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Harlan Ellison Sues For "Star Trek" Episode

Miracle Jones writes "The ever-quotable speculative fiction writer Harlan Ellison has launched a lawsuit against Paramount and the Writer's Guild West for rights to residuals surrounding his famous and award winning 'City on the Edge of Forever' episode for the original Star Trek series. Ellison, recently featured in the documentary 'Dreams with Sharp Teeth,' said that 'The Trek fans who know my City screenplay understand just exactly why I'm bare-fangs-of-Adamantium about this.' Regarding his lawsuit, he had this to say: 'The arrogance, the pompous dismissive imperial manner of those who "have more important things to worry about," who'll have their assistant get back to you, who don't actually read or create, who merely "take" meetings, and shuffle papers — much of which is paper money denied to those who actually did the manual labor of creating those dreams — they refuse even to notice... until you jam a Federal lawsuit in their eye. To hell with all that obfuscation and phony flag-waving: they got my money. Pay me and pay off all the other writers from whom you've made hundreds of thousands of millions of dollars... from OUR labors... just so you can float your fat asses in warm Bahamian waters.'"

2 of 483 comments (clear)

  1. Said? I'll give you sad. by aussersterne · · Score: 0, Troll

    Sad is that if you enforce/support copyright it doesn't go to the artists, but rather to major corporations and PHB's.

    And sadder is that if don't enforce/support copyright, then the major corporations and PHB's simply rob artists blind, corporations being "more powerful than you can possibly imagine."

    Copyright basically does jack shit, like everything in our society. Heads the corporations win, tails you lose to the corporations.

    --
    STOP . AMERICA . NOW
  2. Re:wow by that+this+is+not+und · · Score: 0, Troll

    It's exciting to see someone like you leveling criticism on Harlan. What makes it the most exciting is that you're apparently an undiscovered great writer. So tell us, since you're qualified to lay that heavy prounouncement down on Ellison: where do we buy your book?