As usual, the devil will most certainly be in the details. And without the details, none of us can make an objective assessment one way or another.
Details of Ellison's Repent Harlequin/In Time Lawsuit
- Thread starter Sir Rhosis
- Start date
Exactly. The key point for that section is where Roper got the idea. He may heard it from someone involved with the film, or the film may have reminded him of the story and he assumed it was an adaptation, or it may have been someone else at the screening who saw the similarity and commented on it and he thought they knew what they were talking about.
Sometimes, fact-checking slips up in the case of "obvious" stuff like that. For instance, I've read more than one review of the Cuban Missile Crisis film "Thirteen Days" that describes Kevin Costner's character as being completely invented, when he actually was playing a real guy (though he was a bit of a composite character in the film), just because that sort of fictional fly-on-the-wall viewpoint character is such a standard trope in historical films, it seemed natural to assume it was the case there.
Likewise, it could've been that Roper's just seen enough loose Philip K. Dick adaptations that he's gotten into the habit of assuming that if a movie is even vaguely similar to a classic, unfilmed science fiction story, there's probably a direct connection. Or, yeah, he could've heard it from someone connected with the movie, in which case, somebody is so fired.
http://69.147.126.45/news/yahoo-contributor-network/harlan-ellison-just-time-get-credit-movie
It seems a settlement was reached, wherein Ellison received a "credit" (and probably some type of monetary compensation). As I've not seen the film, I'm not sure what it says (the article doesn't say exactly).
Anybody see it?
Sir Rhosis
It seems a settlement was reached, wherein Ellison received a "credit" (and probably some type of monetary compensation). As I've not seen the film, I'm not sure what it says (the article doesn't say exactly).
Anybody see it?
Sir Rhosis
Good for Ellison.
If he received a credit, he got some money.
Good going, HE.
Good going, HE.
Well, fuck, now it seems that the settlement story was false. Oh well, eventually it'll reach a conclusion.
http://airlockalpha.com/node/8760/no-settlement-in-harlan-ellison-in-time-lawsuit.html
Until then...
Sir Rhosis
http://airlockalpha.com/node/8760/no-settlement-in-harlan-ellison-in-time-lawsuit.html
Until then...
Sir Rhosis
It's good that he lost. Where in In Time was the jellybean scene from Repent? the Harlequin mask? the serio-comic commentary on busy contemporary life? the filler purple prose? 
Repent is vague in the details that it gives concerning the mechanics of the situation set up in the story, but really, there seems to be zero similarity besides the fact that the government can kill you when your time is up. In Repent you cannot buy or sell your life, and you most certainly cannot live theoretically forever.
Frivolous lawsuits like this stifle creativity.
Repent is vague in the details that it gives concerning the mechanics of the situation set up in the story, but really, there seems to be zero similarity besides the fact that the government can kill you when your time is up. In Repent you cannot buy or sell your life, and you most certainly cannot live theoretically forever.
Frivolous lawsuits like this stifle creativity.
Who says he lost? The only story I see here is a claim that a settlement has not been reached.
Yeah, sure.
Well since nobody saw the movie and it sucked, nobody is gonna remember it. Are they?
I knew this guy was another rip off artist from a long line of 'em in Hollywood. Wasn't there a DS9 episode where they went into a characters mind with a machine on a guy named Sloan to get some information? Does that sound like Inception to you?
I could almost prove that my ideas I sent to DS9 became Serenity. Lets see there was a telepathic Klingon spy and an agent X that made the Klingons pacifiscts but I'm where I am and that guy is where he is. Even Trek reexpressed some of my ideas several times. I call that getting stepped on by people with no ideas and all derivitive rights to yours.
Thanks Sir Rhosis for posting this. I sincerely hope Harlan wins this or we will be living in a dystopian like that or Firefly.
I knew this guy was another rip off artist from a long line of 'em in Hollywood. Wasn't there a DS9 episode where they went into a characters mind with a machine on a guy named Sloan to get some information? Does that sound like Inception to you?
I could almost prove that my ideas I sent to DS9 became Serenity. Lets see there was a telepathic Klingon spy and an agent X that made the Klingons pacifiscts but I'm where I am and that guy is where he is. Even Trek reexpressed some of my ideas several times. I call that getting stepped on by people with no ideas and all derivitive rights to yours.
Thanks Sir Rhosis for posting this. I sincerely hope Harlan wins this or we will be living in a dystopian like that or Firefly.
Last edited:
It's very simple. People who make visual art are prostitutes. Painters, photographers, actors (theatre and film), script writers, directors, carpenters, craft services, every last one of them. That's how writer/director/producer Andrew Niccol completely voided any right to his own reputation or integrity, while Ellison, a prose writer, get the simple courtesy of being referred to as a human being that exists.
This isn't a case of one person accusing another of stealing from him, this is a case of a person accusing 20TH CENTURY FOX, the amoral, faceless corporation, of stealing from him. That way, it doesn't matter how slanted, off-base, or flat-out wrong Ellison's accusations are, he's morally correct by default, since he's the underdog going up against a faceless corporate entity.
It's interesting to speculate on if the reaction to the lawsuit would've been any different if Niccol had made "Im.Mortal" with an independent studio.
No, Ellison has not lost. The suit has not been settled. The case is ongoing. That was the story I linked to. The earlier story asserting the case was settled with a credit to Ellison was false.
Sir Rhosis
Sir Rhosis
Similar threads
