Harlan Ellison is one of my favorite storytellers. I’ve enjoyed the novels and short stories he’s penned, as well as had the pleasure of hearing the man tell a story about a hellacious airport trip in the middle of a crowded hotel lobby that kept his audience captivated. His contributions to television have also been pretty impressive, and many Star Trek fans would argue that his episode of the classic series, “City on the Edge of Forever” is one of the series’ best, even if it isn’t the way Ellison intended for it to be.
Of course, it’s that last part, where it’s not the way Ellison intended, that’s kept the writer in the Star Trek public eye a lot longer than you’d expect a writer for a single episode to be. For years he’s griped about how Gene Roddenberry changed his work, and done his best to make sure the original was out there in some form accessible to fans (for a price, natch!). It appears that old wound is being opened again as Ellison has filed suit against Paramount for encroaching upon his intellectual property with some of their newer works (specifically a series of books and a Christmas ornament listed in the press release).
The lawsuit certainly seems interestingly timed, striking out at Paramount just a few months before the J.J. Abrams movie hits theaters and potentially revives all things Trek. Let’s remember, earlier on in the process it was rumored that Abrams was using Ellison’s time travel creation for his movie - a notion that had Ellison threatening retribution almost a year and a half ago. The timing of this new lawsuit makes me wonder if there isn’t some validity to those rumors, and that Ellison has somehow gotten wind of it and is positioning himself to extend his lawsuit to the movie if needed.
At the same time, Paramount isn’t the only target of Ellison’s lawsuit. He’s also named the Writer’s Guild of America in the suit, with allegations that they failed to act on his behalf after several requests. If that’s the case, Ellison’s lawsuit may not be as well timed as it might seem, and may be Ellison’s frustration coming to a head with both the studio and the WGA. I’m sure we’ll know as things develop. Ellison keeps a pretty consistent presence on the Internet, both through his own site and personal sites of several of his writer friends.
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