Ellison Speaks Out About Masters DVD
“I am not fool enough to tell you the many things I don’t like about it—I would rather help them sell the thing,” says Harlan Ellison in an interview with Video Business in regard to the DVD release of “Masters of Science Fiction,” but only after ranting and raving about the way ABC mishandled the series. (It’s the first time I’ve ever seen anyone referred to as a “human piece of phlegm.”)
Like the current NBC series “Fear Itself,” “Masters of Science Fiction” was loaded with A-list genre actors, directors, and writers including Ellison, Robert Heinlein and Jonathan Frakes. But what it had in pedigree it lost in promotion — there was very little — and then ABC began jerking around the with the schedule. In the end, the plug was pulled after only a few airings.
It’s a shame, because there is a lot to like about this series. The DVD, which streets in August, has all six episodes of the series, two of which were never aired.
So maybe Ellison has a point when he calls the ABC exec, “a human abscess.” Don’t hold back Harlan, tell us how you really feel.
For more information, read my interview with James Denton who starred in Ellison’s piece, “The Discarded.”
I cannot help but feel that if Ellison put as much energy into being positive as he does into being negative he might one day make it into the list of “Greats”. As it stands, he’s merely in the list of “Great Whiners”.