In the original Star Trek episode "City on the Edge of Forever" (aired April 6, 1967), Jim Kirk travels back in time to Depression-era New York to stop a drugged-out McCoy from somehow changing history.
He meets social worker Edith Keeler, falls in love with her, then finds out he has to allow her to get run over by a truck to preserve history.
It's a superb episode, despite some arguably unnecessary changes from Harlan Ellison's original script. But aside from being excellent drama and intelligent science fiction, the episode also establishes that Star Trek and The Andy Griffith Show share the same reality.
Take a look at the photo above. Kirk and Edith are walking by Floyd's Barber Shop, a staple business in Mayberry.
(No fair pointing out that the barber shop is there because the episode used the Mayberry set when it was filmed. This is purely an in-universe theory.)
But this episode takes place in New York, not Mayberry. So what's the explanation?
Well, it's all very simple:
Let's say that the Floyd who owned a barber shop in Mayberry
was a second-generation barber. His father (also named Floyd) owned a barber
shop in New York. This is the one seen in the ST episode.
The Depression forced him to sell out, though the new owner
kept the same name for the business. Floyd Sr. became a hobo and later
disintegrated himself with McCoy's phaser by accident.
Floyd Jr., sad because Dad just mysteriously vanished one
day, left New York and moved to Mayberry, where he eventually opened a barber
shop identical to the one in New York.
So there you have it. Star Trek and Mayberry co-exist in the same reality. It is incontestable.
that is s t r e t c h i n g it a bit! but logical.
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