Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Guardian Of Forever

8. Harlan Ellison

Guardian of Forever Star Trek Discovery Original Series
Pip R Lagenta via Wiki Commons

Harlan Ellison penned the original screenplay for The City On The Edge Of Forever, introducing the Guardian of Forever to Star Trek lore. However, the original story for the episode was quite different from the version that was released.

Ellison's script was heavily rewritten, and though it would go on to win the Hugo Award in 1967, Ellison would never again work with Star Trek after they 'eviscerated' his words.

How the Guardian appeared in that story will be covered in a later entry on this list, but there was finally a release of the original script, in printed form, along with an essay by Ellison himself, in 1993. This collected work outlined both the script and the thoughts around his treatment by Roddenberry. IDW publishing would later run a mini-series, depicting this version of the episode, in 2014, with cover art by Juan Ortiz.

 
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Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick