The Star Trek day at Paramount was packed. Stars and writers from every Trek series and from the feature films were there to show their support for the WGA strike. You can’t find a stronger supporter for writers rights than Harlan Ellison. The never disappointing writer of the Original Series episode “City on the Edge of Forever” was in fine form discussing the strike. While he was at it, he also took a shot at the latest rumors on the web about the new Star Trek movie using elements of “City.” (see below)
Ellison Video – WARNING: colorful metaphors ahead
No Guardian in Star Trek
So there you have it folks…rumors that the The Guardian of Forever are not true, it is not in the film. TrekMovie.com has also independently verified this.
TrekMovie.com will have more clips from the WGA Star Trek day tomorrow.
Some good pictures from the event are up at TheLAist
Its nice that Harlan wrote something people remember – like 40 years ago. He’s a one hit wonder and I wish he’d just shut up and fade away. No one cares Harlan.
Oh Harlan…cranky as ever lol
I love this guy. :)
*LOL* Harlan’s a riot. Keep it there, writers!
Look, Anthony, this isn’t “flaming”, but Ellison is an overrated writer and I’m looking forward to when he’s no longer around to irritate anyone.
Arrogance can be forgiven or, at least, understood if it comes from a supreme talent, but not an angry wannabee like Harlan Ellison….this guy is a boil on the ass of life and the sooner he’s gone, all the better for humanity!!!
I agree with his principles on the strike, but I think he’s arrogant and annoying.
Edith! I’m surprised at you! That’s your daddy you’re talking about!
Peace. Live long and prosper.
The Vulcanista }:-|
Harlan Ellison a one-hit wonder? Try taking a look beyond Star Trek! I guess David Gerrold is a one hit wonder too?
Ellison may be talented, but all his fame is really due to Star Trek, kind of sad for him, seeing as how he hates it, and annoying for us for the same reason.
I hope tv is covered from wall to wall with nothing but reality shows. That way the writers have no jobs to go back to and then have to deal with life in the real world. Amen.
That “one-hit wonder” actually has several hits to his name. A man who won eleven Hugos (well, ten and a half :P), four WGA awards, four Nebula Awards, six Bram Stoker awards (including a Life Achievement award), 18 Locus Poll awards and a Bradbury Award — is hardly a “one-hit wonder.”
Gah! Spoilers about fake rumors in the title!
Harlan is…. a real piece of work. Love him, even though I would never allow him near my children for fear that he might eat them.
People are still jejoicing in that one-hit wonder. “City on the Edge of Forever” is a truly remarkable and wondrous episode.
Allow me to correct my previous post #11… he was *nominated* for all those awards mentioned, and won most of them.
The use of the guardian in the animated series was acceptable and cool because it was a cool story, and because it was a clear extention beyond the original series ..and at the time in 1973..it was believed by most that there would be no new star trek to follow. and it could have turned out that way if it wasnt for star wars..yes I said star wars.. I think all writers are overpaid and are a bunch of whining babies. Write the scripts or find work doing something else!
RE: 12
I dont consider something a spoiler anymore once it is debunked. I have confirmed that the guardian is not in the movie…therefore that rumor is not a spoiler. I guess ‘guardian not in movie’ is somewhat of a spoiler for those who are assuming it is…for them…sorry
I personally think they should all shut the heck up and stop with these nonsense strikes. Seriously what the HECK is the point of all this? And you people are SUPPORTING these whingers!?!?!?!?!?!
RE: harlan
personally…I find him highly entertaining.
Re. Edith
“Its nice that Harlan wrote something people remember – like 40 years ago. He’s a one hit wonder and I wish he’d just shut up and fade away. No one cares Harlan.” quote
And what have you done that will be watched and be remembered by millions of people Edith? Jack.
That was so great! I love Harlan Ellison, he is so funny and honest. What a joy watching and hearing him.
Yah, I think Harlan Ellison would know. if his creation (The gaurdian ) was in the movie. If he wasn’t dirctly told by paramount, or asked for input, he would have been contct by some third party that found out. for sure. So if he debunks the rumor then it’s sure to be the real deal. So, no Gaurdian. I have said before in my post that I am sick and trired of all this time travel. However, the Gaurdian of forever would have been a return to a fresh time travel idea. I hope this doesn’t mean a less interesting form of a time travel movie. There should be an ad campaign out there to star trek prodeucers diurectors and writers JUST SAY “NO” TO TIME TRAVEL.
#11, 14
Charles, thank you for the information.
he’s… gotten…. old….
God Bless him for his stories… and the fact he won the Terminator case. The appropriate comments might be ‘ Damn you Michael Bay!!!’, but since Bay didn’t rip him off, I find myself somewhat lost. Michale Bay was my favorite target. JJ isj ust not target material. Neither are the writers. (Yet.)
The Enterprise; lacking wings or flames, will be your undoing Orci.
So say me all.
OK, the insane stuff aside.
WTF?! bold, because html is not a mystery to me. The costume reported to be on Kirks B-hind? Are we red-shirting the new, re-written, re-timelined Kirk already? Is this an evil mind-frak? Or just some internal joke within the production we will be exposed to at some undisclosed date?
Just curious…
#16: I’m mainly just pulling your leg, Anthony. Although I hadn’t heard time travel was a part of the plot. (And, due to my Spoiler Earmuffs, I’m still able to hope that it isn’t!)
I recently saw a great piece by Harlan about copyright over on YouTube… I should see if I can find that and repost it here.
#15 and #17: First, are you the same person? Your semi-coherent English is roughly Internet-standard, but seems unusually similar nonetheless–particularly in a forum as literate as this one usually is. Second, yes, I am supporting these bunch of whingers, because I think the stories writers write are better when they’re paid like the professionals they are. A Hollywood writer who has worked his whole life and invested a great deal of time, effort, money, and education into his goal in order to reach a certain set of qualifications and then proceeding to turn out work that results in significant societal benefit, deserves, like any other member of the professional class (teachers, doctors, lawyers) to be paid more than a gas station attendant.
The way I see it, the writers know better than I do how much money they actually make and how burdened they are, and the length of the strike is a function of how serious their greviances are. If the vote to strike had been, say, 55%, I’d be much less inclined to support them. But the vote was over 90% in favor. If a President won that kind of popular support in a general election, he’d be able to repeal the 22nd Amendment and be President-For-Life, so strong would his mandate be. 90% is an absurdly high number that tells me that the writers have serious greviances that they universally agree on.
So, to turn the question around on you: are you seriously supporting those corporate greedmongers? They -have- enough money to pay the strikers what they’re asking a hundred times over. If studio heads are going to screw the people who produce their product, then they should find work doing something else.
…in a million years, I never thought I’d say the words “corporate greedmongers.” *sigh*
The Guardian could be in the movie. I wouldn’t be at all suprised if he was “lying” to keep it a secret. That is… if has a writing credit on the thing, and doesn’t want to spill the beans until the movie comes out. If I see his name in the openning credits, I’ll know it’s in it for sure! Haha…. :)
“Every idiot with a soap box”
“Kill the Internet”
Oy vey.
#17. most writers have money to eat because they are also bartenders or simmilar. You honestly think that the person that creates a story doesn’t have the right to earn a part of the profit if it is sold on the internet?
They only want to have a part of the profit when their creations are sold. There is a very little quantity of writers who earn enough money to live.
Don’t live in the mistake that anyone in hollywood sleeps in piles of money. Most of the people who does is the people who is denying the writers their part.
“Don’t live in the mistake that anyone in hollywood sleeps in piles of money” I meant “everyone” sorry. I’m spanish. English is not my native languaje.
First of all Mr. Harlan needs to realize tha Paramount’s ownership of the Star Trek franchisedoes give them the right to reuse t Guardia if they want to. I also think that he should be reimbursed in some kind, but he doesn’t need to cry about lik some over grown baby.
Second, isn’t it ironic that both Shatner and Harlan areoth complaining about elements of the upcoming film that is being kept a total secret from the rest of the public? I think that this is a ploy by Abrams to produce more hype for the film or to try to throw us off the trail by having these two rant and rave even though their elements (Shatner as an older Kirk and Harlans Guardian), are possibly in the film.
Harlan seems softer here, I wonder if Abrams paid him a bucket load to stfu? If not it seems a nice change.
so… it not true?? I actually LIKE The Gardian of Forever rumors…
aww, man :*(
sad day for me.
JJ is a master at keeping the hype up through controlled release of information – keep this in mind when you hear anything about the movie.
I am a Guardian fan but if it’s not in, I’d be interested how they pull the plot line off.
My understanding is that the writers are after a share of DVD sales of films/shows they have written.
It seems like common sense that people should be remunerated when their work is sold in any form of medium, be it analogue or electronic.
After all, without the writer there would be no product to create in the first place.
Too much greed in the world. Give these people a fair deal.
And in case you are wondering, I am not a writer, nor do I know any writers. I just think that everyone should be paid a fair days pay for a fair days work.
While I do not always agree with what Harlan says, he is never dull….
#1
If it hadn’t been for Ellison, the name field atop your post would be blank.
Video doesn’t load for me… anyone know where else I can watch it? Email me at njdss4@yahoo.com
Ellison’s the man. If anyone was a one hit wonder it was Gene Roddenberry.
By Christmas it’s going to be clear what this rumor was really about. If you’ve been reading Soul of Star Trek, you already know.
Re — spreading lies to fuel publicity — only works when the “public” gives a flying frack. We ain’t the public…
Off topic, bit didn’t one of the fan productions do a webisode featuring the Guardian? I wonder what if any arrangement they came to with Mr. Ellison? It doesn’t seem to be the kind of thing he’d sit still for.
#39
You are correct. An episode of Star Trek New Voyages featured the Guardian of Forever. I think it was one of their first episodes.
I mostly am not interested in Mr. Ellison, but I wholeheartedly agree with his criticism of the internet being a place where anyone can put up anything and get stupid rumors flying.
Writers are seldom given credit for their importance to a production – movie, TV, stage, you name it. The old adage is so true–if it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage.
While drones like Tom Cruise suck in undeserved millions, the writers don’t begin, usually, to receive the recompense deserved. I’m all for them in this strike.
But I do wish Harlan would shut up and use his intelligence for something besides continually spouting off like a vulgar smokestack on a coal firing power plant.
DAMN – I was really looking foward to seeing the Guardian – esp since it hasnt been used since COTEOF (and the animated series)…
Surely if it were true about the guardian being in the film JJ wouldnt be ‘stealing’ from Harlan (like Ellison says in that video)..anymore than Harve Bennet and the various writers of Star Trek II ‘stole’ from Carey Wilber & Gene L Coon (writers of Space Seed) or even anymore than JJ will be ‘stealing’ from Rodenberry..
Maybe the GOF would have been in but the writers thought it wouldnt be worth the nightmare of lawsuits etc from Harlan
Actually if he’s so protective – how come Paramount was able to do that animated ep with the Guardian…or the novels that have been done?
oh and btw i’m all for the strike – without the writers WTF would hollywood be? The writers are the first port of call for any project.
SOLIDARITY! no matter how long it takes.
This viewer is with you! its your labor that I tune in for – not the corporation…
[and fellow viewers – if you want to help *DON’T* download pirate copies either!!!]
How cool and it would have been to see the Guardian again. KInda sucks that it’s not in there actually. That means, instead of the alien portal, which is both other worldly and eerily cool, we will probably see Spock simply slingshot around the sun…again.. Joy.
anthony,
Did you check out the feb 2008 edition of Sci-fi magazine?
…Quinto is on the cover and on top are small images of pine,quinto,urban and saldana with: “meet the STAR TREK’s new crew ”
Table of contents:
Star Trek
“To save Star Trek, director J.J. Abrams decided he had to kill the old version and start over with a new crew. Meet the faces that are reinventing one of the world’s most famous franchises.”
Here the cover ….hope it works:
http://s2.supload.com/free/cover-20071211062705.jpeg/view/
Colorful metaphors — indeed.
Yes, I support the writers getting a big raise. Especially those writers that came up with the Cavemen show from the Gecko commercial. That was just a classic. Those writers rank up there with Shakespeare and Ginsberg. They should be getting big bucks for their Cavemen contribution. Hallelujah for Cavemen! Whatever shall I do without new Cavemen episodes? Sigh.
Funny guy. Cranky, but a funny guy.