Science Fiction writer Harlan Ellison is suing both Paramount and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) over the original Star Trek episode City on the Edge of Forever.

From ICv2:

Harlan Ellison filed suit on Friday against Paramount and the Writers Guild of America over the Ellison script for the Star Trek episode City on the Edge of Forever. Ellison alleged that he has received no accounting or payment from Paramount for uses of his teleplay, and that the WGA has failed to act on his behalf on the issue.

Among the uses of the script for which Ellison wants compensation from Paramount are a trilogy of paperbacks, the Crucible series, which use elements of the script, and a Hallmark Christmas ornament in which a character speaks lines from the episode.

Ellison is asking only $1 (plus fees) from the WGA, with which he’s been closely associated throughout his career.

Ellison described his motivation with his typical élan. “…[A]t the moment some studio mouthpiece calls me a mooch, and says I’m only pursuing this legal retribution to get into their ‘deep pockets,’ tell ‘m Ellison snarled back, ‘F*****in’-A damn skippy,’” the announcement of his suit said. “I’m no hypocrite. It ain’t about the ‘principle,’ friend, it’s about the MONEY! Pay Me! Am I doing this for other writers, for Mom (still dead), and apple pie! Hell no! I’m doing it for the 35-year-long disrespect and the money!”

City on the Edge of Forever is my favorite original Star Trek episode. Ellison wrote the original script, but it had to be rewritten many times before it was used on the show. If I remember correctly, Ellison’s original story involved a drug dealer that escapes from the Enterprise and goes back in time and alters the time-line resulting in the Enterprise becoming a pirate ship. Not a old fashioned wooden sailing ship from the 18th century, but a space pirate ship.

I’m not familiar with the Crucible series of Star Trek novels, but evidently the stories involve time travel and use the City on the Edge of Forever’s Guardian of Forever device.  If that’s true, they wouldn’t be the first Star Trek novels to use the Guardian of Forever device.  Peter David’s Imzadi also featured the Guardian of Forever device.

Why is Ellison not suing for that?

Sometimes I have to remind myself that Ellison is above all, a science fiction writer.  I tend to just think of him as just a guy that enjoys suing people for dumb reasons.  Has anyone ever been sued over a Hallmark Christmas ornament before?  Is this what some mean when they talk about a supposed war on Christmas?

A copy of the lawsuit can be read here.