Harlan Ellison COTEF Lawsuit Gains Momentum

[ManaByte]

OMG I can't believe I am still reading about Mr. Ellison and his Bitch that Goes on Forever.

They better put a mention of this on his gravestone. I can see people leaving Playmates Edith Keeler toys at his grave. Maybe setting them up in the dirt..

I agree. I like Harlan (his old rant on SciFi "I'm a little person. You're a midget!" is one of the funniest things ever), but this thing is just stupid.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

^^^It was pretty good. It opens with him answering True or False about the many stories told about him over the years, read by Robin Williams.

It's also on iTunes for download; I might just snag it there.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Speaking of Ellison, did anyone else see the documentary about him that was on Sundance recently: "Dreams With Sharp Teeth"?

I saw it a few months ago at the Arlington Cinema and Draft House courtesy my good buddy Shatna! - there was a speaker-phone two-way conversation with HE afterward. Much fun. And decent Hawaiian pizza.

 

[Sovay]

I want that sculpture!

 

[Cyrus]

Speaking of Ellison, did anyone else see the documentary about him that was on Sundance recently: "Dreams With Sharp Teeth"?

I finally got around to see it. It was very good, Harlan never fails to entertain. It had many funny parts, some sad ones (talking about his dad brought tears to Harlan's eyes, and mine too).

And the section on Star Trek was educational for me. So now I know what "City" in COTEOF stands for. And I think Harlan tried some Shatner impersonations when reciting Kirk's lines.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Regardless of what HE says, I prefer the filmed episode to his script and I prefer to think of New York as the City of the title. YMMV, of course. I'm still a huge HE fan. (I'm an even bigger PKD fan--a Dickhead, if you will--and I prefer Blade Runner to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)

 

[Paladin4]

Keep in mind that Harlan Ellison also trademarked his name and now controls all use of his name as a result. No joke.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Well, "Harlan Ellison" is a bit of a brand name by this point, so it only makes sense. And a few dollars...

 

[Sci]

Keep in mind that Harlan Ellison also trademarked his name and now controls all use of his name as a result. No joke.

Source?

To me, that sounds more like something that would only be applicable to commercial uses. Like you'd be violating trademark to create a film called Harlan Ellison's Treehouse of Horror VIII, but not to just refer to the guy in conversation.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Keep in mind that Harlan Ellison also trademarked his name and now controls all use of his name as a result. No joke.

Source?

To me, that sounds more like something that would only be applicable to commercial uses. Like you'd be violating trademark to create a film called Harlan Ellison's Treehouse of Horror VIII, but not to just refer to the guy in conversation.

Yep, that's pretty much it.

 

[Maurice]

Keep in mind that Harlan Ellison also trademarked his name and now controls all use of his name as a result. No joke.

Source?

Easy enough to check. Just Google Trademark Search and type "Harlan Ellison" into Trademark the search field and voila.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Keep in mind that Harlan Ellison also trademarked his name and now controls all use of his name as a result. No joke.

Source?

I can't cite a source, but I was looking at an anthology recently in the bookstore, and on the table of contents page, where the stories and authors were listed, after Ellison's name was the little "TM" symbol.

Ellison's most recently lawsuit against Fantagraphics had to do with Fantagraphics infringing on Ellison's trademark of his name by reprinting an interview Ellison gave a number of years ago.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

"‘F- - - -in’-A damn skippy!’ I’m no hypocrite. It ain’t about the ‘principle,’ friend, its about the MONEY! Pay Me! Am I doing this for other writers, for Mom (still dead), and apple pie? Hell no! I’m doing it for the 35-year-long disrespect and the money!"


I love that guy!

Me too. I hope he wins.

 

[Photoman15]

Read his COTEOF book. He's a little too full of himself. That's probably why he and GR didn't get along. Geez.... it was 45 years ago, get over it. You wrote a great story, you won an award, an adaptation (albeit a very close one to one of your rewrites) became an episode of STAR TREK that lots of people liked. The changes that the other writers made, had to be made to fit into an episodic program in 1966.

 

[Maurice]

This has gone around again and again...Harlan's an angry guy. He admits it. But he's got points about how Roddenberry et al besmirched his credentials and told tall tales and lies about his conduct for years and how some people persist in repeating the untruths even when they know better. I'm sure he can be an utter ass, but he's an eloquent ass, and I'll take that over milquetoast any day.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

That's probably why he and GR didn't get along.

No, it's not, and Ellison is one of many writers who then and later wouldn't be able to "get along" with Roddenberry because of the latter's often unethical and unfair behavior - Ellison's just more willing to be publicly vocal about it.

 

[number6]

That's probably why he and GR didn't get along.

No, it's not, and Ellison is one of many writers who then and later wouldn't be able to "get along" with Roddenberry because of the latter's often unethical and unfair behavior - Ellison's just more willing to be publicly vocal about it.

Is he ever.

 

[Mordock]

Read his COTEOF book. He's a little too full of himself. That's probably why he and GR didn't get along. Geez.... it was 45 years ago, get over it. You wrote a great story, you won an award, an adaptation (albeit a very close one to one of your rewrites) became an episode of STAR TREK that lots of people liked. The changes that the other writers made, had to be made to fit into an episodic program in 1966.

I would venture to say that it's more than that; the work for which he is arguably best known is something he considers compromised and unrepresentative of his intentions. I can see how that might eat at him.

 

[Maurice]

That's probably why he and GR didn't get along.

No, it's not, and Ellison is one of many writers who then and later wouldn't be able to "get along" with Roddenberry because of the latter's often unethical and unfair behavior - Ellison's just more willing to be publicly vocal about it.

Related to that, I found the following very illuminating re Roddenberry and the "need" to rewrite scripts (emphasis mine):

BOB [JUSTMAN]: At the time, I was disappointed by the fact that Gene never responded to my request to be paid for the story [for Tomorrow Is Yesterday]. I knew he had come up with a number of story ideas for the show, "springboards" as we called them. He claimed that he wouldn't get paid for them; they were part of his duties as creator of the show. But since I was part of the management team, I rationalized, if Gene could do it gratis, then so could I. The important thing was to help the show in every way possible. At the time, I had no idea that Gene would receive extra money from the studio for this "extra work." Many years later when I had the facts, I came to realize that the "feet of clay" syndrome was kicking in--but at the time, I didn't want to accept that fact.

HERB [SOLOW]: Gene's refusal to acknowlege Bob Justman's story contribution was a particularly cruel treatment of his Associate Producer and friend, especially when considering his money demands for anything he wrote or rewrote. Part of the salary and royalty paid series "Creator-Executive Producers" covered some rewriting of stories and scripts. After I left [Desilu] and went to MGM, Gene's agents submitted bills directly to the Paramount Business Affairs Department for almost every story or rewrite he did. The payments ranged from $750 to over $3,000, at times even more than what the writer of a particular script was paid. It was like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse; it was Gene himself, deciding what stories and scripts needed rewriting. And the more stories and scripts he rewrote, he more extra money he was paid. It's no wonder that almost all of the Star Trek writers, at one time or another, were angered over his treatment of their scripts. At the time, even Bob Justman didn't know about Gene's additional "perks." These extraordinary payments were not reflected in the studio's weekly cost reports.

By the time I heard about Roddenberry's refusal to give RJ credit, money, or even a personal acknowledgement for his story, it was twenty-seven years later and there was nothing I could do to correct the situation.

In short, it appears Roddenberry rewrote scripts not necessarily because they needed it, but by doing so he could make some extra dough.

(Several years later, the Writers Guild ruled that scriptwriters must be given the opportunity to do their own first rewrite and, if they chose not to do so, specifically forbade producers from rewriting a script without first consulting the writer.)

Back to the topic, Harlan is often on a rail about how writers are mistreated in Hollywood, and the above is a classic example of how producers can steal money from writers. It may leave one to wonder how much of the rewriting of "The City on the Edge of Forever" was motivated by the needs of the show versus Roddenberry's wallet.

 

[number6]

^^Judging by the script submitted (in Ellison's own book), I would say the rewrites were motivated more by the former. It just wasn't Star Trek as originally written.