The cheesy ``Battlefield Earth'' sets a new standard in the folly of catering to the whims of movie stars. A pet project of the actor John Travolta, the film is an adaptation of the best-selling, epic-sized 1982 science-fiction novel by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology, which some describe as a cult, others a religion. Travolta is one of the most famous Scientologists in Hollywood.

Detractors have described ``Battlefield Earth'' as a feature-length recruitment poster for Scientology, a minefield of subliminal messages designed to influence impressionable viewers. I don't think so. I didn't detect any hidden messages in the film, only the pungent aroma of a stink bomb of colossal proportions.

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