Legendary Sci-Fi Author Harlan Ellison Had Nothing But Harsh Words About Star Wars

AOL ^ | Witney Seibold

[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.

[GOPJ]

So thanks to a 3rd rate sci fi movie with first rate special effects and a dynamite music score that made the movie bigger than it has a right to be, the door was open for greater and better sci fi to come!

First rate reply - thanks for sharing.

[GOPJ]

https://valdostadailytimes.com/2019/05/18/strange-wine-harlan-ellison/

... there is no political correctness in Ellison’s intros. He’s admittedly cantankerous, curmudgeonly and speaks his mind. Sometimes, the intros are as interesting as the stories.

For example, he wrote “Hitler Painted Roses” while a guest on a radio show using words in the manuscript suggested by listeners. One caller even suggested the title which Ellison later learned is a line from a poem.

Ellison wrote thousands of stories, as well as TV scripts for “Star Trek,” “The Twilight Zone,” etc.

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fyi in case you didn’t already know...

[Dr. Sivana]

Of course, any of the above are preferable to most of today's Box Office Bilge, 90% of which is based on comic books.

I grew up on comic books (hence my screen name). I am so sorry that Warner doesn't know how to make a comic book movie. Worse, in the process they destroy decades of character establishment for a movie gimmick, and have ever since the first Superman movie with Christopher Reeve.

If I were Warner, I'd have gone through the DC archives and look through 500 issues of Action, 400 of Superman, 150 of Lois Lane and Jimmy Olson, 200 of World's Finest, and I would come up with stories based on the comics themselves. I would also hire writers like Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin and Len Wein and Editors like E. Nelson Bridwell (when he was alive) for character continuity, and rules for the DC Universe.

If I were writing the screenplay, I would also make it a period piece, taking place in in 1940 (pre WWII), when you could plausibly present a superhero as a novelty.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Star Wars New Hope is the single most entertaining movie ever made in the history of Hollywood.

Ellison is a gadfly.

[Borges]

He was a great short story writer

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

I still remember like yesterday the impact that Star Wars had on me watching it for the first time in 1980. I had missed the first run and theaters were rerunning the original movie in the lead up to releasing “The Empire Strikes Back.”

My jaw dropped at the special effects. The pacing was almost breathless, it was such a tightly paced film. It had wondeful one liners.

It featured a classic good guy wins, bad guy loses, good guy gets the girl formula, that had been mostly missing since the advent of the anti-hero in the 1970s.

I sat through 3 viewings back to back. This was not a first run and they were not clearing out the theater between viewings. I was almost as stunned upon the third viewing as I was with the first viewing when it was completely fresh and new.

I left the theater knowing this was a watershed moment in cinema. Just a pivotal moment.

And the original Star Wars has never been topped as premier Space Opera. Never. It is still Number #1.

I must rewatch it at least twice a year and it never gets old. I am surprised I can’t recite all the lines from heart by now. It just never gets old. No, it isn’t as fresh as first viewing, but it never gets old.

Star Wars a New Hope, is simply... a Maserpiece. Truly.

[scrabblehack]

I don’t quite get your point about Dahl. I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a kid — it was not too much different from the Gene Wilder version or so I thought. The Johnny Depp version was creepy.

Maybe you’re referring to another of his stories.

Tales of the Unexpected?
James and the Giant Peach?
You Only Live Twice (the movie script not the book)?

[Salamander]

Thank you.

He’s a favorite of mine although Bradbury is still on top.

[x]

Roald Dahl was supposed to be a really awful person in real life. That would be the connection to Ellison, not anything about either’s books or stories.

[x]

The best Space Opera or Horse Opera or Soap Opera is still a Space or Horse or Soap Opera.

Arguably, Ellison didn’t get what Star Wars was, but it’s not surprising that he condemned it for not measuring up to what he thought science fiction or science fantasy or interplanetary sagas should be.

[RandallFlagg]

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