BATTLEFIELD EARTH. With John Travolta, Barry Pepper, Forest Whitaker. Directed by Roger Christian. Running time: 117 minutes. Area theaters. Rated PG-13: Violence.
John Travolta, a mega-star in the constellations over both Hollywood and Scientology, has acknowledged using the might of his box-office appeal to get financing for the $80 million adaptation of late Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's 1982 novel "Battlefield Earth."
At the same time, Travolta insists there is zero connection between "Battlefield Earth" and Hubbard's philosophy, saying he simply likes the novel because "it's a great piece of science fiction."
As a movie, it's a great piece of something else.
{There IS a financial connection to the cult, which explains why it is so heavily promoting this flop flick. See the articles appended below.}
"Battlefield Earth" is one of the darkest, ugliest, most uninvolving and incomprehensible major-studio fantasies I've ever seen. In it, Travolta as a sadistic, 9-foot-tall extraterrestrial villain delivers a stupefyingly bad performance.
The premises of both the movie and the 'Church' of Scientology pit human beings against alien overlords, in a death struggle to save our species.
The movie, directed by non-Scientologist Roger Christian ("Nostradamus"), is set in the year 3,000, long after aliens have overtaken Earth and turned it into a mining outpost. The relatively few remaining humans are either living in tribal isolation or working as slaves in the domed ruins of such former metropolises as New York and Denver.
John Travolta may have trouble 'Staying Alive' in the business after this performance.
The story of "Battlefield Earth" turns on a slave rebellion led by diehard freedom-fighter Jonnie Goodboy Tyler (Barry Pepper), after he is captured and put to the slave's yoke.
Although the film climaxes in a "Star Wars"-inspired aerial battle, its central conflicts are tightly focused on Jonnie and his aroused slaves, pitted against an opposition led by the dreadlocked, amber-eyed Terl (Travolta), head of Earth security, and his sidekick Ker (Forest Whitaker), who looks to be a blackface version of the Cowardly Lion from "The Wizard of Oz."
Much of this is intended as high camp, signaled with the kind of vertical dissolves used for old matinee serials. Travolta and Whitaker are certainly in high-camp mode, overacting to a degree that makes you wonder if they didn't have a side bet on who could produce the most ham.
Unfortunately, Pepper (the sharpshooting G.I. in "Saving Private Ryan") plays Jonnie straight-up, delivering deadly "Ben-Hur" lines with a sincerity that is instantly laughable.
Some ex-Scientologists think Jonnie was written as Hubbard's alter ego. It's a theory we won't try to argue. Hubbard, who had demonstrated a fecund imagination during his early career as a pulp novelist, proclaimed that the souls of humans were burdened with "implants" sown by extraterrestrials 75 million years ago, and that only through the purifying process of Scientology could the souls be renewed. {At a price of many, many thousands of dollars and/or virtual slavery to Hubbard's cult 'religion'.}
In the end, the fears expressed by anti-Scientologists that "Battlefield Earth" would be a church-recruitment film are wildly unfounded. There isn't anything in this overbudgeted mess to inspire a moment of traditional moviegoing awe, let alone a religious conversion. ================== Also from NY Daily News 05/12/2000:
Scientology Battlefield
Foes of Scientology are wasting no time battling John Travolta's "Battlefield Earth."
The Web site <Scientology-kills.org> urges a boycott of the sci-fi flick, claiming it sends subliminal messages luring people into the fold of L. Ron Hubbard, the late "Battlefield Earth" author and Scientology founder.
Another Web site contends that Scientologists are set to buy scores of tickets to assure it a top spot on the box- office charts.
If there are Scientological messages encoded, they don't seem to be converting early viewers who've blasted the flick on the Ain't It Cool News Web site. Some sneak- peekers call the film a "boorish vanity film," "a career- threatening mistake" and a "big, expensive flop." And in today's News, critic Jack Mathews gives the film zero stars. ============= Travolta's Cult Movie
Scientology Scores Battlefield Earth Toy Bucks - Cult included in film's merchandising agreement. Original publication date February 15, 2000
A kid's toy with a nasty mouth - a doll that spouts "Ratbastard" - may be netting the controversial Church of Scientology some big bucks.
According to Variety magazine, though Scientology did not participate in the making of Warner Bros.' upcoming movie Battlefield Earth, it was included in the merchandising agreement. Any deal for merchandising automatically includes Author Services, the agency that handles all of the works of late writer and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, who penned the novel the film is based on. Many ex-members consider Scientology an unscrupulous cult, and Hubbard a fraud and con-artist.
Scientologist John Travolta stars as the evil warlord Terl. The toy merchandising line includes a talking Terl, which spouts lines such as "Exterminate all man animals at will," "Man is an endangered species," and the aforementioned "Ratbastard." Just the sort of things you want impressionable childrens' toys to say to them.
Trendmasters, the company responsible for the line of toys, told Variety that these types of film-based toys can earn as much as $50 million in sales. Warner Bros. claims that the studio is merely the distributor, and had nothing to do with the film's merchandising deals.
Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder told Variety that the sect would use the money for its "charitable foundations." Ex-members maintain that Scientology is anything but charitable, charging many thousands of dollars for a mere few dozen hours of its "religious" training and counseling, and selling such services through deception, psychological manipulation, and high-pressure tactics. They state that the sect's front-group "foundations" exist only to generate income, recruit followers, and promote Scientology agendas.
Battlefield Earth, which opens in May, already has a sequel in the works. Much has been made about the film's connections to Scientology, as well as the dubious image of Travolta sporting enormous dreadlocks. Anti-cult activists urge a public boycott of the film and all related products.
"There's no way that this movie would be happening without Scientology's backing," states Stacey Brooks, a former Scientology member and current president of the Scientology-watchdog group Lisa McPherson Trust. "This is one example of how Scientology insinuates itself into various aspects of the culture." ================
Want to know more? Read the BOOKS AND ARTICLES EXPOSING THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY listed below. They reveal and document the hypocrisy, greed, unscrupulous practices, and serious crimes of this "Church." You will learn more about their techniques of mind control and subjugation - the use of personal secrets confided in counseling for intimidation and blackmail - the exploitation of staff - abuse and slavery in their "RPF" - brutal and degrading punishments - the big ripoff of Missionholders by Hubbard's "Finance Dictator" and "Finance Police" - harassment and terror tactics against dissenters - Hubbard's tall tales, false claims and con games - imprisonment, abductions, suicides, and unexplained deaths - criminal conspiracies - and much more.
L. RON HUBBARD: MESSIAH OR MADMAN? - Bent Corydon & L. Ron Hubbard Jr. THE BARE-FACED MESSIAH - Russell Miller. A PIECE OF BLUE SKY - Jon Atack. THE SCANDAL OF SCIENTOLOGY - Paulette Cooper. For writing this book, the author was harassed, terrorized, and framed by a Scientology criminal conspiracy. RELIGION, INC. - Stewart Lamont. THE MIND BENDERS - Cyril Vosper. SCIENTOLOGY: THE NOW RELIGION - George Malko. THE ROAD TO TOTAL FREEDOM - Roy Wallis. THE ROAD TO XENU - Margery Wakefield. Available from Coalition, PO Box 290402, Tampa, FL 33687, or FACTNet, 601 16 St. #C-217, Golden, CO 80401. INSIDE SCIENTOLOGY - Robert Kaufman. COMBATTING CULT MIND CONTROL - Steven Hassan. SCIENTOLOGY: THE CULT OF GREED - Time Magazine, May 6, 1991. THE PROPHET AND PROFITS OF SCIENTOLOGY - Forbes, Oct. 27, 1986. SCIENTOLOGY: ANATOMY OF A FRIGHTENING CULT - Reader's Digest, May 1980. SCIENTOLOGY: THE SICKNESS SPREADS - Reader's Digest, Sept. 1981. PROUD MARY: George Magazine, August 1999. Illustrates how Scientology infiltrates and manipulates our government.
WEBSITES: http://www.geocities.com/xenu2000/ (about Battlefield Earth) http://www.xenu.net http://www.scientology-kills.org http://www.scientology-lies.com http://www.entheta.org http://www.lisamcpherson.org http://www.factnet.org/Scientology www.xenuTV.com www.users.wineasy.se/noname/multimed http://www.infoman.demon.co.uk/cicmain.html http://www.shassan.com http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/cos/comments/volcanos.html Follow the links to more websites.
Also see the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology, which this "church" continually tries to suppress.
SCIENTOLOGY FRONT GROUPS - all pose as altruistic, usually concealing their Scientology ties: Author Services, Narconon, Criminon, Earthlink, ABLE International, WISE, Applied Scholastics, Apple and Delphian Schools, The Way to Happiness, Citizen's Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), Sterling Management, Concerned Businessmen's Association of America, Singer Consultants, HealthMed, World Literacy Crusade, Dignity For The Aged, Ebony Awakening, Citizens Rescuing Youth (CRY), IHELP, Cult Awareness Network (CAN) - see below.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SCIENTOLOGY AND CULTS IN GENERAL: AMERICAN FAMILY FOUNDATION, PO Box 2265, Bonita Springs, FL 34133. Website: <http://www.csj.org> CULT INFORMATION SERVICE, PO Box 867, Teaneck, NJ 07666. The Cult Awareness Network, formerly the name used by this group, IS NOW A SCIENTOLOGY FRONT. CULT INFORMATION CENTER, London, UK. Website: <http://www.infoman.demon.co.uk/cicmain.html>
