Having just read the start of the book....... why was this even made?

why was this even made?

I'll fill you in on that.

L. Ron Hubbard was inspired by the massive success of Star Wars in the early eighties, and figured that if Scientology were to have a proverbial Star Wars of its own, that would be a great propaganda tool to bring in more fresh meat into Scientology and then screw them out of all their money and earthly possessions.

To this end, L. Ron set about writing "Battlefield Earth", his so-called "glorious" and "long awaited" return to science fiction, the genre he started out in.

The novel is pure propaganda, once you tear away the top layer you'll see that it is actually about Scientology; mankind rediscovering their forgotten past that screws them over to this day, the struggle to clear the planet, and the holy crusade against the ancient universal evil, the psychiatrists (Psychlos); and against the corrupt media, jews and the suppressive good for nothing government. And Johhny Goodboy Tyler is a thinly veiled version of L. Ron Hubbard himself - not as he actually was mind you, but as he and Scientology tries to portray him.

Hubbard was very pleased with the book, but from some weird reason, the Hollywood studios didn't come running to have it filmed as soon as it was published. So he took to John Travolta, Scientology's golden boy at the time, and told him personally that the part of Johnny Tyler was written for him, and he needed to get the movie made.

This got Travolta fired up real good, but he didn't have the clout to got it made at the time, not with all studio execs on the planet recognizing the novel for what drivel it was. It wasn't until Travolta's post "Pulp Fiction" fame that he was able to convince Franchise pictures, a studio specializing in making low budget vanity projects that actors really really wanted, and got it made...on the cheap. By that time, he was too old to play Tyler, so he settled for Terl instead. That's when corporate Scientology got involved, and David Miscaviegeve functioned as über director, micromanaging every detail of the production. Only when the movie flopped did Scientology distance themselves from it.

Here is the real story from former (now escaped) Scientology No.2 and No.3, Mike Rinder and Marty Rathbun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrpMb51joJA

I have ZERO doubt the only reason this sold more than a few copies was cause the Church had the faithful out there buying up copies.

Naturally. They bought boxes of boxes, that were then returned to the store, and sold again, with the price still on. That's how sales of all LRH books have been inflated.

Its just so bad.

It sure is. The only good-ish thing about the novel is when they talk about plotting, backstabbing, conniving and schemes, all of which were near and dear to Hubbard's heart. Then it's really good. Other than that...no.

The movie is really interesting from one perspective only, and that is to disseminate and analyse it as a propaganda tool. If you aren't already, I would advise you to familiarize yourself with L. Ron Hubbard (both as he was and as he wishes to be protrayed) and corporate Scientology (both what they actually do and what they tell their true believers they do) before you read any further. With that knowledge in hand, the book suddenly becomes more interesting, seeing how it was written very specifially to melt the hearts of those already in Scientology, and to prime those not yet in for Scientology training.

But without that knowledge, "Battlefield Earth" is just a poorly written piece of crap that says the word "Leverage!" a lot and goes on and on and never ends.


Tesla was robbed!

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