphosis")

Buried Treasures/Star Trek at 50: TV Novelizations

Karen: Continuing the theme of Buried Treasures this week, I came across these four paperbacks a couple of weeks ago while looking for another book entirely in one of the plastic bins full of books in my garage. I had honestly thought I had donated my Star Trek novelizations years ago, so I was delighted to find these James Blish books were still in my collection.

Karen: Blish wrote the adaptations for the episode of the original series. Twelve books were produced, and each book contained  several episodes, typically half a dozen or so. Initially he often worked from the early drafts of scripts, and so sometimes the stories in the books were slightly different than the episodes broadcast. When the Trek production crew discovered that the adaptions in the books were not mirroring the final episodes, they were annoyed, to put it mildly. Marc Cushman describes what happened in his book, These Are The Voyages Volume Two. It was actually Leonard Nimoy who first heard about the problem, when a fan wrote him and complained about how Spock was portrayed in the first novelization, as well as discrepancies in the adaptation of "The Naked Time." Nimoy went to Roddenberry with it. After the second book came out, D.C. Fontana was upset that Blish had left out the central point of her script for "Tomorrow is Yesterday," that Captain Christopher had to be returned to Earth because of his unborn son. She also found fault with his handling of "Court Martial" and "Operation:Annihilate!". Roddenberry wrote an executive at Desilu (Star Trek's production studio) and he contacted Blish's editors at Bantam books. All of the complaints were sent off to the author, along with a writer's guide for the series. Later books appeared to cleave more closely to the finished episodes.

Karen: Of course I knew nothing about this as a kid. Back in the mid-70s, I was just happy for any Trek product I could get my hands on. Although I only purchased four of these books, I read all of them through our public library. It was a way to relive the episodes, back in those days before DVDs and the internet. 

Karen: I thumbed through the books, and actually read "Space Seed" from book 2. I can see why the Trek production crew were frustrated with the adaptations. In "Space Seed," Blish completely leaves out McCoy's encounter with Khan in sickbay, the scenes establishing Khan and McGiver's relationship are also left out, and the physical confrontation between Kirk and Khan at the end is summarized in a single sentence! He also spells Khan "Kahn" throughout. To be sure, the stories are less than perfect. But they have a certain nostalgic value. I think however it has lessened since we have easy access to the actual episodes now. 

Karen: Any thoughts or memories about these adaptations?

Star Trek at 50/Buried Treasures: USS Enterprise Officer's Manual

Karen: This one's a twofer: both a Star Trek at 50, as we continue to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Trek's debut, and a Buried Treasure, as we look at a piece of Trek memorabilia I discovered in one of my many bins of books in our garage.

Karen: Almost exactly two years ago, when we started the Buried Treasure category, I discussed the original Star Trek Technical Manual, one of the early Trek books to look at the universe of the show, and one that has been a perennial favorite. Today, I have its  poorer cousin, the USS Enterprise Officer's Manual. This was a fan-produced, spiral-bound book circa 1980, whose chief architects were Geoffrey Mandel and Doug Drexler, both fans at the time, who later went on to work on official Star Trek series, as well as other sci-fi projects. This is essentially a follow-up to the Technical Manual, retaining the styling of that book, while adding additional information, mostly based off of the original series, and with a few updates from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Nowhere does it say it was authorized by Paramount, so the information in it isn't 'canon' but it's fun to look at. I'm pretty sure I got this back in 1980 or '81 at one of the Los Angeles Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror conventions (that's what they were called).

Karen: For a fan product, it's of high quality. The graphics are solid, the same clean designs as the Tech Manual. The only times it really looks at all amateurish is when whole pages are given over to text, and the font makes it look like it came right out of a typewriter (which it might have). It's broken down into sections - Personnel, Familiarization, Ship Recognition,etc. - that one might expect an officer of the Enterprise would need to know. Like the Technical Manual, you won't see the words 'Star Trek' anywhere in it. It's as if a time traveling Star Fleet officer accidentally left it behind for us  to glom on to. The majority of the material is a continuation of the TOS-era ships, uniforms, weaponry, etc. But the beginning of the manual lists the Enterprise's personnel, and this is broken down not in the usual "Command, Sciences, and Engineering/Support Services" from the series but rather the six divisions from ST:TMP. Also, characters such as Will Decker, Lt. Ilia, Lt. Cmdr. DeFalco, and others from the film are listed, as well as animated series regulars Lt. Arex and Lt. M'ress.

Karen: Full-page bios of the bridge crew from the television series are provided. There's some interesting stuff here. Check out Spock's page below -nice first name they came up with huh? Recall in "This Side of Paradise," he told Leila Kalomi she couldn't pronounce it. This guarantees it. Under Kirk's entry we are told he has a tendency to become overweight and frequently is put on a special diet. Sulu's first name is given as "Itaka" and Uhura's as "Upenda." Chekov is described as being like Kirk in many ways "although is extremely active sexually" ! I don't see how that's not like Kirk. Anyway...

Karen: One thing seemingly missing from the original Technical Manual, as David B. pointed out in comments in the post on that subject, were any schematics of enemy starships. Here, we get a couple of pages of Klingon ships in profile. Klingon uniforms (as well as Romulan ones) are also presented. I'm sure at some point full blueprints for a Klingon D-7 must have been published but I don't recall ever seeing them. Anyone know about that?

Karen: Oddly enough, the new Enterprise from Star Trek: The Motion Picture was not detailed in this manual. Maybe the book was assembled before they had enough good pictures of it to work from. But the image below should be recognizable to any of you who have been following the news about the upcoming series, Star Trek: Discovery.   Look familiar? The Discovery ship design has been around a long time. It was originally conceived by Ralph McQuarrie around 1976 for a Trek project but was nixed. And I think for good reason! But apparently someone saw it and liked it, 'cause it's coming back.

Karen: It's impressive to read through this book and see how much effort  -and love -these fans put into it. This kind of dedication is what kept Star Trek alive all these decades!

Star Trek at 50: Operation:Annihilate!

Season 1

Episode 29: Operation: Annihilate!
Filmed:  February 1967

First Air Date: April 13, 1967

Karen: We made it! This is the last episode of the first season of the original Star Trek. The show closes out its maiden voyage with an action-adventure yarn with creepy alien parasites that can control their human hosts. When an entire planet is taken over by the creatures (as well as his nephew and Mr. Spock), Captain Kirk is faced with the dilemma of how to defeat the things without killing the hosts.

Karen: This episode owes quite a lot to the book "The Puppet Masters" by science fiction legend Robert Heinlein. Heinlein's book, written in 1951,  is about alien  parasites who infiltrate the US, controlling people by attaching themselves to their backs. Sounds familiar? I read it as a teen and immediately said, "Hey, Star Trek ripped off Heinlein!" Well, so did The Outer Limits! In the episode "The Invisibles," a government agent infiltrates a secret group that is using alien parasites that attach to people's backs to control their minds in order to take over society. As far as I can tell, Heinlein didn't raise an issue with either TV show, although he did sue the makers of an earlier film, The Brain Eaters, for plagiarism and won. This Trek episode was the product of many hands (again) but the story idea is credited to Steven Carabatsos, who started the first season as story editor. Once again, D.C. Fontana, Gene Coon, and Gene Roddenberry would all pitch in on the script.

Karen: On first blush, this one feels like your typical action episode. But it has a real dark side to it -we have Kirk's brother dead right at the start (played by a mustached Shatner), his sister-in-law dying soon after, his nephew in jeopardy, the people on Deneva at risk of all dying, and then Spock in extreme pain and finally being blinded (he got better). That's a lot of suffering for an episode! 

Karen: The parasites were made by prop man Wah Chang, who had also worked on The Outer Limits, although the two parasites look nothing alike. On Trek they are like blobs of jelly - "flying omelettes" is how James Doohan (Scotty) described them. And fly they do, a bizarre, wobbling flight, obviously on strings, which tends to lessen their believability in my opinion. Let me say it straight: they look goofy. But once plastered on someone's back, like our dear Mr. Spock, the threat seemed quite real.

Karen: I could never understand why Spock and McCoy could not wait for the test results to come back before they decide to blast him with the super-bright light. It seemed so unnecessary -and it was, a plot contrivance to make Spock blind, and we all knew that wouldn't last.  But there are some good moments in this episode, primarily between the three leads once Spock's been infected. McCoy's guilt over blinding the Vulcan  is well done. Nimoy keeps a stiff upper lip as Spock, despite the incredible pain he's going through. But all in all, I'd say it's just an average, or even slightly below average, episode. Not the strongest way to end the season. It would have been better to go out with "City on the Edge of Forever."

Karen: Seen only in this episode is "Yeoman Zahra," played by Maurishka Taliaferro, a model, who I can only conclude must have been dating someone in the production crew. Also in this episode was Craig Hundley as Kirk's nephew, Peter. A scene was filmed but cut from the episode, for the ending, where Peter is dressed in a gold command tunic and sitting in the Captain's chair on the bridge. Hundley claims Roddenberry would have liked to have made him a regular (shades of Wesley Crusher!) but his schedule wouldn't permit it. Nothing against Hundley but I think that was probably for the best. I don't think Kirk would have handled a kid on the ship too well.

Karen: And that's a wrap! Season one is in the can. This reviewer is going to take a little break, and then we'll warp into Season Two. Thanks for joining me on the voyage.

Star Trek at 50: The City on the Edge of Forever

Season 1

Episode 28: The City on the Edge of Forever
Filmed:  February 1967

First Air Date: April 6, 1967

Karen: Kirk sacrifices the woman he loves to save the future. It's a heart-breaking story that has gone on to be hailed the best Star Trek episode ever by many. And yet, the original story would not have had the Captain making this soul-rending decision. Perhaps more than any other episode "City" suffered from incredible behind the scenes strife. But it turned out to be a beautiful, touching tale.

Karen: Star Trek fandom has for years heard tales of the rancor between Roddenberry and Harlan Ellison, the writer of this episode. Depending on who you're listening to, you may hear a very different version of what happened. Again, we turn to Trek historian Marc Cushman and his book These are the Voyages Volume One for a detailed and (seemingly) unbiased account. If you're looking for all the minutiae I suggest you pick up the book (well, I suggest you pick it up anyway) but the basics are that Roddenberry approached a number of high-profile science fiction authors as he began getting Star Trek off the ground. Ellison was one of them. Ellison, besides having written a number of stories, had also written scripts for TV shows, including the script for the Outer Limits episode "Demon with a Glass Hand," which won a Writers Guild award.  There was no doubt about his talent. Ellison had an idea about Kirk going back in time and meeting a character based on the evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, who Kirk would fall in love with but have to let die in order for the future to proceed properly. Roddenberry gave the go-ahead and Ellison quickly produced a story treatment. This was in March of 1966.

Karen: However, while producer Robert Justman and others thought the story was beautifully written it also was not something they could film, for a number of reasons. Part of it was due to budget -there were too many things in the script that they couldn't translate to film given the meager funds they were working with. But perhaps just as important, there were things in the script that simply weren't consistent with the type of show Trek was. Maybe the best known of these is that rather than having McCoy become temporarily insane from an accidental overdose of a drug, as was filmed, Ellison had a crew member (not one of the regular cast) selling hallucinogens on the ship, and bludgeoning to death another crew member  who threatened to turn him in. This is certainly not typical behavior on the Enterprise.  It was felt by the Trek staff that the script needed revision.

A graphic novel featuring Ellison's original story is available

Karen: This is where the merry-go-round starts. Ellison provided a revision -but it took five weeks to get it. It was  May, and they were beginning to film the first episode ("The Corbomite Maneuver"). Even at this point, they were concerned about running out of scripts. They needed to turn them out with some alacrity. But Ellison was moving slowly on getting the teleplay finished. So in an act of desperation, Roddenberry set Ellison up with a desk in a tiny office at the studio, hoping they could keep an eye on him and get that script. Unfortunately, it may have distracted Ellison more, as he was frequently found on set. D.C. Fontana defended Ellison, to some extent, saying that, "Harlan did spend some time visiting the set, but that's considered necessary research for a writer. When a show hasn't been on air yet, freelance writers must have an opportunity to study the actor's speech patterns and delivery, the little gestures and nuances that each one brings to his or her role -and most of all - the character relationships which are being built episode by episode."

Karen: Robert Justman finally got his script from Ellison on June 7. After the first blush of excitement, Justman realized they were in trouble. Although the script was "brilliantly written" it was still too expensive to film, and the characters weren't acting the way they'd been established in the show. They were stuck at the same point. Ellison revised his script, unhappily, feeling that the special qualities of the script that he had worked so hard to put in were being lost with each revision. And there were many, many revisions. According to Cushman, Ellison himself provided three versions of the story outline, then did three versions of the teleplay (script), at which point Steven Carabatsos, who was still story editor (October 1966) stepped in to provide a rewrite. It was Carabatsos who removed the drug dealing element and instead introduced the idea of Dr. McCoy getting hurt and then injected with Adrenalin, which makes him go temporarily mad. After Carabatsos' effort, Ellison again went at it. What was marked as his final draft arrived in the Trek offices December 19th. It still wasn't where the staff felt they could use it. So Gene Coon took a shot at it over the Christmas holiday, then D.C. Fontana came in and worked on it, then Coon again, then Fontana, and finally Roddenberry touched it. By February of 1967,  nearly a year later, they finally had their script.

Karen: Typically, when you have this many people fiddling with a script, it comes out a mess. But somehow, they managed to create a gem. The Ellison script was, by all accounts, absolutely incredible, and would have been perfect for an anthology show like Outer Limits. But it was felt that it didn't have the 'feel' of Trek. The finished episode however is resolutely Trek to its core; the characters are the people we have spent this entire first season getting to know. Their mannerisms, their personalities, are all there. I should note that Ellison does not feel this way at all about it and you can easily find out more by searching the web. 

Karen: The acting in this episode is top-notch. Shatner is still working hard as Kirk. We see the gears turning in his head and the love and the anguish he feels is very real. Nimoy is as understated as ever but Spock's sense of concern for Kirk and his plight is tangible. DeForest Kelley gets to have some fun as the demented McCoy, but he has a sweet scene with Joan Collins as well. Kelley said that he decided to play it as if McCoy was also enchanted by Keeler. And what of Edith Keeler? Joan Collins was a well-known actress at this time and a casting coup for Trek. She and Shatner had real chemistry and the two of them made a lovely couple. Director Joe Pevney, who helmed many episodes, said of this show, "It was a pleasure working with the actors. They realized their full potential in that one."

Karen: There was one scene in this episode that I never completely saw until I got the DVD set, and that was McCoy's arrival back in 1930. When it went into syndication, they removed  the part where the derelict he encounters accidentally phasers himself out of existence. The full scene is in the clip below. 

Karen: Most of this episode was filmed back in Mayberry again -there is one well-known publicity  still where Floyd's Barbershop can be seen behind Kirk and Keeler - and desperate for stage space, the crew even borrowed the My Three Sons empty stage to film some scenes. I'd always wondered about the design of the Guardian, the mysterious machine/entity that transports our heroes through time. It was a strange design, but effective. Apparently it was not the work of the series regular designer, Matt Jeffries, who was ill at the time, but of Rolland Brooks. D.C. Fontana stated that Brooks misread the script, somehow translating 'runes' into 'ruins' and so we got the broken classical columns surrounding the Guardian. It's unclear where the lop-sided shape of the portal itself came from. Reportedly, when Jeffries walked onto the set he burst out with, "What the Hell is this?"

Karen: I have to admit, as a kid, this episode didn't do it for me. But now...it really guts me. Throughout the series Kirk has to make many hard decisions, but this one is surely the most terrible. Despite the short time he is with Edith, she is a real kindred spirit  and it's easy to see how he could fall in love with her so quickly. The line "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one" has become a standard within Trek fandom since Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan but long before Spock performed the math on that and made his decision, Kirk does it here, to its brutal conclusion. When Kirk discovers that McCoy is in the mission and races back to it, the brief joy he and Spock and McCoy experience at being reunited, plunges quickly into utter devastation when he realizes Edith's fate has arrived, and he has to actually hold back McCoy from saving her. McCoy's anger at Kirk -"Do you know what you've done?" and Spock's almost-consoling, "He knows, Doctor. He knows" were pitch perfect. Of course the final line, uttered by Kirk as they leave the planet was the perfect way to end the episode: "Let's get the Hell out of here."

Star Trek at 50: Errand of Mercy

Season 1

Episode 27: Errand of Mercy
Filmed:  January/February 1967

First Air Date: March 23, 1967

Karen: Klingons! It's hard to imagine Trek without the Federation's main enemies, but they didn't appear until nearly the end of the first season. And considering that this episode, and the two that followed, were late orders by the network, who knows, in a parallel universe, Star Trek fans might never have heard of Klingons at all!

Karen: When NBC picked up Star Trek, the original order for episodes was 26. The production staff was on pins and needles around the time they were filming "Return of the Archons," waiting to hear from the network if they would get an order for additional episodes to round out the season. The network had given them a small sum of money and authorized the writing of four more episodes, but not the actual production. By December 9, the word was given: three more shows were to be made. Harlan Ellison had been slowly grinding away on "City on the Edge of Forever," and they hoped to produce that soon, and they had another story outline that would become "Operation:Annihilate." But one more was needed, so again, producer Gene Coon dashed off a script and we got "Errand of Mercy," a terrific episode that is a Cold War parallel, with a small planet (country) caught in the middle of two super-powers. 

Karen: Kirk has an unusually short fuse in this episode, when dealing with the seemingly simple minded Organians, and the brutal Klingons. Maybe he just needed to go on shore leave. But really, his frustration with the Organians and their apparent inability to comprehend the danger they're in only mirrors the viewer's own. I think while many of us respect pacifism, there's a point where self-preservation must kick in; that seems to be Kirk's issue as well in his struggle with trying to get his point across to the Organians. Of course, as we later discover, the natives are not truly threatened by the Klingons, nor do they need anything the Federation can offer. But the lesson about how two super-powers, no matter what their supposed goals might be, can completely devastate a smaller, poorer nation, is obvious.

Karen: This is a pure action-adventure episode, set mostly off the ship, and this made the network happy -they were always looking for these kinds of shows. In order to cut costs, we have no McCoy and no Scotty this time around. Also, despite the Klingons attacking the ship and beaming down in force, there are few effects -we never see a Klingon ship, and the Klingons beam down off stage. Still, it's likely the viewer will never notice as the story moves along at a nice clip.

Karen: The Klingons themselves are nothing great to look at -a quick, "Genghis Khan" make-up was thrown together - but the leader of the military  force, Commander Kor, is played by John Colicos with great charm. Kor is no thug but a calculating, disciplined  man who knows very well the game they are playing. One can easily envision him as the military governor of Organia, or any number of other planets that the Klingons might bring under their heel. He is more than capable and amenable to carrying out the orders of the Empire. He's a part of the system and he recognizes this -whether he likes it or not seems perhaps irrelevant. Colicos creates a memorable adversary for Kirk. It's unfortunate he was never able to reprise the role, something the showrunners wanted to do, but could never work out (although he did play Kor on Deep Space Nine many years later). Of course, Colicos also played the villainous Baltar in the original Battlestar Galactica.

Karen: The final resolution involves more all-powerful energy beings, telling us how screwed up we are, but offering us some hope. I wonder if the Organians know the Metrons? Anyway, the Organians decided there would be no war between the Feds and the Klingons, and so the Organian Peace Treaty was instituted. This made it impossible for open warfare, but we would see the two sides compete to gain the people and resources of under-developed planets, in episodes like "Friday's Child" and "A Private Little War." In many respects, the peace treaty was a smart move by Coon -all-out war between the two space-faring cultures would have been too expensive for the show's budget. Also, once war was declared, surely all the episodes would have to revolve around it. This way, the Klingons were always a potential threat, hovering in the background.

Karen: It seems to me that as they got more popular (and their heads got bumpy), the Klingons picked up some of the traits of another Trek group, the Romulans. Klingons on the original show were never shown to be honorable. They were sneaky, deceitful, treacherous - basically, your stereotypical villains. But by the time of the Next Generation, we began hearing about 'Klingon honor' and tradition. I felt like this came out of nowhere -or was transplanted from the Romulans, who in the form of Mark Lenard's Romulan Commander, was a very admirable foe. Perhaps it was just the desire to give these aliens more depth and background. Who knows. But I kind of miss the guys with the droopy mustaches, who liked to stab people in the back and call the Enterprise garbage.

Star Trek at 50: The Devil in the Dark

Season 1

Episode 26: The Devil in the Dark
Filmed:  January 1967

First Air Date: March 9, 1967

Karen: We're back to a monster episode, this time featuring a creature called a Horta -or as I referred to it as a child, 'the pizza monster.' Of course, this is Star Trek, so a monster is never just a monster, which we -and the Enterprise crew -figure out over the course of this episode. "Devil in the Dark" speaks to one of Trek's main themes -overcoming our prejudices -and it does this quite well. It isn't perfect -there's obvious budget issues, some story-telling gaps, and well, at times I thought it was a bit boring. But it's quite a feat to take an amorphous shambling mess and make us feel sympathy and pity for it. 

Karen: This episode, written by producer Gene Coon, came about for the most prosaic of reasons: costume maker and stunt man Janos Prohaska created the suit and the production team loved it, especially when they saw it in action. Coon quickly wrote a script, and after a few revisions, they were ready to go. As Marc Cushman points out in These are the Voyages Volume 1, the story is somewhat reminiscent of the early season episode, "The Man Trap," where we also have a creature that is the last of its kind, killing humans on a planet. But in this Coon-penned episode, Kirk is not so quick to condemn the creature; instead he tries to understand its motivations and shows compassion for it (much as he did the Gorn in "Arena," another Coon effort).  Star Trek was evolving before the audience's eyes.

Karen: That's not to say this episode isn't clunky -how did the blobby Horta dismantle the reactor? I never could figure that out. And they don't have any spare parts for a critical piece of equipment? But it's necessary for the drama, so you have to buy it. If you're willing to buy a silicon-based blob boring through solid rock, the rest should be easy, I guess. 

Karen: Depending on your tastes, Spock's mind melding with the Horta is either a fascinating scene or a silly one. Personally I go back and forth over it. I always wondered how he could touch it -shouldn't it still have the residue of the acids it secreted to burn through the rock still on its hide? McCoy is in perfect form, complaining that he is not a "bricklayer" as he has to shovel cement into the creature's wounds. 

Karen: Many fans already know the story about how William Shatner's father died while they were filming this episode. In Shatner's book, Star Trek Memories, the actor described how the show's cast and crew helped him through the tough day of waiting to fly out from Los Angeles to Miami, where his father's funeral would be. Initially they were going to stop filming but Shatner asked them to continue -that he couldn't take the waiting, he needed to be occupied. The show went on.

 "An hour later, after we'd broken for lunch and after the tears and the anguish, we started shooting what we'd been rehearsing all morning. And all through the scene, I kept having trouble with a particular line. My emotion was getting in the way, making me forget. And even though I really can't remember the day's details anymore, the one thing I recall perfectly and that I'll never forget is the closeness that my friend Leonard (Nimoy) had toward me. Not just emotionally but physically as well. I mean I've seen films of elephants that support the sick and dying with their bodies, and Leonard somehow always seemed physically close to me. Our cinematographer, Jerry Finnerman, whose father had also recently passed away, stayed close, too. And together, they kind of herded around me, assuring me that there were people close by in case I wanted to talk or just needed a friend. Between Leonard and Jerry, we were able to make it through that awful afternoon, and I was able to fly out that evening to my father, warmed by their love and affection."

Karen: Shatner says "Devil in the Dark" is his favorite Star Trek episode.

Star Trek at 50: This Side of Paradise

Season 1

Episode 25: This Side of Paradise
Filmed:  January 1967

First Air Date: March 2, 1967

Karen: Mr. Spock in love. What else need be said?

Karen: Well, OK, it's more than just that. Similar to "The Naked Time," everyone loses their inhibitions and basically goes awol. But this time, they all go to their happy place, even our favorite Vulcan. Was it a take on 60s drug culture? It seems so. When people are inoculated with the 'spores' they are blissful and contented - but not very productive. The colonists have done almost nothing for three years on Omicron Ceti 3, and the crew of the Enterprise, once under the spell, all decide to chuck it and beam down to the planet. This crew, said to be the finest in the fleet, suddenly abdicates all responsibility, and happily heads to the transporter to beam down and spend their time on the planet, staring at clouds. I suppose to many adults in the 60s, they probably thought that was a fair description of what was happening with the youth, with their own kids, back then!

Karen: Jerry Sohl came up with the premise and the story outline. Surprisingly, it had Sulu falling in love, not Spock. When the story was turned over to D.C. Fontana to turn into a full-fledged script, she immediately felt that it had to be Spock falling in love to really make an impact. Producers Gene Roddenberry and Robert Justman loved it, and so the change was made. It's a wonderful showcase for the character, and for actor Leonard Nimoy, who was initially hesitant about the idea, but did a terrific job, particularly when the effect of the spores is violently stripped from Spock, and he realizes exactly what he's lost. 

Karen: Although this is typically thought of as a Spock episode, it is also a great vehicle for Captain Kirk, providing insight into his character as well. Above all, Kirk is driven by his dedication to his ship, and his mission. Of the entire ship's complement, it is Kirk alone who resists the spores' influence. Being the commander of the Enterprise is his paradise. He quickly shakes off the effects. But he must get his crew back. The Enterprise is nothing without the people running it. He knows he needs Spock to do this. The scene where Kirk provokes Spock into a fight in order to negate the effect of the spores is one of the most memorable of the season, with Kirk getting verbally abusive towards his First Officer, questioning his parentage and his manhood. It might be considered tame today but knowing these characters as we do, it's still hard to take.

Karen: "All right you mutinous, disloyal, computerized half-breed, we'll see about you deserting my ship." Whew! The only really flaw with this scene was the (once again) obvious use of stunt men for the two leads. It might not have been as noticeable years ago with smaller TV screens and standard definition, but with today's high definition format and giant screens, it is just painful.

Karen: Freed from the spores, Spock's sense of duty, and loyalty to Kirk, kick in. He helps the Captain rig a signal that will cause irritation in the crew on the planet and bring them out of their stupor too. But  Leila Kalomi (Jill Ireland), the woman with whom he's become involved, is released by her discovery that Spock is no longer "one" with them (sounds a bit like 'Return of the Archons', doesn't it?). The Vulcan treats her kindly, but it's clear that the laughing, smiling Spock of the spores is gone. And both the dialog, and Nimoy's acting, let us know that he feels some dismay at this, even while he accepts it. The music that plays in this scene is the "Ruth" theme recycled from "Shore Leave", and it's quite effective here.

Karen: It must have been quite a shock to fans watching the show when it first aired to see the stoic Mr. Spock grinning and hanging from a tree branch, and smooching with a pretty girl. This could have been a disaster for Trek, if handled poorly, but instead, it was a breakout episode that gave not only Nimoy but Shatner chances to shine and expand their characters. 

Star Trek at 50: A Taste of Armageddon

Season 1

Episode 24: A Taste of Armageddon
Filmed: December 1966/ January 1967

First Air Date: February 23, 1967

Karen: "A Taste of Armageddon" is a solid episode, with a strong anti-war theme that requires little explanation.War has become the norm for the two planets of Eminiar and Vendikar. They've rendered it neat and clean, and come to accept the inevitable loss of life. The pattern is so thoroughly bred into them, after hundreds of years, that they don't even think about stopping it. Until Kirk forces them to.

Karen: This is another strong message episode, filled with just enough action to keep the kids and the network happy. Coming during the Vietnam War, it clearly had much to say about the dehumanizing effects of war. The writer, Robert Hamner, is quoted in Marc Cushman's These are the Voyages as saying, "At the time, the military was developing the neutron bomb. These were designed to kill people without harming the buildings. It was like big business going to war. 'Don't destroy the factories, just kill the workers!' I thought it would be terrible if a neutron bomb were developed. It would take all the devastation out of war and just leave death...That was the whole idea of the script when I walked into Gene Coon's office."  Coon worked with Hamner to tighten the script and add more action, work on Kirk's motivation and eliminate or revise some of the scenes that would be too costly to shoot. He also wrote the "we're not going to kill today" speech that Kirk gives at the end. All together, the episode is fairly emblematic of what Trek would come to be recognized for, philosophically speaking.

Karen: However, by this episode, we start to see certain patterns appearing in Trek: a civilization that is out of order and Kirk and company decide they must intercede; the landing party cut off from the Enterprise; the Enterprise under attack and unable to assist the landing party; Kirk destroying a machine to put an end to the problem. We got most of this with "Return of the Archons" and we're seeing it again here. This formula can be forgiven when the episode is a good one, but is quite noticeable when it's a lesser effort ("The Apple" for example).

Karen: Besides Kirk getting to be the man of action in this, Spock gets his moments too. When the landing party is captured, we see the Vulcan utilize his mind meld ability in a new way, reaching through the wall of the room they are being held prisoner in to contact the mind of their guard and control it, getting him to open the door. I think Trek could have run the risk of making Spock into their deus ex machina if they had abused his mental abilities, and a lesser show would have done this. But thankfully it was used sparingly, and at the right times. We also got to hear Nimoy deliver the line, "Sir, there is a multi-legged creature crawling on your shoulder" before applying the Spock nerve pinch. Just beautiful.

Star Trek at 50: Space Seed

Season 1

Episode 23: Space Seed
Filmed: December 1966 

First Air Date: February 16, 1967

Karen: Star Trek had a number of impressive guest stars, but perhaps none as striking as Ricardo Montalban. His powerful portrayal of the genetically-enhanced tyrant Khan Noonien Singh was unforgettable, and the raw energy between he and Shatner as Kirk was one of the reasons that this episode was chosen, out of the entire series, to form the basis for the second Star Trek film. Producer Harve Bennett was looking for something in the old episodes that would make for an exciting movie; he certainly found it in "Space Seed."

Karen: Khan is a mystery at first, but Kirk and Spock soon suss him out. He is one of a group of scientifically created super-humans who ruled Earth in the 1990s during a period known as The Eugenics Wars (obviously we are living in an alternate timeline). Apparently these super men and women decided that they should be running the show. As Spock puts it, "Superior ability breeds superior ambition." Eventually however, 'normal' folks prevailed. Khan and 72 of his fellows blasted off into space to escape being put on trial (or just shot, one supposes).  And that's how the Enterprise came upon them, adrift for a few hundred years in space. A normal man would feel gratitude and contentment at being revived from an endless sleep. But not Khan. No, right from the start, he begins plotting to take over Kirk's ship. Could there ever be a place for such a man in the enlightened era of the Federation?  

Karen: Montalban is a pleasure throughout the episode. His Khan is a being of power, amoral, existing only to fulfill his destiny -to rule. He reminded me of nothing less than a great white shark, ruthlessly pursuing his primal function. In some ways, Khan is a great Dr. Doom - seeing as how we've yet to get a fully realized Victor Von Doom on screen, Khan is not a bad template. He doesn't see himself as a villain; indeed, he thinks that what he was doing was right -"We offered the world order!" Khan says, slamming his fist on the table during the formal dinner. It is only natural and right that he should rule; he is superior. That others can't see this must perplex him to no end. Montalban throws himself into the role with everything he has, and is a great counterpoint to Kirk. Shatner, at this stage, was still very much controlled, capable of subtlety and quiet strength. His Kirk is a man of action, but also great intelligence and perception. The scenes in the dining room and  the one in Khan's quarters are all dialog, but you can feel a tremendous exertion of will between the two of them. The one place this episode falls flat, unfortunately, is the fight sequence towards the end where clearly stunt doubles have replaced the two actors. This would happen repeatedly in the first season.

Karen: McCoy and Scotty also had some fine moments in this episode. When Khan is recovering in Sickbay, he feigns unconsciousness, and when McCoy comes to check on him, he grabs him and holds a scalpel to his throat. McCoy remains cool as a cucumber and tells him that cutting the carotid artery on the left side would be the quickest way to kill him. It's a great bit for the character and for actor DeForest Kelly. We see much more of Scotty in this episode than in previous ones -he was becoming more popular with the showrunners, who saw the potential not only of the chief engineer but of the man who played him, James Doohan. While Scotty gets off a few quips, my favorite moment of his is after the Enterprise command crew has been taken hostage by Khan. Kirk and Spock have escaped, and they flood the room where Khan and his men are holding the crew with a knockout gas. Scotty jumps up to run out of the room, but pauses, turns back around, and socks one of Khan's men in the jaw and then runs out! It's that gratuitous punch that tells us so much about this character. Uhura also has a nice moment of defiance when Khan demands she turn on a viewscreen. No Sulu in this one, and of course, no Chekov, who didn't appear until season two, which is one of the faux pas of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, when Khan recognizes the Russian.

Karen: One thing that always bothered me about this episode is Marla McGivers. What a worthless officer.  She falls apart over Khan, betrays the ship, then just as quickly betrays Khan -this is a truly spineless and awful character. Necessary for the plot I suppose but she makes me cringe. Also, everyone talks about the great love story here, and much of Khan's motivation in Wrath of Khan is supposed to be about his desire for revenge on Kirk over losing this woman he loved so deeply. But in the episode, Khan treats her horribly. He manipulates her and physically abuses her (he forces her on her knees by crushing her hand). I don't see love here -I see a powerful man taking advantage of a weak woman. Whatever became of this relationship, I'm pretty sure it was a dysfunctional one. 


Karen: Once again, Marc Cushman's excellent book These Are The Voyages Vol.1 has some interesting information about this pivotal episode. The original story, by writer Carey Wilbur, featured a group of 20th century criminals who had been put into suspended animation and launched into space; it was Gene Roddenberry who added the idea of making the criminals super-humans, and that created the hook that made Khan so intriguing. Gene Coon came in to do a major overhaul of Wilbur's script, making the Enterprise crew sound like the people we know and love, as well as working out a number of rough spots. Originally Khan was to be called 'Harold Ericsson' and was envisioned as a Viking-like  antagonist.It was Roddenberry who, in the very final draft made the name change (supposedly to that of a long lost friend). McGivers started out as a Communications Officer; Coon changed her to a historian, to give her an intrigue with men of the past. Roddenberry conceived of a 'Dark Ages' in the late Twentieth Century -a very un-Star Trek like idea, one that contrasted with the generally hopeful vision of the future that the show portrayed. This ultimately became The Eugenics War.

Karen: Certainly "Space Seed" is a highlight of the first season, and I would argue one of the best episodes of original Trek -maybe of all of Trek? That is due in no small part to the work of Ricardo Montalban - one of the most memorable of Star Trek's guest stars.

Addendum: I couldn't let it go unmentioned that today is the 47th anniversary of the Apollo 11 crew landing on the moon (and yes, it really did happen). 

Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind.