One of the giants of writing - both due to his own vast talents, and the notoriety created by his often cantankerous nature - left us on June 28, 2018, with the passing of Harlan Ellison at the age of 84.
Not being much of a "reader of novels, or other prose fiction", it was through the medium of television that Harlan Ellison was able to reach this devotee. And, it was through the outstanding efforts he created for that medium that I became a life-long admirer of those vast talents.
Ironically, his characteristic cantankerous nature was perhaps the very thing that limited his contributions to the medium of television to a precious - but VERY CHOICE - few, during the formative, and groundbreaking, period of the 1960s.
Last night, as I often do when someone I admire in the field of popular culture passes, I indulged in a personal "Harlan Ellison Marathon", culled from my DVD collection, and immensely enjoyed those "precious but very choice few" artifacts from what will forever be my favorite era of television.
...And, as sparse as his contributions might have been, Harlan Ellison was one of the many reasons why that era is so personally beloved!
Ever so slightly out-of-original-order, here was the program for Saturday evening, June 30, 2018... and can you think of a better way to ride-out the middle of a five-or-more-day 90-plus heat wave?
THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR: Season 3 Episode 10: "Memo from Purgatory" (December 21, 1964).
Ellison's autobiographical account of his early days as an aspiring writer, during which he joined a 1950s New York street gang in order to write a novel expose on the controversial subject.
The hour is both quite dramatic and, at times - and from this modern-day perspective - laughable, but is riveting nonetheless, and an unusual subject for the Hitchcock Hour. So much so that Hitchcock himself dispenses with his usual "funny-host-bit" at the end of the program, and instead tells us that "...the problem of youth gangs should be taken seriously"!
It is also noteworthy for a cast consisting of James Caan (in the "Ellison role" - and in my view just a tad too old and "dignified" to be a member of a street gang), a pre-STAR TREK Walter Koenig as the leader of the gang, and cool tough guys Tony Musante and Zalman King as gang members.
Oddly, Walter Koenig would not yet have joined the cast of STAR TREK when Ellison would have written his immortal TREK opus "The City on the Edge of Forever" - but he gets to write for him here!
Also, it is a VERY RARE non-sci-fi offering from Ellison!
VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA: Season 1 Episode 5: "The Price of Doom" (October 12, 1964).
On board the Submarine Seaview, a monstrously-expanding specimen of plankton, and a surreptitious saboteur wreak havoc for Admiral Nelson and Captain Crane.
Unknowingly, with these elements and in this FIFTH episode, Harlan Ellison set the basic template for the next four years of this series, where both monsters and sinister passengers of all sorts would abound!
With his aforementioned cantankerousness, Ellison had his name removed from the writing credits of the episode - loudly disagreeing with network-mandated changes to his script (...He should try writing scripts for Disney comic books some time! Hoo-boy, would he have had a hard time with THAT!) - and had it replaced with his pen-name "Cord Wainer Bird"!
He never again contributed to this series, as well as other series that would similarly displease him, and that would indeed be a pity!
THE OUTER LIMITS: Season 2 Episode 1: "Soldier" (September 19, 1964).
In the vast wasteland of Earth's distant future, two soldiers, both deadly enemies bred only to kill, are transported by a freak accident to Earth of 1964. Separated in their journey, "Quarlo Clobregnny", played to savage perfection by actor Michael Ansara, falls under the care of a psychiatrist (Lloyd Nolan) who is determined to break through Quarlo's singular savagery... while the other "soldier" remains mysteriously at large - but close by!
A nicely-done, tense outing, devoid of the usual aliens and monsters that inhabit THE OUTER LIMITS!
THE OUTER LIMITS: Season 2 Episode 5: "Demon with a Glass Hand" (October 17, 1964).
Robert Culp is "Trent", a man with no memory - save that of a computer in the form of an artificial hand! He begins the episode with only TWO of the hand's "five fingers", each finger being a vast memory cell. To piece his mysteriously dangerous situation together, he must restore all five fingers to his "glass hand"!
Not an easy task as, in THIS future - as opposed to the one seen a mere four weeks ago in "Soldier", aliens have completely conquered the Earth, and possess the three missing fingers! Trent is the guardian of the remaining human population of future-Earth but, without the memories stored in the missing fingers, does not know where they are, nor how to locate and restore them!
Dispatched mysteriously to (you guessed it) 1964, he is the quarry of the conquering aliens, who travel back in time via a "Time-Mirror" to capture Trent, learn the location of the remaining humans - and destroy them.
All the action takes place in an actual Los Angeles office building - a old and distinctively creepy structure called "The Bradbury Building", which has been the site of other TV and film productions - and is immediately recognizable to knowledgeable fans.
In the building, Trent finds and partners with a timid-yet-brave woman played by Arlene Martel - later known as the Vulcan "T'Pring" on STAR TREK! And the BUILDING is as much a "star" of this magnificent episode as are Culp and Martel!
My inadequate description of "Demon with a Glass Hand" hardly does it justice! It is, without doubt, one of the single greatest examples of Science Fiction ever produced for television! If you haven't seen it, DO SO! And, if you have, DO SO AGAIN!
Uncharacteristically, Harlan Ellison actually penned TWO episodes of THE OUTER LIMITS, unlike any of the other series cited in this survey of his work.
Alas, on regrettably similar occasions, I've had relatively recent viewings of these two superb episodes of THE OUTER LIMITS... "Soldier" for the passing of Michael Ansara, and "Demon with a Glass Hand" for the passing of Arlene Martel.
STAR TREK: Season 1 Episode 28: "The City on the Edge of Forever" (April 06, 1967).
Does this REALLY need any introduction? A drug-crazed Doctor McCoy jumps through a mysterious time portal and changes all Earth history - including the creation of Starfleet! Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock follow to undo the damage, but first they must somehow figure out exactly what the damage was! Oh, and we're in Depression-Era New York City, with Joan Collins!
Far better known than "Demon with a Glass Hand", "The City on the Edge of Forever" is ALSO (to repeat myself) "one of the single greatest examples of Science Fiction ever produced for television!", and it's no small coincidence that two such incredible products sprang from the fertile imagination of the same great mind!
Finally, to end the evening with a change of pace, there was this...
TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE: Season 1 Episode 10: "Djinn, No Chaser" (January 13, 1985). Adapted from a short story by Harlan Ellison.
A hapless 1980s newlywed husband, spends time in an insane asylum, after his wife buys a "magic lamp", inhibited by a loud, mischievous, and cranky genie who, due to his immense physical size, cannot get out of the lamp! A funny, first-person-narrated (by the husband) story, with basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the not-so-genial-genie!
Ya almost gotta wonder if that same genie was previously seen in (all together now) 1964!
In addition to this, and so many other things, Harlan Ellison's stories and scripts were also seen on the 1980s version of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, the 1990s version of THE OUTER LIMITS, and even the original 1960s version of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. - which debuted in... 1964!
Ellison even wrote an unproduced script for the 1966 BATMAN TV SERIES, which would have introduced Two-Face to that particular 1960s continuity. It was recently published in graphic novel form by DC Comics!
For all this and countless more items, stories, and anecdotes, I thank you, Mr. Harlan Ellison! Rest In Peace!
34 comments:
Of the things you listed, "City on The Edge of Forever" is the only one I saw. One of the truly great episodes of ST.
Thanks for the primer
Marc:
“City on the Edge of Forever” and “Amok Time” are about as good as it gets – not only for STAR TREK, but for television science fiction in general!
But, there’s so much more for you to see… and “Demon with a Glass Hand” should become a priority. …For you and for ANYONE who has not seen it.
Ellison was a singular talent, who SHOULD have given us much more! That he didn’t – and that he, himself, was largely responsible for that (He also had took serious issue with the final version of “City on the Edge of Forever” and never did another TREK - if you can imagine that!) was a terrible shame – for all of us!
And there was that Scooby Doo Mystery Inc. episode in which Ellison appeared as a character (and totally IN character), lecturing at a campus:
"...and that's why nothing any good has been written and published in the last twenty years."
I got to attend a lecture by Harlan Ellison in the mid-1970's at which he did a reading of his as-yet-unpublished story "Croatoan" (the one where the fetuses are riding crocodiles in the sewers of NYC!). I might not have made it through that story on the page--though I admired some of Ellison's stories very much--but hearing him read it when we were in the same room was an absolutely mesmerizing and unforgettable experience. Hoo boy, did he have talent to spare!
Cord Wainer Bird…? Of all the aliases you'd expect!… Do you have any clue why the late cantankerous genius chose that? It hardly sounds like a name at all.
Achille:
I’d imagine that the selection of something as off-the-wall as“ Cord Wainer Bird”, is indicative of his overall contrariness!
TC:
That episode of Scooby Doo Mystery Inc. must have completely slipped my mind, as I’ve seen the entire series… though largely as an uncharacteristic (for me, anyway) binge-watch!
Shame on me for not mentioning it!
Elaine:
I envy you your experience of seeing such a mad-genius in person… even if it did involve “fetuses riding crocodiles in the sewers of NYC”. I might not have gotten through that on the printed page as well!
…Ah, but imagine him performing it live!
Just an aside, the following day while still in “Ellison-Immersion-Mode”, I dug out , from the further reaches of the DVD closet, “The Human Operators”, an episode from Season Five of the ‘90s version of THE OUTER LIMITS.
It was based on a story by Harlan Ellison and A.E. van Vogt, with a stellar performance by Malcolm McDowell as the voice of a sentient starship! I think that you, personally, would enjoy this… in that “Commander Iris-One sorta way”!
If you ever find a way to see this, give it a try.
"Cordwainer" (misspelled as two words in the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode) is an old term for a shoe maker. "Bird" may have been Ellison's way of flipping the TV producers "the bird."
"Cordwainer" may have been some sort of homage to science fiction writer Paul Linebarger (1913-1966), who used the pen name Cordwainer Smith.
The Cordwainer Bird pseudonym was also used for The Starlost, a short-lived 1970s TV series based on an idea by Ellison, but which he disowned after changes were made.
It may be noteworthy that Ellison, although dissatisfied with the Star Trek episode, still allowed his real name to be used in the credits.
TC:
I did not know that about the name. Thanks for the info.
My guess is that Ellison had DEGREES of disagreement – and that TREK ended up “acceptable enough” for it to retain his actual name.
Still, he never did another… and THAT was a pity – for TREK and for VOYAGE both!
It would've been neat if he wrote an episode of "Doctor Who", seeing as how he regarded it far higher than Star Wars and Star Trek. He had written an introduction that was printed in 1980's American editions of Doctor Who. Neil Gaiman wrote two episodes. Michael Moorcock wrote an original novel. Alan Moore and Grant Morrison wrote some peripheral comics, but nothing from Harlan. Pity.
Having written that, I do believe his comments and reviews on pop culture were more interesting/entertaining than his fiction, because it's not often that you encounter someone within "the biz" who is able to write articulate opinions against popular things. He never "sold out", really. My "introduction" to him was an interview in Wizard Magazine where he promoted a Superman graphic novel he was working on called "Superman: Excising Demons" that never saw the light of day. That might change, since it's trendy for publishers to rediscover "lost" manuscripts.
And having written all that, I'll say I still enjoy that Batman comic he wrote in which Batman is stymied by a slow crime night and confrons a litterbug out of ennui.
There is a story that Ellison was actually banned from writing for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea after a run-in with TV network executive Adrian Samish. When Samish demanded changes in the script for "The Price of Doom," Ellison protested, and Samish said, "Writers are toadies. You'll do as you are told."
Ellison punched Samish, who fell backwards out of his chair. He broke his pelvis, and also knocked a Seaview model off of a shelf, breaking it.
There is an alternate version of the story, saying that it was Irwin Allen himself who got punched by Ellison.
TC:
I’ve heard that story too, with Adrian Samish – not with Irwin Allen!
In support of Samish being on the receiving end of the Ellison assault is that, if it WERE Irwin Allen, the story (or legend?) would be much larger and better known! Being more a part of Hollywood lore, because of Allen’s greater stature in the industry. No doubt Allen himself would have made a bigger deal of it, if only for publicity purposes.
You made me curious, so I just looked it up – courtesy of the book “Irwin Allen Television Productions, 1964-1970” by Jon Abbott (2006). It says that Ellison…
“…was the first writer to introduce a monster to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, later the series’ staple diet and saving grace after all the tiresome Red Menace villains of the early episodes”
“His [Ellison’s] working relationship with Allen was abrupt and short-lived – a story conference for the series apparently ended with Ellison sliding down the boardroom table to punch the lights out of network executive Adrian Samish. According to a published fanzine interview with Ellison, a model of the Seaview fell onto Samish, hospitalizing him, and Ellison found himself blacklisted from all further ABC writing assignments. Samish vetoed every hiring thereafter, including a much-coveted ‘Batman’.”
So, a few takeaways from this…
Perhaps Ellison’s “Two-Face” episode of BATMAN (as noted in this post, published decades later in graphic novel form by DC Comics) was NOT necessarily “too expensive to produce” – but the result of his blacklisting at ABC.
As Ellison actually did TWO episodes of THE OUTER LIMITS, he might have gotten along better with Ben Brady (the series Second Season producer), but was banned from any additional contributions by Samish. Given the great quality of his work on THE OUTER LIMITS, that was a loss for us all!
It clearly could not have been Irwin Allen in the altercation, as Allen would have had no authority over BATMAN or THE OUTER LIMITS. I suppose, technically, Allen could have used Ellison on LOST IN SPACE (the only one of his four ‘60s sci-fi series not to air on ABC… but I’d imagine the “Samish drama” that played-out before his horrified eyes precluded that. …Or maybe Ellison was simply TOO EXPENSIVE for the frugal Allen’s later page rates! (…Aside to any Irwin Allen aficionados: Given the great number of writing credits they racked-up for Allen, William Welch and Peter Packer must have worked cheap!)
Could the incident of a model of the Seaview falling on Samish – a model presumably LARGE ENOUGH to hospitalize him – be the inspiration for the memorable climax of the VOYAGE episode “Leviathan”, where a crazed scientist, grown to gigantic size, grapples with the Seaview underwater? …Only William Welch knows for sure!
Harlan Ellison and Irwin Allen went on to become true legends in their respective endeavors… while Adrian Samish is remembered as an executive decision-maker who got beat up for making changes to a writer’s work! Let that be a lesson to executive decision-makers everywhere! Yay, writers! Solidarity! :-)
Finally, isn’t it nice to occasionally REFER TO A BOOK for reference, rather than just provide a link? …Yay, writers, again!
‘Rehab:
I’ve never been that much of a DOCTOR WHO fan, my interest peaking in the ‘80s and declining to nothingness in the intervening decades – but, like Ellison, I still hold it in much higher regard than STAR WARS!
STAR TREK, however, is a completely different matter! What a terrible shame that he never wrote another STAR TREK TOS! Hoo-boy, could the THIRD SEASON have ever used him!
I was unaware of the Superman script but, if the Batman script could eventually see print, why not! I’d buy it!
Um… let’s hope he actually completed it before this week!
Well..it could be "discovered" by his estate in the way that Mickey Spillane wrote all those "lost" Mike Hammer manuscripts that Max Allen Collins always manages to find...or Stan Lee still writing the Spider-Man newspaper strip..and V.C. Andrews continued writing new novels from beyond the grave..another sequel to "Flowers In The Attic" - because nobody demanded it..
With Doctor Who, I enjoyed the years Tom Baker was in it, then the early years of the revival with David Tennant..and any episode with Jenna Coleman or K9, some episodes with Sylvester McCoy and Peter Davison..the other stuff is okay, but not marathons I'd sit through, which could explain why BBC America opts for airing "Trek" reruns over "Who", even though I don't think that's nice, because "Trek" reruns are on every other rerun channel.
It's interesting how reruns of some shows are more watchable and become more ubiquitous in rerun broadcast patterns than others.
I may have liked Jon Pertwee best (his adventures “looked richer” to my recollection), and then skip forward to Sylvester McCoy – the last Doctor I recall watching.
Oh, and I pity the poor writer who assumes Ellison’s Superman script, if it remained unfinished. Ellison would, no doubt, haunt the unfortunate soul for all eternity! Hey, if ANYONE could DO it…
Still feeling the “Ellison Urge”, as it were, I found some time on the evening of July 4th, 2018 to view Ellison’s “Shatterday” -- the premiere episode of the 1980s version of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, and adapted from Ellison’s short story of the same name.
…Besides, can you think of a better way to drown-out the neighborhood noise of people shooting off firecrackers, than with some Harlan Ellison? …Besides cranking-up some AC-DC, that is!
“Shatterday”, an amazing story once you realize what is slowly happening to the protagonist (No Spoilers!), was noteworthy not only for having been conceived by Ellison, but for being directed by horror film icon Wes Craven – and it starred a very-early-in-his-career Bruce Willis!
Bruce Willis is not the first name one tends to summon-up, when asked to name great actors – but he magnificently carries what is essentially a one-man-show! So much so that, in his DVD Commentary Track for the episode, Ellison steadfastly (as you might expect from him) wanted Robert Culp for the role, based on their prior, and very successful, association on THE OUTER LIMITS opus “Demon with a Glass Hand” (1964) – but unabashedly admits, once he saw Willis at work, that Bruce was the better choice! …How often do you think Ellison did THAT, eh?
But, the real point of this lengthy additional comment, beyond extoling the considerable virtues of “Shatterday”, is to note that “Shatterday” was special enough to rate TWO DVD Commentary Tracks!
Track One: Director Wes Craven, writer Alan Brennert (who adapted Ellison’s short story for television), producer Philip De Guere, and cinematographer Bradford May – all contributing in a spirited “gang commentary”.
Track Two: Harlan Ellison… all by himself!
Ya GOTTA figure that was on purpose… if not by outright Ellison request (or demand)!
When heard back-to-back, the two tracks are fascinating, particularly if you are a fan of Ellison. Ellison, from day-one, had his disagreements with Wes Craven (…Surprise, surprise!) to the extent that Ellison rewrote parts of the script (…wouldn’t some history have been changed if he’d been allowed to do that on VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA), and even insisted on 18 HOURS (!) of personally-supervised “ADR”, rerecording Bruce Willis – for reasons he blames on Craven!
But, the really marvelous thing is that the two Commentary Tracks nicely present BOTH SIDES of the same incidents between Ellison and Craven… and you can actually “get” their respective points in a way that would not have been possible if Ellison had been part of the “gang commentary”.
One must conclude that Ellison had “mellowed somewhat” between his experiences with ABC’s Adrian Samish, and Wes Craven… as Craven walked away from the production without being hospitalized!
Of course, Craven could always have had Freddy Kruger come after Ellison in his… er, “nightmares” (lower-case “n”)… if so, my money would still be on Ellison!
Oh, and since I’m on such a roll, I’ll probably make time to survey the rest of Ellison’s ‘80s TWILIGHT ZONES before I’m done!
Interesting! Though I did not know Shatterday, I see from reading a summary elsewhere that it seems to share similarities with the short story The Strange Case of Mr Pelham, which received its own excellent televised adaptation in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, starring Tom Ewell and directed by Hitchcock himself. Wikipedia tells me that there was also a 1970 theatrical adaptation of the same story, featuring Roger Moore, and it seems from the Wikipedia summary to be even more alike to Shatterday… though I won't elaborate on how.
Although.
Those who would wish to avoid spoilers, do not read beyond this line.
Joe, you write One must conclude that Ellison had “mellowed somewhat” between his experiences with ABC’s Adrian Samish, and Wes Craven… as Craven walked away from the production without being hospitalized! But did he? Or was it an Ellison-spawned doppelgänger who walked away? Hm…
Equally jokily, I'll just come out and say it: you gotta figure that Wes was cravin' some creative liberty… to try and teach Harlan a lesson in filmmaking!
Oh, and I see Doctor Who was brought up above. Hm. I don't know if Ellison would have been such a right pick; Who is fundamentally more whimsical than the likes of Twillight Zone — or even Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, owing to the Doctor's eccentric nature compared to the Seaview's crew, which automatically adds much more comedy than you'd find in a Voyage episode. Or at least, that's how it ought to be; there have been periods, of course, where the show lapsed into bleaker realms. (Grmbl Eccleston grmbl.) Mind, as I said earlier, I know very little of Ellison's work; could be my grasp on his general style is all wrong and he'd actually have been brilliant. Who knows.
Anyway, Joe, as far as vintage-Doctors go, I do like Pertwee as well! And (because I'm odd like that) the 1960's Peter Cushing films. Though all Doctors have had their moments. Out of curiosity, have you kept up at all with the latest Doctors — Tennant, Smith, Capaldi? The quality of scripts varied in all cases, but I think all three, acting-wise, were top-notch, in three different styles.
Achille:
Shame… SHAME on me for not recalling “The Case of Mr. Pelham”, from Season One of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, and its shocking similarities to Harlan Ellison’s “Shatterday”!
Now, I’d never accuse anyone of plagiarism, particularly someone with the incredible body of work of Mr. Ellison – and I’m SURELY NOT DOING IT HERE, but the similarities are just too great to ignore.
…Though, sometimes, such coincidences really DO happen!
“The Case of Mr. Pelham” first aired on December 4th, 1955 – when Ellison would have been 21 years old. So it IS possible that Ellison *could* have conceived a similar idea before seeing the HITCHCOCK show in original run, or even years of later reruns.
Then again, “Shatterday”, the short story, was (according to a Google search) first published in 1975 (or 1980, I’ve seen both) 20 or 25 years after “The Case of Mr. Pelham” first aired. And, also bear in mind that “The Case of Mr. Pelham” was a short story BEFORE it was a TV episode.
As with so much in life, each must draw their own conclusion! But thanks for such a great find – and an equally great contribution to our discussion!
I LOVE Peter Cushing, yet have somehow managed to not see his “Who” films. I’ll have to do that!
The last Doctor I saw, before that interest faded altogether, was Sylvester McCoy – so I’ve seen none of the recent ones! Perhaps they’re great. I should find out someday.
Disney comics have certainly seen their fair share of coincidences — like that time two stories published the same month in two different books both introduced contradictory versions of Scrooge's grandfather, and the time Barks and Scarpa both had Scrooge tackle the Flying Dutchman a few years apart. Perhaps this is just another. Though the timelines are suggestive.
Since we're listing off mysterious hospital-related doppelgänger stories and we happened to have reason to namedrop Roger Moore, let me also recall The Persuader's unexpected take on the subject in Someone Like Me. The plot-twist makes what would otherwise have been a rather unexpected venture into sci-fi by the show. And it was written by none other than Terry Nation, one of the masterminds behind… Doctor Who! Here's another coincidence for ya.
The Peter Cushing films are great, and they are great for an outsider, too, because they're more of a condensed adaptation. Cushing isn't playing the Doctor we know, but rather a human scientist called Dr Who who invented a time machine he calls Tardis. To this performance, in an attempt to finally have a role that would make kids like him (seriousl! that's why he agreed to take the role!), Cushing brings a wonderful air of childlike eccentricity. He's not the most original, but Cushing's Dr Who is one of the most likeable "absent-minded professor" types I've ever seen on film. And his design is quite striking; with the mustache and wig it's easy to forget this is Cushing. Another high point of the films aside from their vibrant colors is the scores, by Malcolm Lockyer and Bill McGuffie, a vast improvement over the original series' often bland, and occasionally downright nonexistent, electronic soundtrack.
If you ended with McCoy, then funny enough, you just about followed the Classic Series to its conclusion (lackluster Paul McGann features notwithstanding, because let's all forget about that one, thank you). McCoy was the last Doctor of the original run, which was followed by a decade-long gap (not unlike what Disney comics fan had to deal with!) until it was unexpected revived in the mid-2000's with Christopher Eccleston.
Achille:
You've convinced me to look up the Peter Cushing films!
After all, what kind of a Peter Cushing fan would I be if I didn't?
Continuing on with more Harlan Ellison 1980s TWILIGHT ZONE, I viewed Episode 7 of Season 1, “Paladin of the Lost Hour”. It aired November 08, 1985, and was based on Ellison’s short story “Paladin”.
Ellison did a solo DVD Commentary Track for this episode as well – and, as you might expect, it was “interesting listening”!
Ellison wrote both the short story and the TWILIGHT ZONE screenplay concurrently. The short story, in this case, did not pre-exist the television production. The episode was a “two-man show”, starring Danny Kaye and Glynn Turman, and was directed by Gilbert Cates who was, at that time, the president of the Director’s Guild.
As you would expect from Ellison, there is always some controversy. In this age of overwhelming political correctness and the most carefully chosen words and phrases, it is almost refreshing to hear Ellison describe Danny Kaye as a “selfish actor”, and Gilbert Cates as a “hack director”!
And, at least hearing Ellison’s side of things, if any of what he says is remotely true, one might consider Ellison justified in his views. But, of course, we are ONLY hearing Ellison’s side! …NOW I know why all DVDs have disclaimers about the opinions expressed in provided commentaries!
In somewhat of an ironic counterpoint to Ellison’s use of the pseudonym “Cordwainer Bird”, Cates withdrew his own name from the production, preferring the director’s credit be listed as “Alan Smithee” - a blanket industry pseudonym for disgruntled directors.
On the positive side, Ellison touts “Paladin of the Lost Hour” as, perhaps, his finest work. Since we are discussing a body of work that includes “Demon with a Glass Hand” and “City on the Edge of Forever” as its Crown Jewels, I must respectfully disagree.
While good, as is pretty much everything Ellison does, I don’t feel it even equals VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA’s “The Price of Doom” (certainly in terms of the ground-breaking, trajectory-altering effect it had on that series), or even his previous ‘80s TWILIGHT ZONE effort“Shatterday”… but that’s what makes the world go ‘round!
Ellison also cited his time on the ‘80s TWILIGHT ZONE as one of his best ever. I’ll be looking in on more of that, to be sure.
Joe: I shall take that as a victory!
Alright, so I went off and watched The Twillight Zone's Shatterday. And in hindsight, while the similarities with Pelham remain, I'd be very forgiving of Ellison even if it turned out there was a direct relationship, because while the premises are very similar, it's played off in a fundamentally different way (at least, comparing the Hitchock adaptation of the first to the Zone adaptation of the second).
The Strange Case of Mr Pelham plays with our nerves, introducing a creeping sensation of dread throughout; the weird clues to the existence of the doppelgänger go crescendo, and for a while a particularly skeptical watcher could still assume it was an elaborate con/impersonation, involving a lookalike or some such. Only at the tail-end do we finally see the dastardly double in the flesh, ending with the insanity of Pelham, and leaving the viewer in uncertainty as to the precise nature of the strange phenomena he has witnessed.
Shatterday on the other hand doesn't pull its punches. It begins with undeniable contact between the two Novins, and after a few minutes of back-and-forth they've accepted the situation for what it is — at the cost of point-of-view Novins's mental stability. The rest of the episode makes the truth of the phenomenon clearer and clearer, and otherwise serves as an almost philosophical exploration of the two Novins's character and morality.
Incidentally, I will say that, while I would probably pick Pelham over Shatterday as a matter of personal preferences, I love the opening of Shatterday. That you could dial your own telephone number and end up genuinely calling yourself is such a wonderfully surreal idea, and yet so simple — it feels like the sort of paradox a bright child might think up at 9 and spend a day pondering. A perfectly beautiful jumping-off point.
Ah, I see Alan Smithee came up. Are you aware of the somewhat hilarious occurrence to which we owe that infamous nom de plume's disappearance from modern cinema? (And unfortunately, it's not that producers have suddenly stopped interfering with writers and directors' final products so that they never need using it again. No matter what a beautiful day that would be.)
Achille:
I’m more than willing to give Ellison a pass on his “Shatterday” vs. Hitchcock’s “Pelham”.
They are, as I noted above, remarkably similar – yet, they’re somehow “different” as well.
Hitchcock’s ending is clearly more ambiguous and “creepy”, with the casual conversation at the Gentlemen’s Club, regarding the whole Pelham affair.
Ellison’s ending, not surprisingly, is much more straightforward concerning what we’ve just witnessed, pulling no punches (like Ellison, himself) -- and, I daresay, would have played better for the ‘80s audience, as opposed to the ‘50s audience for Hitchcock.
I find myself unable to choose a clear favorite between the two, as both “do what they do” very well, and both play well for their respective times. …Besides, how do you choose between Alfred Hitchcock and Harlan Ellison? There IS no lesser option!
Oh, and I DO apologize to those readers who have not seen either “Shatterday” or “Pelham”, and I hope we’ve kept these comments as free of spoilers as possible! Do see BOTH, if you can. (…After you’ve seen “Demon with a Glass Hand” first, of course!) They are both on DVD, and certainly there are other options as well.
So, don’t just sit there, man… tell us about “Alan Smithee”, ya big teaser!
Alright. The story deals with Burn, Hollywood, Burn, a satire based on the preexisting "Alan Smithee" phenomenon, a 1997 movie directed by Arthur Hiller, starrign Eric Idle, Sylevester Stallone and Jackie Chan. (Yes.) The movie sees a film director played by Idle discovering that his movie has been mangled by the executives behind his back; and he wants his name removed, but he can't because (oh the hilarity) his name actually is Alan Smithee. It's a somewhat funny idea, though it seems more suited to a comedy sketch than to a full-length picture.
However.
The best part of this is that the studio execs thought the comedy was weak and actually messed with it behind Arthur Hiller's back to the point that he.
Disowned.
It.
And.
Credited.
Alan.
SMITHEE.
The movie predictably bombed, to such a ravaging extent that it prompted the Academy (the very one which forced directors to submit a name for any movie coming out, which is why "Alan Smithee" had come to be) banned anyone from using that name ever again.
Achille:
That’s VERY funny!
Not to mention the original concept of a director ACTUALLY being named “Alan Smithee”! …But yes, funny as it is, I’d say it is too thin to build a full-length picture around. If only they still made comedy shorts. Imagine the frustrated likes of W.C. Fields as Smithee!
On the flip side, if, by some miracle, a film by “Alan Smithee” won an Academy Award, who would be able to step up to claim the statue? That, too, would be a nice punchline to such a short.
I suppose future disgruntled directors could always credit “Alan Jonesee”!
Yet another Harlan Ellison 1980s TWILIGHT ZONE glowed from my flat-screen TV last night! Episode 11 of Season 1: “One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty” aired December 06, 1985 and, like his other TWILIGHT ZONE entries, was based on another of Ellison’s short stories.
It was paired with another segment that went first, “The Beacon”, starring Charles Martin Smith and another superb turn by the great Martin Landau in a wonderfully creepy role. But, we’re here to discuss Ellison’s stuff, so let’s go…
Ellison also did a solo DVD Commentary Track for this episode – by now, he’s starting to feel like an “old friend”!
Middle aged Los Angeles writer Gus Rosenthal has anger issues. In an attempt to uncover the cause, he journeys back to his now-abandoned childhood home outside of Cleveland, Ohio! (Um… Does any of this sound just a tad like someone we know? Ya know, like the subject of this post? Maybe? Huh?)
As this *is* THE TWILIGHT ZONE, Rosenthal can’t simply “walk around his childhood hometown jogging largely dormant memories” as I occasionally do, but instead – miraculously, and without explanation – finds his “adult-self” encountering his “young-child-self”… and in the postwar years, to boot!
Rosenthal becomes a friend/big brother/mentor to his younger self (over the objections of the “kid-self’s” father – Rosenthal’s OWN dad) to get at the cause of the deep anger that torments his “adult self”. Is it lack of attention from his parents? Being smaller than the rest of the kids at school? The bullies who regularly physically assault “Young Gus”? An angry father (it must run in the family)? Being the only Jews in the neighborhood, and the anti-Semitism that follows? Being a kid with an extraordinary imagination, forced to lead a stiflingly ordinary existence? …Or, is it something else?
Ellison’s commentary for this episode is like no other! He clearly and openly declares this as *HIS* life story, and becomes emotional and choked-up while delivering his thoughts. He refers to the “Gus characters” – young and older – as “himself”!
He seems, at least to my ear, to actually have some difficulty getting through this commentary… and actually goes silent with about TEN MINUTES remaining in the episode! He does not return, nor does he officially “sign-off”. He just vanishes… as if he, himself, were somehow transported back to that postwar Cleveland suburb!
…I’d sure like to know the story behind THAT commentary recording session! What a change from railing against actors and directors!
On a personal level, I regard this as a remarkable episode because, though loathe to admit it, I share many of Ellison’s childhood experiences, transplanted to a suburban New York village that was a wonderful place when my family moved there in 1960, but had become dangerous when we left in 1969. Perhaps “imaginative writers” largely come from places and family-life situations like that… though my editor, fellow writer, and friend David Gerstein could not have had more of a different “formative period” than mine – and he is far more of an “imaginative writer” than I could ever hope to be… So, who knows!
Still in all, wouldn’t it be something if I (as I happily and contentedly exist today – in most, if not all, situations) could have a chat with my scared, lonely, and unhappy self, circa 1968!
Okay, enough of that “deep stuff”… Everyone go watch Harlan Ellison’s “Demon with a Glass Hand” - RIGHT NOW!
Last night was spent with the FINAL Harlan Ellison penned episode of the 1980s TWILIGHT ZONE. For this, we skip ahead Season 3, Episode 29 – the next-to-last episode of the series “Crazy as a Soup Sandwich”, aired April 01, 1989.
After three previously poignant plays, Ellison offers up something of an “April Fool’s joke” with an unexpected comedic episode! A small time hood makes a deal with a demon – and the demon has come to collect his soul. The frightened hood turns to a big-time gangster for help! Who turns out to be the bigger and more powerful demon?
Part of Ellison’s genius was that he could be tremendously adept at “super-serious sci-fi” as with “Demon with a Glass Hand” and “City on the Edge of Forever”, absorbing drama as seen in his previous three episodes of this series, and outright comedy like his “angry genie” story from TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE – and this episode!
Anthony Franciosa, star of one of my favorite films – the thrilling Italian Giallo murder mystery “Tenebre”, is superb as the big-time gangster who attempts the unenviable task of facing one of Harlan Ellison’s demons!
We’ll probably do just one more dose of Ellison before we finally move on. I can’t believe how much I’m enjoying this great body of work – some of which I’m seeing for the first time!
I have just watched it and wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of Crazy as a Soup Sandwhich — though I will say that I find the title somewhat random. A great script, carried by great actors, Franciosa chief among them!
Achille:
That is exactly why I regard Harlan Ellison as such a genus! His ability to create such DIFFERENT TYPES of stories - and do them all SO WELL! And, if you haven’t done so already, I hope you get to see Franciosa in “Tenebre”! It’s just amazing!
Okay, here’s the last Harlan Ellison viewing to be discussed here…. Unless, of course, you all have anything additional to contribute! We’re always open and up for it, ya know!
We end with… would you believe, a Harlan Ellison WESTERN?
For this curiosity, we go to the short-lived CBS series CIMARRON STRIP, Season 1 (and only), Episode 18 “Knife in the Darkness”, aired January 25, 1968.
CIMARRON STRIP starred Stuart Whitman as Kansas Marshal Jim Crown and, in an unusual experiment for the time, ran NINETY MINUTES, rather than the usual one hour. Beyond that, it played much like CBS’s phenomenally successful GUNSMOKE. Perhaps, too much. But, I loved GUNSMOKE and, as a result, also liked CIMARRON STRIP.
An eerie fog, very uncharacteristic of Kansas, has beset Marshal Crown’s jurisdiction… and with it the brutal knife-murders of several young women. …Oh, and this takes place some months after the fabled “Jack the Ripper” disappeared from England without a trace!
Did he “Go West, Young Man!”? Only Harlan Ellison would have the outright audacity to suggest that he did! An amazing and outrageous concept for a 1960s TV western, wouldn’t you say!
…And, with that, I salute Harlan Ellison… a true giant in the field of writing!
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