Product Details

• Actors: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, James Doohan
• Directors: Joseph Pevney
• Writers: Gene Roddenberry, Harlan Ellison
• Producers: Gene L. Coon, Gene Roddenberry, Robert H. Justman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: CBS Paramount International Television
• VHS Release Date: April 15, 1994
• Run Time: 46 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300213323
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #237,336 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The standard-bearer for the entire Star Trek canon, this episode begins with a medical accident that leaves Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) a paranoid madman. Leaping through a time portal to Earth's Great Depression of the 1930s, McCoy causes disastrous changes to history that include the disappearance of the Enterprise. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) must follow him and undo whatever disruptive action he took centuries before. There, Kirk meets a kindly social worker, Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), with whom he falls in love before realizing that her fate is the key to a restored future.

A shattering drama, "City" brings out the best in the cast and production teams, looking like a feature film that found its way onto television. The background on this show is equally compelling and sometimes hysterically funny, beginning with a highly fanciful script by Harlan Ellison (including a scene with cast members riding a carousel that passes in and out the side of a mountain) that was either rewritten by series creator Gene Roddenberry or producer Gene L. Coon, depending on who's telling the story. Ironically, Ellison's original version won a Writer's Guild award, while the revision captured a Hugo, but the real prize is the episode itself. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best written of all the episodes, but is it the best?, May 31, 2000

By 

jasenao (Dothan, Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 28: The City On the Edge Of Forever [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Well, this is the episode that a lot of people pick as their favorite from the whole series and I can see why. "The City On The Edge of Forever" is without a doubt the best written of all the episodes of the original Star Trek. Dr. McCoy accidentally injects himself with a shot that makes him paranoid and out of control. He beams himself down to the nearest planet which turns out to be a 'time shifting' planet. It has a donut-shaped portal that can talk and it will show you bits and pieces of history. You can jump into it at any time and you will be transported to that period of time. Captain Kirk, Spock, and a few others beam down to try and capture Dr. McCoy before he hurts himself. However, Dr. McCoy fights them off and jumps through the portal. That's when the real adventure begins.

Kirk and Spock must try to jump in the time portal at the right time to try and rescue Dr. McCoy while also trying to change history in order to get the U.S.S. Enterprise back. Meanwhile, Kirk falls in love with a woman he meets in the movie and must make a huge sacrifice in order to get McCoy and his ship back in orbit.

I don't know if I would say that "The City On The Edge of Forever" is my all-time favorite Star Trek episode because there's so many great ones for me to really pick a favorite. But one thing's for sure, it's in the top five. I recommend any Star Trek fan to get this episode to add to your collection. "The City On The Edge of Forever" is definitely one of the episodes that you can't miss.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The greatest and most controversial Star Trek episode, October 14, 2001

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 28: The City On the Edge Of Forever [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Now we come to what is clearly the most famous, most admired and most controversial Star Trek episode, "The City on the Edge of Forever." As I would think most people know by know, McCoy goes back in time through the time portal of the Guardian of Forever and changes history. Kirk and Spock follow to set things right, ending up in the U.S. during the Great Depression where they learn that the focal point in time is Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), a social worker: Because McCoy will save her life, Edith will lead a peace movement that will delay U.S. involvement in World War II, allowing Hitler time to create the atomic bomb first and win the war (which is not a good thing). Unfortunately, Kirk falls in love with Edith and does not want her to die.

Originally written by Harlan Ellison, who has published both the original script and his side of what really happened (that's an understatement), the only thing everybody can agree on is that changes were made in the script. The biggest difference in the two versions has to do with which character prevents Edith from being saved: in the episode it is Kirk, but in the original script it is Spock. Ellison's point was that Kirk was willing to sacrifice the future for love; the powers that be maintained their hero would not act that way. But then they also think that two hundred years from now no one will remember Clark Gable (or "Gone With the Wind" apparently).

Ironically, these two opinions are enshrined in the second and third Star Trek movies, where we go from the good of the many outweighs the good of the one (Spock sacrifices live to save the ship), to the good of the one outweighs the good of the many (Kirk save Spock at the expense of his career). I have to admit that I very much like both versions; it was years before I stopped crying when I watched the end of "The City on the Edge of Forever." Yet as great as that ending is, with Kirk having nothing to say about what has happened except "Let's get the hell out of here," what Ellison was attempting was even more operatic.

Ultimately, what hurts this episode the most is not the great debate over which version is superior, but that Kirk would have a different girl on a different planet for what seemed like every other episode during the rest of the series, which undermines his (supposedly) epic love for Edith Keeler. If you have not read Ellison's script, then you should do so. You can even skip the vitriolic account of the bad blood between Ellison and Gene Roddenberry, but there is a minor character named Trooper in the script who deserves to be remembered because he was deemed negligible by history.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Star Trek at its best., April 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 28: The City On the Edge Of Forever [VHS] (VHS Tape)

'The City On The Edge Of Forever' is a classic. The Guardian of Forever is a very well-employed plot device. DeForest Kelley gives an outstanding performance. Joan Collins was cast perfectly as Edith Keeler. The 1930's setting is very authentic. Kirk falling in love with the very woman he knows must die to save history is one of the best dramatic plots I've seen from Star Trek. To top it all off, the episode ends perfectly with Kirk ultimately having to sacrifice the woman he loves to save history, and afterwards Kirk, Spock and McCoy returning to the present through the Guardian of Forever, then the episode coming to a close with the landing party, in a somber mood, beaming back up to the ship, leaving the Guardian of Forever alone, as it should be left. If you're a Star Trek fan, or if you're a collector looking for classic television episodes to add to your collection, I highly recommend 'The City On The Edge Of Forever'.