So this is going to be the first of a new series of posts I’ll be writing (if you like them, and even then, I’ll probably still do it). These posts, Works That Changed Me, will focus on books, films, video games, and more that changed me. Duh, you may be thinking, but to be more specific, these works will have changed:
- The way I think
- The way I write
- My interests
- Anything else I feel has changed since I consumed it
Most works we have consumed will in some way change us if they are good, but the works I’m writing about here are works that have had a real influence or impact on me. With that said, I thought I wouldn’t start at the beginning, and would instead talk about a recent work that changed me. That work is ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’, an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series.
The Background.
Though I’ve always enjoyed all genres of work, I’ve probably consumed more sci-fi than most people I know, but I never really watched much Star Trek. I’d seen a handful of episodes from The Original Series, The Next Generation, and Enterprise, but didn’t think of myself as knowing that much about it.
A few months ago, I decided that I’d start watching more Star Trek, and start at the beginning, with The Original Series. As Wildtalents333 observed on this reddit post, ‘most first seasons are rough’. While I’d been enjoying the time-capsule feel of The Original Series, I hadn’t fallen in love with it. Then I watched ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’.
The Plot
‘The City on the Edge of Forever’ follows the crew of the starship Enterprise after something goes terribly wrong on the ship (yes, this happens a lot in Star Trek). After accidentally being overdosed with a chemical, Doctor Leonard McCoy (also known as Bones), leaves the ship and enters a time portal situated in the ruined city of a planet. The second Bones enters the portal, a series of events reveal that Bones has changed the course of history. Captain Kirk and Spock have to follow Bones back in time to 30s-era New York in a bid to prevent him from damaging the future.
Whilst in the past, Kirk meets Edith, played by Joan Collins (yes, that Joan Collins), a lady who runs a homeless shelter, and a series of events begins, including a budding romance between Kirk and Edith. It is after Kirk and Edith meet that ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’ started to change me.
I’m not going to spoil all of the episode’s events, but ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’ is best without knowing everything that happens in the plot. Of course, it may seem counterintuitive when its events changed me, but I’ll find out a way to not spoil ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’.
The Change
For starters, the episode changed the way I viewed Star Trek, but particularly it changed how I viewed Captain Kirk. While Kirk wasn’t (and still isn’t) a terrible character, his constant romances with every new woman that appeared in an episode were wearisome and seemed to keep Star Trek as a product of its time in my mind.
But the romance in ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’ had a real heart to it, and the interactions between Kirk and Edith felt much less manufactured. Yes, it’s a TV show, but the dialogue and characters felt natural, almost real. And their romance never came across as forced, to the point that I got emotionally involved in it and physically became sad by the episode’s end. Kirk became much more complex in my eyes, and I started to see what made him the respected and beloved character that he is today.
The episode didn’t just change how I viewed Star Trek and Kirk, though. It changed how I viewed time travel and romance stories, particularly time travel romance stories. I’d seen some stories that involved both time travel and romance, but they never really did anything for me, and I’ve always struggled with time travel. However, ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’ managed to navigate both fields so well, and the time travel didn’t take a back seat, but neither did it overtake the story, allowing the love story to take centre stage. This episode gave me hope for both time travel and romance stories, and managed to make me more optimistic for the future, personally and globally.
I later learned that ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’ won a Writer’s Guild of America and Hugo awards for the screenplay, which was written by Harlan Ellison. Ellison, who is probably best known for the award-winning short story ‘I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream’ (check out that link and read it. It isn’t very long, and is pretty horrifying) – which is one of my favourite short stories to date – managed to write a beautiful romance story and give Kirk new dimension. More than that, it gave me hope for my own future, and the future of others. Harlan Ellison, thank you.
If you don’t watch any other episodes of Star Trek, I urge, implore, and request that you check out ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’ if you want a good story, regardless of whether it’s time travel, romance, or something much more.
It can be watched on Netflix, is less than an hour long, and in case I need remind you, ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’ changed me. I’m not saying that it will change you, but I hope you’ll like it at least.
Have you seen ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’? Are you a Star Trek fan? Did you check it out after my recommendation? Let me know in the comments below!
Until next time,
Conrad 🙂
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