<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Edith Keeler is a fictional character in The City on the Edge of Forever (Star Trek episode), portrayed by Joan Collins. She is a favorite of Star Trek fans, due to the tragic nature of her fate and her key role in this classic time travel episode.

Edith runs a soup kitchen in 1930. She has a grand vision of the future, in which wars will be stopped and resources spent to help people. She thinks space travel is a possibility. In many ways, this vision is fated to become a reality with the formation of the United Federation of Planets by the 23rd century. That is, if nothing happens to prevent it.

Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.

An important moment in time comes in 1930. She is destined to be killed in a traffic accident. Dr. Leonard McCoy, under the influence of an accidental drug administration that makes him paranoid, travels through time. She helps him at the mission, and McCoy saves her from death.

Unfortunately, her survival enables her to start a peace movement. By 1936, she is meeting with the US President. This delays the US entry into World War II, allowing the Nazis to develop atomic weapons and win the war.

This creates a future in which the U.S.S. Enterprise does not exist.

Kirk and Spock travel back in time, not knowing exactly what McCoy has done to change their past. They arrive sometime before McCoy. Kirk is able (despite his strong feelings for Edith) to prevent McCoy from saving Edith, restoring the time line they knew.

Keeler may be genuinely precognitive. She seems surprised that McCoy does not know who Clark Gable is. However, in 1930, Gable had only appeared in mostly uncredited bit parts. It wasn't until the following year, 1931, that the general public would become familiar with him.