According to a recent report at Ain’t It Cool News, Star Trek XI‘s plot hinges on elements from “City at the Edge of Forever,” the Harlan Ellison-penned episode of the original series. Problem is, no one bothered to tell (or pay) Ellison.
The AICN report might just be a rumor, but — as CHUD reports — it’s a rumor Ellison is taking seriously enough to issue a few typically cantankerous threats via his website. Read on:
Would someone go to that site, and suggest to those people there, that “City” and all its elements EXCEPT specific Star Trek characters, belong to Harlan Ellison — author of that much-lauded episode — by terms of the Separation of Rights clause of the Writers Guild’s Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA), and if Mr. Abrams — with whom I’m currently on strike — or anyone else, at Paramount or elsewhere, thinks they’re going to use MY creations–whether the City, the Guardians, Sister Edith Keeler, or any other elements CREATED BY HARLAN ELLISON…they had damned well better lose the unilateral arrogance, get in touch with me, or my agent, Marty Shapiro, and be prepared to pay for the privilege of mining the lode I own.
As CHUD points out, Ellison has tangled with studio brass before; his previous battles with Trek brass (not to mention the makers of Terminator) are the stuff of Hollywood legend. Here’s hoping Ellison and J.J. Abrams bump into each other on the picket line!
Source: CHUD
