Harlan Ellison: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|''"Darkness falls early. From the horizon comes the wail of creatures pretending to be human. The red tide has come in, and shapeless things float toward the shore. He stands before the altar of Art, naked and with fists raised, and he vows: ''I will not be lied to''.''

 

 

He suffered ''severe'' [[Internet Backdraft]] when he groped [[Connie Willis]] in public, which many fans consider his [[Moral Event Horizon]].<ref>Or, to [[Broken Base|many of his fans]], a ''serious'' [[What the Hell, Hero?]], considering his well-known [[Hypocritical Humor|loathing of sexists]]; Ellison himself described it as [[Dude, Not Funny|a failed attempt]] to [[Crosses the Line Twice|cross the line twice]].</ref>

{{examples|Famous works include:}}

* "Demon with a Glass Hand" and "Soldier", episodes of ''[[The Outer Limits]]''. [[James Cameron]] used them as the basis of creating ''[[The Terminator]]'' (by accident, so Jim claims); Ellison caught him red-handed and got a cash settlement and an official acknowledgment in the credits.

* "[[I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream]]", Hugo-Award-winning 1967 short story and the 1995 computer game based on it, which he wrote and [[Large Ham|starred in]] as the voice of AM.

* ''[[Dangerous Visions]]'' and ''[[Again, Dangerous Visions]]'', ground-breaking sf anthologies published 1967 and 1972 which he edited; ''[[The Last Dangerous Visions]]'' [[Development Hell|was announced in 1973]], and to the end [[Blatant Lies|he insisted that he'd get around to releasing it]].

* "The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World", Hugo-Award-winning 1968 short story

* "[[A Boy and His Dog]]", Nebula-Award-winning 1969 short story made into Hugo-Award-winning 1974 film

* ''Harlan Ellison's Watching'', a movie review column for the ''Los Angeles Free Press'' and ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction''.

* ''The Glass Teat'' and ''The Other Glass Teat'', a two-book collection of television and social criticism.

* People who asked him when ''[[The Last Dangerous Visions]]'' is going to be published.

* Similarities between his ''[[Outer Limits]]'' episodes and the film ''[[Terminator]]'', which led to a lawsuit and a credit for him in subsequent releases of the movie.

** [[William Shatner]] said he attempted to talk to Ellison during the ordeal to try and calm things down. According to Shatner, Ellison responded by yelling at him.

** Apparently Paramount has taken the tactic of declaring most, if not all, elements of the story off-limits for the [[Expanded Universe]] after Ellison sued them (and the Writers Guild of America) for 25% of the royalties for every time they were used from 1967-2009. Paramount settled out of court.

** Which feeds back into [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDNrnpefGio the distinction between "science fiction" and "sci-fi"].

* [[The Napoleon|His height]].

** Which was more than justified, considering that {{spoiler|what this Janna person did was, for all intents and purposes, [[Mind Rape]] one of his friends. [[Complete Monster|For nearly two years.]]}}

* Racism, as best illustrated in "From Alabamy, With Hate".

* [[wikipedia:Godel's incompleteness theorem|Anything not on this list.]]

* [[Small Reference Pools|Cultural illiteracy.]]

* Mistreatment of writers by studios. Which is ironic, because he also was rather contemptuous of TV.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE Attempts to persuade him that he should do something for free] that he felt entitled to be paid for.

 

Harlan Ellison wasn't really grumpy all the time, and he did have friends, and there are also stories demonstrating that he was [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|capable of being a wonderful human being]]. He also appeared as a [[Self-Parody|grumpy caricature]] of himself in ''[[Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated]]'', giving a lecture that concluded "...and that's why nothing good has been written since the 1970s". The stories about Grumpy Harlan Ellison are a lot funnier, though (example: allegedly once mailing roadkill to an executive -- ''fourth class'' -- along with a recipe for gopher stew).

 

For an in-depth look at the man's genius, madness, and general [[Jerkass|assholery]], check out the documentary on his life and career: ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20080921213628/http://hotdocsaudience.bside.com/2008/films/dreamswithsharpteeth_hotdocs2008 Dreams with Sharp Teeth]''. The film features commentary by [[Robin Williams]], [[Neil Gaiman]], [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Ronald D. Moore]] and others who have known, worked with, or have been influenced by Ellison and his writings.

* "[[A Boy and His Dog]]"

* ''[[Dangerous Visions]]'' and ''[[Again, Dangerous Visions]]''

* "[[I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream]]"

* ''[[Spider Kiss]]''

* [[Cursed with Awesome]]: "Seeing" revolves around a woman whose mutated eyes allow her to see in ways that normal eyes (and brains) can't begin to process. She hates her vision because it's made her life miserable.

* [[Death by Sex]]: Implied for {{spoiler|humanity as a whole}} at the end of "How's the Night Life on Cissalda?"

* [[Drugs Are Bad]]: "Shattered Like a Glass Goblin"

* [[Earth-That-Was]]/[[Mercy Kill]]: "The Deathbird".

* [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]]/[[Humans Are Morons]]

* [[In Medias Res]]

* [[Jewish Mother]]: Taken to a horrifying extreme in "Mom" - the titular mother comes back as a disembodied voice after she dies just so she can continue nagging her son.

* [[Large Ham]]:

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Creator Index]]

[[Category:Authors]]