The City on the Edge of Forever Read Free Page B

me, that you can’t make a case when you haven’t done shit about the matter in two decades. Statute of limitations, that sort of thing. It’s why the Pope exonerated the Jews for allegedly nailing up Christ. Statute of limitations. Only two thousand years. But, sadly, in the case of Paramount, it was twenty. So.
    First, I’ll reprint the introductory essay I did for the original anthology appearance, back in 1976. That one’s copyright in my name, too. Then I’ll come back and lay out a few anecdotes, show you a few pictures, reveal some evidence, name some names, write some long footnotes, expose myself, expose Roddenberry, piss off the faithful, give you your money’s worth, and tell you the truth as best I know it.
    Remember, as you read this next section:
    It was written in 1975, only eight years after the initial airing of “City.” If you find inconsistencies in my manner or my tone of voice, or specifics, well, Roddenberry was still alive, I was still working in the same industry, I had been getting buffeted and banged around pretty good by fanatical Trekoids, and I suppose I may have been looking to put a peaceful paw on the matter. But time passed, and Roddenberry never stopped shitting in my consommé, and as you will see in later sections of this introduction, I grew less and less ready to accommodate.
    Leading us, finally, to the ravening beast before you.
    It is mealtime. The repast is steaming. If you need some ketchup with your raw meat, just ask.
     
    Here is what the editor of SIX SCIENCE FICTION PLAYS wrote in the 1976 edition:
    “Trek” has become, in many respects, more popular since its cancellation than it was before. Now in reruns throughout the country, it has grown into a cult object, a rallying point for “trekkies.” One convention of fans in New York City had an attendance of 16,000!
    Harlan Ellison was one of the most talented scriptwriters for the series. A novelist, award-winning short story writer and anthologist of note (the Dangerous Visions books), he was contacted by the creator of Star Trek , Gene Roddenberry, even before the series had its network slot finalized. Through Ellison, Star Trek employed many well-known science fiction writers for its first year’s scripts. But even Harlan Ellison had problems with changes in his original teleplay, changes which he discusses in the special introduction he has written for this Washington Square Press edition.
    The author of this remarkable script has fought production company and network censorship with virtually every teleplay he has done in Hollywood (and they now number well over two dozen, for the top shows on all three networks); the things he has to say about working conditions for writers in TV, therefore, are from the inside, and they come from the only writer in the twenty-six year history of the Writers Guild of America awards for Most Outstanding Teleplay to win that honor three [2] times. His ethics are beyond reproach, incidentally: he walked away from $93,000 in profits when a series he created, The Starlost , was creatively butchered.
    “The City on the Edge of Forever” is one of those three award winners and appears here for the first time anywhere in its original, uncut—first draft—version.
     
    And here’s what I wrote in 1975, twenty years ago, and ten years after the eviscerated version of “City” was aired. I had not spoken to Roddenberry during those ten years. But Gene did me a small kindness shortly before I reached my deadline on this introduction, and we more-or-less buried the hatchet. It was a rapprochement that did not last very long. 
     
    It’s almost ten years since the day Gene Roddenberry called me to say he had sold a series to NBC called Star Trek . “It’s going to be a sophisticated Wagon Train to the Stars,” Gene said; and we both laughed.[3] We both laughed because Gene was making fun of the tunnel-vision thinking of many television network programming clowns who cannot