This time, the Pavement Pounders dig into the Outer Limits episode “Soldier,” adapted by Harlan Ellison from his story “Soldier from Tomorrow.” Why? Well, because of that little legal case that resulted in “Acknowledgement to the works of Harlan Ellison” in the end credits of The Terminator. We rule definitively on whether there was a case.
After recording this episode, we were saddened to hear of Ellison’s passing. We’ll try to hit a bit more Ellison in his honor in our next episode.
And for no reason, we still rank things!
Rankings!:
Colin/James:
- Terminator
- Soldier from Tomorrow (story)
- Soldier (TOL episode)
Seth:
- Terminator wins!
Show Notes:
Just how similar are Soldier and Terminator? James submits this into evidence (Seth quoted right along with the entire Terminator scene, word for word):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQqGAaMw7-o&app=desktop
Another analysis of the case:
https://electricliterature.com/was-1984s-the-terminator-a-harlan-ellison-rip-off-27f52272af11
Incomparable episode about Harlan Ellison’s work:
https://www.theincomparable.com/theincomparable/401/