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The
original teleplay by Harlan Ellison was much darker than the
rewritten version. In the original version, an Enterprise
crewmember named Beckwith, who deals in illegal drugs aboard the
ship, flees the vessel and leaps through the Guardian of Forever
back into 1930s Earth. Kirk and Mr. Spock follow him to prevent any
changes to the timeline. Mr. Spock eventually stops Beckwith from
saving Edith Keeler from the oncoming truck and she is killed as
history recorded. All three Enterprise crewmembers return to
the 23rd century, but Beckwith breaks free and again leaps through
the Guardian of Forever, but the Guardian traps him in a repeating
time loop where he repeatedly dies by falling into a sun, doomed for
all eternity. Gene Roddenberry and D.C. Fontana rewrote the majority
of the script to fit within what Roddenberry wanted
"Star Trek" to
be. Ellison was outraged and claimed that Roddenberry had
eviscerated his work and never wrote another
"Star Trek" script. He
later released his copy of the script in book form. |
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Harlan
Ellison sued James Cameron claiming that Cameron had plagiarized
elements from some of his "The Outer Limits" work for the movie "The
Terminator". Ellison won the case and newer prints of "The
Terminator" credit him. |
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"South Park" creators Matt Stone and
Trey Parker would name an episode of their series after this one. |
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Joan
Collins, who played Edith Keeler, speaks on her career - "When
someone asks me 'Aren't you Alexis Carrington, that bitch from
'Dynasty'? I smile sweetly are say 'No, I'm Edith Keeler; Depression
era, social worker from "Star
Trek". |
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Edith
Keeler was originally written as a religious woman, but that plot
point was dropped, however, she is still credited as "Sister Edith
Keeler." |
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John
Harmon, who plays the "Alley Rat" that Dr. McCoy accosts, would
later play Tepo in
"A Piece of the Action". |
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The
background on the street that Kirk and Edith walk down are set
pieces from "The Andy Griffith Show". |
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Set in New York in 1930, but a shot of front of building shows a fallout shelter sign. |
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The song
"Good Night, Sweeheart", which is playing as Kirk and Edith walk
down the street, has been edited out and replaced by generic
background music in certain versions of this episode, due to
copyright regulations. |