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The City on the Edge of Forever

By: Harlan Ellison
Narrated by: full cast, Orson Scott Card, Bonnie MacBird, Richard J. Brewer, Ryan C. Britt, Richard Gilliland, Larry Nemacek
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Summary

The original teleplay that became the classic Star Trek episode, with an expanded introductory essay by Harlan Ellison, The City on the Edge of Forever has been surrounded by controversy since the airing of an "eviscerated" version - which subsequently has been voted the most beloved episode in the series' history. In its original form, The City on the Edge of Forever won the 1966-67 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Teleplay. As aired, it won the 1967 Hugo Award.

The City on the Edge of Forever is, at its most basic, a poignant love story. Ellison takes the listener on a breathtaking trip through space and time, from the future all the way back to 1930s America. In this harrowing journey, Kirk and Spock race to apprehend a renegade criminal and restore the order of the universe. It is here that Kirk faces his ultimate dilemma: a choice between the universe - and his one true love.

This edition makes available the astonishing teleplay as Ellison intended it to be aired. The author's introductory essay reveals all of the details of what Ellison describes as a "fatally inept treatment" of his creative work. Was he unjustly edited, unjustly accused, and unjustly treated?

For a full cast/character list and table of contents, please visit www.SkyboatMedia.com.

©1975 Harlan Ellison. © 1995 by the Kilimanjaro Corporation. Afterwords © 1995 and 2016 by the authors (P)2016 Skyboat Media, Inc.
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The Whining!

I loved the actual story, both versions, but the 5 chapters of whining was a bit too much. Hopefully all the bitterness has been dealt with by the author after this. GR is dead and he isn’t gonna benefit from the actual truth any more.

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What an obscure thing.

I had the advantage of finding this Audiobook by searching for Harlan Ellison after having exhausted Youtubes current content from and on the man. With this in mind it did not disappoint and had several amusing hours from one of Scien...Speculative Fictions greatest raconteurs and just to top it off a fantastic rendition of his original script and excerts of two drafts.

Very interesting indeed to see the life of a script through the Star Trek process.

A few years ago I had seen less Star Trek, Understood it less and potentially appreciated it differently. Back then I would not have enjoyed the almost constant running down of the series. Almost least of all from Ellison himself. Even still I think it's a little unjust but I survived it and it was interesting to find out why these writer's ended up feeling the way they do. This is not by any means a celebration or appreciation of Star Trek and it is slightly too heavy handedly a celebrations and appreciation of Ellison. That means it's audience is a niche one.

The rants are too long but the performance of Ellisons original script is tremendous.

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More rant than story

If you know Harlan Ellison's reputation, be prepared to get it full on. I was very much looking forward to this, knowing the back story of this episode of Star Trek, Most of this recording is Harlan ranting about how he was hard done by Gene Roddenberry, with only an hour or so dedicated to the original screen play.

After a couple hours of listening to ranting,,I was done. Don't get me wrong, the author had a point, but he made his point, and then repeated and repeated and repeated. So although it was interesting to listen to the original screen play, I have to give this a low rating because my ears started bleeding.......

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So bad I did not get to the main story

I got put off this book by the moaning complaints of the author that the producers of Star Trek and Rodenburry had messed with his book. His constant moaning put me off the book so much I never got to the main story.

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Not what I thought

I was hoping and expecting a Star Trek adventure. What it turns out to be is a long rant by the original screen play writer and a very long interpretation of the screen history and subsequent disaffection by the author and others about it. I'm returning it as I just want a good sci fi Trek adventure!

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1 person found this helpful