What do you think?
Rate this book
Star Trek Fotonovel #1
The City on the Edge of Forever
The authentic re-creation of a fateful voyage of the starship Enterprise. Over 300 action photographs from the episode City On the Edge of Forever. Television series created by Gene Roddenberry.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
119 people want to read
About the author
Harlan Ellison
1,081 books2,849 followersHarlan Jay Ellison (1934-2018) was a prolific American writer of short stories, novellas, teleplays, essays, and criticism.
His literary and television work has received many awards. He wrote for the original series of both The Outer Limits and Star Trek as well as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; edited the multiple-award-winning short story anthology series Dangerous Visions; and served as creative consultant/writer to the science fiction TV series The New Twilight Zone and Babylon 5.
Several of his short fiction pieces have been made into movies, such as the classic "The Boy and His Dog".
His literary and television work has received many awards. He wrote for the original series of both The Outer Limits and Star Trek as well as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; edited the multiple-award-winning short story anthology series Dangerous Visions; and served as creative consultant/writer to the science fiction TV series The New Twilight Zone and Babylon 5.
Several of his short fiction pieces have been made into movies, such as the classic "The Boy and His Dog".
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
November 19, 2014
Treasure of the Rubbermaids 2: The Wrath of Harlan Ellison
The on-going discoveries of priceless books and comics found in a stack of Rubbermaid containers previously stored and forgotten at my parent’s house and untouched for almost 20 years. Thanks to my father dumping them back on me, I now spend my spare time unearthing lost treasures from their plastic depths.
This one really takes me back. Published in 1977, this ‘Fotonovel’ was a nifty gimmick that I read almost to tatters as a kid. Essentially, they took still pictures from original Star Trek episodes and added the dialogue and narrations like a comic book. This was two years before the first movie was released and long before the spin-off series started, and one assumes that fans were desperate for any form of Star Trek they could get.
Reading this as a 41 year old adult who’s spent more time than he’s comfortable admitting watching movies and various versions of the show, it’s odd to realize how much enjoyment I got from this simple book as a kid. I got a bonus in that it’s probably one of the single best Star Trek episodes from a story by Harlan Ellison.
While investigating a disturbance in time itself while orbiting a deserted planet, Dr. McCoy accidentally injects himself with a powerful drug while treating an injured crewman. McCoy freaks out and beams down to the planet. Kirk and a landing party finally catch him in the ruins of a city, and they also find the Guardian of Forever, a sentient time portal. McCoy breaks free and goes into the past, instantly changing history so that the Enterprise disappears from orbit.
Kirk and Spock follow through the portal, ending up in New York during the Great Depression. While trying to find McCoy, they meet Alexis Carrington…Er… I mean, Edith Keeler, a social worker with a strong vision of a peaceful future. Kirk falls hard for her (big surprise), but he’ll face a terrible choice when Spock learns that Edith is the key to what McCoy changes.
The funniest thing about this is that it has a short interview with Ellison as an intro. Ellison has complained for years about how they changed his original draft of the story which included an Enterprise crew member dealing drugs. The prickly Ellison bitches about this again in a promotional interview for a book aimed primarily at kids. Apparently he’s been nursing that grudge for some time. It’s good to know that some things never change.
The only bad thing about finding this is that I apparently went crazy in my youth and drew on the cover with a pen and added beards and eyebrows to several crew pictures. This must have been done before I developed my iron-clad rule about never writing in books. I need to find the Guardian of Forever so I can go back into the past and stop my younger self from being a book defacing dumb-ass.
The on-going discoveries of priceless books and comics found in a stack of Rubbermaid containers previously stored and forgotten at my parent’s house and untouched for almost 20 years. Thanks to my father dumping them back on me, I now spend my spare time unearthing lost treasures from their plastic depths.
This one really takes me back. Published in 1977, this ‘Fotonovel’ was a nifty gimmick that I read almost to tatters as a kid. Essentially, they took still pictures from original Star Trek episodes and added the dialogue and narrations like a comic book. This was two years before the first movie was released and long before the spin-off series started, and one assumes that fans were desperate for any form of Star Trek they could get.
Reading this as a 41 year old adult who’s spent more time than he’s comfortable admitting watching movies and various versions of the show, it’s odd to realize how much enjoyment I got from this simple book as a kid. I got a bonus in that it’s probably one of the single best Star Trek episodes from a story by Harlan Ellison.
While investigating a disturbance in time itself while orbiting a deserted planet, Dr. McCoy accidentally injects himself with a powerful drug while treating an injured crewman. McCoy freaks out and beams down to the planet. Kirk and a landing party finally catch him in the ruins of a city, and they also find the Guardian of Forever, a sentient time portal. McCoy breaks free and goes into the past, instantly changing history so that the Enterprise disappears from orbit.
Kirk and Spock follow through the portal, ending up in New York during the Great Depression. While trying to find McCoy, they meet Alexis Carrington…Er… I mean, Edith Keeler, a social worker with a strong vision of a peaceful future. Kirk falls hard for her (big surprise), but he’ll face a terrible choice when Spock learns that Edith is the key to what McCoy changes.
The funniest thing about this is that it has a short interview with Ellison as an intro. Ellison has complained for years about how they changed his original draft of the story which included an Enterprise crew member dealing drugs. The prickly Ellison bitches about this again in a promotional interview for a book aimed primarily at kids. Apparently he’s been nursing that grudge for some time. It’s good to know that some things never change.
The only bad thing about finding this is that I apparently went crazy in my youth and drew on the cover with a pen and added beards and eyebrows to several crew pictures. This must have been done before I developed my iron-clad rule about never writing in books. I need to find the Guardian of Forever so I can go back into the past and stop my younger self from being a book defacing dumb-ass.
August 11, 2018
Someone recently gave me a whole box of Star Trek books and other memorabilia, and this was among them. I had never heard of a Fotonovel before, but, I'd seen the concept previously; more recent shows and movies have gotten the same treatment by Tokyopop in their Cine-Manga.
The episode featured here is considered to be among the most iconic in all of Trek; a heartbreaking tale of lost love, and a moral fable about how our current actions affect the future. The makers did an excellent job bringing this into graphic novel format.
However, the book is not perfect; the interview in the front with episode writer Harlan Ellison presents him as a bit of a jerk, and the quiz at the back feels like an Accelerated Reader test. Still, Trekkies will likely enjoy this, even if they've seen this episode already.
The biggest problem is that this comic book adaptation is out of print, and could prove hard to find; if you see one of these at a garage sale, thrift store, or used bookstore, grab it while you can.
The episode featured here is considered to be among the most iconic in all of Trek; a heartbreaking tale of lost love, and a moral fable about how our current actions affect the future. The makers did an excellent job bringing this into graphic novel format.
However, the book is not perfect; the interview in the front with episode writer Harlan Ellison presents him as a bit of a jerk, and the quiz at the back feels like an Accelerated Reader test. Still, Trekkies will likely enjoy this, even if they've seen this episode already.
The biggest problem is that this comic book adaptation is out of print, and could prove hard to find; if you see one of these at a garage sale, thrift store, or used bookstore, grab it while you can.
December 13, 2020
This is an odd little book in which they took still images from the episode of the tv show and added word balloons with dialog along with blocks of narrative to tell the story in a sequential art format. It's important to note that Ellison did not write this version; he wrote the original teleplay and then very publicly complained for the rest of his life at the way it was re-written to be filmed. His original script was published in a Roger Elwood anthology and then on its own in book form with considerable introductory and background commentary, James Blish adapted it in prose form incorporating elements from both versions in his complete series of episode adaptations, and, of course, his original version was more recently adapted as a very good graphic novel. Star Trek was quite arguably the best known television drama series ever, and this was arguably the best known episode of it. Despite the inclusion of an introductory interview with Ellison, he repudiated this version. The book is credited to "Mandala Productions," and no individual author is named, which is also curious. I found it to be a pleasant artifact; it serviceably tells the story that was broadcast with a slant to younger readers. Ellison's original version may have been superior, but this is still a good story and this is an enjoyable read.
August 6, 2022
The hokeyness of the TV show is foregrounded in this “fotonovel” version. Silly, funny & mildly amusing.
July 27, 2021
No episode of the Star Trek original series captures the enormous burden of responsibility that the captain of a starship must bear. With many dangers in the universe and the ship constantly moving into unknown and uncertain territories, disaster with the loss of millions or billions of lives are always a potential consequence of the captain’s actions.
This episode also introduces an incredible, even godlike, entity. The Guardian of Forever is the most powerful object to ever appear in Star Trek, yet it is neither machine nor living being. Yet, it is eternal, capable of displaying all that has happened in the universe since it’s creation. It reminded me of the Akashic records of theosophy. It is the equivalent of a god, capable of providing access without actually altering the events.
The Enterprise encounters massive waves of time and space distortion and in an accident, Dr. McCoy is injected with an overdose of a drug that leads to wild paranoia and psychosis. He beams down to the surface and jumps through the Guardian, going back into the past and fundamentally altering the present. Only the Enterprise landing party is spared the changes. Determined to restore the world as they know it Kirk and Spock go back in time.
They land on Earth in the 1930’s at the peak of the Depression. They are in a city in the United States and must somehow use Spock’s tricorder to determine what it is they must do. Overcoming enormous technical hurdles, Spock manages to learn that in order for their world to live, one person, a good-hearted woman and Kirk’s love, must die.
This is one of the best written and acted episodes of the original series. The viewer feels Kirk’s anguish at what he must do. Never has it been more clear that Captain Kirk is fundamentally an island in his position as commander of a starship. It is also an expression of the phrase to appear later in the Star Trek franchise, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”
This presentation of the episode in the form of the fotonovel, equivalent to a graphic novel where the images are stills from the episode, is very well done. The humor and dead serious goals of Captain Kirk and Spock are captured. It is a book you keep on the shelf as you know you will reading it again. An urge similar to rewatching the episodes of the original series.
This episode also introduces an incredible, even godlike, entity. The Guardian of Forever is the most powerful object to ever appear in Star Trek, yet it is neither machine nor living being. Yet, it is eternal, capable of displaying all that has happened in the universe since it’s creation. It reminded me of the Akashic records of theosophy. It is the equivalent of a god, capable of providing access without actually altering the events.
The Enterprise encounters massive waves of time and space distortion and in an accident, Dr. McCoy is injected with an overdose of a drug that leads to wild paranoia and psychosis. He beams down to the surface and jumps through the Guardian, going back into the past and fundamentally altering the present. Only the Enterprise landing party is spared the changes. Determined to restore the world as they know it Kirk and Spock go back in time.
They land on Earth in the 1930’s at the peak of the Depression. They are in a city in the United States and must somehow use Spock’s tricorder to determine what it is they must do. Overcoming enormous technical hurdles, Spock manages to learn that in order for their world to live, one person, a good-hearted woman and Kirk’s love, must die.
This is one of the best written and acted episodes of the original series. The viewer feels Kirk’s anguish at what he must do. Never has it been more clear that Captain Kirk is fundamentally an island in his position as commander of a starship. It is also an expression of the phrase to appear later in the Star Trek franchise, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”
This presentation of the episode in the form of the fotonovel, equivalent to a graphic novel where the images are stills from the episode, is very well done. The humor and dead serious goals of Captain Kirk and Spock are captured. It is a book you keep on the shelf as you know you will reading it again. An urge similar to rewatching the episodes of the original series.
March 31, 2021
What else can a fifty-six year old Trekkie say but this is one of the most delightful experiences I’ve had in ages. It’s pure nerd fun and I can’t wait to complete my collection (I’m almost there) and read them all with the same silly grin on my face.
November 13, 2021
This includes an amusing interview with Harlan Ellison.
It’s easy to imagine the excitement of a Trekkie picking up this book in 1977, when there was so little Trek out there. These fotonovels are an important part of Trek history.
It’s easy to imagine the excitement of a Trekkie picking up this book in 1977, when there was so little Trek out there. These fotonovels are an important part of Trek history.
July 20, 2024
Of course I've seen this episode of the TV show many times so there were no surprises here, but I still enjoyed this fotonovel, which adds dialogue and some basic narrative to a series of pictures taken directly from the show and illustrating the primary details of the tale. It was well done.
December 5, 2018
The format just doesn’t do justice to the great episode of television it’s adapting. The first half of it read like it was adapted by someone who saw the episode once on an airplane.
March 5, 2019
Harlan Ellison... who knew?
Perhaps the Tick-Tock Man...
Perhaps the Tick-Tock Man...
May 26, 2022
Fun :)
April 28, 2023
You can almost hear Harlan Ellison grind his teeth in the opening interview.
February 20, 2016
This is considered one of the classic original Star Trek episodes. The fotonovel helps bring it alive again without having to use any electronics. It's a very good story, sort of an alternate universe type of thing and shows just how history could have been changed in the U.S. in relation to WWII.
There was a moderately strong pro-German movement in this country at that time, characterized by the Bund. The U.S. was also still isolationist, and it wouldn't have taken a whole lot of changing of history to have seen the U.S. stay out of the European war (although the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor would also have had to not have taken place to do that.)
There was a moderately strong pro-German movement in this country at that time, characterized by the Bund. The U.S. was also still isolationist, and it wouldn't have taken a whole lot of changing of history to have seen the U.S. stay out of the European war (although the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor would also have had to not have taken place to do that.)
Read
June 1, 2010This is the 1st 'fotonovel' I ever saw. Joan Collins once said that when she was asked 'Weren't you that horrible bitch from Dynasty?', she replied that instead she was the sainted Edith Keeler from City on The Edge of Forever.
September 3, 2009
A clever use of stills from the TV series combined with conversation/narrative "balloons" to create a graphic novel of an original Classic Star Trek episode.
April 28, 2011
I love these fotonovels from the Classic Trek. I would like to own all of them.
March 3, 2013
A good substitute for videotapes and DVDs in the era before those existed.
October 2, 2013
In the days before the internet a book like this was precious to a fan.
I remember waiting impatiently for each of the photo novels to come out.
I remember waiting impatiently for each of the photo novels to come out.
December 31, 2015
Quick read of one of the best episodes of Star Trek.
December 14, 2018
Reread November 1978.
Reread February 1980.
Reread June 1980.
Reread February 1980.
Reread June 1980.
May 23, 2018
Looking for something else, I stumbled across this in my public library! An old Star Trek photonovel ... basically a comic book of the episode, illustrated with stills. it's not great art, but it was great Television! My favorite all time episode, which lead me to my favorite author.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews