City on the Edge of Forever paradox

[Wishfire 2]

Okay, so, I was watching the four hour Star Trek 40th anniversary special on TV Land. One of the episodes they played was The City on the Edge of Forever. So here's the thing...

 

Around the mid-point, Spock was able to construct a primitive computer which he hooked his tricorder up to in order to slow down and view the information he had recorded via the Guardian near the beginning of the episode. One of the things he viewed was a newspaper clipping of Edith Keeler's obituary, stating that she had been killed in an automobile accident. Later on, we see her getting killed by a truck. However, the reason she started walking across the street, and into the path of the truch, was because she saw Kirk and McCoy struggling with each other, and she wanted to know what's up.

 

Earlier, they had said that McCoy had changed the future by preventing Keeler's death. But wouldn't it really be Kirk's fault? If he had never traveled to the path, he never would have fought with McCoy. If he had never fought with McCoy, Keeler would never have walked into the path of the truck. And, according to the story, if Keeler hadn't been killed, she would've delayed the United States' entry into WWII, which would've allowed Germany to develop the A-bomb first.

 

In other words, isn't the existence of the Trek future the result of Kirk's presence, rather than the existence of an alternate future being the result of McCoy's?

[welfconfed 2]

An interesting theory, but without any tampering from the future, she may have been going to cross the street to see the Clarke Gable movie alone and been hit by a vehicle anyway.

 

McCoy may have changed things simply by being at the soup kitchen. Edith might have decided that spending the evening in the company of the strange southern gentleman, who talked of the world as a drug induced delusion, far more entertaining than attended a film alone.

 

However, I do like the idea that Kirk not only spared the world from Nazi domination (perhaps leading to the timeline of the mirror universe?), but also created the star trek universe.

 

Regardless, one of the greatest episodes in the history of trek.

[Stephen of Borg 2]

I think that City on the Edge of Forever has to do with history repeating itself.

 

But the mirror universe was created when Zefram Cochrane killed the Vulcans instead of greeting them when they first met, according to the Enterprise episode "In A Mirror, Darkly"

[welfconfed 2]

I think that City on the Edge of Forever has to do with history repeating itself.

 

But the mirror universe was created when Zefram Cochrane killed the Vulcans instead of greeting them when they first met, according to the Enterprise episode "In A Mirror, Darkly"

 

 

Cochrane's murder of the Vulcans and the capture of their ship didn't create the mirror universe, but by using advanced Vulcan technology, it was the begining of the Terran Empire as an interstellar government.

 

Remember that in part 2 Archer referred to the Empire having "endured for centuries" , if we assume that means only two centuries, that still puts the beginning of the Empire around the mid-20th century.

(around the same time as world war II)

 

However, the Empire may have existed far longer, Phlox (again in part 2) told T'pol that he had read through some of the classic literature of the "other" ( Federation) universe and found their versions of the characters weak and compassionate.

 

Now the real question is, what is considered 'classic' literature?

Post-ww3 works, !9th century, or perhaps going all the way back to the Illiad. (as referenced in Diane Duane's Novel "Dark Mirror")

The dark seeds that lead to the Empire may have been sown in the Human heart from the very beginning.