I doubt he has a legal leg to stand on.
Harlan Ellison to sue over Crucible? (via Psi Phi)
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If anything, I thought the revelations about the sentient Guardians (plural) in AC Crispin's "Time for Yesterday" pulled in material inspired from aspects of Harlan's original draft moreso than any of the other ST novels and short stories featuring the Guardian of Forever - but Ellison never seemed to comment on "Time for Yesterday".
As for the Blish adaptation of CotEoF, I'm reminded of Larry Niven being miffed about Alan Dean Foster getting to adapt "The Slaver Weapon" (TAS), but contractually Niven was helpless to do anything, even when he worried that "ST Log Ten" would be direct competition for "The Soft Weapon" in a "Tales of Known Space" collection.
Niven also had to stand by helplessly while the kzinti (still an active part of his own SF universe) were looped into the semi-official ST war game materials for "Star Fleet Battles" - and Paramount couldn't really help him, because SFB was actually licensed out by Franz Joseph ("ST Technical Manual"), not Norway Productions nor Paramount, due to a far-thinking contract negotiated by Joseph when he made the "Tech Manual". The best that could be done for Niven, who wanted to license out a "Ringworld" RPG featuring the kzinti, was for the SFB kzinti to be rewritten as the Mirak Star League (yet another antagonistic felinoid ST race) in the computer game "Starfleet Command" series, based on the "Star Fleet Battles" war game. I don't recall that he got any kind of $$$$$ compensation, but he'd only lent the kzinti to TAS, not signed away all future uses to the species.
GodThingFormerly
A Different Kind of Asshole
But would Ellison be so stupid as to publicly announce such intentions without first consulting his lawyers?
TGT
Also worth noting that Ellison knew about the Blish adaptation in advance, and in fact supplied Blish with a copy of the original script so that the novelisation ended up including elements of both the original and shooting script.
my understanding is the original writer was only compensated for appearances of the characters they created for only tv or film.
that for the books paramount got all the rights to use elements of the episodes.
he has also hurt himself by not ever challenging earlier appearances too.
that for the books paramount got all the rights to use elements of the episodes.
he has also hurt himself by not ever challenging earlier appearances too.
This guy has cried about "City" for damn near forty years now, how he was wronged and now ripped off, yadda, yadda, yadda. It's to the point now I almost wish Roddenberry and Justman had dropped the script when Ellison kept them waiting and moved on.
The episode's good but it's not my favorite and frankly I think it's overrated. TCotEoF would have worked better as an Outer Limits than a Star Trek as the possiblity of the protagonist actually saving Keeler would have been real, something that could not happen on an episodic series, certainly not in the 1960's (though it would make an interesting season arc). We'd miss a solid hour of TV and "The Omega Glory" gets made a year earlier but at least this arrogant, bitter loser would SHUT UP!
The episode's good but it's not my favorite and frankly I think it's overrated. TCotEoF would have worked better as an Outer Limits than a Star Trek as the possiblity of the protagonist actually saving Keeler would have been real, something that could not happen on an episodic series, certainly not in the 1960's (though it would make an interesting season arc). We'd miss a solid hour of TV and "The Omega Glory" gets made a year earlier but at least this arrogant, bitter loser would SHUT UP!
Nothing has actually happened yet, other than a rant by Ellison (who's shocked?) and a call to his agent and Marco.
My guess is that CBS has more resources than Mr. Ellison and that they will act to protect what is their property.
Ellison is just being Ellison, which is why I've always ignored him.
If Ellison did remotely have a case, then all the other authors whose Trek episodes have been the bases of novels over the decades would've had a case too, and the resultant legal actions would've pretty much killed tie-in literature ages ago by restricting it to standalone stories that were forbidden to reference any specific episodes. Theodore Sturgeon could've sued for "Once Upon a Planet," Vulcan's Glory, and any book containing T'Pau. Norman Spinrad could've sued over Vendetta and The Brave and the Bold. Jerome Bixby could've sued over DC's Mirror Universe Saga, Pocket's Dark Mirror and Dark Passions, and DS9's whole Mirror-Universe arc. Paul Schneider could've sued over the whole Rihannsu series and everything else involving the Romulan species he created. And so on.
But none of that has happened, has it? Gee, you'd think that a veteran author with over half a century of experience with television writing (good grief, he wrote an episode of The Flying Nun!) would understand the basic legalities of writing for television.
But none of that has happened, has it? Gee, you'd think that a veteran author with over half a century of experience with television writing (good grief, he wrote an episode of The Flying Nun!) would understand the basic legalities of writing for television.
I think you have to ask--if the publication of White Wolf's City on the Edge gives Ellison the right to block Crucible, why didn't the publication of Six Science-Fiction Plays (a mid-70s book that also contained Ellison's original teleplay) give Ellison the right to block, say, Yesterday's Son or Imzadi?
Either it didn't, or Ellison chose to look another way. If the former, then how did Ellison gain additional rights to protect "City"? If the latter, doesn't that show that Ellison has been inconsistent in protecting his property? Either way, it weakens Ellison's case now.
Either it didn't, or Ellison chose to look another way. If the former, then how did Ellison gain additional rights to protect "City"? If the latter, doesn't that show that Ellison has been inconsistent in protecting his property? Either way, it weakens Ellison's case now.
'Cos Pocket Books published "Six Science-Fiction Plays"?
Does Ellison rant a lot? Yeah. Sometimes he's right, sometimes he's wrong. This time lawyers might fight it out, but I suspect that CBS will put some people on it and we'll never hear about it again, other than Harlan ranting about it here and there. Just my two cents. I don't know Harlan personally, but this is what I've observed.
I agree. I always thought that what Harlan had was the right to publish his original draft for profit--and that's it. The link to the separation of rights info specifies it's about writers who have created a format for a series or written a pilot episode for a series. Harlan wrote an episode for an existing series created by someone else. I'm no lawyer, but I can't understand where Harlan thinks he has a legal leg to stand on. He should consider himself lucky that he found a loophole with his original teleplay--and has been able to sell it and get all those profits himself--and be satisfied with that, instead of trying to control what CBS Paramount can do with their own series.
Besides, it's ironic how he's pissed and moaned for four decades about how his story was ruined by Roddenberry--but it's just that "ruined" episode that has remained popular all these years.
If there was a legal problem wouldn't the licensing department at CBS have put a stop to it before the book was written?
God, I love Harlan Ellison.
:thumbsup:
^ I'm pretty sure Harlan was paid for the story back in the 60s.
Exactly--in his rant on his blog, Harlan acts as if Marco is some loose cannon publishing whatever he wants; Harlan ignores the reality that CBS Paramount had to give their thumbs up to the project as well. Seems to me Harlan's beef (such as it is) is with the studio. But, again, I think Harlan's rights end at the last page of his original teleplay--at best.
Of course, I am just an unfrozen caveman writer . . . your entertainment law frightens and confuses me.
Scott Pearson said:Of course, I am just an unfrozen caveman writer . . . your entertainment law frightens and confuses me.
I love that.
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