Harlan Ellison’s Star Trek teleplay, The City on the Edge of Forever, has been surrounded by controversy since the airing of an “eviscerated” version which was subsequently voted the most beloved episode in the history of the series. The original version is now available with an expanded introduction by Ellison. In its original form, The City on the Edge of Forever won the 1966-67 Writers Guild of America Award for best teleplay. As aired, it won the 1967 Hugo Award.

The City on the Edge of Forever is, at its most basic, a poignant love story. Ellison takes the reader on a breathtaking trip through space and time, from the future all the way back to 1930s America. In this harrowing journey, Kirk and Spock race to apprehend a renegade criminal and restore the order of the universe. It is here that Kirk faces his ultimate dilemma: a choice between the universe – or his one true love.

This E-Reads edition makes available Ellison’s astonishing teleplay as he intended it to be aired. The author’s prefatory essay (expanded by 15,000 words from the limited edition) reveals the details of what Ellison describes as a “fatally inept treatment” of his creative work. Our publication of this work is enhanced by magazine clippings, production notes and letters that can be viewed at full resolution by linking to this dedicated page.

Read The City on the Edge of Forever and decide for yourself whether Harlan Ellison was unjustly edited, unjustly accused, and unjustly treated.

Every Blogger owes a debt of gratitude to newspapers and magazines. This posting relies on original research and reporting performed by The New York Times.

In an earth-scorching fulmination including a denunciation of “my once-tough, beloved Guild – my UNION”, Harlan Ellison announced that he has launched a lawsuit against CBS-Paramount, Inc. and Writers Guild of America. Papers filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California cite “breach of the duty of fair representation” and “breach of the Collective Bargaining Agreement”.

The specific issues are failure to account for and pay licensing and publication revenues resulting from publication by Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books, divisions of Paramount, of a paperback trilogy that Ellison alleges is a “knock-off” of his famous Star Trek episode The City on the Edge of Forever; and the failure of the Guild to support his complaints or take action against Paramount. He seeks unspecific damages from Paramount, but because he remains a loyal member of the Guild he is asking for only one dollar from the union. However, he also seeks “a judicial determination as to whether the WGA is doing what its stated purpose has been since day-one! To fight and negotiate for him and other writers.”

Ellison reserves the full measure of his ire for Paramount:

“The arrogance, the pompous dismissive imperial manner of those who ‘have more important things to worry about,’ who’ll have their assistant get back to you, who don’t actually read or create, who merely ‘take’ meetings, and shuffle papers – much of which is paper money denied to those who actually did the manual labor of creating those dreams – they refuse even to notice…until you jam a Federal lawsuit in their eye. To hell with all that obfuscation and phony flag-waving: they got my money. Pay me and pay off all the other writers from whom you’ve made hundreds of thousands of millions of dollars…from OUR labors…just so you can float your fat asses in warm Bahamian waters.”

And that’s just for warmups. As long as you’re prepared to confront both barrels of his 12-gauge invective, you can read the complete text of his press release here.

The City on the Edge of Forever is a poignant love story that takes the viewer back to 1930s America. Kirk and Spock race to apprehend a renegade criminal and restore the order of the universe. It is here that Kirk faces his ultimate dilemma: a choice between the universe – or his one true love. It became the classic Star Trek episode, winning the 1966-67 Writers Guild of America Award for best teleplay and the 1967 Hugo Award (the only teleplay ever to do so!). It was also ranked as one of the”100 Greatest Television Episodes of All Time” by TV Guide.

E-Reads has published the original teleplay of The City on the Edge of Forever as Ellison intended it to be aired. The author’s introductory essay (expanded by 15,000 words) reveals all of the details of what Ellison describes as a “fatally inept treatment” of his creative work.

Ellison is determined to have his day in court. Read his screenplay, introduction, and the description of his lawsuit and you can vicariously serve on the jury.

RC