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From: kalpin@utecfc.UUCP (Jordan E Kalpin)
Newsgroups: net.startrek
Subject: Re: "City at the edge of forever"
Message-ID: <60@utecfc.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 23-Jan-86 18:00:59 EST
Article-I.D.: utecfc.60
Posted: Thu Jan 23 18:00:59 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 23-Jan-86 22:13:25 EST
References: <2322@ukma.UUCP> <8800017@convexs> <1525@ihlpg.UUCP> <400@mmm.UUCP>
Reply-To: kalpin@utecfc.UUCP (Jordan E Kalpin)
Organization: Engineering Computing Facility, University of Toronto
Lines: 32
Summary: 

>Actually, I think area immediately surrounding the Guardian was
>"protected" from time-travel-induced changes by a field of some sort.
>It would make sense for the designers to have built this sort of thing
>in, because otherwise the time portal would have been _very_ difficult
>to use.  Actually though, this is a little different from the theory of
>time travel appearing in other episodes (such as "Assignment: Earth"
>and another whose name I forget) where it appears that whatever you do
>while back in time is what already happened anyway...

Now don't get me wrong--COTEOF is my favourite ST episode, but how about
the following flaw:
When Spock makes the recording of Earth's past on his tricorder, think 
about which version he records...the one with McCoy saving Edith, right?
So how can he have both versions to look at when he builds the computer
on Earth?  In other words, Spock only has _one_ version of Earth's past
from the time after McCoy jumps through the Guardian.

I don't think there is a satisfactory rationale for this problem.
I guess we should just enjoy it.

(By the way, in Tomorrow is Yesterday, why does Spock punch the guard
instead of using the pinch?)


Jordan Kalpin
University of Toronto
Mechanical Engineering
kalpin@utecfc.UUCP

...He knows Doctor...He has reasoned it out...