City on the Edge of Forever problem
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Star Trek
mrbobbyh — 9 years ago(October 01, 2016 07:14 AM)
Why would Kirk want to use the Guardian to go back and prevent McCoy's accident? He didn't kill anybody while under the influence of that drug, and his overdose couldn't have been too damaging AT ALL if he easily recovered in a 1930s boarding house with nothing but a cup of coffee. Surely the Enterprise sickbay would be able to heal him in seconds.
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mrbobbyh — 9 years ago(October 01, 2016 07:25 AM)
Of course. That's why Kirk HAD to use the Guardian. But before McCoy jumped in and screwed everything up, Kirk was standing around asking the Guardian if they could go back and prevent the overdose. Why bother if it is so easy to recover from?
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Blueghost — 9 years ago(October 02, 2016 01:31 AM)
Because it wasn't. You're not following the plot. And, quite frankly, I'm surprised I have to explain the obvious.
Once McCoy entered the past, the Enterprise and reality as Kirk and the landing party knew it, vanished. It went into a state of "never was".
Why are you not following this story? -
mrbobbyh — 9 years ago(October 06, 2016 01:37 PM)
You obviously didn't understand the question. Kirk asked the guardian if they could go back and prevent McCoy's accident BEFORE McCoy jumped into the portal and changed history. McCoy didn't even really need any medical attention if he was able to recover after a night in a 1930s boarding house. The only reason McCoy jumped in and screwed up history was because Kirk was asking "Can we go back and prevent his accident? "
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Blueghost — 9 years ago(October 06, 2016 07:22 PM)
I understood the question, you didn't understand the plot, because he was not recovered. Even when Keeler's taking care of him he's still chalking up his experience to a chemically induced delusion, and he on the verge of saving Keeler and altering time.
I'll be honest, I don't like the episode all that much because it is another nazi-paranoid piece of Hollywood film/TV. A foe we had vanquished, and apparently it's the one time the US is allowed to fight.
But the plot and story are pretty much all there, however much you missed it. -
jxh13 — 9 years ago(October 01, 2016 11:10 AM)
Two thoughts:
Kirk indicates they have no way of knowing if the madness is permanent or temporary; records of extreme dosages are apparently sketchy. It seems wise to consider every possible solution to the problem.
He considers the possibility, but they don't act upon it; only after asking do they discover that the rate of time passing is prohibitively fast, and the Guardian can't (or won't) slow it. Chances are they wouldn't gave tried.
What is more interesting (to me, at least) is that there are no medical personnel in the landing party. They'll take a Uhura to record McCoy's madness, but no one to treat him? -
powersroc — 9 years ago(October 01, 2016 11:35 AM)
Superb episode & usually listed as the number 1 episode of ST:TOS.
Here's another nitpick:why couldn't they simply have scanned the local area that Dr.McCoy transported to on the planet from the Enterprise? Then beam him back. -
jozzcooper — 9 years ago(October 01, 2016 04:31 PM)
If that was terrible, the entire series would have been garbage. If not the best story in the show's run, it was an extremely close second. City even won the Hugo that year.
Coincidence eh? So when Kirk and Spock used the tri-corder to try to jump through slightly before McCoy, conscious choice wasn't involved? Spock building a computer to interface with the tri-corder was purely coincidental. Heck, I won't even go into the use of the words drama and melodrama.
Sure, there were lapses in logic, but that's like finding a needle in a stack of needles. Pretty much every story had some logical flaw.
The biggest issue is that once McCoy changes history and the ship is gone, his presence would also be erased. That's the problem with time manipulation stories. -
kerryedavis — 9 years ago(October 01, 2016 05:42 PM)
Yes, but if his presence was erased, then he couldn't have changed history.
It's just another one of those paradox/loop things.
The doubletalk explanation in this case was that being in the vicinity of the Guardian protected them. -
chris109 — 9 years ago(October 02, 2016 05:43 AM)
Why was it only Earth history that the Gspot was showing. Why not Vooolcun histoire? Or Romulan? If it was Romulan then they could have gone to Romulus and worn that silly apparel that was shown in the Neutered Generation. And had bright lights all over, with cheap plastiform sets, and every one there would speak perfect english. And had bright lights.
And how would Kirk hide his ears? Would Spock tell a centurian that his head was caught in a Remus rice-picker? But then Spock would meet some Romulan chick commander and they would touch fingers and get all hot and bothered and Kirk could stay in his flop and build a neumonic circuit to find out what the hell was going on. But then they wouldn't be able to return to their time because McCoy was discovered and put on display in a Romulan museum and made him into a zombie by cutting into his brain.
It's a madhouse!
And did I mention the lighting? -