A while back, the guys over at AICN reported that J.J. Abrams, the writer/director of the upcoming Trek 11, was going to be using the Guardian, the time travel device from the old Star Trek episode “The City on the Edge of Forever”, as the means by which some unsavory Romulans travels into the past to kill Kirk. I think it was also posted on IESB, though who got what first, I don’t know, and I don’t really care right now. Now sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison, who wrote the original episode story, says that isn’t true, and he’s kind of mad about it.
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Now Ellison’s back, and instead of having some words for Paramount, he has words for the folks at IESB. Well, a word: ‘idiot.’
“Some idiot reported [in the internet] that they have taken elements from my “City of The Edge of Forever” Ellison tells TrekWeb. “The Guardian of Forever, the story of Edith Keeler, all this stuff is mine, because of the Writer’s Guild.”
“In fact, J.J. Abrams, who is one of my favorite writers, and a brilliant, brilliant writer, does not need to steal from me. So it turned out to be bullshit. Turned out to be crap. [...] a friend of mine has seen the [Star Trek] script and said no, thats bullshit.”
Dude, relax, you’re going to pop an ulcer. Who cares how the Romulans travel back in time to try to kill Kirk? It’s science fiction. They could use an old shoe and throw a ton of techno babble at it and it’d still work. Well, you know, as “workable” as most Trek techno babble.
