By GustavoLeao / 17:06, 13 November 2007 / Feature Films

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"Yesterday's Enterprise" co-writer Eric A. Stillwell sent to TrekWeb his comments on the plot of the new Star Trek movie, regarding the speculation and controversy that the Star Trek movie may contain elements from "The City on the Edge of Forever" and similarities to to his TNG episode, "Yesterday's Enterprise".

In "Yesterday's Enterprise", when the Enterprise-C emerges from a temporal rift, they find themselves twenty-two years in the future where the Federation is on the losing side of a bloody war with the Klingons. The Enterprise-C must go back in time to restore the timeline.

In the upcoming Star Trek movie, according to spoilers posted by reliable sites AICN and IESB, Romulans use the Guardian to go back in time to kill a young James T. Kirk and an older Mr. Spock does the same and follows the Romulans in an attempt to save his friend. (story)

Here is a transcript of Mr Stillwell message

"As one of the co-writers of the story for "Yesterday's Enterprise" (and unlike Harlan Ellison), I'm excited to hear that the new Star Trek movie may revisit some of the best elements of the original series, including elements from "City on the Edge of Forever."

"Any similarity to "Yesterday's Enterprise" would be ironic since the original story I developed for TNG involved Sarek and the Guardian of Forever -- and an altered universe where the Vulcan-Romulan Empire had conspired to destroy the Federation by seeking to capture the Guardian planet and use it to their own nefarious purposes.  In the original story, the Klingon Empire had been wiped out by the Vulcan-Romulan empire after an accident of history eliminated Surak, the founder of modern Vulcan philosophy, and had prevented the Vulcans from evolving to their peaceful, logical selves."

"In the altered universe, the Guardian planet becomes the last stand for the battleship Enterprise in an effort to prevent the destruction of the Federation.  Sarek (not Guinan) eventually convinces Picard that the timeline is wrong, and he uses the Guardian to travel back in time to ancient Vulcan to replace Surak and restore the timeline to it's rightful order."

"All of this background is retold in greater detail in my book "The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise (available at http://www.lulu.com/content/1043019) 

"Personally, I'm looking forward to the J.J. Abrams film."

~ Eric

Eric A. Stillwell
http://www.yesterdaysenterprise.blogspot.com/