"City on the Edge of Forever" is usually considered one of the best (if not the best) of the series. The praise is well-deserved.
During a meteor storm, McCoy accidentally injects himself with an overdose of cordrazine, which leads him to paranoid insanity. He beams himself down to the planet being orbited by the Enterprise, escapes through a time portal, resulting in the obliteration of the Enterprise's world. Kirk and Spock go back through the portal to try and intercept McCoy (who has interfered with the past), and land in the New York City of the 1930s. They are taken in by Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), a pacifistic social worker, and Kirk begins to fall in love.
As the summary indicates, this episode is the perfect confluence of superb science fiction writing (Harlan Ellison), well-honed directing (Joseph Pevney), and sensitive acting (Shatner and Nimoy in particular). The script is incredibly well-written by one of the best science fiction writers of all time, and uses modest humor (e.g., Spock's clueless insistence on securing platinum, Kirk's explanation of Spock's ears to a policeman, etc.) to keep the story from becoming overly maudlin. For those who believe that William Shatner could not act (i.e., those who had never seen him in his early TV days), his nuanced and sympathetic performance clearly shows how good of an actor he could be. Likewise, Joan Collins acquits herself quite well, and Nimoy is, as always, marvelous. Spock's final line in the 1930s world alone is worth the viewing.
During a meteor storm, McCoy accidentally injects himself with an overdose of cordrazine, which leads him to paranoid insanity. He beams himself down to the planet being orbited by the Enterprise, escapes through a time portal, resulting in the obliteration of the Enterprise's world. Kirk and Spock go back through the portal to try and intercept McCoy (who has interfered with the past), and land in the New York City of the 1930s. They are taken in by Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), a pacifistic social worker, and Kirk begins to fall in love.
As the summary indicates, this episode is the perfect confluence of superb science fiction writing (Harlan Ellison), well-honed directing (Joseph Pevney), and sensitive acting (Shatner and Nimoy in particular). The script is incredibly well-written by one of the best science fiction writers of all time, and uses modest humor (e.g., Spock's clueless insistence on securing platinum, Kirk's explanation of Spock's ears to a policeman, etc.) to keep the story from becoming overly maudlin. For those who believe that William Shatner could not act (i.e., those who had never seen him in his early TV days), his nuanced and sympathetic performance clearly shows how good of an actor he could be. Likewise, Joan Collins acquits herself quite well, and Nimoy is, as always, marvelous. Spock's final line in the 1930s world alone is worth the viewing.