Star Trek: City on the Edge of Forever By Harlan Ellison to Be Adapted to Comics

Widely regarded as one of, if not the, best episodes of Star Trek, Harlan Ellison's "City on the Edge of Forever" teleplay will be adapted to comics, IDW Publishing announced today. Ellison's Hugo- and Writers Guild of America Award-winning teleplay for "City on the Edge of Forever" was modified before the episode was filmed, but now, at long last, fans will be able to enjoy his original teleplay in the form of an IDW miniseries launching in June: Star Trek: Harlan Ellison's City on the Edge of Forever: The Original Teleplay. During the ensuing decades, few people have read the original teleplay, which is very different from the televised version. This miniseries, produced under the guidance of Ellison himself, offers fans everywhere the opportunity to see a classic Star Trek episode the way no one has seen it before.

Adapting the teleplay for the comics series are writers Scott Tipton and David Tipton; interior art will be painted by J.K. Woodward. Each issue of the series will feature a special cover by artist Juan Ortiz, whose artistic interpretations of every episode of Star Trek: The Original Series were recently published in an oversize hardcover collection,Star Trek: The Art of Juan Ortiz. Variant covers will be provided by movie poster artist/Star Trek: Khan cover artist Paul Shipper. "Presenting Harlan Ellison's brilliant original script for 'City on the Edge…' has been a goal of ours since IDW first began publishing Star Trek comics in 2007," said series editor and IDW Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall. "The episode justifies its position atop 'best Star Trek episodes' lists but even it ain't nuthin' compared to what Ellison did in his original teleplay. This is truly going to be a Star Trek adventure unlike any other, even to fans who have that beloved episode memorized." "It was a superlative joy of my long life to have worked with Leonard Nimoy, who became my friend, and many others at Star Trek," Ellison said, "and an equally heart-happy joy to be working with J.K. and the Tipton Bros. and Chris Ryall on this long-awaited visual of my (humbly, I say it) brilliant original 'City…'" Star Trek's "City on the Edge of Forever" originally aired on April 6, 1967, as the penultimate episode of Star Trek's first season. IGN awarded it the number-one spot in their list of the Top 10 Classic Star Trek Episodes and TV Guide named the episode one of its 100 Most Memorable Moments in TV History. Star Trek: Harlan Ellison's Original City on the Edge of Forever Teleplay #1 (of 5) will be available in June and is under license by CBS Consumer Products. Last year, Dark Horse Comics did something similar, adapting George Lucas's never-used The Star Wars pitch as a miniseries under its Star Wars license.