GEORGE TAKEI played Sulu on the original series. He has been a potent Los Angeles politico, having sat on the Board of Directors of the Southern California Rapid Transit District, having spearheaded numerous urban development programs, and having cleverly used his celebrity from Trek and many other series to better the condition of life for all Angelenos. He is held in much affection by other actors, by those who worked on the series, and by the rest of us who are privileged to know him.

Peter David

Peter David

One grows up.

It’s inevitable (unless you’re Peter Pan, or Jeffty) and as the years pass, you discover that the world is not as black and white as you once thought. That many things are possible. And that just because something is different doesn’t make it bad.

I thought the original script for “City” sucked.

I thought this because, the first time I learned of it, I was a snot-nosed kid whose entire view of the creative process behind Star Trek was predicated on the concept that if it was on the air, it was good, and if it wasn’t, then it must be bad because it wasn’t good enough to get on the air.

So when I read about how “City” had undergone massive rewrites to make it good enough to ride the television waves, I thought, “Wow…it must really have sucked.” Furthermore, the publicized reasons as to what made it unacceptable were appalling. A Starfleet officer selling drugs? How ridiculous! Kirk ready to let the universe shift into an unfamiliar, parallel line, out of love for a woman? Preposterous!

Boy oh boy oh boy. What a sucky, sucky script. The fact that it had won the Writers Guild and Hugo Awards merely confirmed for me that the rest of the world was composed of purblind nitwits who didn’t understand that if it wasn’t good enough to air on Star Trek in its original form, then it wasn’t good, period.

And then, some years later, when I’d had a chance to grow up a bit, I happened to buy the Roger Elwood collection that featured the original script.

And I understood.

With a vengeance.

In the words of Yogi Berra, “You can observe a lot by watching.” Watch the story, the original story of Sister Edith Keeler, unfolding, and you will observe a master craftsman at work, producing a story of infinitely deeper meanings, shadings and complexities than what aired.