The City on the Edge of Forever

The City on the Edge of Forever, Harlan Ellison, White Wolf Publishing, 1995

To read the biographies and remembrances from various people involved in the original Star Trek series, one would discover that Harlan Ellison wrote only the first draft of "The City on the Edge of Forever", that it was basically unshootable and had to be "fixed" by several people. It was ultimately "saved" only through the writing talent of Gene Roddenberry. A person would also read that, in the episode, Scotty was portrayed as an interstellar drug dealer.

Not So, to put it mildly, says Ellison.

Read this book, and one will find out that the original "unshootable" version of the script won the Writers Guild of America award for Most Outstanding Teleplay. The version that eventually aired; according to Ellison, the messed-up, watered down, butchered version, is generally considered the best episode of Star Trek-the original, and one of the best pieces of TV ever shown.

Accepting the Hugo award from the World Science Fiction Convention for the aired version of the script, Ellison made it clear that he accepted the award on behalf of his original version, and not what was aired.

Roddenberry mentioned, not just once or twice, but many times, over the last 30 years that Scotty was portrayed as a drug dealer despite repeated declarations from Ellison that Scotty was not in the script.

Ellison does his usual great job in the expanded essay, where he names names and gives honest opinions of the people behind, and in front of, the camera. He also includes his original teleplay, which would have been an incredible piece of television if it had been shot as written.

This will probably upset many Star Trek true believers. For everyone else, this is a great book on 60's television, it's a great book on screenwriting; all around, it's a great book.