Harlan Ellison: The Original Hollywood Rebel
by John T. Simpson“My role in life is to be a burr under the saddle. I didn’t pick that for myself, it just happens that’s the way I am. I wish I could be one of the really sweet guys, but for me nobody has a good word. That’s because my allegiance is to art, to the work. I have no allegiance to magazines, producers, studios, networks or anything. The work is what counts.” – Harlan Ellison, on writing in Hollywood.
For those of you here at Big Hollywood who think you are playing a whole new game in taking on the Tinseltown establishment in force, I have news for you. Scribe Extraordinaire and futurist iconoclast Harlan Ellison beat you all to the punch by about forty-five years. And if you don’t know who Harlan Ellison is, shame on you! He is a living legend with more Hugos and Nebulas than I care to count, as well as four WGA Awards and an Emmy nod. And all that’s just for starters.
Much of Harlan’s writing defies description or genre. If I had to describe it, I would say that Harlan paints with words like Picasso and Salvador Dali painted with canvas. Even that description is severely lacking. Perhaps Dali on acid would be more apropos. Harlan’s writing does have a peyote-flavored tinge to it than can induce a trippy narcosis in readers, yet Harlan has never touched a drug in his life. Some studio execs, producers and others in the screen trade who have meddled with or lifted Harlan’s work in the past might find that news surprising, given Harlan’s reactions to those mortal offenses resembled a tiger on methamphetamine.
In point of fact, there are two kinds of Harlan Ellison people in Hollywood, and both are foaming-at-the-mouth types. There are those in the studio system who despise Harlan with every atom of their being, and those who would take a firing squad for him. I have a blindfold on standby just in case. Have for about thirty years now. But let us discuss some of the other foaming-at-the-mouth types, why that is, and why he is my Hollywood hero and role model as a writer in that regard.
As noted in the preamble, Harlan does not care who he offends for the sake of pure art. Never has. How about we start at the top with Gene Roddenberry on the set of Star Trek in 1967? Though City on the Edge of Forever won Harlan Hugo and WGA Awards and is considered by many Trekkies to be the finest episode written for that show, Harlan begged to differ at the time. See, Harlan’s original script contained various moral ambiguities (including a drug-addled Enterprise crewman) that countered producer Roddenberry’s less dark and dystopian vision of the Star Trek future.
So Roddenberry rewrote it. Harlan protested vehemently, to the point of trying to replace his own name on the script with that of his oft-used contemptuous pseudonym Cordwainer Bird, which literally translates to “He who makes shoes for birds.” Roddenberry refused to let Harlan make the change, and added insult to injury in later years by proclaiming he had saved the script.
Ten years later, while working as creative consultant and staff writer on the darkly brilliant but highly underrated Twilight Zone reboot in the mid-1980s, Harlan once again came to artistic blows with the show’s producers over his proposed episode titled ‘Nackles,’ a story of good and evil Santas having at it on a Christmas Eve most dark and dystopian. Seeing a trend here? Harlan refused to budge, so the studios canceled ‘Nackles at the last minute, fearing it was too dark for the ‘fragile’ American market. Imagine that. A dark and dystopian Twilight Zone episode. Who’d a-thunk it?
Had the studio forced a rewrite not to Harlan’s liking, Mr. Bird’s name would no doubt be on the credits. Alas, the evil St. Nick was not to be. And we are all the lesser for it, I can assure you. I guess Bad Santa is as far as the studios will go. Harlan also sued Jim Cameron over the original Terminator film as being derivative of his two scripted Outer Limits TOS episodes Soldier and Demon With a Glass Hand, and won. A settlement was reached, and Harlan is now acknowledged in the film’s credits. Harlan also sued and won over City on the Edge of Forever residuals, and recently settled with Paramount Pictures on the matter.
For me, the toppings on the Harlan Ellison Hollywood Rebel cake are The Glass Teat and The Other Glass Teat, Harlan’s two collections of scathing essays on television’s moral and intellectual vacuity, previously published in the Los Angeles Free Press in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Even today they are enthralling reads, and are required reading in many college media classrooms. Example. Harlan thought the concept of Hogan’s Heroes, i.e. a comedy set in a German POW camp, was offensive in the extreme given the real-life brutality in those settings. In response, Harlan asked the pressing question, “What next for a studio sitcom? Bernie Goes To Auschwitz?”
Love him or hate him, Harlan Ellison cannot and will not be denied. Yet Harlan’s approach to screenwriting and storytelling as a pure art form is as relevant to Hollywood today as it was forty years ago. I can guaran-damn-tee you, even if Harlan thinks Al Gore doesn’t go anywhere near far enough in his alarmism on Global Warming, God have mercy on the poor studio bastard who would try to compel Harlan to inject An Inconvenient Truth into his scripts. I’m thinking a response less Academy Awards and more tiger on meth.
And that is what is truly disappointing to me in Hollywood today: that so many great studio writers are so willing to pervert their art and God-given storytelling talent just to keep working a show. Or worse, to corrupt it willingly for the sake of propaganda. I understand their real world concerns, but I wish at least one WGA writer would toss up a Cordwainer Bird-like pseudonym to let us all know there’s at least one ghost in Jeffrey Immelt’s Big NBC Green Machine. At the very least, lay down some wood here in the comments section. I’m 99.9% sure Harlan would. Hollywood could use a few good rebels right now. Rebels that may sell their work to make a living, but draw the line at prostitution.
And Harlan, if I’m wrong on any of this, please feel free to give me Hell. Even if you do, that get-out-of-a-firing-squad-free card will always be good with me. I would also be greatly interested in hearing from any other creative film artists tossed into the political mud pits at NBC and elsewhere who could not be more offended if they were Harlan Ellison. Your secrets are safe with us. Trust me.
Be a Hollywood Rebel! Let ‘er rip! Fight The Power! Do it for Harlan
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AUTHOR’S FOOTNOTES: Though Harlan took great offense at Roddenberry’s rewrite of his Star Trek script at the time, word is the two men eventually parted on amicable terms. I may have left that anecdote hanging in a manner Harlan might not appreciate if true, though I do believe the recollection of events is accurate. You’d have to ask Harlan.
I have also read that ‘Nackles was the story of a white bigot frightening minority kids with tales of a white racist Santa (played by Ed Asner) and that it was CBS Practices that shut it down in mid-production. Again, you’d have to ask Harlan. I ain’t bothering him with this crap. The real problem here is that it can be as difficult to sort out the real from the fantastic in Harlan’s life as it is in his work. Myths and urban legends abound.
I also believe Harlan would not take kindly to producers meddling with his scripts to inject politics, or corrupting the pure art of storytelling to push any agenda, as they are today at NBC. I base that assumption on Harlan's character and history. So if I am wrong here in any way, my most sincere appy-polly-logies to Harlan and all concerned. But I did the best I could with the resources available, and from my own dusty memory of events.
I did a report on Harlan Ellison in high school but I hadn't read any of his work and, subsequently, I failed to appreciate what I was writing about (I'm sure Ellison would have me shot for that!).
I remember him doing his opinion pieces on a pre-World Wide Web Sci-Fi Channel news show called Sci-Fi Buzz. One line of his stood out: "I'm a writer. If you call me a science-fiction writer, I'll kick down your door and staple your dog's head to the coffee table." (or words to that effect)
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Big Hollywood and Michael Chavez, DNC DUDES. DNC DUDES said: Harlan Ellison: The Original Hollywood Rebel: “My role in life is to be a burr under the saddle. I didn’t pick … http://bit.ly/8FuNfJ [...]
a true Giant. He has always made me think enough to be scared
Harlan Ellison is merely a self-aggrandizing contrarian who happens to be able to write. Great that he hates Hollywood idiocy. That just means he is not a blind sycophant. More tellingly, Ellison is also rude and abusive towards fans. Take a look at reports from his convention appearances. He is a grade A jerk who mocks the people who consume his work. The fact that he believes in global warming means, that when push comes to shove, he is a totalitarian leftist, just like the rest of the Hollywood bastiches.
Harlan Ellison’s relatively unknown now, because he is a great pillar in the foundation of the incredibly shrinking genre known as SF. Who reads SF anymore? All the greats of the Golden Age are dead. I remember when Sci Fic was the moniker, but Sci Fic is just for kids and adults are embarrassed by the relationship, because the Sci Fic channel is now SyFy.
Yes, I know there are people who read SF. I do for one, especially Hardcore, i.e. the heavy science variety. SF is now space opera only, which is Star Wars and Star Trek. You know, epic struggles. SF is all about socially change, pollution, the end of the world because it’s the West’s or rather America’s fault.
We have ‘V.’ It’s popular, but not new. SF is now current social conscious commentary. Big deal.
The most interesting book I’ve read is called The Bridge, written by Keith D. Mano. It’s about how a fanatical environmental world government bent on species suicide to save the planet. The book was published in 1973. Now, that’s real SF.
David Gerrold has accounts of that kerfuffle in one of his behind the scene books on Star Trek, either the Making of the Trouble with the Tribbles, or the Making of Star Trek. Its been over 30 years since I read them.
If I remember correctly Rodenberry had to rewrite the script because Ellison produced the equivalent of around a two and a half hour movie, and completely beyond Star Trek's budget.
At the time Ellison was trying to pare it down, and Gerrod would run into him in the strangest places, like the back of costume rooms, bleary eyed, banging away on a typewriter.
Agreed. I've been a huge fan of Ellison since I stumbled across one of his short story collections at the school library. How that ever got in a high school library is beyond me.
I continued reading him through college, especially I Have No Mouth Yet I Must Scream. When I was feeling down, I'd grab on of his books, and after seeing what he put his characters through, how could anyone be less than thrilled with their own dire circumstances.
And years later I learned he was indeed the same author of City on the Edge of Forever, my favorite episode.
I'm very pleased to hear he's still alive and kicking, and cranking out the work. Next time you see him please give him a message for me "Mr. Ellison you ROCK!"
And Salvador Dali used to wear fruit baskets on his head, Vorpal. The magnificent art stands. And I haven't been able to find anything on Harlan pushing Global Warming. Most of the rest I have heard. Having not met him personally, I can't say. But my piece here is on the purity of storytelling as art, which Harlan champions, and which far too many writers in Hollywood are willing to sacrifice on the altar of politics. Good enough for me.
I've read lots of Harlan Ellison, but honestly, not a lot of his stories have stuck with me. Also, I despise rude and loud people and he is all that.
When it comes to sci-fi short stories, the ones that have stuck with me the most are those by Cordwainer Smith "Scanners Live in Vain", "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell" and others. Smith was a true Original.
I crashed Harlan's hotel room at the world science fiction convention in Anaheim back in the 80s… I was the drunken radar tech, if anyone else was there. I drank his booze and annoyed his other guests, and he was nice enough to me, so don't believe everything you read about how rude he is. I'd say opinionated, sure, but not rude. It wasn't so much that he mocked people who consume his work as impatience with celebrity obsessed fans who want to slobber all over him. At least, that was my impression from an admittedly short meeting.
Don't know if he supports that global warming crap or not; if he does that would lower my opinion of him just a little bit.
I can understand Ellison's frustration with being labeled a science fiction writer. He writes more than just SF stories. His first novel was "Rumble" (aka "Web of the City") and it was about teenage street gangs. To research it he spent about 10 weeks as a member of a Brooklyn street gang. Imagine doing something like that only to find, in later years, the book shelved in stores' science fiction section because Ellison had been labeled a SF writer.
A BOY AND HIS DOG. Ellison hated the film, but it's still pretty good. The novella is excellent and he was supposed to be writting a sequel to it.. Any word on that?
Some former coworkers (who are also friends) had the "joy" of dealing with Ellison professionally. Their experiences make it clear what everyone not enamored of the "artiste" knows — Ellison's a jerk.
I read Gerrold's book, "the making of Star Trek" which was a wonderful primer on how to write for television. I had that book for years before eventually losing it in my last move. Luckily, I think it is available at Amazon.
I loved Harlan Ellison's work, and surely agree the notion of injecting a political agenda into any script of his would be flatout heresy. I am now interested to go back and read the original script. Even with the changes, the story stood up as presenting one of the greatest moral delimma's in fiction.
"I See A Man Sitting In A Chair And The Chair Is Biting His Leg"
"I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream"
As a young fan of the "Doctor Who" television series when I was maybe 10 or 12, I read a few novelizations of the series… and enjoyed to some extent the forward, writen by someone with a sharp (if not vicious) tone.
The writer smeared Star Trek and Star Wars, as I recall both fairly and unfairly, and praised the series of "Doctor Who" for being everything those others simply couldn't be (or perhaps didn't want to).
Years later I learned about Harlan Ellison and eventually figured out it was the same guy who wrote the forward.
While I appreciate his apparent zeal for "Doctor Who", I cannot shake the possibilty that he merely used his forward to throw stones at both Star Trek and Star Wars.
To be fair, they may be well deserved stones.
Harlan Ellison is a genius, but if he believes that Global Warming crap it's a sign he's getting old. I began reading his short stories and television criticism as a teenager. Somewhere along the way I left him behind, not because his writing deteriorated but because my interests shifted for some years.
My interest in Harlon was aroused again when I realized he was a consultant to M. Straczinski on Babylon 5 the television series. Babylon 5 is the most interesting show created for television. (The third [first is Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner] most subversive series created for television is the show Firefly created by Joss Whedon which may be the reason it was canceled before a full season was aired. The execs must have finally caught on to what Whedon was doing.) History and politics and religion intermingled with no concession to political correctness or condescension.
If you haven't seen B5, try it, and you'll catch the occasional glimpse of Harlan acting as well as not feel like a dummy for watching something produced by television for intelligent viewers.
Ellison wrote a pro gun control article for Heavy Metal magazine in 1981. He came off like a real jerk.
You can find it in "Sleepless Nights in the Procrustean Bed". Included was a pretty good interview with Steve McQueen.
Ellison did stand up to Sinatra. I give him credit for that.
http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ1003-OCT_SINAT...
I discovered Babylon 5 just last year and was instantly hooked! One of my favorite shows of all time. How I regret missing it when it first came onscreen.
I waited in line at an expo for an autograph for over an hour — the reason Harlan took so long is that he took the time to talk to every person getting an autograph, as well as posing for pictures. Even with me, the last guy in line, when he should have been aggravated and tired and ready to leave — he was as energetic and fascinating as he'd been with all those ahead of me. I say, take those convention appearance reports with a grain of salt; I'd bet they were written by nutcase fanboys.
If you haven't read Harlan's original City on the Edge of Forever, it's available in paperback, and makes for a fascinating read. Even more touching than the version that aired.
In the 80s, there was a well known science fiction – fantasy bookstore called "A Change of Hobbit" in West LA. It was large, very popular for a while and owned by a left radical. I stopped going when I couldn't find any Harlin Ellison books there. I asked the owner why and the answer was that she didn't happen to like the way H. E. treated women in his books – hence none of his books would be sold there. Not long after, the shop went out of business, having failed in the attempt to save itself by soliciting contributions.
Until recently, I've always thought of this as a morality tale about how the free market must sell to all points of view and how business requires catering to a diverse audience. Unfortunately, as the Hollywood ideological monolith has demonstrated, that is not the case.
'Soldier' on the original 'Outer Limits' was even better than 'Terminator'…
Michael Ansara was terrific- let's see- the line he used, his name rank- was 'Coprigny, Quarlo- Rem- Dm- Do'
He saluted to German Shepherds who were big medicine soldiers in the future.
Atmospheric and quite chilling it still holds up, as does Robert Culp's suberb performance in 'The Glass Hand'…
Adding to the Ellison love-fest, reading him when a tween upped the bar for other authors and inspired a name for my first dog. Sci-fi tanks when altered to fit tv with few exceptions such as Babylon 5, but Ellison touched that show also.
Watching Ellison's appearances with Tom Snyder on the Tomorrow Show back in the late 70s and early 80s, he came across politically as Bill Maher, only with about three times the intellect and 10 times the writing talent.
Iconoclastic, yes; willing to battle producers and network suits for his personal vision, yes; but still the type of Hollywood writer who is only out of the mainstream in the film colony because he's saying America isn't far left enough on about 75 percent of the issues.
Being to the left of the mainstream in Hollywood does make him a voice unto his own, but not a rebel in the entertainment world, in the way a Harlan Ellison who had been sounding off like the post-9/11 John Voight for the past 45 years would have been a rebel (and, in all likelihood, a perpetually unemployed one).
Repent harlequin, said the tick-tock man.. Ah yes, imagine a genuine writer being opinionated.. The horror.. True, Ellison's ideas are liberal and borderline anarchistic, but no matter, he did write well and I agree about the notion of not defiling the "art" for political purposes. Whatever his current views, he did spin a mean tale. I do think though that he hated the Obama's of the world just as much as the Bush's..
Amen and amen. Harlan's always been one of my heroes because, love him or hate him, regardless of what you think of his opinions, the man has his own personal code that he lives by, and he will not betray it. He will not lie, not under any circumstances. He might protect your pen-name if your identity is a secret, but that's about it. And he's viciously ethical, a crusader.
I had the honor of talking to him conversationally for about five or six hours earlier htis year. I wrote a review of one of his books, and his famous Trek script on the Republibot website some months back. He saw it, and had his posse track me down. He called me up at my house to say "Thank you" – think on that: how many people get a good review from a total stranger who openly disagrees with them politically, and has the uncommon decency to call up and say "Thanks" and chat for a bit, much less give the better part of a work day over to the conversation? It's not like he didn't have better things to do – he's Harlan Freakin' Ellison! In the time he talked to me, he could have dashed off some short story that would have made Poe hang his head in shame, but he was kind enough to spend a lot of time with me on the phone.
The thing that really jumped out at me was how *kind* the guy was, how decent and warm. You always hear about Ellison the screaming maniac, Ellison the guy who picks fights, Ellison the World's Angriest Man, and all of that is unquestionably true, but I'll tell you the sense that I got from him was that a large part of why he's so angry is because he cares so deeply. He's mad because he sees no reason that the world should be in the disrepair it's in, because he sees ignorance and reactionary behavior as an affront to the human potential, because he sees people telling him – and others – "You can't do that", and he viciously resists the attempt to put limitations on art, on thought, on concience. Yes, there's a lot of theatrical (And frequently hillarious) outrage in him, but it's almost always moral outrage, and moral outrage is almost always motivated by a deep sense of compassion, a "We can not allow this to go on" kind of sensibility.
He'd always been my hero, a giant of arts and letters, but having 'met' the man personally, he's ten times the colossus he was before. Very good article, very good to give press to a man who thinks for himself, and a man who will not lie. Thank you very much for posting it.
If anyone's interested in reading the article that brought our site to his attention, here's part 1 of it http://www.republibot.com/content/book-review-%E2...
…and here's part II. It's an exhaustive review http://www.republibot.com/content/script-review-%...
Some final clarifications, and this is a wrap. I don't know if Harlan believes in AGW or not. Harlan's political beliefs are irrelevant here. The main point is that he stands up for his art and always has. He has also been ruthlessly critical of the studio system in his Glass Teat books, and regardless of what it might cost him in the writing assignment department. It's the principle that matters most here.
Lastly, take a look at the comments here, both pro- and anti-Ellison: "He's a great guy." "He's a colossal jerk." "He's rude and loud." "He's very gracious." A lot of commentary and historical reports on the Internet about Harlan are just as far-flung on both events and the man. You read them and try figuring out the truth of the matter. But I did take a leap of faith that Harlan would vehemently oppose the politicization of art. Didn't seem like much of a leap, all things considered.
About 16 or 17 years ago I was attending the awards dinner at the San Diego Comic Con. I was late and my seat was given to someone else. As I was standing in the corner waiting for things to be straightened out, This older guy comes walks up next to me and starts commenting on the organization (or lack of). While it was a rant, it was good natured and we both had a laugh about it. I didn't find out until later that night that person was Harlan Ellison (I had never seen a picture of him before and the only thing of his I had actually read was Mephisto in Oynx).
The "City" controversy aside, Ellison is the most overrated of all overrated writers.
He should have thanked Roddenberry for correcting his work.
If I remember correctly Ellison wanted to strangle him at the time.
When I pick a book up, I don't usually worry about how anyone rated it, unless I know them personally and they've read it.
For example, both my sisters recommend Atlas Shrugged, so that's good enough for me. And it's languishing on my to-do list.
One of my favorite film lines of all time (from A Boy and His Dog):
"Let me borrah yer grease rag."
I believe I got a reply to a comment and some one said it's in paper back over at Amazon.com.
That was my theme for this year's Halloween pumpkin. I purposely did not carve a mouth on it.
I saw a documentary a year or so ago on Harlan Ellison. And he just came off as an affected snob. He was self-centered and self-righteous and had an ego big enough for a dump truck. He epitomised the typical liberal elitist.
But he's a brilliant writer. He stretches the boundaries of what we can imagine. He articulates an alternate reality like no one else.
I believe these 2 character traits, being a jackass and a brilliant writer, go hand in hand. In order for him to function as a brilliant writer, he has to behave like a complete a-hole. I don't know if this is to satisfy a huge ego, or if he'd lose him mind by keeping that behavior in check. At any rate, I love his writing.
Shrugged is highly praised as the second most life changing book ever
but you knew that
I have read it twice in the last 5 years. It is long. but good
I read a book where one of the characters is a birkenstock tree hugger, that gets killed. when the cops go to his house they find Ayn Rands books under his mattress hidden like they were p0rn.
That image getes me every time. So yeah in a way it is capitalist-p0rn
Yes, he is. All of that. And more besides.
Iconoclast, he-who-goes-shod-on-holy-ground, the Questioner, the Barbarian that knocks over the febrile Empire.
All of it, and he revels in it.
He's also one king-hell of a Writer.
Deal with it.
Reason has a long article on Rand and the book, I'm half way through it.
http://reason.com/archives/2009/11/09/ayn-rand-is...
Kind of ironic, I sort of hear of Rand as a political philosopher, but didn't know she was an author for several years. My sisters knew her as an author, but had no idea about her politics or philosophies.
Having read a huge body of Ellison's work in my lifetime, I'd have to disagree with you on that one, ObamaNazi. If you too have read the same, then you are entitled to your opinion. One man's meat is another's potatoes. But if you have not read his work, then your opinion is uninformed.
I also know that writing is rewriting, and that there has to be some give and take. What I admire about Ellison is that he takes a stand when it come to his art, as opposed to current top Hollywood writers jumping on the propaganda bandwagon in full measure. Such collusion between art and politics undermines the arts' inherently subversive role to government and the powers that be.
Yea, I discovered it a few years ago, got all the DVDs and enjoyed. Must say season 5 was not up to par…
The original plan was for the story to take place over five seasons, but there was some doubt about the fifth season's funding, so two season's worth of story were crammed into Season 4. Then the funding came through, and Season 5 got cobbled together.
I won't give away spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen the series–but I, too, first watched it after all seasons had been released to DVD, and the last disc of Season 4 felt like the story was over. Later, some original fans clued me in to the reason.
I still love the concept of planning a TV series to end after a certain time, regardless of ratings. Too often a show drags on for years, or gets cut off mid-story.
Shrugged is a long read, but well worth it.
Even if it doesn't change your life, it will stay with you long after you've finished.
Ellison was certainly gracious to me and my friends when I last talked with him at a convention three or four years ago. I vividly remember the Babylon 5 confabs he used to attend with J. Michael Stracynski, where he mingled with the fans and told hilarious hollywood stories (while munching on carrot sticks, grumbling the whole time about it, but doing so because his doctor "ordered" him to).
I've read most of his work. I had a choice of five authors for a college project and he was one I selected because of Trek. As you say, it's a matter of opinion, but frankly when stacked against writers like Heinlein and Vonnegut, I find his work amateurish and definitely not worthy of his massive ego and acidic personality. We'll agree to disagree.
In terms of writers I've met who would qualify as "The World's Angriest Man", Kurt Vonnegut had Harlan Ellison beat by a mile.
Well I've heard the stories about him being a jerk. So what? Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. When it comes to artists, writers and actors, I try to appreciate them for their talent and not for their political beliefs. I like Alec Baldwin the actor and love Jane Fonda in Cat Ballou. And I'm a politically conservative, fundamentalist Christian.
I will, currently I have a stack of magazines I'm trying to get through. Maybe I'll ask my wife to get it for me for Christmas. She definitely needs guidance when it comes to gifts.
Which is actually a real shame. When she was growing up, her family seldom worried about things like exchanging gifts.
But things are better now, because she's now part of my family. Last year on her birthday my two sisters threw her a surprise birthday party, and it was one of the happiest days in her life.
PS BH is having login issues with intensedebate.
I discovered Ellison in college and eagerly read everything I could find by him because I loved his work. I can easily see him as being the sort of person people are either going to love or hate because he seems like he would be a very likable person as long as you didn't get on his bad side. If you did, well, he appears to have a "take no prisoners" mentality and to be quite willing to run roughshod over anyone who ticks him off.
As for the Star Trek controversy, I think he was a bad choice to write an episode of Star Trek. He doesn't really write the sort of stories Roddenberry wanted to tell. I've read what was supposedly his original script for "City on the Edge of Forever" and it was a good story but it wasn't a Star Trek story. I mean it would be like getting Seth MacFarlane to write an episode of Touched By An Angel. Gene wanted to tell stories about a bright, utopian future and Ellison doesn't do bright, utopian anything.
@ Hank Scorpio
Not to pick a fight or anything, but the man is self-made. He came from a poor working class Jewish faminly in a very racist time in the midwest. His father died when he was very young. He was picked on every day, and discouraged by people in authority, and het he went on to become the grand old man of arts and letters, and – I can not reiterate this enough – he did this ENTIRELY himself, on his own talent, with no real help, no parachute, no safety lines. He's a self-made millionaire who *still* is basically a boyscout at heart. (To my surprise) If he wants to state his credentials, or even brag a bit, he's definitely earned the right. Have you earned the right to criticize him for it? I mean, it's not empty bragging, he's actually done all this stuff. He's the epitome of the American dream. I'm not. Are you?
Babylon 5, simply the best TV show ever.
"What we can not take by force, we will win by subversion" – Brilliance!
I remember reading Ellison as a teenager and was fascinated by most of his work (Approaching Oblivion, Strange Wine, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream) but as I grew up I think he makes the mistake of many writers and confuses being dark with being deep. Yes, you can be both but you can also create meaningful, thought provoking art without always resorting to dark and dystopian.
"Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman.
Agreed, he is the epitome of the American dream.
That doesn't mean he isn't also all the things that Hank Scorpio said he appeared to be in the documentary.
In my opinion Mr. Ellison is prone to exhibit the same nobility, goodness, faults, sin and ugliness as everyone else, except he happens to be a talented writer.
What makes you think he is a boyscout at heart? He may be a misanthropic D-bag at heart?
You all might get a kick out of this. I met him at studio once. He was wearing a Yellow Cab hat (circa 1950) and a bathrobe. That was his Sunday go to meeting (at least in Hollywood) getup. That was 20 years ago, but I wouldn't doubt he remains just that peculiar.
Funny story about him and William Shatner
http://www.amazon.com/City-Edge-Forever-Original-...
From link: Shatner had counted the lines he had, and realized that Leonard Nimoy had a handful more. Such were the egos involved here.
Harlan Ellison bests CBS Paramount over 42 year-old Star Trek episode
http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/10/24/harlan-ellison-...
He stood up to Frank as much as anyone could… Dean probably had him beat though, in his what-the-Hell-do-I-care attitude.
Sammy, not so much.
McGoohan's "The Prisoner" was something else. Can you imagine if Ellison would have written an episode for that?!?!?!
As Kurt Vonnegut puts it, a lot of SF writers don't like being filed away in the SF drawer, especially since the drawer is frequently mistaken for a urinal by "serious" literary critics.
Yes, I always recommend people watch all the first season (which to me was fairly awful with Michael O'Hare wooden as Captain Sinclair) because if you don't see this season, you see things happening in the rest of the show that won't make sense. A lot of seeds are planted in Season One. This is one series where the characters actually grow.). Season Three is the most satisfying. But what happens in Season Four carries the story forward nicely. Season Five was a surprise to Straczinski. I don't believe he'd actually thought he'd have to carry the storyline through Season Five (I could be wrong here) which might explain your let down. I wasn't fascinated by it.
There's a reason Ellison borrowed "Cordwainer" for one of his own pseudonyms — he admired Smith's work too.
The Prisoner always felt to me like something Ellison would have done had he the opportunity.
That's ironic — before they banned his books there, Ellison participated in a number of their charity events. At least two of his short stories were written (on typewriter) while sitting in the front window of the store.
Yeah, I've heard rumors about Kurt that beat the hell out of some things Harlan's done… and the world's-angriest-man thing really started showing through in the final books he wrote.
McGoohan created, directed and scripted most of The Prisoner. He was an individualist and had a strong sense of ethics. Ellison must be an individualist as well because he doesn't seem strongly influenced by any other writers and will fight for his right to OWN his work (and this makes it hard to understand his leftist take on society). Although they shared this respect for the individual, I'm not sure Ellison could have written anything that would have suited McGoohan enough to include in The Prisoner. If I remember correctly McGoohan never intended for The Prisoner to last beyond one season. He had a point of view, a vehicle, and he made his point in one season. I believe that McGoohan and The Prisoner will be remembered (like Ayn Rand is remembered for her writing) long after Ellison is forgotten.
I cried when I read the notice of McGoohan's death.
When it comes to artists, writers and actors, I try to appreciate them for their talent and not for their political beliefs.
Yeah, but are you okay with giving your hard-earned money to support their causes?
As Stephen King points out, Harlan Ellison owned a TV — a big one — all the time he was working on the Glass Teat books.
Does anyone really believe it's 'brave' to be an iconoclast or non-conformist anymore? It's just the opposite. It's the easiest thing in the world to be. Anyone can be a critic. The hardest thing to do is stand up for something and face the barrage of naysayers.
Ellison is very gifted writer. It's probably foolish to expect any more from him. He enjoys being a jerk, so I rather suspect he's had a good life.
Me,too. 'The Scarecrow of Romeny Marsh'. Loved that as a kid.
Now, if only McGoohan had been on B5!
No one has mentioned it so I will. Rent (Netflix) or buy Dreams With Sharp Teeth. You get to tour the Martian Mansion that Ellison is still adding on to. Look at his crazy fanboy collection. He reads, he hangs out, and mostly talks about battles waged. My favorite part was a document of an at home pizza dinner with Neil Gaiman. It's just hanging out and getting to hear great anecdotes.
[...] At Big Hollywood, John T. Simpson rightly believes today’s readers should not continue unaware of Harlan Ellison, The Original Hollywood Rebel. [...]
From J. Michael Straczynski in 2002 concerning a meeting Bruce Boxleitner attended at the White House with his wife Melissa Gilbert, president of the Screen Actors Guild:
That said, both Straczynski and Ellison are lefties, though I'll give Straczynski credit for being able to write credible conservatives. At one science fiction convention, when they were both on stage, I heard one of them (I think Ellison) tell the following joke: "What's the difference between the Rush Limbaugh and the Hindenberg? One is a huge Nazi gasbag." But what really annoyed me about Ellison was his attitude toward the dealers' room vendors. I don't care how talented you are, it doesn't excuse one from being a jackass.
I wonder if there was more to it than his writing, given the controversy over his grope of Connie Willis' breast on stage at the 2006 World Science Fiction Convention.
I think his politics are relevant on a blog with a political angle like this one has and I don't think his talent excuses him being a jackass to others any more than Roman Polanski's talent excuses his behavior. We need to stop giving talented celebrities a pass because they are talented.
I was in an elevator with Harlan Ellison in 1972, in Dallas at a science fiction convention, and he was quite pleasant. Everyone has their moments, though I do remember him saying he was in the middle of "banging a broad" when he was interrupted by the phone call inviting him to speak at the convention.
Yes, harlan is a gifted writer and I've enjoyed many of what he wrote those so many years. But, in regards to his attitude about specific grievances I have a bit of a problem with him. Sure the director of 'The Terminator' was quoted to be inspired by that episode 'The Soldier' to impel him to write the script for the robot movie. He was a up and coming director at that time and didn't realize that harlan was and still to this day, a Greedy little worm of a thing that might be discribed as a human being.
I watched 'Demon with a Glass Hand' a few years after watching 'The Terminator' and thought it to be a great science fiction episode. Never Once connecting any bit of a connection to the movie. There just wasn't one big enough! As time went by I then saw 'The Soldier' and though it was a bit uneven, too was another good episode.
Do you all know what I found to be the BIG thread that tied all three products together? Time Traveling.
That… Is… IT! Sure; two people in 'The Soldier' came back to wrestle each other (they only meet each other at the last ten minutes of the episode!) before being blasted back, but take note: That is It!
'Demon~' involved a sorta robot with the "codex" of humanity and was being chased by aliens(!) who wanted it…
Now how does harlan win that case with those Clear and Undisputed FACTS still puzzles me to this day. All I know by his actions is that he is a grubby old oaf and a scum racker reading the hollyweird papers for more people who foolishly credit his work so that he can sue them too.
Two stories – ( I don't remember the source) – Roddenbery comes out of his office during the filming of 'City on the Edge' and finds Ellison standing on the secretary's desk with his head in a noose (and holding the other end of the rope in his hand) and says to Gene ' Tell me about the changes you made to my script…'
Memo written by Gene Roddenbury during filming of 'City on the Edge of Forever' – "…On a related note, Harlan Ellison is now hereby prohibited from eating any more of the leaves from my secretary's house plants. Should he require nourishment, he should seek some other source." (????!!!!!)
In junior high in Seattle, I remember tuning in the brand-new "Star Trek" show, completely by accident. Had no idea what it was. First episode I saw was "City On The Edge Of Forever." I loved it, and watched the show ever after. I did notice the quality of subsequent episodes wasn't as good.
In high school, my friend Merlin did something for which I am still grateful, slipping me a copy of Harlan Ellison's "A Boy And His Dog," saying, "This is the dirtiest story I have ever read." It certainly was. I HAD to read it, and enjoyed it tremendously.
Then I went away to Hollywood to make movies. I worked on a whole bunch of visual effects movies, most Oscar-worthy, with large budgets. Eventually, I grew tired of that and set out to create my own art.
For a dozen years, I owned an improv comedy theatre in North Hollywood. When I was painting the theatre seats, a nice lady volunteer helped me, and we got to talking. She listened as I went on and on about what books and shows I liked.
I mentioned Harlan Ellison's work, and why he was one of my absolute favorite writers, and she listened more intently. Then she told me some details I'd never heard. A little more conversation revealed her to be Harlan Ellison's ex-wife. Now THAT was an interesting surprise.
Then one morning, I went to put garbage into my dumpster behind the theatre. I couldn't, because it was full of Harlan Ellison's office garbage. Notes, envelopes, papers, all with his name. I wrote him a note, saying I had a dumpsterful of his garbage, and I wanted to put it on display at my theatre, with his name on the sign out front. My collection lacked the personal touch, and did he have any personal garbage? Fruit rinds, coffee grounds, that sort of thing?
I left my phone numbers, and he called me on most of them the next day, and we had some of the most fun phone conversations I've ever had. He's not just a good writer, he's a dazzling conversationalist, too. A very funny man. Why was his garbage in my dumpster? That's not important, but if you send me $2, I will make up something.
I've enjoyed Harlan Ellison's work for years and years, I have crossed paths with him several times, and he is brilliantly smart and creative, and that puts him at odds with lots of mediocre people. Long live Harlan Ellison!
Sam Longoria
QA, To be sure, I really don't know what Harlan's politics are. I know Steven King is reputed to be a bit of a Lefty too, but I could care less. It's their work I love. And as I've said many times before, the arts tend to be very liberal-leaning for a great many reasons, but I got no problem with anyone until they become a problem for me. I'm not a bigot.
But your leap from Ellison's reputed crankiness to Polanski's admitted rapine is breathtaking and Godwin-like in its j'accuse. Judging from the comments here from people who've actually met him, Ellison's persona gets high marks. But it is Ellison's lifelong loyalty to the art of storytelling that is most relevant here, not his politics. Harlan wouldn't stand for the kind of political meddling with his scripts that far too many Guild writers are just bending over for. For that he gets a pass. Today.
There was an "Alien 3"?!
Yes, and (IMHO) the extended DVD version is a visually-stunning, conceptually-flawed masterpiece.
The issues that people have with with Ellison are about more than "reputed crankiness" (e.g., this video of Ellison groping author Connie WIllis at the 2006 Hugo Awards which caused quite a stir at the time). I do agree that it's a long jump from Ellison to Polanski but my point was that people cite talent to excuse any and all bad behavior and why should it? Why should Polanski get a pass because he's directed good movies? And if he shouldn't, why should Ellison get a pass on being a jerk because he can write well or holds a position on an issue that you like? This is the same sort of thinking that leads to feminist icon Gloria Steinem excusing sexual harassment of women by Bill Clinton. Should Ellison get a "free grope", too?
When I was at USC Cinema in the mid-70's (pause for howls of derisive laughter from the peanut gallery…) Harlan & Co brought the low-budget film version of his famous novella "A Boy And His Dog" featuring a not-yet-a-star Don Johnson as a future warrior with a telepathically-talking pup as his partner who stumbles into a post-apocalyptic underworld (wonderfully directed by character actor L.Q. Jones btw on a shoestring budget you'd never know was so low from the result.) When a "Harlan Fanboy": in the student audience mentioned that the original story did not specify the breed of the dog and asked how they'd chosen this particular animal to "play" the part, Harlan memorably quipped: "Just like every other decision in Hollywood–he screwed the producer."
I also remember attending a WGA screening of "Monsignor"–with Chris Reeve as a Catholic chaplain having an illicit affair with novice Genvieve Bujold and the cornball script had her ask him (she doesn't know he's a priest) "I feel there's something you're not telling me!" and Harlan heckling the screen in the dark with "He's SUPERMAN!"
An original and then some…and if you want a taste of something that will scare the crap out of you, read his "Deathbird Stories" compilation…but not late at night!
PS Re. his alleged mysogeny and him allegedly "hating" the movie of "A Boy And His Dog"–he told the tale that whe the movie was finished, he regretted some lines that, while accurate to his original novel, did not reflect his more enlightened feelings about women since then (he didn't write the screenplay) and asked for some re-dubs of about 8 lines. No money, said the producers. SO…to raise it, they cut foot-long strips of dead workprint and took them to one of the early Trek conventions at an LAX hotel to peddle from a card table with a sign reading "RARE footage from new Harlan Ellison film!" Sold out in half an hour, raised the dubbing money, made the changes. But couldn't change the plot in which, at the end of the movie, The Boy and The Dog wind up EATING the girl.
QA, That squeeze was news to me. I did read that he had apologized for it, but that doesn't excuse the behavior. If you've read my writing here, I don't even give my once-Hollywood heroes at the Academy a pass. But it's a long way from a dopey stupid grope of an older woman to drugging and anally raping a 13-year-old. The analogy is a bit extreme, IMHO.
I am not here to defend every wrong Harlan Ellison might have committed in his life. I merely use his commitment to storytelling as a pure art form as both example and contrast for today's writers in Hollywood and the politicization of their art into propaganda. Harlan wouldn't stand for that. And like I said, you either hate Harlan or you love him. I love him, warts and all. You do not, that much is obvious. Let's say we agree to disagree and leave it at that.
It wouldn't surprise me if Ellison were a hardcore leftist. His fiction oozes discontent with Reality. A leftist artist looks at the world as it is, hates it, and spends the rest of his life howling about how much he hates it. The only thing that saves him from being a complete ass is his Vision – the mental picture he has of how things *could* be if it weren't for all those…*other* people who aren't as sensitive as he is.
I never enjoyed Ellison because, as with a lot of the New Wave writers, he seemed mainly interested in rubbing mankind's nose in its collective pile of shit. I got enough problems with life in this world without subjecting myself to his "Dangerous Visions."
P.S. – as far as Ellison and Hollywood go, he's one of those writers who does NOT write to order. Anything he writes will be an Ellison product. You do NOT ask Ellison to write a script for the remake of "Curly Top."
What are "mediocre people?"
So…what's he done lately?
I think everybody should get a free grope.
I guess it depends on whether you regard the "art of storytelling," and loyalty to same, as important enough to overlook the writer's little (or big) quirks. In Ellison's case, that's what they are – quirks, oddities, eccentricities. They may irritate some people, but they're generally harmless. You have to take the man for what he is. I'm not a big fan of his fiction, but I do admire his stance. Polanski is a totally different story…
Right about Trek. Although it might also be considered presumptuous of Ellison to start throwing in elements that were obviously not part of the established ST universe (such as it was in those days). I'd say Ellison and Roddenberry didn't understand each other at all. Unfortunate.
Bugs, a lot of what you say about Ellison reminds me of another nihilistic writer: Eric Blair, aka George Orwell. He wrote some of the darkest stories every written in human history. Dark and dystopian is a universal domain, not just liberal. And if all you have taken away from Ellison's work is that he loves to rub mankind's nose in the shite, I beg to differ. How would you describe Edgar Allen Poe's body of work in that regard? Or H.P. Lovecraft's?
Like I said starting out, you either love Ellison or you hate him. Seeing a lot here both ways to prove my theory.
Harlan, have you read about the ClimateGate scandal? Global Warming is a fraud!
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