Original subtitles

Stay on top of it, Mr. Sulu.

We're holding orbit, sir.

The helm is sluggish.

Control circuits threatening to overload, Captain.

Understood, Engineer.

Spock.

We can't avoid these areas of turbulence.

I believe we'll have them plotted

in a few more orbits.

Sick bay, to bridge.

Switching to manual, Captain.

Do we maintain this orbit?

Spock?

This is of great scientific importance.

We're actually passing through ripples in time.

Maintain orbit.

Open the channel to Starfleet Command.

Yes, sir.

Precautionary measure, Lieutenant.

Broadcast to Starfleet Command

my past week's log entry,

starting with the unusual readings on the instruments

and how they led us here.

Inform Starfleet Command that apparently...

something or someone down on this planet...

Bones.

can effect changes in time,

causing turbulent waves of space displacement.

Some heart flutter.

Better risk a few drops of cordrazine.

Tricky stuff. Are you sure you want to risk...

You were about to make a medical comment, Jim?

Who, me, Doctor?

We're guiding around most of the time ripples.

Spock?

All plotted but one. Coming up on it now.

Seems to be fairly heavy displacement.

Bones!

Back to your positions.

The hypo, Captain.

It was set for cordrazine.

Empty.

Communications, emergency medical team.

Aah!

Killers! Assassins!

I won't let you!

I'll kill you first!

I won't let you!

You won't get me! Murderers!

Killers!

Security alert.

Space... the final frontier.

These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.

Its five-years mission...

to explore strange new worlds,

to seek out new life and new civilizations...

to boldly go where no man has gone before.

Captain 's Log : supplemental entry.

Two drops of cordrazine can save a man's life.

A hundred times that amount

has just accidentally been pumped

into Dr. McCoy's body.

In a strange, wild frenzy,

he has fled the ship's bridge.

All connecting decks have been placed on alert.

We have no way of knowing

if the madness is permanent or temporary

or in what direction it will drive McCoy.

Continue alert,

decks 4 through 11 .

The medical department knows as little as we do.

In dosages approaching this,

there's some record of wild paranoia.

Confirmed by the library record tapes, Captain.

Subjects failed to recognize acquaintances,

became hysterically convinced

that they were in mortal danger,

and were seeking escape at any cost.

Extremely dangerous to himself

or to anyone else who might...

Bridge, Security. Alert, alert!

Bridge here. Go ahead.

Security 054, sir.

We just found the transport chief injured.

Captain, Dr. McCoy has beamed himself down to the planet.

The transporter at that time, Captain,

was focused on the time disturbance.

So whatever's down there,

McCoy's in the heart of it.

Set up a landing party.

Let's go get him. Kirk out.

These ruins extend to the horizon.

Begin recording.

Recording, sir.

And of considerable age...

on the order of 10,000 centuries old.

Detail, fan out.

What is this thing, Mr. Spock?

It seems to be pulsating with power of some kind.

Analysis, please.

Unbelievable, Captain.

That's funny.

This single object is the source

of all the time displacement.

Explain.

I can't.

For this to do what it does

is impossible by any science I understand.

It is operating even now...

putting out waves and waves of time displacement,

which we picked up millions of miles away.

Landing party to Enterprise.

No sign of Dr. McCoy.

Search progressing.

Incredible power.

It can't be a machine

as we understand mechanics.

Then what is it?

A question.

Since before your sun burned hot in space

and before your race was born,

I have awaited a question.

What are you?

I am the Guardian of Forever.

Are you machine or being?

I am both and neither.

I am my own beginning,

my own ending.

I see no reason

for answers to be couched in riddles.

I answer as simply as your level of understanding

makes possible.

A time portal, Captain...

a gateway to other times and dimensions,

if I'm correct.

As correct as possible for you.

Your science knowledge is obviously primitive.

Really?

Annoyed, Spock?

Behold.

A gateway to your own past, if you wish.

Killers!

Killers! I won't let you get me!

I'll kill you first!

I won't let you get me! Assassins! Murderers!

Killers!

Spock!

If that is a doorway back through time,

could we somehow take Bones

back a day in time, then...

Relive the accident,

this time be certain that the hypo accident is avoided?

Look at the speed

with which the centuries are passing, Captain.

To step through on precisely the day we wish...

Guardian.

Can you change the speed at which yesterday passes?

I was made to offer the past in this manner.

I cannot change.

Strangely compelling, isn't it?

To step through there

and lose oneself in another world.

I am a fool.

Our tricorder is capable of recording

even at this speed.

I've missed taping centuries of living history

which no man has ever...

Dr. McCoy!

Bones, no!

Where is he?

He has passed into...

what was.

Captain, I've lost contact with the ship.

I was talking to them.

Suddenly, it went dead.

No static, just nothing.

Kirk to Enterprise.

Scotty.

Nothing wrong with the communicator, sir.

Your vessel,

your beginning,

all that you knew

is gone.

McCoy...

has somehow changed history.

You mean we're stranded down here?

With no past,

no future.

Captain...

I'm frightened.

Earth's not there,

at least not the Earth we know.

We're totally alone.

Captain 's Log : no star date.

Forus, time does not exist.

McCoy, back somewhere in the past,

has effected a change in the course of time.

All Earth history has been changed.

There is no starship Enterprise.

We have only one chance.

We have asked the guardian

to show us Earth's history again.

Spock and I will go back into time

and attempt to set right

what ever it was that McCoy changed.

I was recording images at the time McCoy left...

a rather barbaric period in your American history.

I believe I can approximate Just when to jump,

perhaps within a month of the correct time.

A week, if we're fortunate.

Make sure we arrive before McCoy got there.

It's vital we stop him

before he does whatever it was

that changed all history.

Guardian.

If we are successful...

Then you will be returned.

It will be as though none of you had gone.

Captain, it seems impossible.

Even if you were able to find the right date...

Then even finding McCoy would be a miracle.

There is no alternative.

Scotty...

when you think you've waited long enough,

each of you will have to try it.

Even if you fail,

at least you'll be alive

in some past world somewhere.

Aye.

Seconds now, sir. Stand by.

Good luck, gentlemen.

Happiness at least, sir.

And...

now.

I've seen old photographs of this period.

An economic upheaval had occurred.

It was called depression, circa 1930.

Quite barbaric.

We seem to be costumed

a little out of step with the time.

I'm afraid I'm going to be difficult to explain

in any case, Captain.

Well, Mr. Spock, if we can't disguise you,

we'll find some way of... explaining you.

That should prove interesting.

Let's get out of here.

Fascinating.

Look out, will you?

Why don't you watch where you're going?

Theft, Captain?

Well, we'll steal from the rich

and give back to the poor later.

I think I'm going to like this century...

simple, easier to manage.

We're not going to have any difficulty explaining...

Ahem.

Well?

You're a police officer.

I recognize the traditional accouterments.

You were saying

you'll have no trouble explaining it.

My friend is obviously Chinese.

I see you've noticed the ears.

They're actually easy to explain.

Perhaps the unfortunate accident

I had as a child.

The unfortunate accident he had as a child.

He caught his head in a mechanical...

rice picker.

But fortunately,

there was an American missionary living close by

who was actually a, uh...

skilled plastic surgeon in civilian life.

All right, all right!

Drop those bundles

and put your hands on that wall there! Come on!

How careless of your wife

to let you go out that way.

Oh, yes, it's quite untidy.

Here, let me help you.

Oh!

You were actually enjoying my predicament back there.

At times, you seem quite human.

Captain, I hardly believe

that insults are within your prerogative

as my commanding officer.

Sorry.

Time we faced the unpleasant facts.

First, I believe we have about a week

before McCoy arrives,

but we can't be certain.

Arrives where... Honolulu, Boise, San Diego?

Why not Outer Mongolia, for that matter?

There is a theory.

There could be some logic

to the belief that time is fluid,

like a river... with currents, eddies, backwash.

And the same currents

that swept McCoy to a certain time and place

might sweep us there, too.

Unless that is true, Captain, we have no hope.

Frustrating... locked in here

is the place and moment of his arrival,

even the images of what he did.

If only I could tie this tricorder in

with the ship's computers for a few moments.

Couldn't you build some form of computer aid here?

In this zinc-plated vacuum-tubed culture?

Yes, well, it would pose

an extremely complex problem in logic, Mr. Spock.

Excuse me.

I sometimes expect too much of you.

Who's there?

Excuse us, miss.

We didn't mean to trespass.

It's cold outside.

A lie is a poor way to say hello.

It isn't that cold.

No.

We were being chased by a policeman.

Why?

For these clothes.

We stole them.

We didn't have any money.

Well, I could do with some help around here...

doing dishes, sweeping, general cleaning.

At what rate of payment?

I need radio tubes and so forth. My hobby.

15 cents an hour for 10 hours a day.

What are your names?

Mine is Jim Kirk.

His is...

Spock.

I'm Edith Keeler.

You can start by cleaning up down here.

Excuse me, miss.

Where are we?

You're in the 21st Street Mission.

Do you run this place?

Indeed I do, Mr. Kirk.

Radio tubes...

and so on.

I approve of hobbies, Mr. Spock.

Good evening.

You'll be sorry.

Why?

You expect to eat for free or something?

You got to listen

to goody two-shoes.

Now, as I'm sure somebody out there has said,

it's time to pay for the soup.

Not that she's bad-looking,

but if she really wanted

to help out a fella in need...

Shut up.

Shut up.

I want to hear what she has to say.

Yes, of course, Captain.

Now, let's start by getting one thing straight.

I'm not a do-gooder.

If you're a bum,

if you can't break off of the booze

or whatever it is that makes you a bad risk,

then get out.

I don't pretend to tell you

how to find happiness and love

when every day is a struggle to survive,

but I do insist that you do survive

because the days and the years ahead

are worth living for.

One day soon...

man is going to be able to harness incredible energies,

maybe even the atom.

Energies that could ultimately hurl us

to other worlds

in...in some sort of spaceship.

And the men that reach out into space

will be able to find ways

to feed the hungry millions of the world

and to cure their diseases.

They will be able to find a way

to give each man hope and a common future,

and those are the days worth living for.

Our deserts will bloom.

Development of atomic power is years away.

Space flight, years after that.

Speculation. Gifted insight.

But it will come.

I find her most uncommon, Mr. Spock.

Prepare for tomorrow. Get ready.

Don't give up.

Kirk.

You are uncommon workmen.

That basement looks like it's been scrubbed and polished.

Then we can do other work?

Yes. 7:00 in the morning.

Do you have a flop for the night?

A what?

You really are new at this, aren't you?

That's a place to sleep.

Oh.

There's a vacant room where I live

for $2.00 a week.

I could take you there.

Thank you.

Good.

We have a flop.

We have a what, Captain?

A place to sleep.

One might have said so in the first place.

Captain, I must have some platinum.

A small block would be sufficient...

5 or 6 pounds.

By passing certain circuits through there

to be used as a duodynetic field core...

Mr. Spock, I've brought you some assorted vegetables,

baloney and rolls for myself,

and I've spent the other 9/10

of our combined salaries for the last three days

on filling this order for you.

This bag doesn't contain platinum, silver, or gold,

nor is it likely to in the near future.

Captain, you're asking me to use equipment

which isn't far ahead of stone knives and bearskins.

McCoy will be along in a few days,

perhaps sooner.

There's no guarantee that these currents in time

will bring us together.

This has to work.

Captain...

Captain, in three weeks, at this rate,

possibly a month,

I might reach the first mnemonic memory circuits.

Your cap.

If you can leave immediately,

I can get you 5 hours' work at 22 cents an hour.

What... What on Earth is that?

I am endeavoring, ma'am,

to construct a mnemonic memory circuit

using stone knives and bearskins.

Captain.

Tools...

for finely detailed work.

That toolbox was locked with a combination lock,

and you opened it like a real pro.

Why did you do it?

I needed the fine tools for my radio work.

They'd have been returned in the morning.

I can't...

If Mr. Spock says

the tools would be returned tomorrow morning,

you can bet your reputation on that,

Miss Keeler.

On one condition...

walk me home?

I still have a few questions

I'd like to ask about you two.

Oh, and don't give me

that ''questions about little old us?'' look.

You know how out of place you are around here.

Interesting.

Where would you estimate we belong, Miss Keeler?

You?

At his side,

as if you've always been there and always will.

And you...

you belong...

in another place.

I don't know where or how.

I'll figure it out eventually.

I'll finish with the furnace.

"Captain"?

Even when he doesn't say it, he does.

Goodnight, sweetheart

Though I'm not beside you

Goodnight, sweetheart

Still my love will guide you

Why does Spock call you "Captain"?

Were you in the war together?

We served together.

And you don't want to talk about it?

Why?

I...

Did you do something wrong?

Are you afraid of something?

Whatever it is, let me help.

"Let me help."

A hundred years or so from now,

a novelist will write a classic using that theme.

He'll recommend those three words

even over "I love you."

Centuries from now?

Who is he? Where does he come...

Where will he come from?

Silly question.

Want to hear a silly answer?

Yes.

A planet...

circling that far left star in Orion's belt.

See?

How are the stone knives and bearskins?

I may have found our focal point in time.

You may also find you have a connection burning.

Yes. I'm overloading those lines.

I believe we'll have our answer on this screen.

Good.

And, Captain...

you may find this a bit distressing.

Let's see what you have.

I've slowed down the recording we made from the time vortex.

"February 23, 1936."

Six years from now.

"The president and...

Edith Keeler...

conferred for some time today... "

How bad?

Bad enough.

The president and Edith Keeler.

It would seem unlikely, Jim.

A few moments ago,

I read a 1930 newspaper article.

We know her future.

Within six years from now,

she'll become very important,

nationally famous.

Or, Captain,

Edith Keeler will die this year.

I saw her obituary.

Some sort of traffic accident.

You must be mistaken.

They both can't be true.

Edith Keeler is the focal point in time we've been looking for,

the point that both we and Dr. McCoy have been drawn to.

She has two possible futures then,

and, depending on whether she lives or dies,

all of history will be changed.

And McCoy...

Is the random element.

What does he do?

Does he kill her?

Or perhaps he prevents her from being killed.

We don't know which.

Get this thing fixed.

We must find out before McCoy arrives.

Captain...

suppose we discover

that, in order to set things straight again,

Edith Keeler must die?

Assassins!

Murderers!

Murderers!

Assassins!

You!

What planet is this?

No!

Don't run!

I won't kill you!

It's they who do the killing!

Don't run! I won't kill you!

Why?

What is so funny about man reaching for the moon?

How do you know?

I just know, that's all.

I... I feel it.

And more...

I think that one day,

they'll take all the money they spend on war...

And make them spend it on life?

Yes.

You see the same things that I do.

We speak the same language.

The very same.

No!

I...

I'm glad you got away, too.

Yeah, I... I...

Why do you think they want to kill us?

Look, you take too much of that old wood alky, and...

Where...

Where are we?

Earth?

The constellations seem right, but...

Explain!

Explain this trick.

I... I...

Biped ...

small ...

good cranial development.

No doubt, considerable human ancestry.

Is that how you're able to fake all of this?

Very good.

Modern museum perfection...

right down to the cement beams.

Very, very good.

Oh, I'd give a lot to see the hospital.

Probably...

needles and...

sutures.

All the pain.

They used to hand-cut and sew people

like garments.

Needles and sutures...

all the terrible pain!

How long before we get a full answer?

I'll need two more days

before I dare make another attempt.

McCoy could have been in the city a week now

for all we know,

and whatever he does

that affects her and changes history

could happen tonight, tomorrow morning.

Captain...

our last bit of information

was obtained at the expense of 30 hours' work

and fused and burned circuits.

I must know whether she lives or dies, Spock.

I must know what to do.

Extra! Extra! Get your morning paper!

Get your paper, read all about it!

Oh, miss...

that coffee, it just smells wonderful.

You look terrible!

You better sit down. Come on.

I can't. I got to keep moving.

I can't let them find me.

There's a cot in the back room.

They won't find you there. Come on.

This is how history went after McCoy changed it.

Here...

the late 1930s... a growing pacifist movement

whose influence delayed the United States' entry

into the Second World War.

While peace negotiations dragged on,

Germany had time to complete its heavy-water experiments.

Germany...

fascism, Hitler.

Sieg...

heil!

Sieg heil!

They won the Second World War...

because all this lets them develop the A-bomb first.

There's no mistake, Captain.

Let me run it again.

Edith Keeler, founder of the peace movement.

But she was right. Peace was the way.

She was right, but at the wrong time.

With the A-bomb,

and with their V-2 rockets to carry them,

Germany captured the world.

No.

And all this because McCoy came back

and somehow kept her from dying in a street accident,

as she was meant to.

We must stop him, Jim.

How did she die?

What day?

I can estimate general happenings from these images,

but I can't trace down precise actions

at exact moments, Captain.

I'm sorry.

Spock...

I believe...

I'm in love with Edith Keeler.

Jim, Edith Keeler must die.

Hey, now, come on.

You're not ready to take on any tigers just yet.

Lie down.

The most common question to ask would be,

where am I?

I don't think I'll ask it.

Why not?

The only possible answer

would conclusively prove that I'm ...

either unconscious or demented.

This looks like old Earth around 1920 or '25.

Would you care to try for '30?

I am unconscious ...

or demented.

I have a friend that talks about Earth like you do.

Would you like to meet him?

I'm a surgeon,

not a psychiatrist.

I am Leonard McCoy,

senior medical officer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise.

I don't mean to disbelieve you,

but that's hardly a navy uniform.

It's quite all right.

It's quite all right, dear ...

because I don't believe in you, either.

Get some rest.

Edith.

Are you following me, sir?

With ulterior motives.

Does that please you?

I hope it means what... Oh!

How stupid! I've been up and down those stairs a thousand times.

I could have broken my neck.

Captain, I did not plan to eaves drop.

No, of course you didn't.

I must point out that when she stumbled...

she might have died right there,

had you not caught her.

It's not yet time. McCoy isn't here.

We're not that sure of our facts.

Who's to say when the exact time will come?

Save her... do as your heart tells you to do...

and millions will die who did not die before.

Come in.

Well, you look just fine, Doctor.

Thank you.

I thought you might like to see the evening paper.

No, not particularly.

You know, I've convinced myself

that this is all in a cordrazine hallucination,

but I've decided you're not.

That's reassuring.

But if you're not, what are you?

A friend.

When you showed up here,

you looked like you could use one.

I don't doubt it.

What about this place? You run it?

I try to.

Why?

It's necessary.

Well, it was for me, at least.

You may have saved my life.

Lots of people drink from the wrong bottle sometimes.

Not as wrong as the bottle I drank from.

Allow me to show my gratitude.

Perhaps there's something I can do around here

to thank you.

We can talk about that later. I have to go.

My young man is taking me to a Clark Gable movie.

A who movie?

A Clark Gab...

Don't you know?

Well, I know what a movie is, but...

That's very strange.

You get some rest. I'll see you later.

If we hurry, maybe we can catch

the Clark Gable movie at the Orpheum.

What?

Dr. McCoy said the same thing.

McCoy!

Leonard McCoy?

Well... yes.

He's in the mission. He's...

Stay right here.

Spock!

Stay right there!

What is it?

McCoy! He's...

- Jim! - Bones!

No, Jim!

Aah!

You deliberately stopped me, Jim.

I could have saved her.

Do you know what you just did?

He knows, Doctor.

He knows.

What happened, sir?

You only left a moment ago.

We were successful.

Time has resumed its shape.

All is as it was before.

Many such journeys are possible.

Let me be your gateway.

Captain, the Enterprise is asking

if we want to beam up.

Let's get the hell out of here.