The Terminator made millions, the man who inspired it got peanuts… and $5000 to keep quiet

Here’s an interesting snippet of sci-fi history that you may not have heard before.

James Cameron’s classic 1984 film The Terminator was heavily influenced by two 1960s ‘The Outer Limits’ episodes written by author, screenwriter and movie critic Harlan Ellison. However, the story of how Ellison found out about this and ended up getting a paltry out of court settlement of between $65,000 and $75,000 (plus an extra $5,000 for keeping quiet about it), is fascinating.

In the end, the money didn’t matter, all Ellison wanted was to be asked.

Watch the video below for the full story.