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Harlan Ellison (view source)

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''Hello. My name is Harlan Ellison and I am a writer."''|Introductory paragraphs of Ellison's first ''An Edge In My Voice'' column}}
 
Harlan Ellison® (yes, he's [[Disney Owns This Trope|made his own name a registered trademark]]) was a famously grumpy [[Berserk Button|science fiction wri-]] erm, that is, [[Insistent Terminology|writer]]. His work won eight and a half Hugo Awards, three Nebula Awards (plus a lifetime achievement award), five Bram Stoker Awards (including a lifetime achievement award), two Edgar Awards, and four Writers Guild of America Awards for Most Outstanding Teleplay — but it's his personality that everybody remembered about him. [[Jerkass|For some reason.]]
 
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>
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{{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), and; Ellison caught him red -handed and got a cash settlement and an official acknowledgment in the credits.
* "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman", Hugo- and Nebula-Award-winning 1965 short story. Which, he writeswrote in an intro to the story in [not sure what anthology], that he wrote it all in one sitting, the night before he had to hand it in for a writing- workshop.
* "[[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.
* Editor of ''[[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 still insistsinsisted that he'lld get around to releasing it one of these days]].
* "The City on the Edge of Forever", Hugo-Award-winning 1967 episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]''
* "The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World", Hugo-Award-winning 1968 short story
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{{quote|'''''[[Batman/Awesome|YOU*ARE*SO*BUSTED*]]'''''}}
* ''[[Spider Kiss]]'' (aka ''Rockabilly''), a 1961 novel about a sociopathic teen idol and the publicist who has to keep the singer's drunken rampages out of the scandal sheets. His only full-length novel, and also the only novel given a spot in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame.
* Two third -season episodes of ''[[The Man from U.N.C.L.E.]]'': "The Sort of Do-it-Yourself Dreadful Affair" (Season 03, Ep. 02) and "The Pieces of Fate Affair" (Season 03, Ep. 23). The latter was, for a long time, the series' "[[Missing Episode]]", as Ellison had unwisely parodied a number of his literary acquaintances, and used several friends' names for characters, resulting in a lawsuit against Ellison and the removal of the episode from syndication packages until 1985.
 
{{examples|Things he's was famously grumpy about include, but arewere certainly not limited to:}}
* People who discount all science fiction as being no better than the worst of film and TV [[Sci Fi]] ("that hunchbacked, gimlet-eyed, slobbering village idiot of a bastardized genre").
** In fact, as of ''Dream Corridor'', he hateshated the label "science fiction writer", which he seessaw as too limited, and ''really'' doesndidn't like the label "sci-fi writer".
*** And he really REALLY''really'' doesndidn't like the term that's pronounced "sigh-fie".
* People who askasked him about the jellybeans in "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman".
** Which were lampshaded in the story itself.
* People who askasked 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.
* The changes made to his script for "The City on the Edge of Forever" before it was filmed. It's worth remembering that his original version of the script won him one of his Writers Guild of America Awards—but on the other hand, it was the final broadcast version of the episode that won the Hugo. (It's also been suggested that his version of the episode, had it been filmed, would have murdered the budget and then been murdered in turn by [[Media Watchdog|Standards and Practices]].)
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** 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.
* ''[[The Starlost]]''.
* ''[http://www.penny-arcade.com/2005/9/26/ Penny Arcade]'', of all things.
* ''[[Star Wars]]'', because people consider it a [[Sturgeon's Law|good science fiction story]] but it doesn't really examine the effect of the setting on humanity as a whole.
** Which feeds back into [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDNrnpefGio the distinction between "science fiction" and "sci-fi"].
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** 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:Godelchr(27)Godel's incompleteness theorem|Anything not on this list.]]
* The longtime blackballing of A.E. van Vogt for the SFWA Grand Master Award.<ref>Which he finally received in 1995, largely due to Ellison's efforts.</ref>
* [[Small Reference Pools|Cultural illiteracy.]]
* Snopes.
* Mistreatment of writers by studios. Which is ironic, because he also iswas 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 feelsfelt entitled to be paid for.
 
Harlan Ellison isnwasn't really grumpy all the time, and he doesdid have friends, and there are also stories demonstrating that he's 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 IncIncorporated]]'', 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 roadkill -- ''fourth class''—along -- 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: ''[http://hotdocsaudience.bside.com/2008/films/dreamswithsharpteeth_hotdocs2008 Dreams with Sharp Teeth]''. The film features commentary by [[Robin Williams]], [[Neil Gaiman]], [[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined(2004 TV series)|Ronald D. Moore]] and others who have known, worked with, or have been influenced by Ellison and his writings.
 
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