The Battle for Planet Earth

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Saving a tree only to lose a forest, her protest against logging forced activists to confront a disturbing possibility: Millions of us might walk to the mailbox rather than drive, but the effect on emissions of the greenhouse-gas carbon dioxide which comes from burning coal, oil and natural gas is minuscule compared with the effect of more than 68 million SUVs on American roads. Obviously, if 1 billion people in the developed world stop driving, switch to solar energy and replace old appliances with superefficient ones, greenhouse emissions would plummet.

The question is whether that mass action, or comparable steps by a few businesses and governments, is easier to bring about. The message of the first Earth Day--April 22, had a certain innocence, imbued with a certain can-do-ism: In that spirit, some 20 million people participated in Earth Day events, such as dumping five tons of roadside trash on the steps of a West Virginia courthouse to protest litter, or burying a car in San Jose, Calif.

The emphasis on the individual was picked up in best sellers like notice the pronoun "50 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet," as well as in public-service campaigns that hectored us to carpool, bicycle to work, recycle, boycott rain-forest wood, buy only "dolphin safe" tuna. Earth Day April reflects the new ethos. The theme of events that will be staged by more than 5, groups in the participating countries is climate change and the threats--rising seas, shifting agricultural zones, more extreme weather--that a warmer world poses.

Although some of the most ecorighteous have unplugged their homes from the electric-utility grid in favor of solar panels on their roofs and fuel cells in their basements, at the rate that is happening there will be orange groves in Anchorage, Alaska, before the greenhouse effect is wrestled into submission. If there was a single case that opened activists' eyes, it was one with a hamburger inside.

Environmentalists had been protesting the use of McDonald's "clamshell" boxes because of the ozone-destroying CFCs used in their manufacture. Customers were exhorted to boycott the Golden Arches. The Environmental Defense Fund saw a better way, and began working with McDonald's to design a box that would keep the burger hot but not harm the ozone layer. In McD's phased out the Styrofoam clamshell in favor of paperboard. That success began to redirect some green activism. Environmental Defense it recently dropped the "Fund" has worked with UPS to use more recycled paper and plastic in its packaging.

Recycling was a nonstarter as long as there was no market for the newspapers we all dutifully bundled and the plastic bottles we put outside. Conservation International has advised Starbucks on growing organic coffee plants in Mexico, and the Gap uses organic cotton. Environmental Defense is back with McDonald's, finding ways to cut energy consumption by at least 10 percent at every Mickey D's.

Whether such moves are driven by a company's desire to be a good corporate citizen or to gain economic advantage by draping itself in green bunting is hard to say. There is no question that some "greenwashing" is going on. Bayernwerk, a Bavarian utility, began selling "Aqua Power" last year when Germany began to let customers choose their electricity supplier. Bayernwerk markets Aqua Power as percent green, renewable, hydroelectric energy.

But any consumer who signs up gets power from the same mix of sources as before: Shapiro was to write the screenplay. On this film there was an eleventh: It just wasn't something anyone really wanted to get involved with. In , the project was taken over by Franchise Pictures , a recently established company whose head, Elie Samaha , a former dry cleaning mogul turned nightclub owner, specialized in rescuing stars' pet projects. Franchise sought out stars whose projects were stalled at the major studios, bringing them aboard at reduced salaries.

Samaha's approach made waves in Hollywood, earning him a reputation of being able to produce star vehicles more cheaply than the larger studios. That is not my business plan. The film was set up as an independent production for Morgan Creek Productions which would release the film through Warner Bros. The Intertainment deal later became the focus of a legal action that bankrupted Franchise. According to Samaha, he got around the "negative factor" of the Scientology connection by the simple expedient of "yell[ing] at everyone, 'This is a science-fiction film starring John Travolta!

It should never have been made. Cruise's spokesperson later denied this. In , Author Services Inc. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest. Author Services is not part of the Church of Scientology. They are a literary agency without any connection to the church.

Travolta's manager Jonathan Krane denied that the Church of Scientology was playing any part in the production: This is an action-adventure, science-fiction story. The movie has nothing to do with Scientology. This is not about Hubbard. I'm very interested in Scientology, but that's personal. Ron Hubbard is very famous for Scientology and Dianetics. On the other hand, he's equally as famous in the science fiction world. I don't really care if somebody thinks that.

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I'm not worried about it. The truth of why I'm doing it is because it's a great piece of science fiction. I'm going to be the wickedest 9-foot alien you've ever seen in your life. Travolta and his manager, Jonathan Krane, took the lead in hiring the on-set personnel. They initially approached Quentin Tarantino to direct the film. Episode I — The Phantom Menace. It's a science-fiction story.

There's nothing sacred about the story, nothing of the religious philosophy. I was given this to read purely as science fiction — to see whether it was intriguing as a movie. Filmed in Canada, principal photography took place in Montreal , Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu , and several other Quebec locations during the summer and autumn of Travolta's wife Kelly Preston also appeared in one scene, playing Terl's "baldish Psychlo girlfriend" Chirk. I have amber eyes and talons for hands. The film was "plagued by bad buzz" before release with the media speculating about the possible influence of Scientology and commenting on the production's tight security.

Battlefield Earth was released on May 12, , three days after the 50th anniversary of the publication of Hubbard's book Dianetics: The film's scathingly bad reviews and poor word-of-mouth led to a precipitous falling-off in its grosses. The number was reduced from 2, to A special edition DVD was released in , deleting one scene and including two additional scenes which added two minutes to the film's running time.

Battlefield Earth is often considered to be one of the worst films ever made. The critical consensus states: The film was greeted with widespread derision in preview screenings. An audience of Los Angeles entertainment journalists, critics, and others greeted the film with guffaws and hoots at a screening in Century City while other viewers in Washington, D. Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert gave the film the rating of half a star out of four, and compared his screening to "taking a bus trip with someone who has needed a bath for a long time.

It's not merely bad; it's unpleasant in a hostile way I watched it in mounting gloom, realizing I was witnessing something historic, a film that for decades to come will be the punch line of jokes about bad movies. Rita Kempley of The Washington Post commented: This film version of L. Ron Hubbard's futuristic novel is so breathtakingly awful in concept and execution, it wouldn't tax the smarts of a troglodyte.

The over-the-top music, the unbelievable sets, the terrible dialogue, the hammy acting, the lousy special effects, the beginning, the middle and especially the end. Many critics singled out the excessive use of angled camera shots. Whenever we glimpse sunlight, the screen goes all stale yellow, as though someone had urinated on the print.

This, by the way, is not such a bad idea.

Shapiro, who wrote the original screenplay, was critical of the film as well. In a letter to The New York Post , he asserted that his draft bore little resemblance to the final script; the result, he said, was embarrassing: First, we have learned that spirituality is a fine thing, but it's probably best to avoid joining denominations that make action movies. Responding to the criticism, one of the film's producers, Elie Samaha, complained: Everybody hated Scientology for some reason. I didn't know people were so prejudiced.

The reviews were not uniformly negative. Bob Graham of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the film "effectively presented" the "wary, uncomprehending relationship" between the humans and the Psychlos. Imagine how much more enjoyable the other blockbuster-of-the-moment, Gladiator , might have been if Joaquin Phoenix had addressed every one of his rivals as 'Rat brain.

Battlefield Earth frequently appears on worst film lists, [97] [98] [99] [] and is included on Rotten Tomatoes' " Worst of the Worst Movies" list. The short was primarily a Gladiator parody, with the characters fighting Russell Crowe in the Roman Colosseum ; it included "John Travolta and the Church of Scientology" arriving in a spaceship to defeat Crowe and attempting to recruit the boys into Scientology. Travolta, along with his fellow Scientologists, was depicted as a Psychlo, as he appeared in the film.

As Travolta did not attend to collect his trophies, an action figure of Terl, his character, accepted them in his place. Travolta responded a week later to the awards: I have people around me whose job it is to not tell me about such things.

They're obviously doing their job. Not every film can be a critical and box office success.

It would have been awful only if Battlefield Earth was neither. That's not the case. I'd rather my films connect with audiences than with critics because it gives you more longevity as a performer. Here I was taking big chances, breaking a new genre. Pepper said that he regretted not having been invited to the Razzies and blamed the film's failure on "a weak script and poor production values".

Wilson during a radio program; he commented that Travolta had called the script "the Schindler's List of science fiction". The film's producer, Elie Samaha, declared that he welcomed the "free publicity", as "the more the critics hit Battlefield Earth , the more DVDs it sells. It is the kind of film that makes a movie legend and we feel we have enough staying power to last long after the critics have quieted down.

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Ron Hubbard to a whole new generation of kids. It's there to plant a favorable seed in children's minds. Before the film was released, rumors and allegations began to circulate that Battlefield Earth contained subliminal messages promoting Scientology. A History of a New Religion.

The Battle for Planet Earth

Not only was the film released only three days after the 50th anniversary of the publication of Hubbard's book Dianetics: The conflict between the Psychlos and the free humans can be seen as a reflection of Scientology's own conception of itself as fighting on behalf of humanity against the forces of psychiatry. The "space opera" genre of the book and film manifests itself in numerous places in Scientology itself, most famously in OT III the Xenu story.

Travolta's own commitment to such a disastrous project as the film version of Battlefield Earth is, in Urban's estimation, indicative of his "unusual dedication" to Scientology. Following the failure of Battlefield Earth and other films independently produced by Franchise Pictures , The Wall Street Journal reported that the FBI was probing "the question of whether some independent motion picture companies have vastly inflated the budget of films in an effort to scam investors".

The case was heard before a jury in a Los Angeles federal courtroom in May—June Intertainment's head Barry Baeres told the court that he had only funded Battlefield Earth because it was packaged as a slate that included two more commercially attractive films, the Wesley Snipes vehicle The Art of War and the Bruce Willis comedy The Whole Nine Yards. Samaha said, 'If you want the other two pictures, you have to take Battlefield Earth — it's called packaging'".

Battlefield Earth is significantly shorter than its source novel, covering only the first pages of the 1,page book. Episode II — Attack of the Clones. Despite Travolta's earlier statements, plans for a sequel never came to fruition. According to James Robert Parish's Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops , the disastrous performance of Battlefield Earth and the collapse of Franchise Pictures made it very unlikely that a live-action sequel will be made.

And I don't want to push any buttons in the press and stir anybody up about it now. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Battlefield Earth Theatrical release poster. I have a special affection for this book. Hubbard was a great writer, and I had an idea of the movie's potential, a fantasy in my mind that lasted for years. I'm not going to be the laughing stock any more.

British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved March 31, A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops. Amid a flurry of bizarre claims and counterclaims, only one thing is certain: Guardian News and Media Limited. Archived from the original on December 19, Archived from the original on July 21, Archived from the original on February 8, The 10 Worst Movies of the Last 10 Years". Los Angeles Daily News. Daily News of Los Angeles. Archived from the original on The New York Post. Archived from the original on March 31, Krane shoots Bull, keeps Travolta busy". Visions of the Apocalypse: Spectacles of Destruction in American Cinema.

Archived from the original on December 15, The Times of India. Archived from the original on March 7, Roger Christian [part 3]". Pulp Sci-Fi or Modern Myth?

Archived from the original on November 25, Archived from the original on February 9, The Record Ontario, Canada.

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