Captain’s Log, Stardate 072430.0106
The City on the Edge of Forever
Captain Kirk and First Officer
Spock go back in time to the 1930’s to stop the crazed Dr. McCoy from changing
the course of history. While Spock attempts to learn more about the event McCoy
has changed, Kirk falls in love with Edith Keeler, a pacifist charity worker.
They discover that by saving her, McCoy gave her the opportunity to begin a
pacifist movement that delayed the US’s entrance in WWII and therefore allowed
Germany to be the first country to develop the atomic bomb. This causes
Germany’s victory and ultimately leads to Star Fleet never being created. The
three are forced to let Keeler die in a car accident so that this possible
future is avoided. Spock reflects on the situation, saying, “She brought peace,
but at the wrong time.”
This episode, while maintaining a
message of peace, speaks in a manner that promotes the American Government’s
decision to become involved in the Vietnam War, contemporary to the time the
episode aired. Commonly, in Star Trek, allusions are made to current events of
the time either in critique or satire. It is interesting to see the way
entertainment has been used to influence the people’s opinions.
What do you think?
Star Trek has been known in the past to praise peace over war and this episode was one of the exceptions. This episode promotes a prolonged peace, and sent a message which supported, in contemporary society, the war in Vietnam. Perhaps this was a government influenced episode, but I doubt this conspiracy.
ReplyDeleteI have minimal experience with Star Trek and I feel that most of what I would of said is already said, but I think this episode establishes that time travel is mostly illogical as if you changed anything in the past, it would affect the future and if you went to the future, it wouldn't change anything because the future is always changing.
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure it was pro-Vietnam, but rather not anti-Vietnam. It seemed more in favor of the idea that ideas take place in a historical context--Keeler's ideals were anachronistic and therefore 'dangerous' because they disrupted the natural flow of history. It still suggested that peace is preferable, but avoided being explicitly against the war by noting that conflict is sometimes a necessary evil in order for history to develop.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, politics aside, it falls in line with the common time-travel theme that altering the past is dangerous, even if it may seem favorable at the time. (e.g., killing Hitler may result in even worse things happening.)
This episode did promote peace and stated it was the best option for the future of society, but it created a clear image of the destruction, and danger peace at the wrong time would cause. For example in the future where the pacifist Edith Keeler started a pacifist movement in the United States it delayed the United States from entering World War Two and lead to the German's invention of the atomic bomb, but the peace movement that Edith Keeler created would have been much better during the Vietnam War.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it was sad when they had to let her die and I think that it was unfiar too kirk that he fell in love with Edith
ReplyDeletePS.DR.Mcoy whent crazy when he injected himself with to much medicine
Awesome episode and discussion!
ReplyDeleteI really would like to agree with what Ben is saying, but I actually believe that this episode encourages the use of force during the Vietnam War. I say this because the episode showed a bad outcome when passivity was used during WWII. I believe that it is showing that using one mindset for all situations is wrong, but instead each situation should be thought through and acted upon accordingly.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this episodes sends the message that peace is preferable, but not always the answer. Sometimes using force is necessary.
This episode is unusually deep and much different from most episodes. I'm not exactly a devoted Trekker, but this episode is my favorite, partly because of the way they handled the paradoxes introduced by the time travel element: namely, the space-time vortex caused by the Guardian that protected everything inside it from changes in the timeline.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have had limited exposure to the original Star Trek series, I was able to identify the main themes. Through a storyline using time travel, this episode was explored the idea of "Peace at the wrong time." As well as the choice the life of one for the lives of many.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about why this story will talk about the second world war. In my opinion, the US war in Vietnam and maybe the people disagree with the war so they show their opinion in the Star Trek.
ReplyDeleteThis story is about the crews travel to the second world war. The reason why talk about this maybe is the people disagree the war with Vietnam and show their opinion in Star Trek.
ReplyDelete