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mkpatt's review against another edition
4.0
Wow, where do I start on this? Well, the book itself treats us to a two-hour rant by Ellison complaining about how his original script was re-written by other writers and that he had an ongoing feud with Gene Roddenberry over Gene's assertion that Ellison had Scotty dealing drugs. Of course, Ellison didn't have Scotty dealing drugs, but he did have an Enterprise crewman dealing drugs. Ellison thought this lent reality to the script but he clearly hadn't read the writer's guide because Star Trek was Roddenberry's utopian vision and his creation. If he didn't want drug dealing officers on his ship, that was his prerogative. There were plenty of other baddies in the galaxy to do those things (e.g., Harry Mudd).
That being said, Ellison's version was good. Not necessarily better than the aired version, but it was good. Ellison pines away for characters he created like Trooper, Beckwith, and Lebec. But, in my opinion, they didn't really add much to the actual story and the focus is and was on the core cast. Ellison complains that an experienced surgeon like McCoy would never stick himself with a needle the way McCoy did, but I call BS on that. It's quite common my doctor friends tell me.
Ultimately, Ellison's complaints were childish and immature. His story was good, and I really liked it. That having been said, when you're in the industry, you're going to be edited. If you're such a prima donna that you don't think your story should ever be changed, you don't last very long and he was around long enough to know that.
The book has four different versions of The City on the Edge of Forever. It's fascinating to watch the evolution of the story. The things I liked most about and wished they would have done more with - Janice Rand got to do more than serve coffee. Uhura and Rand should have been in the story. Making the Guardians a single machine rather than 3 aliens was a cost-saving measure and Ellison himself told GR to do stuff with special effects to save money.
Did Roddenberry lie about the Scotty selling drugs issue - okay, I suppose you could certainly conclude that. But he misses the point that whether it was Scotty or some Enterprise crewman - it was the selling drugs on the ship that was the problem! Gene's vision was humanity was now some sort of utopian society and the bad guys were the people who weren't the Federation.
You can argue about the details, but City was written by Ellison, he got the credit (and the residuals) for it and it was lauded by his peers and the science fiction community and to this day is still one of the most respected Star Trek episodes. It was an interesting listen, marred only by the first couple of hours of incessant childish complaining.
That being said, Ellison's version was good. Not necessarily better than the aired version, but it was good. Ellison pines away for characters he created like Trooper, Beckwith, and Lebec. But, in my opinion, they didn't really add much to the actual story and the focus is and was on the core cast. Ellison complains that an experienced surgeon like McCoy would never stick himself with a needle the way McCoy did, but I call BS on that. It's quite common my doctor friends tell me.
Ultimately, Ellison's complaints were childish and immature. His story was good, and I really liked it. That having been said, when you're in the industry, you're going to be edited. If you're such a prima donna that you don't think your story should ever be changed, you don't last very long and he was around long enough to know that.
The book has four different versions of The City on the Edge of Forever. It's fascinating to watch the evolution of the story. The things I liked most about and wished they would have done more with - Janice Rand got to do more than serve coffee. Uhura and Rand should have been in the story. Making the Guardians a single machine rather than 3 aliens was a cost-saving measure and Ellison himself told GR to do stuff with special effects to save money.
Did Roddenberry lie about the Scotty selling drugs issue - okay, I suppose you could certainly conclude that. But he misses the point that whether it was Scotty or some Enterprise crewman - it was the selling drugs on the ship that was the problem! Gene's vision was humanity was now some sort of utopian society and the bad guys were the people who weren't the Federation.
You can argue about the details, but City was written by Ellison, he got the credit (and the residuals) for it and it was lauded by his peers and the science fiction community and to this day is still one of the most respected Star Trek episodes. It was an interesting listen, marred only by the first couple of hours of incessant childish complaining.
palmettobling's review against another edition
3.0
The script was excellent. The first 25% of the book that was a rant, obviously from keeping it in for 30 years was informative, but boy. It's a bit crazy.
moonpie's review against another edition
3.0
This isn't a short story, which I thought it was because I apparently have this thing against reading descriptions of books I'm borrowing. It's the original treatment, a revised treatment, the original script, and a section of the final tweaked, modified script for "The City on the Edge of Forever," which eventually became one of the most well-known episodes of Star Trek: Original Flavor. It's interesting to see it transform from Ellison's original concept into something closer to the episode I remember. It's fun to see what changes are made to the treatment and what changes between the two scripts.
It's probably not as fun for Ellison, who is still strongly attached to his original story as it was conceived -- and is vein-throbbingly angry about many, many things related to "The City on the Edge of Forever."
But you don't have to take my word for it; the first big chunk o'pages of this book is a long, windy screed against Gene Roddenberry, William Shatner, Star Trek fans in general, the man in the moon . . . On the plus side, Ellison rants very well. The rant is entertaining, full of good vocab words, and gossipy. If that doesn't sound like a thing you want to read, skip to the treatments.
The original screenplay is okay. It's good. Not perfect, but maybe great? I'm not the best judge of that kind of thing. I liked imagining the original treatment as a Star Trek episode. But I also liked imagining the rewrites as Star Trek episodes. And I liked the finished episode. I think I'm just not invested enough to fiercely advocate for one over the other.
I enjoyed the afterwords, though. It was my first time reading anything written by a few of the people back there, so that was a nerdy little thrill.
It's probably not as fun for Ellison, who is still strongly attached to his original story as it was conceived -- and is vein-throbbingly angry about many, many things related to "The City on the Edge of Forever."
But you don't have to take my word for it; the first big chunk o'pages of this book is a long, windy screed against Gene Roddenberry, William Shatner, Star Trek fans in general, the man in the moon . . . On the plus side, Ellison rants very well. The rant is entertaining, full of good vocab words, and gossipy. If that doesn't sound like a thing you want to read, skip to the treatments.
The original screenplay is okay. It's good. Not perfect, but maybe great? I'm not the best judge of that kind of thing. I liked imagining the original treatment as a Star Trek episode. But I also liked imagining the rewrites as Star Trek episodes. And I liked the finished episode. I think I'm just not invested enough to fiercely advocate for one over the other.
I enjoyed the afterwords, though. It was my first time reading anything written by a few of the people back there, so that was a nerdy little thrill.
library_ann's review against another edition
3.0
o the vitriol. Not saying he's not justified, but 40 pages of it (felt like twice that) wore me out. By the time I actually got to the "original teleplay," it was spoiled in lots of ways, including that dramatic moments had been given away in earlier sections. If you try this on, read the teleplay that starts with Prologue first, then go back and look at the other evidence.
theonionboy's review against another edition
1.0
This guy is so full of himself, that he can't even keep it out of a sci-fi story he wrote. Don't waste your time. The whole book is a defense of why his version of an episode he wrote is far superior to the version that actually made it on air. Spoiler: it's not.