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Tom, a good analogy, however, I can think of a better one. "The City On The Edge Of Forever," which I wrote, in both 2016 and 2020, medium.com/@kentanderso…, a plea to anyone reading my stuff to not vote for Adolph Trump.
For those non-trek fans, "City" is a "butterfly effect," story involving Kirk, Spock, McCoy and changing the timeline …
Tom, a good analogy, however, I can think of a better one. "The City On The Edge Of Forever," which I wrote, in both 2016 and 2020, https://medium.com/@kentanderson-17716/edith-keeler-must-die-again-560a5720abb9, a plea to anyone reading my stuff to not vote for Adolph Trump.
For those non-trek fans, "City" is a "butterfly effect," story involving Kirk, Spock, McCoy and changing the timeline because of the actions of one person (and yes, Tom, I know the nearly 60-year story involving Harlan Ellison and Roddenberry) and how, because Edith Keeler lived, the Germans conquered the world. But Kirk and Spock figure out that in reality, THEIR reality, Edith died walking across the street. Of course, the key was Kirk's sense of duty and loyalty to his ship and Starfleet and his love for Edith. In the end, the timeline is preserved and Kirk says "lets get the hell out of here."
It's actually the story of Harlan and Gene L. Coon, who rewrote Harlan's pile of steaming ---- into the screenplay that won a Hugo and a Nebula - in Harlan's name because Gene saw his job as making things work, not taking credit - which Harlan never picked up. But the Wanker's Guild did give him a Laurel Award for the "steamer."
Yes, well, I read the original story, which changed a few things, but not much. Ellison was a bit steamed at Gene (then again, wasn't everyone?) for changing his story, but everyone's story gets changed in Hollywood.
The problem with Harlan is that he would break rules just because they were there. The Star Trek franchise had rules then and does now about thing that can/cannot happen, which have changed over the decades. But back then, the drug dealer couldn't be heroic and definitely couldn't win, so naturally Harlan did.... what? Also, the writer had to bear in mind that their budgets were not big. I used to know the set designer (through old airplanes) and he told me that when he got his first look at Harlan's version, "The SFX budget was spent in the introductory scene." Coon went in and made it work, but Harlan being the narcissist he was, he had to either win or be the Eternal Victim.
Ellison used to be "my hero" as a writer, and when you stay to the end of the dead sea scrolls on the Terminator movies, you find the last credit is, "The producers wish to recognize the work of Harlan Ellison." That's because he won a lawsuit over the first one for "misappropriation of intellectual property", and he won because there was a guy who wrote for Starlog Magazine, who did an interview with James Cameron, in which Cameron finally answered "what was your inspiration?" and basically said he had come up with the story from being a kid watching Harlan's episodes in two well-known s-f anthologies on TV at the time. I know that writer very extremely closely, and he got very upset when Harlan - who got rich on that decision and Hemdale's refusal to honor it till they got severely whacked - decided to treat him like he treated every other writer he was friends with, eventually. (In other words, I didn't cry over the news of his departure.)
I thought Hugos and Nebulas were only for works of prose fiction.
now, I know better.
generally, for narrative purposes in works in a series, it's best to stick to the rules.
but then again, I'm still not quite over the ridiculous invention of Red Kryptonite...the stuff that only made Superman "weird," as opposed to reliably dead (like the original green variety). that was...when? I'm thinking about 1958 or 9.
Movie scripts and the movie itself. I got into SFWA for writing "The Terror Within," it waulaified the same as having a novel published.
Yes, and all those first season shows were produced by Desilu, who also produced Mission: Impossible. (Desi was in bad health and Lucy and her second husband sold her company to Paramount) Most Sci-Fi writers think their ideas are the Next Big Thing. Trust me, they're not. Ellison was no different. If you think about that episode, the SFX was in the first scene. They used the Paramount lot for the rest of it.
did you ever wonder about the pictures of the MI team members who'd NEVER get picked?
what were their special talents? why were those talents never utilized? if they were never working, why didn't they just get shitcanned? were they on salary or retainer?
I watched the original when it aired and even then as a teenager, I knew I was watching an extraordinary story well-written and well-acted. It remains one of my favorite original Star Trek episodes.
Credit Gene L. Coon for "well-written."
I have an old, old friend (practically a cousin) named Lisa Rich, who had some script credits on one of the later Star Trek spinoffs. one of hers was definitely based on the Israeli/Palestinian thing. it was GOOD.
I remember when Battlestar Galactica did one on the Iraqi resistance to the American invasion, with the BG people the resisters who even did a suicide bombing. Really upset the wingers.
It was. I'm going to update it and repost it on here (consider subscribing to my blog) and on Medium with a few extra notes.