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The City on the Edge of Forever, Gallifrey Gals Get Warped! Original Series Ep1

🕑 Added 2021-05-04 17:01:02 +0000 UTC

Comments

Troy Convers

It's my yearly rewatch of this episode and yep, still a masterpiece; I can only hope that I've written a time paradox of this magnitude. Incidentally, the Phase II fan series ep 'Mind Sifter' (based on an unfilmed S4 ep script) also features the Guardian of Forever.

Troy Convers

TAS has some heavy writers powering it, like Larry Niven.

hotslimjim

So wait...the lady pays them 15cents a day and charges them 2.00$ a week for rent....uhhhhh literally rent is 2X of what they can make in a week. LOL

Mr Kitty

I suspect this is where the concept for the Umbrella Academy "Milk Men" came from. Was that a tribute to this episode? - As to things getting better, yes things are better. Its hard to see sometimes, but the world is 'better' in general, more awake, more inclusive, healthier overall. What the US just went through with Russia trying to overthrow the country is an aberration. Hopefully that will be sorted soon. Covid was somewhat expected, as diseases happen. But the speed at vaccine creation shows we're getting better at healthcare and science. Climate Crisis is imperative we get that under control asap. If the human race wants to survive it better start working together, following the Star Trek path!

Artemis Zeidman

Steve Shives recently did a deep dive on this episode and Ellison. You should check it out. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E51h3wdZY00 Also, I’d love to see you all react to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. It would be a good companion reaction to this one.

Matthew Baur

With respect to the montage images shown by the Guardian, the reason they had such ease was because copyright protection at the time only lasted 28 years, with one shot at renewal. This allowed a lot more works to enter the public domain.

Mark Chrisco

The Guardian of Forever appears in the animated episode titled Yesteryear. Many fans agree its the one animated episode that was worthy of having to been made into live action.

Street Mountebank

this was fun !

Pirateman

I have only very sparsely seen TOS but I have to say, this was fantastic. I think the main element which really makes it, is using 'show, don't tell'. For as corny or as odd as so much of the music/dialogue may seem today they don't let it overpower the story.

trylikeafool

I literally was thinking the exact same thing. Can’t wait until we get to season 5 and see if Katrina brings it up.

trylikeafool

Oh, this was also filmed at The Culver Studios, which is right down the street from Sony in Culver City. I’ve had the privilege of working on that lot, and it was really cool getting to be on the same soundstages where this was filmed. And yes, they had a backlot then where Andy Griffith filmed, but it’s unfortunately not there anymore.

trylikeafool

Wow, I watched this like 25 years ago when I was a kid and remember it totally differently, lol. I feel like it didn’t live up to the hype I had in my head, but it’s still a good episode of Star Trek. Wouldn’t say it’s the best episode of Star Trek...but I did get a lot of vibes from a certain TNG episode.

Mark Chrisco

Always thought an important episode or feature should have been dedicated to her memory.

Mark Chrisco

You're right. When JJ Abrams was preparing his first Star Trek feature, rumors emerged of time travel being involved that might include the Guardian of Forever. When Ellison got wind of that his response was "They better not, if they know what's good for them."

John Welch

Amazon Prime has both the original and remastered versions available to stream FYI,

John Welch

I think her sleeping with Gene had a lot to do with it too,lol.

Kirk Deighton

It was strange to hear "Goodnight Sweetheart" playing in this episode, it was the eponymous theme tune from a pretty lame '90s UK sitcom about a time travelling bigamist who indirectly (grand)fathered himself through intergenerational incest while running scams during WW2.

David Brown

Gallifrey Gals, you should watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels before you watch The Mandalorian. If you want to watch The Mandalorian. It's IMPORTANT!! Please.

Shashank

Just a great reaction to a great episode. Most of TOS is great imo, there’s a charm, colorfulness, humor and wild imaginativeness that raises the show above any dated special effects. Sometimes people criticize its acting, but I’d argue the actors are quite good at humor and when the episode calls for it they all can give emotionally moving performances like in this episode. Really looking forward to the next two reactions.

Adam Brown

Lucille Ball of I Love Lucy fame also saved Star Trek.

Bruce Bromley

Loved your reactions to this classic Trek episode. Not quite the way it looked back in the day. Probably impossible to find the original unmastered on all but DVD and BR. That tiny phaser also showed un in the first few TNG episodes. I preferred those over the mini vac ones that they kept. Can't wait until you get to the Tribbles. ;-)

Chris Lane- Venturi 3D

A note about Nichelle Nichols who plays Lt. Uhura....she had a similar situation early on to what Denise Crosby did, where she thought she wasn't getting enough of screen time and wanted to leave the show. She stayed on because she was told by.... Martin Luther King Jr. himself that what she is doing was very important to the black community at the time and it was vital to have her stay on the show.

John Welch

Harlan Ellison is famous for 3 thing...1 being a great sci-fi writer, 2 being a difficult personality, and 3. being HIGHLY litigious. Ellison never met a lawsuit he didn't like. If he even remotely felt anything you wrote or filmed had even the slightest resemblence to something he had written he would sue. If he felt you badmouthed him he would sue. If he felt he didn't get his fair end of a deal he would sue. He sued over this episode 40 years after the fact. He sued James Cameron over the movie "Terminator" saying it was too close to a short story he had written in the 60's. He sued Marvel comics of an issue of the incredible hulk. In the early days of the internet he personally sued hundreds of people for downloading his books. His he defended his hundreds of lawsuits with the famous quote "if you put your hand in my pocket, you'll drag back six inches of bloody stump."

Stephen Kronfeld

I don't think it has ever been confirmed, but many think that the character of Edith Keeler was based on the real-life peace activist Dorothy Day.

Mark Chrisco

The City on the Edge of Forever was chosen as the best hour of episodic television during the 66-67 television season in an entertainment community award.

Peter

I always thought the issue between Harlan Ellison and Gene Rodenberry was mainly to do with Ellison's story being rewritten for the screen. Interesting article linked which includes details of some of the things the original story included. https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/6/29/17518928/harlan-ellison-star-trek-grudge-science-fiction-rip

Nikk Roy

This was fun. I remember voting for these episodes but am unsure if I missed a post about what episodes made the list? Still hoping for Assignment: Earth because of its Doctor Who vibes, seems like a perfect fit for both of you.

thereelnerd

As a fan of TOS it was a lot of fun watching you react to this episode. I hadn't watched this episode in awhile but it still really holds up.

Mark Wood

Quality wise I would say if you ever want to watch some TOS I would pick Doomsday Machine, Balance of Terror, Mirror Mirror. I see Tribbles is being used, and while I like the episode, I find the humor pushes it a little into taking me out of the episode (it is very popular though). Space Seed is also brought up often, and while it's a really solid episode, its not in my top ten, though it's hugely important for a Trek film.

Mark Wood

Considered by many to be the best TOS episode. Two big points. TOS often, even on a series episode ends with a light hearted moment. Here they keep the serious tone through to the the credits. They also don't end with a shot of the Enterprise, which is extremely rare for a Trek show with an Enterprise in it.

Mark Mallecoccio

As far as Ellison goes, read Steven King's book "Dance Macabre" for more stories. There is a lot of backstory there, and a much better understanding of the relationship between science fiction and horror.

Raja

At 22:08 is just the first of MANY times in the franchise that Capt Kirk almost gets run over while jaywalking.

Stephen Kronfeld

Harlan Ellison was also involved with Babylon 5, another great sci-fi tv show. It seems like Ellison was kind of a loose cannon. Lots of crazy stories about him. I heard that one time, when he was arguing with a producer about a script, he took out a gun and started cleaning it. Didn't say anything about the gun, just kept talking about the script while he cleaned the gun.

Raja

There's a lovely joint interview of William Shatner and Joan Collins together looking back on this episode almost 50 years later https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1P7Q0TU4NE

Weapon26

After the episode you were talking about how they were hoping for a better future. In Star Trek Lore there is the Eugenics War and WW3 that happens until Humans get their shit together. But awesome reaction!!

michael mccafferty

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_Ellison#Parodies_and_pastiches_of_Ellison In the 1970s artist and cartoonist Gordon Carleton wrote and drew a scripted slide show called "City on the Edge of Whatever", which was a spoof of "The City on the Edge of Forever". Occasionally performed at Star Trek conventions, it features an irate writer named "Arlan Hellison" who screams at his producers, "Art defilers! Script assassins!"[119]

DarkAshtar

I noticed that too

Ian Smith

Some 'best of' TOS',and some 'best of' Classic Who. Gallifrey Gals - you're making me very happy :)

Michael Bauer

Love it! TOS really has everything that makes Trek great. Every. Single. Episode. is a morality play - and at least a fourth of them are pretty decent, and almost 10 are really great :) If you ever chose to watch more, there's one episode from the otherwise quite bad season 3 that always gets overlooked and is pretty great. "The Cloud Minders" has two interesting aspects. First, it quite literally applies the allegory of Plato's cave. Then they link that to social commentary on a problem that is very current, and increasingly dire: A segment of people getting riches and leisure from the exploitation of others - *and* then links it to the point how the very social exclusion and pre-judgement marginalized people receive has the social effect of actually contributing to the persistence of the structural problems within that marginalized group. Back in 11th grade, I wrote a major essay/analysis on the ethics of Star Trek - and this is one of the episodes that is perfect to demonstrate the literary and philosophical depth as well as the importance of social commentary for Star Trek. And incredibly topical. Can recommend :)

Brett Whittaker

Mirror Mirror or Space Seed would be good

Colin 3of5

Paula mentioned watching the trouble with tribbles at the beginning of this reaction.

DarkAshtar

Oh this is a nice surprise. If there are any other TOS episodes you want to surprise us with I always recommend Space Seed (posted before watching, and wasn't a patreon back when the poll took place. Even if you you don't react to it, still suggest checking out Space Seed)