Harlan Ellison doc, 'Dreams with Sharp Teeth,' is all bark, no bite

And by mad, I mean he's a cantankerous hothead who hates stupid people, but also, oddly, smart people who happen to disagree with him. Maybe he has a right to his eccentricities. Ellison has written so many novels, stories, screenplays and teleplays--both in the sci-fi genre and out--it's unlikely any living person over the age of 30 hasn't watched, read or heard something Ellison created or inspired.

He wrote what is considered the single greatest episode of the original "Star Trek," called "City on the Edge of Forever;" he wrote many of the best episodes of "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits;" his work inspired James Cameron's original "Terminator" film, and he edited what many say is the greatest sci-fi anthology ever, "Dangerous Visions" and its first sequel, "Again Dangerous Visions."

Many of Ellison's achievements, however, are overshadowed by personal conflicts. In the film he talks about how "Star Trek" producers screwed up "City on the Edge of Forever," and he rails--maybe rightly so--against Cameron for stealing ideas from his "Soldier" teleplay for "Terminator." He filed a suit against Cameron that resulted in later prints of the film acknowledging his inspiration.

In one of the many--and too long--interviews with Ellison's famous friends, Robin Williams calls the author a "skin graft on a leper." Williams, Neil Gaiman ("Coraline," "The Sandman"), Ronald D. Moore ("Battlestar Galactica"), Josh Olson ("A History of Violence") and others go on and on, mostly gushing about Ellison. We also see archival interviews and speeches.

As thorough as Nelson's look into Ellison's art is, it doesn't challenge the author on many of his beliefs. When Ellison gripes about what was done to a screenplay, we don't hear the other side. When he says he will finish the third book of the "Dangerous Visions" series when he feels like it, he makes it seem like editors are too demanding and don't understand how an artist works.

I wish Nelson had taken off the rose-colored glasses for a moment and called Ellison on it. He should demand the author explain himself, and remember his own rants against movie and TV studios that he claims have bought his scripts and never used them. He held the works of many writers captive for years while working on the "Visions" book.

It seems only Ellison is allowed to criticize Ellison ("I'm a hard pill to swallow") in the film. Gaiman comes close, saying, "You have to accept that you have someone who is partly one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century, and partly an alternating impish and furious 11-year-old boy ... or possibly nine-year-old boy ... or possibly five-year-old boy."

But overall, "Dreams with Sharp Teeth" doesn't bother with the author's detractors. There's no question about the impact Ellison has made, but it would have been nice to see more than 90 minutes of hero-worshipping.

Doesn't such a no-BS man deserve that?

Harlan Ellison reads a passage from his "Star Trek" screenplay, "City on the Edge of Forever." Sundance photo