10 Most Frustrating Star Trek Moments Ever
1. Forgive My Friend, He's A...
The City On The Edge Of Forever is regarded as one of the
greatest episodes of Star Trek, one that keeps its premise throughout the
story, one that shows off strong performances from all, and one that ends on
such a stark note that it was honestly quite a shock for Trek at the time.
It also contains the line ‘You’ll have to forgive my friend, he’s a Chinaman.’
This is Kirk’s attempt to explain Spock’s strange appearance to a contemporary police officer.
The story of the making of this episode is as interesting as the show itself, though in any version of the episode, this ill-thought, racist attempt at humour leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Another version of the story would have seen a crewman selling drugs to Starfleet officers, then escaping through the Guardian of Forever. Roddenberry absolutely vetoed this idea, along with several others, leading writer Harlan Ellison to remove his name from the episode altogether.
While the episode is one of the all-time great one-episode love stories in Star Trek, with Joan Collins playing the doomed Edith Keeler, it is just impossible not to notice something as overtly racist as the assumption that one’s perceived oddness could be explained away as them being Asian.
Star Trek has addressed its own past many times through the
years, so this is not to say that they’ve shied away from problematic
portrayals through the years. Perhaps this one hits much harder because, there
but for the grace of a line, The City On The Edge Of Forever could be one of
the greatest pieces of television in history.