New 'TREK' rumors anger Harlan Ellison
WARNING: This post contains possible SPOILERS for the film Star Trek.
Science fiction legend Harlan Ellison wrote on Monday that, if the new rumor that elements from his original series episode "City on the Edge of Forever" will be used in the plot of the 11th Star Trek film is true, it's the first he's heard of it.
Ellison, who claims to have been tipped to the buzz by Peter David, comics writer and Star Trek novelist, fumed, "If [director J.J.] Abrams or anyone else at Paramount or elsewhere thinks they're going to use my creations--they had damned well better get in touch with me or my agent Marty Shapiro and be prepared to pay for the privilege of mining the lode I own."
According to the mercurial 73-year-old scribe, the "City" story and all its elements, except the specific Star Trek characters involved, belong to him "by terms of the Separation of Rights clause of the Writers Guild Minimum Basic Agreement."
Incited by a rumor that has not even been confirmed by anyone at Paramount, this is only the latest test to Ellison's love-hate relationship with his much-lauded Trek episode, which he publicly decried in the late '60s, after Trek producers made significant changes to his "City on the Edge of Forever" script.
Star Trek, whose plot is still firmly under wraps, warps into theaters on Christmas Day '08.
[Thanks to OCCASIONAL SUPERHEROINE for the link. Original writer MICHAEL HINMAN thanks MARK GOLDBERG for the tip.]