Guardian of Forever
A sentient time portal that can send travellers to any time or place.
The Guardian of Forever is a time portal depicted as an irregular ring or torus approximately 3 meters wide, first appearing in the original series. It returned in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "Yesteryear" (1973), with its voice provided by James Doohan. In the third season of Star Trek: Discovery, the Guardian relocated to Dannus V to avoid being weaponized in the Temporal Wars and could project a humanoid avatar named Carl.
Quick Facts
- First appearance
- Original series episode
- Shape
- Irregular ring or torus
- Voice actor (animated series)
- James Doohan
- Humanoid avatar name
- Carl
- Avatar actor
- Paul Guilfoyle
- Later location
- Dannus V
Facts from the source article.
Non-canonical novels and short stories
The Guardian of Forever appeared in several Star Trek novels. Its first novel appearance was in Star Trek: The New Voyages (1976), a compilation of short stories; the story "Mind Sifter" by Shirley S. Maiewski had Captain Kirk stranded on 1950s Earth after being abducted by Kor, subjected to a Klingon mind sifter, and transported through the Guardian. In A.C. Crispin's 1983 novel Yesterday's Son, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy used the Guardian to visit Sarpeidon's past, where they learned that Spock's romantic interest Zarabeth had died but bore his son, Zar; an audio recording by Nimoy and George Takei was later released.
Crispin wrote a sequel, Time for Yesterday (1988), in which the Guardian malfunctioned and the Enterprise crew sought Zar's help to repair it. Peter David's 1992 novel Imzadi used the premise of Harlan Ellison's original script for "The City on the Edge of Forever", with William Riker deliberately using the Guardian to save Deanna Troi. The Guardian was central to Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens' 1994 novel Federation, where it recited three historical events to Captain Kirk.
Brett Hudgins' short story "Guardians" in the seventh volume of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2004) featured the Horta colonizing the Guardian's "Time Planet" and becoming its protectors over 50,000 years. David R. George III's 2006 trilogy "Crucible" included the Guardian; in Provenance of Shadows, part of the book explored a reality where McCoy remained trapped in the past. The events of "The City on the Edge of Forever" were recounted in David A. Goodman's The Autobiography of James T. Kirk.
Non-canonical comics and computer games
The Guardian of Forever first appeared in a Gold Key Comics Star Trek story, "No Time Like the Past," from issue 56 in October 1978. Written by George Kashdan and Al McWilliams, it saw Kirk, Spock, and McCoy fixing history after another time traveler used the Guardian to reach the second century BC, where they faced Hannibal and the Romans. Later, in the second volume of DC Comics' Star Trek series, the Guardian featured in issues 53 through 57 as part of the "Timecrime" storyline by Howard Weinstein, Rod Whigham, Rob Davis, and Arne Starr.
In 2014, IDW Publishing turned Harlan Ellison's original teleplay into a comic book limited series called Star Trek: Harlan Ellison's The City on the Edge of Forever – The Original Teleplay. Chris Ryall, IDW's Chief Creative Officer and Editor-in-Chief, noted that presenting Ellison's script had been a goal since 2007. Ellison collaborated on the project, with artwork by J.K. Woodward and additional writing by Scott Tipton and David Tipton. A reprint collection followed in 2015.
In the massively multiplayer online game Star Trek Online, the mission "City on the Edge of Never" had players use the Guardian to travel to 2270 and prevent Klingons from changing history. The mission included the USS Kirk and the Guardian projecting a time portal in space for the player's ship. Featuring voice acting by Leonard Nimoy, it was praised by Kotaku's Mike Fahey, who called it perfect and memorable. This mission is no longer available in the game.
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