# Am I the only person on the planet who liked "Battlefield Earth"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 3, 2002, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677 "2002-10-03T14:37:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/1 "2002-10-03T14:37:10Z")
The movie, I mean. Haven’t read the book. I have seen _Battlefield Earth_ slammed in so many places, with so many impolite adjectives… Me, I thought it was great. John Travolta was just priceless as the evil alien overlord. It had great atmosphere, good plot and storyline, action, adventure, John Travolta as an evil alien overlord… And just the right amount of cheese. Of course, I also liked Sony’s _Godzilla_. Am I alone out here? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/2 "2002-10-03T14:42:11Z")
Yes. Yes you are. ---
**Author:** ![Deadly\_Nightlight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Deadly\_Nightlight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deadly_Nightlight)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/3 "2002-10-03T14:48:52Z")
no you aren’t. I will take a stand DARN IT I LIKED IT TOO! THIS IS A CALL TO UNITE or something ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/4 "2002-10-03T14:50:31Z")
Okay, that’s two out of, what, five billion? ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/5 "2002-10-03T14:57:38Z")
I _think_ John Travolta thought it was okay. ---
**Author:** ![EchoKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@EchoKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EchoKitty)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/6 "2002-10-03T15:46:09Z")
I’d have killed myself if I was Travolta. What a hideous embarrassment! Possibly the shittiest movie ever made. You, my friend, are the lone ranger (plus a couple). ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/7 "2002-10-03T15:49:20Z")
Depends. Did you like it because you thought it was unintentioned cheesy fun, a good thing to laugh at (keeping in mind, it wasn’t laughing itself), a campy film you could have a great time making fun of? If you liked it this way, I’m sure you’re not alone. Or did you actually think it was a genuinely _good_ film? As in, well-written, well-acted, well-directed? If so, yes, it’s probably pretty much you and a bunch of Scientology zombies. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Delta-9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@Delta-9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delta-9)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/8 "2002-10-03T15:58:54Z")
Hey, I enjoyed it too. That makes three. ---
**Author:** ![Tuco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tuco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuco)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/9 "2002-10-03T16:48:23Z")
I’ll be a fourth to like it. It wasn’t too complicated, the action was OK and as a film just to watch rather than take-in and think about, it was fine. I’ve heard alot of people say they didn’t like the scientology undertones - what were they? ---
**Author:** ![MamaHen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@MamaHen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MamaHen)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/10 "2002-10-03T17:09:27Z")
I admit it, I liked it. Of course I would enjoy watching Barry Pepper drool over a cabbage for an hour so maybe I am a bit biased. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/11 "2002-10-03T17:35:21Z")
It was complete and utter crap (and boring crap) from start to finish. A plot totally redefines the word “moronic.” However, I did enjoy it in a MST3K way, and it spawned probably the most entertaining set of reviews in the history of film ([like this one](http://www.jabootu.com/be.htm)). But I wouldn’t see it again if you paid me. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/12 "2002-10-03T18:01:05Z")
Huh. I watched it on TV, vaguely remembering it had been trashed by somebody or other, and found it ok, relatively believeable in a few places, even. I don’t have lots of fond associations of John Travolta being “something else” and not belonging to Dianetics, and that probably helped. It’s on a list of movies that I’d watch again, but not on the list to buy when it’s on sale. In the recent Matrix thread I named 20 science fiction movies better than The Matrix. They’d be all better than Battlefield Earth, too. However, I don’t even plan on watch The Matrix again, even if it were free. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/13 "2002-10-03T19:05:00Z")
One review described this movie as “a cinematic vat of cheese.” What else can be said? I watched this recently with a friend for the express purpose of the MST3K experience. We were not disappointed in that regard. And now they talk about making the other half of the book into a sequel. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/14 "2002-10-03T19:17:32Z")
I and two friends watched it (for free) in the movie theater (we were the only ones there because one of us worked at the theater). Terrible beyond words. I had read about half of the book, so i hd to explain everything as it went along, because the movie refused to. We got in some good zingers, though. Sony’s Big Lizard that is not Godzilla but just bad CGI from Jurassic Park was complete toliet water, the only exception was that the main character was a biologist named Nick, just like me. Gojira would stomp the pale imitator like he did to Bambi. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/15 "2002-10-03T19:31:50Z")
So, your odds of winning the lottery are better than the odds that you liked the movie. So, **Thea, Deadly, Delta,** and **Tuco,** start buying those tickets! ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/16 "2002-10-03T22:51:47Z")
I work with a guy who thought it was very good, even though he admited the plot didn’t make sense. He said he liked the action and special effects as well as the direction and cinematography. Which is strange because most of the reviews I read and people I talked to who saw it singled out the direction and cinematography for their ire. “Headache-inducing” seemed to be a common word used to describe the flick. FTR, the guy is not a $cientologist, just odd. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/17 "2002-10-04T03:11:21Z")
Well, I certianly **enjoyed** it, though I can’t really say I _liked_ it. It was funny, entertaining, and had pretty decent special effects. I have seen worse… \*of course this is comming from a Jackie Chan fan, and everybody should know that he cannot act worth a damn. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/18 "2002-10-04T03:24:45Z")
So, there are five of us who actually liked it, plus a couple more who enjoyed it in an MST3K sort of way. I think that’s enough to start a movement. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/19 "2002-10-04T04:41:45Z")
It was better than **Hudson Hawk** or **Popeye** , and that’s about all I can say in its favor. If Travolta and Johnny had started singing, however, that would’ve guaranteed them last place. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677/20 "2002-10-04T08:04:04Z")
I actually enjoyed it, myself. It was fun. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-on-the-planet-who-liked-battlefield-earth/130677.md?page=2)