David Gerrold

The Steamroller of Lies

This book is not about Harlan Ellison.

It should be about Harlan Ellison. It has his name on the cover and it has one hell of a television script by Harlan Ellison inside but, unfortunately, this book is really about Gene Roddenberry, because Gene Roddenberry was the one who made it necessary.

For years, Roddenberry stood up in front of audiences and said with bland composure that he had to rewrite Harlan Ellison’s script for the “The City on the Edge of Forever” episode of Star Trek because Harlan had Scotty dealing drugs. That’s not the truth, you can see that for yourself, but Gene continued the falsehood in numerous speeches and interviews. He said it again and again, even after Harlan called him on each embarrassing occasion and asked him not to.

I witnessed more than one of these conversations between Harlan and Gene. When confronted, Gene acknowledged that Harlan was correct and promised that he wouldn’t say it again. Yet, at the very next convention he attended, he repeated the lie. I saw him do it. Did he forget what he had promised?

That’s why this book is about Gene Roddenberry. It’s Harlan Ellison’s long overdue refutation of the falsehood.

I can understand why Harlan feels the need to set the record straight. Every time that Gene Roddenberry repeated the lie, he was implying that Harlan Ellison did not understand Star Trek or that he did not do his job properly. He was insulting Harlan’s professional credential. At the very least, it was an inappropriate thing for Gene Roddenberry to say. At worst, well—it was unkind and unprofessional.

If there’s one thing that I have learned from Harlan—and also from Gene, albeit in an entirely different way—it is this: You are your word. Harlan Ellison understands this; I’m not sure that Gene Roddenberry ever did; but the difference between speaking a commitment and living it is the difference between eating the menu and eating the meal.

Maybe telling the truth isn’t important if you’re only a television producer, or worse—a television producer’s lawyer; but if you’re a writer, it’s all you have. A writer is a servant of the truth. He’s a channel for enlightenment. If he’s anything less than that, he’s a fraud, a charlatan, a phony, a waster of trees and time. Anything less than a total commitment to accuracy as a way of life is the murder of integrity and trust.