Not long after the end of Star Trek: The Original Series and a few years before the original Star Wars trilogy kicked off with A New Hope, the future franchises collided in an otherworldly way. William Shatner, Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, and Harrison Ford, soon to start his long association with Han Solo, appeared in the same episode of a television show called Petrocelli.
The episode, “Edge of Evil,” aired on October 2, 1974. It was the fourth episode of the show’s first season. Barry Newman led the cast as Petrocelli, a big-city lawyer who moves to Arizona with his wife, Maggie. He specializes in representing clients who seem entirely guilty but may not be.
In the episode, Shatner portrayed Adam North, a man accused of murdering Petrocelli’s best friend. Shatner was the main guest star, while Ford turned up in a supporting role as a dead-serious guy who wanted to see North go to prison. The two didn't go head-to-head in any major scenes, but they can be seen in the same shot a few times.
Interestingly, "Edge of Evil" is full of Star Trek connections. The aforementioned Maggie is played by Susan Howard, who guest-starred as Mara, the first female Klingon, in the TOS episode, "Day of the Dove"). Other guest stars included Susan Oliver, best known for portraying Vina in "The Cage" and "The Menagerie” two-parter, and Glenn Corbett, who originated the role of Zefram Cochrane in the "Metamorphosis."
One of the show’s recurring actors, David Huddleston, who did not appear in the episode, later guest-starred as the Conductor in the Star Trek: The Next Generation installment, “Emergence.” And the series itself was produced by Edward K. Milkis, whose behind-the-scenes work on TOS was widely praised by both William Shatner and Robert Justman.
For fans who like to climb down rabbit holes when it comes to connections, Petrocelli was based on a movie, The Lawyer, which starred Barry Newman as Tony Petrocelli and was released in 1970. His wife, here named Ruth, was played by two-time TOS guest star and future short-lived TNG regular Diana Muldaur. Also in the movie: Booth Colman, who, decades later, guest-starred as Penno in the 1997 Star Trek: Voyager episode, “Nemesis.” Several Star Trek directors also worked on Petrocelli, notably Joseph Pevney, Herb Wallerstein, Vincent McEveety, Robert Scheerer, and Paul Lynch.
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