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Harlan Ellison sues STAR TREK

The Imp Of Delight is at it again. Author and aging enfant terrible Harlan Ellison issued a typically amusing press release detailing a lawsuit he's launched against Paramount regarding use of intellectual property deriving from his 1966 Star Trek script "The City On The Edge Of Forever". Specificially a trilogy of Trek novels that use multiple elements of "City" as a springboard.

Ellison, of course, is an old pro at fighting this kind of fight, having successfully sued James Cameron for a piece of The Terminator on the basis that it resembled elements of his Outer Limits stories "Solider" and "Demon With A Glass Hand" (it bears even greater resemblance to "The Man Who Was Never Born", but Ellison didn' write that one, so it never came up in the suit).

Here's a taste of what Paramount's lawyers are in for, from Dreams With Sharp Teeth: A Film About Harlan Ellison:

Go Harlan!

13 Comments

Comment by Jonathan Llyr on March 16, 2009 at 12:19pm: He looks more and more like Jerry Lewis every day.

Comment by Jon Marvin on March 16, 2009 at 1:09pm: It has become something of a broken record with Ellison, but that doesn't mean Paramount doesn't owe him the money. This must happen everytime someone new takes over, and thinks they are only ones who will escape Ellisons wrath. I've never even met the man, and he scares the shit out of me.

Comment by simon evans on March 16, 2009 at 3:32pm: I thought this as an old story when I first read it in the paper but NO! he's taking a kick at this old chestnut again! What a fool!

Comment by Archie on March 16, 2009 at 3:38pm: He is kinda scary.
I just hope he doesn’t get upset this interview is on this site (he may not request its removal – he’ll ask for his cut)

Comment by Ms Gir on March 16, 2009 at 5:58pm: Some people seem to think the world owes them everything.

Comment by Nevada Smith on March 16, 2009 at 6:17pm: Ellison is one of the true originals in literature. He has written some of the best screenplays for TV- Hist fiction and essays are also classics and should be read by anyone who loves the English language. He also has a very good record when it comes to lawsuits-he doesn't lose. I never even saw those "novels" (who with any taste would read a Star Trek novel anyway) but if they stole from what happens to be the best episode ever they deserve to pay. Also it's time to lose that "enfant terrible" tag when it comes to talking about Ellison. That's just lazy shorthand and hasn't meant anything in 30 years. By the way little girl-the world owes you what it owes you.

Comment by Brian Combe on March 16, 2009 at 8:18pm: He has a point, he sold a story so he should be paid everytime elements of that story are used unless he signed away the rights to that story which he did not.

It's inconvenient for Paramount but they aren't exactly on their uppers due to Star Trek.

With Doctor Who all those iconic monsters the writers held the rights to the creatures and the BBC held the right to the designs.

That way the estates of Terry Nation, Robert Holmes, Gerry Davis etc still get paid for the names and concepts they developed and the BBC get paid for the designs they produced.

The same should be true for other writers like Ellison.

What's crazy about being paid for the use of your work?

Comment by Doug A Scott on March 16, 2009 at 8:57pm: He's a brilliant writer and probably has a fair point regarding the use of his work.

But he's still sort of an asshole.

Comment by Gregg Taylor on March 16, 2009 at 10:10pm: I'd like that carved on my tombstone.

Of course points (a) and (b) would be grossly inaccurate, but you can't have everything.

Comment by Joe O'Brien on March 16, 2009 at 10:15pm: Ellison is just like any other human being, only more.

Harlan Ellison sues STAR TREK

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