DeForest Kelley as Dr McCoy
"You deliberately stopped me, Jim. I could have saved her. Do you know what you just did?"
Deforest Kelley's performance in "City on the Edge of Forever" is possibly his most impressive in the entire series. Kelley's commitment to the wild emotional states that Dr. McCoy must endure during the episode, and the depth with which he performs each scene, is something to be celebrated. The actor's incredible range and talent are on full display throughout the story and is a fundamental reason why "City" is regarded by some as the greatest Star Trek episode of all time.
McCoy enters the episode when he was summoned to the Enterprise bridge, while waves of time displacement are crashing against the ship. During a particularly violent impact, Sulu had been injured and McCoy has arrived to treat him.
MCCOY: Some heart flutter. Better risk a few drops of cordrazine.
KIRK: Tricky stuff. Are you sure you want to risk...
MCCOY: You were about to make a medical comment, Jim?
KIRK: Who, me, Doctor?
After Sulu recovers, another wave suddenly slams into the Enterprise. McCoy is still handling the hypo when he is knocked into a railing and accidentally injects himself with a full dose of cordrazine. It is from this point in the episode that DeForest Kelley gives the audience a performance fueled by absolutely every ounce of acting talent he possesses. A drug-induced delirium takes hold of McCoy, and he suddenly and unexpectedly bursts into a violent paranoid rant.
MCCOY: Killers! Assassins! I won't let you! I'll kill you first! I won't let you! You won't get me! Murderers! Killers!
The bridge crew attempt to restrain the Doctor, but he eludes their grasp and then dashes into the turbolift. Although Kirk alerts security and they begin searching for him, McCoy sneaks into the transporter room, expertly disables the transporter technician, and beams himself down to the planet that is the source of the time displacement. Kirk, Spock, Scott, Uhura, and two security guards beam down after McCoy and begin a search. While Kirk and Spock are interacting with the Guardian of Forever, McCoy appears and Spock renders him unconscious with a neck pinch. Kirk and Spock discuss possibly using the Guardian of Forever to go back in time to prevent McCoy's hypo accident from ever happening, but before anyone can respond, McCoy awakens and leaps through the portal into the past. With no alternative and little hope of success, Kirk and Spock leap into Earth's history after McCoy. When the doctor appears again, it is weeks after Kirk and Spock had arrived on Earth in the 1930s, and he finds himself in a darkened city alley with a shocked bystander a few feet away, staring at him in disbelief.
MCCOY: 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!
When McCoy catches up with the frightened man, Deforest Kelley's performance shifts from inspired to sublime. It is here where Kelly reaches the pinnacle of his considerable acting talents and gives McCoy one of the most memorable and powerful scenes in all.of Star Trek.
MCCOY: Where? Where are we? Earth? The constellations seem right, but. Explain! Explain this trick.
MAN: I, I,
MCCOY: 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. Oh, the terrible pain!
Kelley brilliantly conveys McCoy's enhanced delusional paranoia and then effortlessly transitions into a complete sobbing collapse. Absolutely impressive. Star Trek TOS was so fortunate to have an actor of Deforest Kelley's caliber and pedigree to give vivid life to memorable scenes like this.
Later McCoy stumbles into Edith Keeler's mission where he spends most of the rest of the episode recovering from his overdose and forming a friendship with Edith.
EDITH: Well, you look just fine, Doctor.
MCCOY: Thank you.
EDITH: I thought you might like to see the evening paper.
MCCOY: No, not particularly. You know, I've convinced myself that this is all in a cordrazine hallucination, but I've decided you're not.
EDITH: That's reassuring.
MCCOY: But if you're not, what are you?
EDITH: A friend. When you showed up here, you looked like you could use one.
MCCOY: I don't doubt it. What about this place? Do you run it?
EDITH: I try to.
MCCOY: Why?
EDITH: It's necessary.
MCCOY: Well, it was for me, at least. You may have saved my life.
EDITH: Lots of people drink from the wrong bottle sometimes.
MCCOY: Not as wrong as the bottle I drank from.
In the end McCoy is drawn into the main plot as he, Kirk and Spock reunite on the street outside the mission and across the street from Edith who moves toward them and into oncoming traffic.
MCCOY: You deliberately stopped me, Jim. I could have saved her. Do you know what you just did?
SPOCK: He knows, Doctor. He knows.
Kelly shares the tragic scene with Shatner and portrays McCoy's shock and grief beautifully but this is primarily Kirk's tragedy and Shatner's performance steals the scene.
City on the Edge of Forever is arguably the finest Star Trek TOS episode produced thanks to a brilliant script, fine direction and some of the most outstanding performances given by Star Trek actors of which Deforest Kelley's McCoy is an absolute standout.
