Comments on: Harlan Ellison Wants To Help Out With Star Trek Sequel

By: Asa Sobeski

Asa Sobeski — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:35:16 +0000

Howdy! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could get a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having trouble finding one? Thanks a lot!

By: Kasha Halfmann

Kasha Halfmann — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:24:52 +0000

I am curious to find out what blog system you’re utilizing? I’m experiencing some small security problems with my latest site and I’d like to find something more safeguarded. Do you have any suggestions?

By: M. OWENS

M. OWENS — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:44:41 +0000

LOOK KIDS; LETS GET IT STRAIGHT HERE. I’VE BEEN A CARD CARING FAN AND FRIEND OF HARLAN JAY ELLISON FOR MORE THAN 30 BLOODY YEARS. YA, HE CAN BE BOTH AN ANGEL AND A DEVIL OF HIS OWN MAKING, BUT HE HAS ALWAYS SAID WHAT HE FINDS IN HIS OWN HEART AND SOUL. SURE, HE GENERATE A TALL MOUNTAIN OF PURE ANGST WHEN HE SEES FIT TO DO SO FOR WHAT HE FEELS IS BEST FOR EVERYONE. CAN HE WRITE A MOVIE? OF COURSE HE CAN DO IT, AND YOU CAN BET YOUR LIFE SAVINGS ON THAT. NUFF SAID.

By: T'Cal

T'Cal — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:12:43 +0000

If by chance The Shat is involved in the next film, there won’t be room enough for both his and Ellison’s heads on one sound stage.

By: T'Cal

T'Cal — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:10:59 +0000

95. Nuallain – November 25, 2009

To try and be the voice of reason a bit…

Whether or not Ellison is a good writer, or whether he’s right, or wrong, in any court cases he’s taken in the past (or even whether or not his general litigious nature is appropriate or not).

Purely from an EMPLOYERS point of view (which is how Paramount will have to be looking at it) the fact that Ellison (rightly or wrongly) has a perceived history of ‘not playing well with others’ and the fact that he aggressively sues whenever he (rightly or wrongly) perceives an idea as ‘his’ probably makes it a non-starter.

Particularly since he wants pay (and thus some form of contract) from the very first meeting. That means, effectively, that WHATEVER HE SAYS, no matter how generic or obvious, in that meeting could form the basis of a lawsuit if something similar shows up in the movie.

I don’t think that’s a risk that would be very sensible for anyone in Bad Robot or Paramount’s shoes to take.

What he said!

By: DigitalLonestarX

DigitalLonestarX — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:00:13 +0000

bash it for 40 years because he never got paid. then is happy because he wins a lawsuit. hes not in it for the love of trek, hes only in it now cuz he wants the money it’s making,

my freind your now a hasbeen, go back to the closet. and stay there

- DigitalLonestarX

By: marbpl

marbpl — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:19:21 +0000

246. Chris_of_ODU –
I’m pretty sure that the version of CITY that won the Hugo award was the televised one. Ellison’s original won the 1966-67 Writers Guild of America award for best teleplay.

By: Michael English

Michael English — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:08:53 +0000

Wow. Hearing you people talk, you’d never guess that Ellison is responsible for making Star Trek so memorable in the first place.

More to the point, how many of you have actually read his work? I have. He is consistently better than most of the writers you’ll find on any given bestseller list. Try reading The Spider’s Kiss, or The Man Who Rode Christopher Columbus Ashore. Or ANY of Edgeworks.

Oh yeah, and Babylon 5? That series that should have been no more than a cheap knock-off of DS9? He and JM Straczinski made it what it was.

By: ME!!

ME!! — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:12:38 +0000

Incidentally, all of you who defend him and/or support him, you do realize how much the guy has publicly insulted everyone from Star Trek fans to Star Wars fans and that includes all of you. Anything he doesn’t personally like, he trashes and all the fans that go with it. If he doesn’t think it’s great, it sucks. Period. There is no tolerance for differing opinions in the world of Harlan. In that dark and foreboding place, the only opinion that matters is Harlan’s and Harlan had all the original ideas that everyone else has since ripped off.

He’s the Ebenezer Scrooge of science fiction. Now, if only the three ghosts would show up…

By: ME!!

ME!! — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:34:16 +0000

Uh, there’s no “hell no” response on the poll.

Seriously, this guy has done nothing for the last 40 years, but complain about how his story for Star Trek was “ruined” and in the same breath he claims credit for its popularity. Which is it Harlan? You can’t have it both ways.

He’s a grouchy, bitter old man who apparently wants one last claim to fame before he croaks besides being the “guy who wrote City on the Edge of Forever”.

I’ve read his original story. It was good, but it wasn’t Star Trek. That’s precisely why it was rewritten. The biggest flaw in his original version is the characterizations are wrong. It was felt by Roddenberry and co. that Kirk would not give up his ship, his crew and jeopardize the future for a woman (which he does in Harlan’s version; it’s McCoy who stops Kirk from saving Edith Keeler instead of the other way around). The Enterprise was his ‘lady’ and he would stop at nothing to save her and his crew as he was portrayed in the series even that early in its run (first season). The character, the way Harlan wrote him in the original version, wasn’t Kirk. I agree 100%. That was also standard procedure on a television series with contributing writers. The material turned in often had to be rewritten to fit in with the concepts and characterizations in the series. That’s one reason why the production crew on The Next Generation had a “bible” for prospective writers to consult telling them what they could and could not do and had a full description of each of the seven main characters.