City on the edge of forever is considered one of the best by many fans.

The town set is the Mayberry set. Floyd's barber shop is in the background in one scene.

The actress that portrayed Edith Keeler is Joan Collins. She was pretty famous in her day. She was the star of the original “Dynasty” TV Series from the early 1980s. She once posed nude as a Playboy centerfold.

Maybe the reason Kirk was always poking at Spock was because Spock was always denying his human half with remarks like "Your Earth," and "You humans."

"What time period is she going to go back to where things are gonna be ok?" Yes, Captain Kirk definitely needed to give Uhura a lot more historical context on that one!

The fried egg aliens 😂

Great episode reactions! BTW: When we were kids, my friends & I always referred to the Guardian of Forever as "The Giant Talking Donut!" (LOL!) 😅

I believe there's a deleted scene with Kirk's nephew coming onto the bridge at the end (I saw it in "The Roddenberry Vault").

Hey, Courtney! "The City on the Edge of Forever" with Joan Collins guest starring as Edith Keeler is widely considered to be Trek at its very best and is probably the most highly regarded episode of the Original Series. It usually ranks among the top five in "Best Of..." lists.

The nephew was dropped off at the nearest star base with a little suitcase and a note pinned to his shirt.

It's been said that 1930 is a bit soon for Clark Gable to be a movie star. I figure that the day Kirk and Spock arrived, they were met by that policeman, but had they not been there, the cop would've walked a bit further on, and he would've come across a guy hurrying to a movie audition (some studios still made movies in New York in those days), and given him a jaywalking ticket, causing him to miss his chance to break into pictures on that day, and Clark Gable's movie career would've thus taken a few more years to get going; but with Kirk and Spock there, Gable made his 1930 audition, and was soon a star, just within the time frame of the episode!

CotEoF is probably my favorite TV episode of all time. Great reaction!

Delighted that you got to see City on the Edge of Forever!

I just found your Star Trek posts - your reactions are really fun, thx watching this show! 😊

If you watch The Orville they do an alternative timeline in the last 2 episodes of season 2. Even more elaborate than this. The exterior shots for Operation Annihilate were filmed on the TRW campus in Redondo beach.

You can always count on Spock in a pinch!

Operation: Annihilate is mostly remembered for the "pancakes", Kirk's out of nowhere family and nephew never heard of again, but I think the Bones/Kirk/Spock stuff is top notch in regards to the blindness subplot. Even in mid tier TOS there's some good stuff.

13:40 One of the subtler points of the episode is how Edith Keeler was pivotal to history, while McCoy's presence also causes the death of the hobo, which didn't seem to cause even the slightest ripple in history.

Nice reactions. I like the original Star Trek because they used all science fiction writers who really knew how to create these stories. The love story first is heartbreaking but understandable. Yes I agree Kirk was a bit much on the 2nd episode. Just pushing unnecessarily. Note - Kirk's nephew is never mentioned again and we have no idea what happened to him.

Someone else already called out the Harlan Ellison connection. DC Fontana (who I believe I mentioned in a comment to an earlier Trek reaction) was an uncredited writer on City on the Edge of Forever as well). I’m a bit of a fan of Ellison’s, so some tidbits: he’s written other teleplays, probably available on this web site. There’s an old episode of The Outer Limits called “The Demon with the Glass Hand” and an 80’s era episode of The Twilight Zone called “Shatterday”, which stars a fairly young actor-you-would-probably-recognize. He’s written an almost uncountable number of short stories; one of his most famous is “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream”, which teen-me adored (much older me hasn’t read it in ages, but I suspect it will hold up). He was also a credited consultant on the Babylon 5 TV series, which you may want on your radar. I don’t like it as much as it’s (many) more confirmed fans, but I do like it it it did some genuinely unique things, particularly for the time. Lastly, there’s a documentary on Ellison called “Dreams with Sharp Teeth” which I think is worth watching. Cheers!

Forever losing my shit about Spock saying “let me help” while in terrible pain in the episode immediately following the one with the quote about “let me help” meaning “I love you”

Something I think _The City on the Edge of Forever_ illustrates rather well is the way, if we ever get time travel figured out, it could well deliver us into circumstances where we have to either let someone we love die or say goodbye to our whole civilization. Edith Keeler was a good woman which makes her death tragic. But Allied victory in WWII was a necessary outcome in order for the UFP to begin, and for that to happen, Keeler's death was necessary. Compounding the tragedy a _little_ bit more is the fact that she actually managed to steal Kirk's heart, so he had to choose between his duty to the Federation and his love for her. This is the kind of situation _Star Trek_ has historically prided itself on its ability to deliver.

The City on the Edge of forever (for most fans) is the #1 episode of all time. I think Operation: Annihilate is a great episode. But but but….. the 2nd season premier is FANTASTIC. Cant wait for you to see it. Also in the top 5 or so I’d say.

Two top-tier episodes 🧡🧡

Having actually experienced temporary blindness, if only for three or four minutes, Kirk is right, regaining eyesight is emotional. And Spock is right, seeing McCoy right in your face wouod temper the joy a bit.

Finished with Season 1! Now on to Season 2!

1x28 is my favourite episode.

Kirk HAD to let Edith go, and I wouldn't be surprised if he took at least a week off and just turned things over to Spock for awhile. On the other hand, constant work is probably therapeutic for someone like Kirk. If so, I doubt there was much chit-chat on the bridge for quite a while.

Hey Courtney, hope you’re doing great.❤

I first saw Operation: Annihilate around 1970, when so was about 5 years old. It scared the kerrap out of me, because you couldn't talk to or reason with these things. No sign of where they came from, or if there were more. Imagine if other planets had infestations of them, a long way off. It's just terrifying what might happen if nobody knew how to stop them. Another thing: I always wanted to see what Peter Kirk would be like as an srult. It would be very rough living your life with both parents gone. Jim never saw him again in the show or the movies.

oooh city on the edge of forever is a great episode 🙂 ooh that second episode, I had forgotten about it! but it's a good one too. Star Trek has a really good movie about time travel also, but that's later in your star trek journey. Unless you do indeed decide to skip to the movies, which, I am totally NOT offended if you do 🙂it's up to you how you want to experience star trek. 🙂 When I was growing up, TOS was played in syndication and reruns still.....I grew up in late 80s to mid 90s...graduated HS 1996....I remember in 1987 (the year TNG came out), there was an advertisement for Star Trek: The Next Generation ("TNG") on the back of a Honey Nut Cheerios box, I was nine years old. I was like "oooh, the guy from Reading Rainbow is the engineer! And instead of a Vulcan they have a robot!" I was quite excited lol. LeVar Burton was definitely a childhood hero 🙂 I loved him on Reading Rainbow, Roots, and TNG 🙂 "islands in the sky, I can go twice as high, take a look, it's in a book, a reading rainbow...." (that was a kid's show on PBS when I was a kid lol. LeVar Burton was the host.)

"City On The Edge of Forever" was written by Harlan Ellison, a famous writer of fantastic literature, television criticism, author of many books, stories, and essays, who won the Writer's Guild of America writing award for his original script for this episode, and the episode won a Hugo Award for "Best Dramatic Presentation." Harlan also used to tour the country, giving talks on college campuses, science fiction conventions, bookstores, and being wildly popular as a speaker. He died about five years ago now. This episode is generally considered to be the best TOS episode. There's lots of trivia that goes with it; just a sample are that the backlot was reused by innumerable movies and TV shows, including THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW; if you look closely at a store window that Edith and Kirk walked by, you'll notice that it's Floyd's barbershop. Something that amuses me is that Harlan's original script said that the Time Portal was "surrounded by runes," meaning ancient writing and symbology. But the producers were confused and instead surrounded the portal with ancient RUINS. Oops. The script was also rewritten many many times before the final version, which Harlan didn't like, was filmed.

Remember - don’t just analyze - react. Good content so far. Thank you for thanking those in and out of service.

Ultraviolet is also very damaging to the eyes. Love original Star Trek though!

6:52 Edith Keeler sounds like a fan of Jules Verne.

Edith Keeler did not have to die. They could have taken her with them through the time portal.

What boor01 said, made me hungry, gonna have a fried egg sandwich for lunch! Great reaction Courtney, enjoyed this.

Kirk's nephew went on to open a restaurant that served fried eggs and pancakes.

I do enjoy your reactions, but I hope you can appreciate this comment. Captain Kirk developed actual love for Edith Keeler. His interactions with most other women are not at that same depth. In the Trek universe, Captain Kirk only felt deep love towards 3 women. The 1st one from his past appears during the episode Shore Leave, the 2nd here is Edith Keeler, the 3rd is not revealed until you are into the TOS films. When Kirk holds Edith's hand, it reminds me of Chris Rock's bit on how significant it is for a man to hold a woman's hand.

There is a scene that was filmed but edited out that showed Tommy on the bridge with Kirk. Since Kirk's mother was still alive (according to the book THE MAKING OF STAR TREK) Tommy was probably sent back to Earth to live with his grandmother.

Two episodes in a row without any redshirts killed?

I'm glad you enjoyed this episode; it was one of the more interesting episodes in the series. I wonder if you'll ever see the Guardian again? Things that make you go hmmm????

Jim. Spock calls him Jim.

10:54 "You fall in love with someone almost every other episode." It's not love. Kirk is too much of a playboy for that.

"The city on the edge of forever" As great as the story is I wouldn't put this as one of my favorite episodes. Not even the top 5. I enjoyed it more after I watched it numerous times. At first I took it a just another reason for Kirk to push a love story. That said, I like that McCoy gets to Rock🎸 "Operation Annihilate" This one was middle of the pack for me. Kirk's brother's family inclusion wasn't all that necessary for me. Majel Barrett was eventually married to Gene Roddenberry and when it came down to keeping one of the "hot blondes" she got priority over Grace Lee Wittney. No need to guess who got the gig in the long run.🙄

Both of these episodes are on my list of Star Trek episodes that JJ Trek should've expanded into a feature length movie instead of a crappy re-trend of Wrath of Khan! Both of them do a lot for fleshing out Kirk's character and have high enough physical and emotional stakes as is.