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

Harlan Ellison's initial screenplay for The City On The Edge Of Forever was heavily changed during pre-production on the episode, including the deletion of the aliens who would have been operating the Time Vortex.

In this version of the story, a crewman named Beckwith had been dealing drugs to the crew of the Enterprise, and murdered the person who was about to turn him in. He escaped to the planet, and the Guardians, 9-feet tall alien creatures, help him by sending him through the Time Vortex. In the past, Beckwith saves Edith Koestler, thus dooming the future.

Kirk and Spock also seek the Guardians' help, returning in time to stop Beckwith from changing the past. In this version of the story, Kirk almost doesn't stop him, leaving Spock to step in. Later, while Kirk is grieving in his quarters, Spock delivers the powerful line:

No other woman was offered the universe for love.

The Guardians as written were deemed impossible to use in the actual episode, mostly because of the cost of creating them was well outside the budget available. Gene Roddenberry objected to the idea of drug addiction still being an issue in the future, while the production staff weren't keen on the idea of Kirk's inability to act at the episode's close.