History Creator / HarlanEllison

* Snopes.

* Was also given a crack at the script for ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''. His take forced the ''Enterprise'' crew to choose whether to destroy an entire alternate universe in order to rescue their own, but (as usual) [[ExecutiveMeddling an executive wanted to toss in his own two cents]] - in this case, a good deal of [[{{Mayincatec}} space-Mayan mysticism]]. Ellison told him to go soak his head, and the script was eventually written by [[AlanDeanFoster another writer]].

* [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/2005/9/26/ Penny Arcade]], of all things.

* LaughTrack: In-story in "Laugh Track", of course. The ghosts of those whose laughter was recorded are now trapped in it, and one of them gets out and starts jeering at the awful comedies it's being used for. (An explicit comparison is made to the idea of a [[SpookyPhotographs soul-stealing camera]].)

* Creator/WilliamShatner 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.

** WilliamShatner 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 ExpandedUniverse 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.

* Conceptual consultant on ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'' (and made a couple of guest appearances)

** Ellison's own book about the controversy includes both versions of the script. Comparing both, one is reminded of the words of Creator/JMichaelStraczynski, with whom Ellison would later work on ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}''; "You wait a week or two, then the writer comes in, and you expect to hear a great story about your characters... And what you get is a story about an outside character who comes in and has adventures, a story in which your regular characters are passive participants or downright irrelevant."

* "IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream", Hugo-Award-winning 1967 short story and the 1995 computer game based on it, which he wrote and [[LargeHam starred in]] as the voice of AM.

* ''IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream''

** His voice acting in ''IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream.'' (TEEEEEEEEDDDD!)

* The longtime blackballing of A.E. van Vogt for the SFWA [[DamonKnightMemorialGrandMasterAward Grand Master Award]]. [[hottip:*:Which he finally received in 1995, largely due to Ellison's efforts.]]

* The longtime blackballing of A.E. van Vogt for the SFWA Grand Master Award. [[hottip:*:Which he finally received in 1995, largely due to Ellison's efforts.]]

He suffered ''severe'' InternetBackdraft when he groped ConnieWillis in public, which many fans consider his MoralEventHorizon (Or, to [[BrokenBase many of his fans]], a ''serious'' WhatTheHellHero, considering his well-known [[HypocriticalHumor loathing of sexists]]; Ellison himself has described it as [[DudeNotFunny a failed attempt]] to [[CrossesTheLineTwice cross the line twice]]).

** Which was more than justified, considering that [[spoiler: what this Janna person did was, for all intents and purposes, MindRape one of his friends. [[CompleteMonster For nearly two years.]]]]

* 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").

-->--Introductory paragraphs of Ellison's first ''An Edge In My Voice'' column

* Creator of the original concept for the 1973 TV series ''TheStarlost'', which suffered so badly from ExecutiveMeddling that he insisted on being credited only under a derisive pseudonym.[[hottip:*:[[RhymesOnADime "By Cordwainer Bird" means you know it's a turd!]]]]

* Two third season episodes of ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'': "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' "MissingEpisode", 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.

** Which was more than justified, considering that [[spoiler:what this Janna person did was, for all intents and purposes, MindRape one of his friends. [[CompleteMonster For nearly two years.]]]]

* "ABoyAndHisDog"

* "IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream"

* Editor of ''DangerousVisions'' and ''[[AgainDangerousVisions Again, Dangerous Visions]]'', ground-breaking sf anthologies published 1967 and 1972; ''TheLastDangerousVisions'' [[DevelopmentHell was announced in 1973]], and [[BlatantLies he still insists that he'll get around to releasing it one of these days]].

* People who ask him when ''TheLastDangerousVisions'' is going to be published.

** But not ''TheLastDangerousVisions''

!!Other works by HarlanEllison provide examples of (subjectives can be found [[YMMV/HarlanEllison here]]:

* DevelopmentHell: ''TheLastDangerousVisions''

* MissingEpisode: ''TheLastDangerousVisions''

!!Other works by HarlanEllison provide examples of:

He suffered ''severe'' InternetBackdraft when he groped ConnieWillis in public, which many fans consider his MoralEventHorizon.[[hottip:*:Or, to [[BrokenBase many of his fans]], a ''serious'' WhatTheHellHero, considering his well-known [[HypocriticalHumor loathing of sexists]]; Ellison himself has described it as [[DudeNotFunny a failed attempt]] to [[CrossesTheLineTwice cross the line twice]].

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Very famously, Ellison neither drinks nor smokes nor gets blasted out of his mind on acid ''ever''. [[BadAss He used to smoke a pipe,]] but quit that years ago.
** Many people attending science fiction conventions in the late 60s and early 70s remember Ellison as smelling so strongly of pot you could get high standing next to him. He has often railed against ''hard'' drugs, though.

* Jerkass

He suffered ''severe'' InternetBackdraft when he groped ConnieWillis in public, which many fans consider his MoralEventHorizon.[[hottip:*:Or, to [[BrokenBase many of his fans]], a ''serious'' WhatTheHellHero, considering his well-known [[HypocriticalHumor loathing of sexists]]; Ellison himself has described it as [[DudeNotFunny a failed attempt]] to [[CrossesTheLineTwice cross the line twice]].]]

* Conceptual consultant on ''{{Babylon 5}}'' (and made a couple of guest appearances)
* "Funny Money", collected in ''{{Batman}}: Black And White'' Vol.2. Find it. ''Borrow'', '''steal''', '''''kill'''''. FIND IT.

* Two third season episodes of ''TheManFromUNCLE'': "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' "MissingEpisode", 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.

** Ellison's own book about the controversy includes both versions of the script. Comparing both, one is reminded of the words of JMichaelStraczynski, with whom Ellison would later work on ''{{Babylon 5}}''; "You wait a week or two, then the writer comes in, and you expect to hear a great story about your characters... And what you get is a story about an outside character who comes in and has adventures, a story in which your regular characters are passive participants or downright irrelevant."

* ''StarWars'', because people consider it a [[SturgeonsLaw good science fiction story]] but it doesn't really examine the effect of the setting on humanity as a whole.

*** And he really REALLY doesn't like the term that's pronounced "sigh-fie".

* Was hired by WarnerBrothers in the late 1970s to write a film adaptation of IsaacAsimov's ''I, Robot''; the script (which is available in book format) is highly-regarded by those who have read it, but the project fell apart after Ellison accused a studio exec of having the intellectual capacity of an artichoke.

* The longtime blackballing of A.E. van Vogt for the SFWA Grand Master Award. [[hottip:*:Which he finally received in 1995, largely due to Ellison's efforts.]]

* GodIsEvil:

* JewishMother: 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.

* "The City on the Edge of Forever", Hugo-Award-winning 1967 episode of ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''

* Was also given a crack at the script for StarTrekTheMotionPicture. His take forced the ''Enterprise'' crew to choose whether to destroy an entire alternate universe in order to rescue their own, but (as usual) [[ExecutiveMeddling an executive wanted to toss in his own two cents]] - in this case, a good deal of [[{{Mayincatec}} space-Mayan mysticism]]. Ellison told him to go soak his head, and the script was eventually written by [[AlanDeanFoster another writer]].