Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

A friendly reminder regarding spoilers! As always, the expanded Trek universe is in a period of major upheaval with the continuations of Strange New Worlds and Prodigy, the advent of new eras in gaming with the Star Trek Adventures RPG and Star Trek Online, as well as other eventful releases such as Section 31, the ongoing IDW Star Trek comic and spin-off Star Trek: Defiant. Therefore, please be courteous to other users who may not be aware of current developments by using the {{spoiler}}, {{spoilers}} OR {{majorspoiler}} tags when adding new information from sources less than six months old (even if it is minor info). Also, please do not include details in the summary bar when editing pages and do not anticipate making additions relating to sources not yet in release. THANK YOU

READ MORE

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

Harlan Ellison's The City on the Edge of Forever, Issue 5 was the last issue of a five-part Star Trek: The Original Series miniseries published in 2014 which adapted Harlan Ellison's original script for TOS episode: "The City on the Edge of Forever". It was adapted by writers Scott and David Tipton and painted by J.K. Woodward.

Description[]

Solicitation text
The final act of Harlan Ellison’s Hugo and WGA Award-winning Star Trek teleplay! Is James T. Kirk willing to sacrifice the woman he loves, to save the universe as he knows it?! You may have seen the episode, but you only think you know how it ends! From the mind of literary legend Harlan Ellison!

Summary[]

Seeking information on Beckwith, Kirk seeks out a crippled veteran of the Battle of Verdun and buys his services as a lookout for $2, even paying him all the money upfront.

That evening, Kirk and Keeler share dinner but Kirk's sombre mood is unable to be ignored. Though Edith cannot grasp the full picture, she can tell Kirk is going away and it has to do with the "Chinese fellow". As Edith professes to losing faith that things will ever get better, Kirk reassures her that things will get better, that her philosophy will eventually win the argument and that... he loves her.

Spock then arrives and silently departs with Kirk. Leading him to the Verdun veteran, Kirk offers the man further financial compensation before the two officers stalk into the alley. As they search, a trashcan falls on Spock, the noise alerting Beckwith who targets Kirk with the phaser. Seeing this, the veteran lunges at Kirk, knocking him clear of the beam but winding up disintegrated as a result. Spock uses everyone's collective shock to throw the trashcan at Beckwith, scaring him off for now. As Kirk picks himself up, the two ponder what effects the cripple's death may have before Spock wonders why a man would perform such an act for someone he barely knew. A downtrodden Kirk knows. Because they were nice to him.

As the two set a sad course home, they pass by another of Edith's sermons. And even Spock has to admit, she is a remarkable women with ideas far ahead of her time. Spying Kirk across the street, Edith cross to him, unaware of an approaching truck. Seeing the imminent disaster, Beckwith lunges at her only to be tackled away by Spock. With only a second to look at the vehicle, Edith Keeler unceremoniously dies.

As he mourns, Kirk is whisked across time and space back to Gateway while everything reverts to what it was.

With Kirk too sad to speak, Spock confers with the Guardians who confirm that all is as it was, despite the cripple's death. He counted...just not enough. With that, Beckwith wrestles himself free of Spock's grasp and jumps back into the vortex, the portal sealing itself. Though Spock believes it was all for nothing, the Guardians inform him that the vortex cannot be set for the same space/time coordinates twice. But Beckwith has not escaped. He is now forever trapped in the heart of an exploding star, doomed to remain trapped in a single second. Like the Möbius strip, he has no beginning or end. He wanted forever and he got it.

Back aboard the USS Enterprise, Spock manages to break though Kirk's melancholic shell by calling him "Jim". After a brief philosophical discussion, Spock asks if Kirk can explain why Beckwith, a man so blatantly corrupt and self-serving, felt the urge to save Keeler's life even if it might have potentially cost him his own. Well Kirk can't explain it but he knows the pattern of behaviour. So often has the human race looked at itself and despaired over its infinite capacity for cruelty, welcoming extinction so someone better could have a go at it. But then, those who seem beyond help demonstrate an infinite capacity for good by doing something so wonderfully noble and selfless. And if that's the case, then perhaps humanity can endure a bit more suffering if it means utopia. But even that does little to soothe the blow of the cripple's death. A veteran of World War I and he was "negligible". But Keeler was not. The woman who had more love to give than perhaps anyone in the universe. But who lived at the wrong time for love.

With that, Spock takes his leave. With a sad gaze, Kirk watches the stars streak by at warp speed. Now powerfully humbled regarding his place in the universe. That he is ultimately one "negligible" man, in one tiny room, in an insignificant starship, streaking through the ever expanding void.

Alone.

References[]

Characters[]

BeckwithGuardians of ForeverEdith KeelerJames T. KirkSpockTrooper

Starships and vehicles[]

automobileUSS Enterprise (Constitution-class heavy cruiser) • trolleytruck

Locations[]

GatewayEarth (New York City)
Referenced only
ChinaVerdun

Races and cultures[]

Human (Chinese) • Vulcan

States and organizations[]

StarfleetUnited Federation of Planets

Science and technology[]

phaserweapon

Ranks and titles[]

captainFederation Starfleet ranks (2260s)Starfleet ranks

Other references[]

angel food cakeappleBattle of Verdunbirdcentcockroachcoordinatesdollarhistorylogicmeatmineralmoneynovaobservation portstarStarfleet uniformStarfleet uniform (2265-2270)sunwineWorld War I

Appendices[]

Related media[]

Background[]

  • An observation port was seen in Kirk's quarters.

Connections[]

Timeline[]

published order
Previous comic:
Harlan Ellison's The City on the Edge of Forever, Issue 4
TOS comics
IDW Publishing
Next comic:
Final Issue
chronological order


Publication history[]

12 November 2014
First printed by IDW Publishing.
3 February 2015
Collected in the hardcover omnibus. (IDW Publishing)
19 January 2017
Collected in the Graphic Novel Collection's Volume 2 omnibus. (Eaglemoss Collections)
Translations[]
6 September 2017
Italian: Collected in the Italian paperback release of Graphic Novel Collection, Volume 2: La Città Sull’orlo del Sempre – La Sceneggiatura Originale. (RCS MediaGroup, ISSN 977228074425770002)
18 February 2021
Spanish: Collected in the Spanish hardcover omnibus as La ciudad al borde de la eternidad. (Editorial Drakul, ISBN 978-8412169249)

External link[]