I know the guy is litigious but can he really collect royalties after 40 years? It’s funny the guy has dissed Trek for four decades but he is still trying to make a buck. Does he have a chance or is this just a nuisance suit?
http://harlanellison.com/heboard/visitors/startrekpressrelease.html
No, Harlan wants >his< money. Star Trek is making money from his work, so he wants them to reflect some of the value he generated for them.
That’s one of the more, let’s call it “candid”, press releases I’ve ever read.
I was going to quote a favorite passage here, but I don’t think I can afford to.
He’s been feuding over this episode for forty years. How he can call the concepts his and complain about the episode being completely rewritten from the ground up is a contradiction I doubt we’ll see resolved.
My understanding of the situation, though, is that the things he is suing over are things that were part of the contract. Paramount owns the characters and concepts he created for the episode and there are no royalties on using them in other forms.
I haven’t read the press release yet, and I can imagine what Ellison says.
I saw him at a SF convention about 12 years ago, and learned FAST about his ego issues and his temperament.
He does have a way with words, doesn’t he?
The authors last line: “There were flecks of blood on Mr. Ellison’s otherwise charming face.” I think that was hyperbole. But maybe not.
Jeez, be careful! Quote more than a dozen words and the next thing you know there’s a court order that you have to name your first-born son “Harlan”.
I count it out at eleven. I should be safe.
Besides, they weren’t Harlan’s words. I’m not sure whose they were. John H. Carmichael, Esq. was listed at the bottom, but he didn’t have a byline.
Have you read his original script? The concepts that made that show a great one were his alright, even though I for one agree on the changes made to it.
I have no idea about what the contract says, but even at that point he was an experienced screenwriter and I doubt he signed anything sight unseen. But it’s not like he was the first person on that show getting ripped off.
A friend of mine did a ST parody fan film using the Gate. I’m going to warn him to watch for Harlan.
Harlan Ellison is awesome.
I heard he once walked up to some woman at a party or something and said, “What do you say to a little fuck?” and she said, “Hello, little fuck.” I don’t know if this is true or not, but Ellison is a genius, and a ballsy one at that. A Boy and His Dog is amazing. He’s up there with J.G. Ballard.
I’ve heard Harlan Ellison is a bit of an asshole. At least Tycho and Gabe from Penny Arcade think so. Here is a story of an encounter they had with him. Starting with the second post.
Some friends and I made a short film of Deal From The Bottom for a class in college. My friend who directed it wrote to Ellison to ask him if the film could be entered into a festival. Ellison called him on the phone and tore him a new one. Shortly thereafter he wrote my friend to apologise for ‘being such a prick on the phone’. He advised my friend that he should get permission before using someone’s work as the basis of a film (even a non-commercial one), but did give his permission to fest the film. (My friend elected not to enter it.)
Urban legend. It’s a story that’s much older than he is and he’s repeatedly said that it never happened to him.
That’s a persistent but inaccurate rumor. He’s actually a gigantic asshole.
Since that particular episode is one of the best Star Trek episodes ever, I’d say he certainly deserves his money. He helped the ST reputation, they still show that episode, as far as I know, and they have no real excuse not to pay him. I hope that he gets to set his own price.
Perhaps it was a reference to Harlan’s remark earlier in the press release: “make the greedy, amoral bastards blink blood out of their eyes.”
Well, I guess the letter afterwards does go some distance toward redeeming him of “total asshole” status.
So how come he’s waited all this time to sue?
Because he’s running out of money due to the fact that he hasn’t written anything new in the last few decades, and most of his books are out of print?