Finding Favor

[captainsblog]

The story so far:
Day 01 - A show that should have never been canceled
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season)
Day 04- Your favorite show ever
Day 05 - A show you hate
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite TV show

The coin, it flips. In the end, it came up on profound rather than funny. TOS was allegedly a drama, after all.

"City on the Edge of Forever" always stood out as Trek at its best, even while watching it as a kid. This was before I knew who Harlan Ellison was, and certainly long before I learned that he was also the infamous "Cordwainer Bird" that, around that same time in the 70s, had put his Alan Smithee pseudonym on another early sci-fi effort I watched, called The Starlost.

I did know, not long after first seeing the episode, that Ellison's original vision differed from what was shown on NBC. In one of those Paramount-authorized dimestore novelization anthologies, the editor changed the story around to incorporate what she (I think she, it may have been future concordance editor Bjo Trimble) considered to be the best of both worlds. Yet despite these differences, the resulting product still falls into most viewers' Top Five, if not Top Altogether.

It had its funny moments. "Stone knives and bearskins" is the lasting phrase from the dialogue, with Kirk's riff about Spock encountering a mechanical rice picker still in my mind. Other than the central gadget, there were no flashy aliens to shoot at or X-wings to shoot down. It was just the people, and the choices they made and had to make, that made it special.

Almost 20 years later, and going on 15 years ago, that episode became the basis for one of my first-ever pieces of published fanfic. "Published," that is, in the sense of "stuck up on a usenet group to be mocked." It used to come up fairly regularly if you googled my name, but fortunately, I had the presence of mind about a year ago to post it here.

And here, as well:



I often tell people that some things were meant not to be "crossed over"
between shows. Here's a fine example of why.

"The City on the Edge of Nowhere"

Kirk brings the Enterprise back to Festus 6, the planet with the
time vortex, because when you're itching to get laid, there's no
one quite like Alexis Carrington in sensible shoes. They try to
re-enact their famous sequence, with Bones going thru the vortex
first. This time, though, the ship doesn't disappear. Uhura doesn't
say, "Captain, I'm frightened." Scotty reports all is well on board,
all except for an inexplicable smell of sauerbraten coming from
the galley.

His curiosity more piqued then ever, Kirk goes through after his
quarries. (Always knew that man had rocks in his head.) Only in
this version, when they get to the Mission of Hope soup kitchen,
Edith isn't there. Neither is Bones. In their place behind the counter
is a surly looking guy with a mustache.

Kirk is confused. He knows McCoy has changed history again, only, ...
DIFFERENTLY somehow. The man with the ladle looks at Kirk and says, "Well?"

Kirk plods. "I don't... understand. I was expecting.... Edith..."

He is angrily cut off. "I've got a line, you schmuck. NO SOUP FOR YOU!"

Suddenly it dawns on our hero. The heavy water experiments- the ones
with the bouillon. Edith may not have prevented the Nazis from losing
the war, but she didn't stop them from making some damn amazing soup.

Befuddled by this turn of events, our time travelers seek refuge in Jerry's
apartment; Kirk nails Elaine; and they spend the rest of the episode
talking about nothing in particular.



----

Thanks to a longtime AOL trivia pal for the new icon. I hauled the weekend's round of tree-killing out of the backyard before 9 this morning, before it got ridiculous hot out there. Continuing the Trek motif, this is the kind of weather that Worf would have looked outside, steeled himself, and said, "Today is a GOOD day to melt!"

Comments

[firynze.livejournal.com]

I think that episode stands out in a LOT of minds. It was just excellently done, all around.

And I've never gotten over the rice-picker line.

[troubleagain.livejournal.com]

That episode made me cry.


I love the icon, though.

[thanatos-kalos.livejournal.com]

I do love that ep, I must admit. :) I also enjoyed the Starlost eps you sent. :)

[bill_sheehan.livejournal.com]

I thought I was the only living soul who'd seen The Starlost. I loved it at the time - the high concept overrode the bad scripts and production values for me. I also loved Trumbull's model work - the man was a genius. Silent Running is still a favorite.