10. Death Of Edith Keeler - The City On The Edge Of Forever TOS
Another fan favourite episode that guest-starred Joan Collins and was written by the enigmatically talented Harlan Ellison. The City on The Edge of Forever is a gut-wrenching story of sacrifice and lost love. In fact, this is probably one of the definitive episodes that fans will remember when thinking of heartbreak in Star Trek. Investigating the ruins of an abandoned planet, Spock and Kirk discover a time portal that can send someone back in time to any part of the galaxy. When Leonard McCoy accidentally injects himself with a mind-altering drug that causes him to go berserk, he falls into the portal and somehow changes time so that the Federation no longer exists. It is up to Kirk and Spock to go into the time-stream after him to rescue their friend and correct the fault in time. Kirk and Spock find themselves in the Great Depression era of the United States and meet a gifted social worker who has a futurists perspective: Edith Keeler. She immediately attracts Kirks attention her beauty, her compassion and her ability to embrace the positive vision of the future that Kirk comes from all endear her to Kirk. As he and Spock stay longer in the 1930s, searching for McCoy, Kirk falls in love with Edith. To a man who has only known loneliness, Edith Keeler is a source of great comfort to Kirk. The fact that she is from another time is no deterrent to their love; the two discover each other to be kindred souls, though separated by many years. But Kirk is forced to remember his duty. Spock discovers that Keeler is the temporal pivotal point that has changed the future. Keeler was to have died in a traffic accident. Because she lived, she began a pacifist movement that slowed Earths development. Kirk realizes that Keeler must die in order for the time continuum to reset itself. Later, Kirk and Keeler are out for the evening. She mentions that she has been caring for a Doctor McCoy. At the mention of his name, Kirk instructs her to stay on the sidewalk and runs to find Spock. On the way, the two of them encounter McCoy. Their moment of shared elation is cut short as Keeler walks across the street and into an oncoming truck. As McCoy begins to run to stop her, Kirk holds him back, holding back tears. After a screech and a sickening thud are heard, McCoy looks at Kirk and asks him: Jim do you realize what youve just done? It is Spocks emotional response that delivers the full impact of Kirks heartbreak at that moment: He knows, Doctor. He knows. Kirk has just killed the woman he loves. If that isnt a soul-shredding moment, then what is?
John Kirk is a Teacher-Librarian and currently a History/English Teacher with the Toronto District School Board.
But mostly, John teaches Geek.
Comics, Sci-Fi (Notably Star Trek), Fantasy and Role-Playing and table-top games all make up part of John’s repertoire, There is a whole generation of nerds-in-embryo who rely on him to make sense of it all, to teach that with great power comes great responsibility, that the force will be with us always and that a towel IS the most useful thing to have in one’s possession.
When John isn’t in the classroom, he can be found in his basement writing comic reviews for www.popmythology.com and features for Roddenberry Entertainment's www.1701news.com.
