# I saw 'Battlefield Earth' tonight **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 6, 2001, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-battlefield-earth-tonight/56913 "2001-03-06T07:36:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2001, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-battlefield-earth-tonight/56913/1 "2001-03-06T07:36:06Z")
It wasn’t THAT bad. If it was an unhyped DTV movie I might have even been a little impressed. YES, the director apparently has a hard-on for shattering glass, flying dirt, slow motion, and weird camera angles. The plot is pretty damn dumb, but the acting wasn’t too painful, and it was a lot of fun. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2001, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-battlefield-earth-tonight/56913/2 "2001-03-06T07:41:04Z")
I liked it, too. The SO keeps reminding me how not like the book it is, but I haven’t read the book in YEARS and have forgotten a lot. This seems to be the key. Didn’t read/can’t remember the book and enjoy the movie ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2001, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-battlefield-earth-tonight/56913/3 "2001-03-06T07:50:24Z")
Actually, I thought they did a pretty good job of following the book, compared to most book to movie adaptations. The movie was not particularly long, but the portion of the book that the movie covered was over 500 pages, and they got most of the important plot points covered, though a number of details were changed (it’s been a while but I don’t recall the humans using jets). The Psychlos in the book were described as purple furred 11-foot tall apelike creatures with bone plates over their face, not chubby Klingons. But overall, they did a decent job. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2001, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-battlefield-earth-tonight/56913/4 "2001-03-06T07:53:54Z")
Yeah, the jets were one of the things he was going on about. Oh, and Ft. Knox still being stocked. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2001, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-battlefield-earth-tonight/56913/5 "2001-03-06T07:55:42Z")
> [@](#): > > I saw ‘Battlefield Earth’ tonight I’m so, so sorry… ---
**Author:** ![Vince\_the\_Intangible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ba8739/32.png) [@Vince\_the\_Intangible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vince_the_Intangible)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2001, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-battlefield-earth-tonight/56913/6 "2001-03-06T08:06:22Z")
I dunno, I thought it was better than most documentaries. ---
**Author:** ![Rue\_DeDay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/41988e/32.png) [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2001, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-battlefield-earth-tonight/56913/7 "2001-03-06T12:38:53Z")
I read the book because of all the hype when the movie came out. “They made a movie out of this steaming pile of offal?” kept running though my head for the first 525 pages. Then the numbness set in and I finished the last half on auto-pilot. I’ve really got to learn to put bad things down and walk away. So? The movie was good? ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2001, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-battlefield-earth-tonight/56913/8 "2001-03-06T12:44:38Z")
No, it wasn’t good. It’s just that it was nowhere near as bad as I expected it to be - people were talking like it was the worst movie of 2000, mentioning it in the same sentence as ‘Plan 9 From Outer Space’…it wasn’t THAT bad. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2001, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-battlefield-earth-tonight/56913/9 "2001-03-06T15:21:47Z")
I have so far refused to see the movie on principle. I have no desire to give any support whatsover (even if its 1 cent) to that wingnut Hubbard. …that and the fact most comments that I have heard say it sucks hard. ---
**Author:** ![Jeannie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@Jeannie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeannie)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2001, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-battlefield-earth-tonight/56913/10 "2001-03-07T00:42:53Z")
I thought it was horrible, and I loved it! It is one of my all-time favorite bad movies! I laughed through the whole movie when I saw it in the theater, and Mr. Jeannie loved it as well. In fact, we just rented the DVD a couple of weeks ago. On second viewing, it’s even funnier. We own the Turl action figure as well (when company comes over, Mr. Jeannie makes Turl scream at them: “You wouldn’t last one day at the Academy!”). My birthday is coming in less than a week, and I’m hoping I get the DVD as a gift.