A review by dankeohane
The City on the Edge of Forever: The Original Teleplay by Harlan Ellison

2.0

I was looking forward to this, having seen the Star trek episode in question quite often, and this gets two stars (would do two and a half if I could) for the chance to see the progression of the original treatment through final script of Ellison's version, but the first part of the book is the author railing against the injustices done to him and his script (for almost a hundred pages, which granted are a number of newer and older essays combined), to the point I just flipped through these pages because I was honestly tired of the unrestrained anger and bitterness so prevelant throughout. I think Harlen Ellison was a brilliant writer, but there's a level of curmudgeon-ish that can be endearing, and a level that's tiring. This is the latter. It's his book, he can rail all he wants, but I grew tired of it and jumped into the script. Personally, even after skimming the beginning essays, and ST creator Roddenberry's reputation for being a hard a**, I could understand why the script was eventually changed. There were some small details which would have been good to keep, but personally (and it's just my taste), I think the final, aired version was better in many ways (keeping in mind the limits of filming a 45 minute TV show). That's probably sacrilege in many camps, but it's my review and I'm allowed. :)