Harlan Ellison sues Paramount for "City" royalties

[mego73]

Harlan Ellison Sues Paramount - Alleges Unpaid Merchandising Royalties | TrekMovie.com

I'm no fan of Ellison as a person but think he should get compensated for all the merchandising they got out of his Guardian and Edith Keeler creation.

But I think he's not on good legal ground because of the way they did things in the 60's. I bet his was basically a work for hire deal.

[txteach]

Oh man thats funny "PAY ME!"

[txteach]

I love the whole "I don't take a **** without getting paid for it"

[bgrimm77]

GOOD FOR HIM.......He does seem a bit bitter doesnt he ?

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

I can't blame him for feeling annoyed.

[ramsey37]

I'm quoting here from one of the posters on that site:
"One wishes that those who know and love him and have his ear would steer him toward more constructive pursuits instead of constantly rehashing this long-gone slight against his ample pride."
That pretty much sums up my feelings re: Harlan Ellison and "The City on the Edge of Forever". I've never yet seen or read an interview with Ellison over the last *forty* years where he doesn't scream about that script, and I'm just tired of hearing about it. He got paid for his work at the time, and he's kidding himself if he thinks he's going to win this lawsuit.
George

[palitoy]

I doubt very much that he signed any sort of contract that allowed him the ownership of the characters, so he's fighting an uphill battle.

Like a lot of people, I think Ellison is talented and I used to really enjoy his rant columns but he's also a bitter jerk.

[Captain]

I read somewhere that Ellison said he had a "handshake" deal with Roddenberry in regards to merchandising. Even if he did, Roddenberry was probably drunk and thought he was trying to open the mens room door instead of shaking Harlans hand!!
Heck, look at the lengths Nimoy had to go to get a piece of the merchandising. If Robert Wise hadnt stepped in, Nimoy would have never got a cent, and we would never have seen Spock again.
Ellison was a sort of writing staff member for the original series for a time, but I dont think he did much ...except complain how badly they hatcheted his original "COTEOF" script, and moan about how much better it would have been if they had left Scotty a drug addict! Point is, I too highly doubt he had any kind of special terms contract.

I agree with the general sentiment here, The guys done this a thousand times.....and it's getting tiring. I believe he does it for one of two reasons....attention...and he's trying to get Paramount or CBS to buy some lame-o spec script from him (which they did to shut him up once before).

[Mikey]

Harlan Ellison is an *******, and so is Paramount.

I don't care which wins

[samurainoir]

Has there ever been City on the Edge of Forever action figures?

Keep in mind that this is the same Harlan Ellison that now gets credit and $$ for Terminator, so he does have a history of winning these battles.

On a smaller scale, he also successfully took on Marvel comics after Bill Mantlo allegedly plagiarized the same source material for an issue of The Incredible Hulk.

He's not very prolific, but SOLDIER has been a great source of income for him.

On the flip-side his ridiculous "feud" with the PvP guys does show what a jerk he can be.

[Mikey]

Has there ever been City on the Edge of Forever action figures?

Yea, I have a few of the smaller ones --- wanna buy them ?

[samurainoir]

Has there ever been City on the Edge of Forever action figures?

Yea, I have a few of the smaller ones --- wanna buy them ?

I was just wondering if there was a precedence in terms of CotEoF merch. One would assume that Ellison got his cut from these if we didn't hear the stink about it back then?

I guess there is a possibility we can get official EMCE CotEoF variants of Kirk and Spock (and maybe even Edith Keelor) if Ellison gets paid.

[mego73]

There have been COTEOF action figures (Kirk and Spock in 30's outfits and Edith Keeler) as well as other stuff like a Guardian of Forever Diorama with Kirk and Spock jumping through, a Hallmark ornament with the same type of scene. The Guardian of Forever has popped up in the animated show, Trek novels and comics.

I'm sure it was a lot of this that stuck in Ellison's craw. That and people repeating the misrepresentations by Gene Roddenberry (whether he did it accidentally or on purpose). It was never Scotty that was dealing drugs like Roddenberry said more than once, but a one shot character.

But Ellison is on thin ice here. If he thinks he is entitled to royalties above and beyond what was originally contracted for. If they did that, they would have to do that for David Gerrold too, whose Tribbles have had more merchandising than Ellison's stuff. Indeed it would have to be done industry wide and that's not going to happen.

I think all Ellison is doing is making noise to get a settlement from Paramount to shut him up.

[MysteryWho]

Yeah, Harlan is a jerk. Great writer, but still a jerk.
However, he's right in the clip about Paramount.
They are trying to get something for nothing.
I guess he's got nothing better to do, so why not.
Sometimes it takes a jerk to get stuff done.
Paramount is like any other giant corporation,
stuffing the isles with over-priced rubbish and
squeezing every last drop out of the franchise.
When somebody else wants a piece, they're out of line?
It's actually that idea of 'entitlement' that is making people suffer now.
They want bonuses with their bailouts?
Doesn't anybody remember the French Revolution?
They won't eat cake forever.

[txteach]

Dude may be a jerk but damn he had me rolling. "Give me my money mother ****er" had me laughing. not something you see an old guy say every day.