Quick Summary: When the Enterprise is jolted by a ripple in time, McCoy accidentally injects himself with an overdose of chordrozine. He beams down to the planet below, where Kirk and crew follow, and they discover that an arch is the single source of the time displacement. And it speaks! The "Guardian of Forever" shows a window into all Earth's history, McCoy leaps into it, and suddenly there's no more Enterprise and they all only exist outside of time. Kirk and Spock go back to the 1930s where they estimate McCoy to be before he created the alternate reality. They befriend Edith Keeler who runs the 21st Street Mission, and it's not long before Kirk falls for her. The problem: Edith proves to be the focal point in time. She has two possible futures, and depending whether she lives or dies, all of history will be changed. McCoy is the random element. Does he kill her, or prevent her from being killed? - we don't know which. In the end, Kirk must allow Edith to die, thus restoring the timeline, and everyone returning home.
Review: BEST. EPISODE. EVER. Really, the bottom line is that, in terms of Star Trek - The Original Series, this is the best of 'em.
For the sake of full disclosure, I must admit my bias heavily favoring this episode before watching it this time around. But there's a reason for my bias. It's friggin' awesome. And that's an objective statement.
Where to begin? I feel like I'm high on chordrozine myself! Let me just hit some major points and keep this from becoming a ten-page essay. I'll go with ten bullets instead...
- What really sets this apart from other someone-screwed-up-the-historical-timeline stories is that we actually don't know among Edith's two possible fates which causes the screwup versus which is the needed fix. That's perhaps the most riveting component to the story - it's not simply about fixing the timeline; it's about determining what that even means.
- What makes it all work is the authenticity of Edith's character. We care. And forget Dynasty. This will go down as the highlight of Joan Collins' career. In fact, it already has.
- I love the explanation for how Kirk and Spock arrive at the same location as McCoy, which would seem quite improbable... the theory that time is fluid and there exist "currents of time". Without debating the scientific merits of this theory in too much detail, it at least strikes me that such focal points in time would have to assume and assign some metric of importance to individual people or events, and that's very problematic, clearly. I'll let you theologians out there chime in on issues of pre-determination, but it hints at godspeak to me.
- Speaking of theology, what's the deal with the "Guardian of Forever"?! How can this character get away with not being explored further?! The faceless, shapeless being powering the time-arch reeks of Moses and the Burning Bush - which is also interesting because by episode's end, Kirk and the gang seemingly want no part of the Guardian, despite what he offers them. He's even perceived as something of a menace. Hmmmmm...
- It's interesting to note that, before McCoy leaps through the time portal, Kirk and Spock are actually discussing going back in time on purpose to prevent McCoy from overdosing on the chordrozine. So the moral of the story isn't "not to tinker" with history, the way we'd all assume.
- How is the gang magically returned to the 23rd century once Edith dies?!
- What is the "city" referred to in the title of the episode?
- Was there any point to the pedestrian who phasers himself?
- Did you ever notice in the credits that Edith is referred to as "Sister Edith Keeler"? She's a NUN, for pete's sake?!
- I'm irrationally enticed at the prospect that, if Kirk and Spock fail, each individual member of the crew will have to go back and try to restore proper time as well. Just am.
Forget the stupid tribbles. This episode is where it's at.
Review: 5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment