"Moichandising!" 
Posted on 07/02/2026 5:04:56 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Most stories one reads about the legendary sci-fi author Harlan Ellison tend to be about how cranky and/or litigious he was. Harlan Ellison hated Hollywood. The stories about his dissatisfaction with "Star Trek" are legendary, and he often took other writers and/or studios to court, claiming they had ripped off his idea. He once sued the makers of the obscure 1970s sci-fi cop show "Future Cop," and he famously (and successfully) sued James Cameron over "The Terminator." He sued the movie "In Time" for "borrowing" one of his ideas. And in interviews, Ellison remained cantankerous. A notable 1979 interview with the Comics Journal revealed the man's open hatred for studios' habit of stealing other authors' ideas and claiming them as their own.
In 1989, Ellison published a book of reviews and essays called "Harlan Ellison's Watching," which compiled 25 years of his ancillary nonfiction writing output. He weighed in on various pop sci-fi films and TV shows, adding his two acidic cents to the otherwise genteel conversation. It was never a secret that Harlan Ellison hated George Lucas' 1977 sci-fi opera "Star Wars," as he would make passing mention of it in ancillary interviews, but in "Watching," he got to lay his opinions bare in an essay entitled "Luke Skywalker Is A Nerd And Darth Vader Sucks Runny Eggs." As one can tell, Ellison was not about to launch into a paean about the glories of Lucas' Skywalker saga. He was about to lay out, in explicit detail, just how much he hated "Star Wars" and why.
In brief, Ellison felt that "Star Wars" was shallow and thoughtless, not interested in anything complex or adult. Because it was a mere adventure, it didn't fully exploit the depths of its own genre.
(Excerpt) Read more at aol.com ...
So he was a garden-variety Democrat.
“I don’t know anyone who thought it was, or needed to be, deep and serious”
I was astounded my 2001.
I had some naive anticipation that Star Wars would be similar.
instead, it was a goofy cartoon.
He was absolutely right about Star Wars. It’s the most overrated film in my adult lifetime.
Harlan loved Babylon 5. He was a creative consultant on the show, appeared in three episodes and wrote two. He and JMS were so close that Strazinski became the Executor of Ellison’s estate.
My favorite thing about Star Wars was the Mel Brooks satire of it...Spaceballs...
When Ellison makes a billion on a movie, then he can talk, until then...
"Moichandising!"
Always agreed that Star Wars was pretty basic space opera - stretching it into sequels was like scraping a little butter over too much toast (to paraphrase Bilbo Baggins). I agreed with little else Ellison ever said - he was an angry proto-communist loon who occasionally told a good story. If he were alive today he would be protesting ICE and voting DSA. I used to have a couple books that collected his 70’s TV critic columns from some left-wing news rag - they were funny but profane and terribly leftish. His SF stories were often good but filled with miserable SOBs like himself.
And don’t forget Hardware Wars....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YvZc28xBXE
You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll kiss three bucks goodbye.
Harlan called Rush “Rush Limburger”. He was a mean SOB.
Boring hack.
I attended a talk by Ellison in conjunction with a screening of the film A Boy and His Dog. He was pissed that the last line of the movie was not in his original story. In truth, the last line of the movie is just about the best thing in it (though Susanne Benton isn’t too shabby).
What hasn’t harlan Ellison complained about
#11 I remember seeing Suzanne Somers on the Tonight Show saying she did not like it.
StormtrooperVlogs
https://www.youtube.com/@StormTrooperVlogs
Hitler Painted Roses.
Personal favorite.
Yes, among many
> I remember being disappointed upon discovering what a bitter prick he was.
I got stuck with him on the elevator at Iguancon II and nearly died of laughter at his rant. He got mad at me there because I was laughing, but I refused to address his rant and start another argument. We had already argued at his little writing booth exhibit and it was great fun because evidently I was making a novel (to him) argument opposing the ERA and he had to think before ranting, which also infuriated him.
It didn’t really change my opinion of his writing, which I still enjoy. This also infuriated him, and he belittled my character for buying his books, to which I said “to paraphrase Eleanor Roosevelt, I don’t need your consent to enjoy your works”.
Iguanacon II was the highlight of 1978 for me. Iggy2 was probably one of the sexiest conventions ever, with incredible speculative forays into literature, science, gaming, engineering, film, cosplay, politics, and of course the all time high points of sexy nude women organically embedding in science fiction (critical for a 16yo guy).
An example of true Sci-Fi (albeit with a fantastical element) would be Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, in that most of what we see is at least somewhat grounded in what was thought possible in computer science and space exploration, as well as Clarke's speculation that sufficiently advanced (alien) technology seems like supernatural magic to others.
I'm generally not a fan of Star Wars-type space fantasy just as I don't care for any other fantasy genre, while actual Sci-Fi can be interesting when well-made.
Of course, any of the above are preferable to most of today's Box Office Bilge, 90% of which is based on comic books.
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