Agreed. Check out Operation Clambake for anyone who doubts this.
(Why is it called Clambake? Trust me...once you see it, you'll
).
L. Ron Hubbard sci fi
- Thread starter timothy
- Start date
Agreed. Check out Operation Clambake for anyone who doubts this.
(Why is it called Clambake? Trust me...once you see it, you'll
).
It's not a good movie by any means, but it's pretty harsh to call it "the worst Science Fiction movie ever conceived of and committed to celluloid." Even among sf movies of an equal or greater budget, some of the competition is truly awful. Throw in the nearly infinite supply of no-budget sf movies in there and there's simply no way that the film could be rated "the worst" in the category.
Heck, I'm not even sure it's the worst movie John Travolta ever made. He starred in Stayin' Alive, after all.
I would place it on a par with an average Asylum film, although it has to be said that at least those films have the excuse of next to no budget.
In this instance Hubbards "religion" is just as much science-fiction as anything else he wrote.
@Harvey. I agree. Battlefield Earth is at least sort of campy and therefore enjoyable in that respect – plus Travolta appears to be having the time of his life, which doesn't hurt. Even though it's well on its way to winning the io9 Worst SciFi Movie Ever competition, that's got to be due as much to name recognition and the Scientology associations than anything else.
Thinking about it for all of two seconds, Chronicles of Riddick, Knowing, and The Happening all come to mind as worse recent high-budget SF films (or at least as films that I hated sitting through more than I hated BE.)
Thinking about it for all of two seconds, Chronicles of Riddick, Knowing, and The Happening all come to mind as worse recent high-budget SF films (or at least as films that I hated sitting through more than I hated BE.)
Knowing was terrible, as was The Happening. Both of those films failed to succeed on any basic level (which makes Roger Ebert's favorable reviews for each even more bewildering).
Mind you, it's been years since I've seen Battlefield: Earth, but I don't remember it being as awful as either of those movies.
Mind you, it's been years since I've seen Battlefield: Earth, but I don't remember it being as awful as either of those movies.
It's not. The Happening and Knowing both suffer from a po-faced seriousness about their respective ridiculous premises that renders them excruciating. BE has some jokes and few moments of intentional levity that work, which makes it somewhat more in-tune with how absurd it all is. Not saying that it isn't bad, but if you know what you're getting into, it can be a fun movie to kick back and laugh at.
Really, I think that's the ultimate definition of a bad film: a movie that's not entertaining on any level, even unintentional ones. (Which is something that often goes hand-in-hand with humorlessness and a lack of self-awareness.) The fact that I can enjoy BE at all automatically removes it from "worst movie ever" contention.
A
Amaris
Guest
Eh, I rather enjoyed Knowing. I have yet to see The Happening.
You die now.
I had a roommate a few years ago who watched Knowing with some friends and came home raving about how good it was (his observation at the time was that it tried to be three or four different movies in one and actually pulled it off, which therefore made it thought-provoking). I checked it out specifically because of his recommendation.
You'd better believe I wanted to hurt him after I was done.
A
Amaris
Guest
Feh. I'm immortal probably.
I had a roommate a few years ago who watched Knowing with some friends and came home raving about how good it was (his observation at the time was that it tried to be three or four different movies in one and actually pulled it off, which therefore made it thought-provoking). I checked it out specifically because of his recommendation.
You'd better believe I wanted to hurt him after I was done.
It's certainly not everyone's cup of tea, and I don't see it as anything intellectual, really, but I like the concept of the movie, and there are parts that work really well.
Okay I'm watching this trailer and just before the end (about 1:40 for me) a human with long hair stands up and says something defiantly.. I've listened to it a few times now and all I hear is:
"Let it be said, we took this one chance.. and FART!"
It's probably "fought" but I like your version better. Might explain why the movie is such a stinker.
I read Fear which was OK, but far from great. A friend kept insisting that I read Battlefield Earth so I did, but it took a monumental effort for me to finish it because the book was so terrible. Out of curiosity I read Dianetics and some of his other Scientology related materials. Scientology is not religion; it is some of the worst science fiction ever imagined.
So, no one knows if Fear started the trope?
As to Knowing and The Happening, haven't seen The Happening but Knowing is essentially Signs with what was supposed to be a bittersweet ending, tragic redemption for Cage and a happy ending for the kids. Except the happy ending was incredibly creepy and the tragic redemption wasn't.
As for Scientology as SF, the competition from The Book of Mormon is overwhelming. American Literature studies that omit Joseph Smith's works are fundamentally misconceived, I think. I suppose that pretty much condemns all college literature classes on 19th century US.
As to Knowing and The Happening, haven't seen The Happening but Knowing is essentially Signs with what was supposed to be a bittersweet ending, tragic redemption for Cage and a happy ending for the kids. Except the happy ending was incredibly creepy and the tragic redemption wasn't.
As for Scientology as SF, the competition from The Book of Mormon is overwhelming. American Literature studies that omit Joseph Smith's works are fundamentally misconceived, I think. I suppose that pretty much condemns all college literature classes on 19th century US.
They're not. We're just brining them up as points of comparison.