What makes The City on the Edge of Forever the best Star Trek episode?
The original “Star Trek” series is iconic for many reasons, but age doesn’t always equate to popularity. (“Star Trek: The Next Generation,” for instance, has six episodes that crack the 9.0 mark on IMDb and added many famous faces to the “Stark Trek” character catalog.) Rather, the original series has a few stand-out installments and many other mediocre ones with plenty of potential that set the stage for the good times to come.
In the case of “The City on the Edge of Forever,” the episode transcends the rest of the original series due to its exceptional storytelling and tragic outcome. The episode follows Kirk and Spock as they chase an overdosed and temporarily mentally imbalanced Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) — aka Bones — to a mysterious planet’s surface and through a sentient portal back in time to the Great Depression on 1930s Earth. McCoy’s presence in the past winds up eliminating the U.S.S. Enterprise’s existence in the future, leaving it to his rescuers to intercept him and return to the future before he upsets the past any further.
In the interim, Kirk falls in love with Sister Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), only to discover that Keeler must die if the future is to remain intact. Even worse, he has to play a part in her demise, including standing back and watching her be hit by a passing vehicle. A somber, internally distressed Kirk returns to the future once all is restored, and the landing party leaves the planet. The captain’s final words are chilling: “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
It’s a futuristic story set in the past that resonates with viewers in the present. No wonder this one has stuck with Trekkies the way it has.