I mean, calling The Outer Limits (and Harlan Ellison by extension) obscure feels like a bit of a stretch, but headlines gotta headline I suppose.
Yeah, but the claim is bullshit.
The “original” was just a soldier accidentally sent back in time, he just exists, then an enemy soldier has the same fluke accident, finds the first and they kill each other.
Like…
This is just how Sci Fi has worked for literally over a century. Stuff is built on earlier works.
If you say it’s the same as Terminator because two people traveled back in time and fought, how is Ellison adding that second person to a time travel story enough for his to be unique?
There’s very few “new” basic ideas left, because for decades the greatest minds in Sci Fi we’re methed out maniacs who had to write a handful of publishable stories a day to afford to live. And even then, there was no credibility for writing Sci Fi, they were all ripping off each other and earlier writers like Doyle and Wells.
All that matter was if you could write a story that could be read in 20 minutes and was entertaining.
[off topic]
Since we’re talking about time travelling soldiers…
Awarded the Hugo Award during 1958, The Big Time is a story involving only a few characters, but with a vast, cosmic back story.
You don’t know about the Change War, but it’s influencing your lives all the time and maybe you’ve had hints of it without realizing. Have you ever worried about your memory, because it doesn’t seem to be bringing you exactly the same picture of the past from one day to the next? Have you ever been afraid that your personality was changing because of forces beyond your knowledge or control? Have you ever felt sure that sudden death was about to jump you from nowhere? Have you ever been scared of Ghosts – not the story-book kind, but the billions of beings who were once so real and strong it’s hard to believe they’ll just sleep harmlessly forever? Have you ever wondered about those things you may call devils or Demons – spirits able to range through all time and space, through the hot hearts of stars and the cold skeleton of space?
