Harlan Ellison suing over new Trek movie

[docm]

Harlan Ellison is suing Paramount over rights to elements in his ST-TOS story "City on the Edge of Forever", more specifically those elements related to the "Guardian of Forever" time gate.

The new film uses a "Guardian" device to allow future characters to go back to the days of Kirk & Co's at the Academy and their first mission.

Ellison, irascible as ever, no doubt thinks he has a big pay-day coming, so he wants in on the merchandising. Referencing a similar action against Pocket Books in 2006 over their "Crucible" trilogy, Ellison stated on his website;

“If they play nice and tug their forelock and acknowledge where the material came from and pay me a trailer-truck full of cash, I will not sue them in Federal District Court…”

 

[jim48]

Well, okay. He might be on firm ground. Harlan has sued successfully over other stuff. As a member of the Screen Writers Guild, he "owns" specific things in the original "The City on the Edge of Forever", including the Guardian of Forever. He is contractually protected and therefore entitled if the new Star Trek borrows from that. I've seen Harlan in action over the years at Star Trek cons. He is brilliant, a terrific writer but also a cry-baby. The episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" that we know so well was mostly re-written by D.C. Fontana, who never got screen credit. Harlan's original script was terrific but poor Star Trek. It was better suited to be an episode of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. Harlan got sole writing credit thanks to Gene Roddenberry, and he has been bad-mouthing Roddenbery ever since. Go figure. Harlan is a legend in his own mind. I think the new people working on Star Trek didn't realize that they were treading in a minefield when they--probably innocently--borrowed from Ellison.

 

[crazyeddie]

Well, okay. He might be on firm ground. Harlan has sued successfully over other stuff. As a member of the Screen Writers Guild, he "owns" specific things in the original "The City on the Edge of Forever", including the Guardian of Forever. He is contractually protected and therefore entitled if the new Star Trek borrows from that. I've seen Harlan in action over the years at Star Trek cons. He is brilliant, a terrific writer but also a cry-baby. The episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" that we know so well was mostly re-written by D.C. Fontana, who never got screen credit. Harlan's original script was terrific but poor Star Trek. It was better suited to be an episode of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. Harlan got sole writing credit thanks to Gene Roddenberry, and he has been bad-mouthing Roddenbery ever since. Go figure. Harlan is a legend in his own mind. I think the new people working on Star Trek didn't realize that they were treading in a minefield when they--probably innocently--borrowed from Ellison.

Yeah, he's a cranky old curmudgeon, that's for sure.....brilliant writers often are. But it does sound like he has a legitimate beef.

 

[CalliArcale]

Yeah, he's a cranky old curmudgeon, that's for sure.....brilliant writers often are. But it does sound like he has a legitimate beef.

He absolutely has the right to protect his intellectual property, and he'd probably win on this one. Question is -- what kind of settlement would he accept? That depends, of course, one what he hopes to achieve. Is he suing because he wants his cut -- or out of spite? I like his work a lot, but he is indeed a curmudgeon, and an astonishingly stubborn individual. I would not be terribly surprised if he's just suing because he's upset with what Trek is nowdays and realizes that in this instance, he can exploit his intellectual property rights to make life difficult for the franchise.

 

[drwayne]

I'm sorry, but if you find yourself thinking that your brilliantly written script, which, by the way,
kills off the entire timeline that the series is based on, won't get changed, *somewhat*...well,
you are a brilliant writer who is ego driven enough to be stupid.

I am reminded of an observation of one scientist I knew by another:

"He's a good scientist. He just thinks he'e the only good scientist"

Wayne

 

[docm]

I think the new people working on Star Trek didn't realize that they were treading in a minefield when they--probably innocently--borrowed from Ellison.

Same problem James Cameron ran into with "The Terminator" over Ellison's Outer Limits episodes "The Soldier" and "Demon With The Glass Hand" - he threatened to sue for plagiarism and got a bundle of cash and an "acknowledgment to the works of" in the credits for video and TV performances of the flick.

I'm surprised that he didn't copyright someone saying "good morning" in one of his stories then sue ABC for it's morning show "Good Morning America"

 

[jim48]

I think the new people working on Star Trek didn't realize that they were treading in a minefield when they--probably innocently--borrowed from Ellison.

Same problem James Cameron ran into with "The Terminator" over Ellison's Outer Limits episodes "The Soldier" and "Demon With The Glass Hand" - he threatened to sue for plagiarism and got a bundle of cash and an "acknowledgment to the works of" in the credits for video and TV performances of the flick.

I'm surprised that he didn't copyright someone saying "good morning" in one of his stories then sue ABC for it's morning show "Good Morning America"

Yeah, he did get money because the concept of The Terminator was close enough to "The Soldier" that the lawyers agreed. It just pisses me off that he still speaks ill of Roddenberry. Read Harlan's original "The City on the Edge of Forever" script and the one that aired, which Gene **** also had a hand in re-writing. Roddenberry re-wrote other SF authors, including Theodore Sturgeon, Robert Bloch, Richard Matheson et al, and they didn't make careers out of complaining. The only thing that saves Harlan for me is his writing talent and genius. He is still the master of short stories, which are practically a lost art.

 

[drwayne]

Can you imagine the reaction if you wrote a script for a TV series. It's a great script,
but it kills of most of the main characters at the end.



Wayne