The Best Original Star Trek Episode Was Also A Huge Pain To Produce
By DEVIN MEENAN
In Season 1, Episode 28 of the series Star Trek, "The City on the Edge of Forever," the Enterprise crew navigates a time portal, which disrupts their timeline.
Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) are lost in 1930s New York, where they meet Edith Keeler (Joan Collins) and see her life has a big impact on World War II.
However, writer Harlan Ellison's script for the episode underwent dissatisfying revisions, as detailed in Robert Justman's tell-all book, “Inside Star Trek: The Real Story.”
Justman's record depicts an ultimatum that both Gene Roddenberry and Gene Coon had to revise Ellison's script to either make it affordable or discard it altogether.
The original script was similar, but the characters' relationships and tones differed significantly from what eventually aired. Notably, Spock displayed a more temperamental side.
Per production guidelines, a script faced a three-month timeline for writing and revision, with a subsequent six-day shoot. Sadly, the script took over a year to reach completion.
Finally, they faced budgetary pains due to the effects on the Guardian of Forever, Joan Collins' salary, unique set requirements, and an extended shoot duration.