What's new

Is John Travolta No Longer in Good Standing with COS???

JustSheila

Crusader
I've just been reading the deluge of cult reviews on Amazon about Battlefield Earth as well as writing my own reviews. Five stars from all the culties, you know, all over a few days. :eyeroll: Quite a few comments look identical, even more look like they never read the book.

That aside, I was shocked to see dozens of comments by scientologists blaming John Travolta for the Battlefield Earth movie turning out to be such a bomb! Seriously? He was at the height of his career at the time and probably the only reason anyone ever bought a single ticket to it.

It looks like he's been fair-gamed.

Anyone know more about this? Comments, thoughts?
 
I just think it's armchair directors & film critics yapping. Travolta did a lot of good films after that one. So what? He had a dud. Who hasn't? It's just a popular meme - John F'ed Battlefield Earth. Was the book all that hot that it could be used for a film anyway? Did it have flaws in it's story that didn't translate well to film? How much was it considered a sacred tome, that couldn't be rewritten? That would be the kiss of death right there.

As I recall there wasn't any character arc whatsoever. They were all cardboard figures spouting corny dialogue.

I think, Travolta was the scape goat - he should have never touched it. Really, could anyone make a good film out of it as written? A lot of that book was pulp and horribly out of date. Real corny stuff.

Mimsey

Part of Roger Ebert's review

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/battlefield-earth-2000

"Battlefield Earth" was written in 1980 by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. The film contains no evidence of Scientology or any other system of thought; it is shapeless and senseless, without a compelling plot or characters we care for in the slightest. The director, Roger Christian, has learned from better films that directors sometimes tilt their cameras, but he has not learned why.

Some movies run off the rails. This one is like the train crash in "The Fugitive." 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. There is a moment here when the Psychlos' entire planet (home office and all) is blown to smithereens, without the slightest impact on any member of the audience (or, for that matter, the cast). If the film had been destroyed in a similar cataclysm, there might have been a standing ovation.
 
Last edited:

JustSheila

Crusader
There were so many things wrong with the story, so many things wrong with the dialogue, the characters, the cheap backgrounds and poor special effects... where do you start?

Yeh, he's been made a scapegoat. But John Travolta is a major celebrity name in Scientology. Nobody would say a word against Tom Cruise, since he's DM's boy. So how is it that all of a sudden it's okay for scientologists to trash John Travolta?

Something's up. :hmm:
 
There were so many things wrong with the story, so many things wrong with the dialogue, the characters, the cheap backgrounds and poor special effects... where do you start?

Yeh, he's been made a scapegoat. But John Travolta is a major celebrity name in Scientology. Nobody would say a word against Tom Cruise, since he's DM's boy. So how is it that all of a sudden it's okay for scientologists to trash John Travolta?

Something's up. :hmm:
Maybe. Maybe they are distancing the book from the movie and they need a dog to kick. Sounds like something Miscavage would think up.

Of course, it will backfire because they are drawing attention to the movie, which reminds people it ever existed.

Mimsey
 

HelluvaHoax!

Platinum Meritorious Sponsor with bells on
...

UPDATE ON JOHN TRAVOLTA'S STATUS: Everything is okay now. He's being standardly handled by Tom Cruise who is slamming his ethics in.



tom_cruise_going_clear.jpg


"So whattdya say,
should we clean this place up?"







29aa1e24-a309-4989-bd5f-d2cd43c6a8dc_zpsv9a3shvt.png


"Yessir! I'm on already on it, sir!"
 
Last edited:

Udarnik

Gold Meritorious Patron
I just think it's armchair directors & film critics yapping. Travolta did a lot of good films after that one. So what? He had a dud. Who hasn't? It's just a popular meme - John F'ed Battlefield Earth. Was the book all that hot that it could be used for a film anyway? Did it have flaws in it's story that didn't translate well to film? How much was it considered a sacred tome, that couldn't be rewritten? That would be the kiss of death right there.

As I recall there wasn't any character arc whatsoever. They were all cardboard figures spouting corny dialogue.

I think, Travolta was the scape goat - he should have never touched it. Really, could anyone make a good film out of it as written? A lot of that book was pulp and horribly out of date. Real corny stuff.

Mimsey

Part of Roger Ebert's review

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/battlefield-earth-2000

Ebert's review was excellent and quite typically cerebral, and his opening line was classic:

Battlefield Earth is like 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.

But my favorite pithy review was from Jon Stewart on the Daily Show: "A cross between Star Wars and the smell of ass". It's just wonderful publicity for the Co$ to revive the memory of this film in any way.
 

HelluvaHoax!

Platinum Meritorious Sponsor with bells on
...
Ebert's review was excellent and quite typically cerebral, and his opening line was classic:

Battlefield Earth is like 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.

But my favorite pithy review was from Jon Stewart on the Daily Show: "A cross between Star Wars and the smell of ass". It's just wonderful publicity for the Co$ to revive the memory of this film in any way.


No matter how many times I have read that Stewart one-liner, I always laugh.

The question that looms in my mind is this--what magnitude of Orwellian, self-deluded "Big Lie" would the cult have to be operating under that they would intentionally remind the public of the Battlefield Earth megabomb, one of the greatest PR disasters in 20th century cinema?

And those Amazon reviews! Scn celebrity Jim Meskiman calls the book a "masterwork". Jim, at long last have you no sense of decency? LOL


[video=youtube;fqQD4dzVkwk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqQD4dzVkwk[/video]​


Jim--I know you are an OT and an authority on study tech. But that word "masterwork". For God's sake, man, MORE CLAY!!!
 

strativarius

Inveterate gnashnab & snoutband
I went to the amazon site to check out the phony 'reviews', and this is the first review I came across.

Enjoy.

"In the 30th Century, when Battlefield Earth is uncovered in a mass grave for bad films by revisionist cineastes, it is more than likely that it will still be the worst science fiction film ever made. John Travolta's $73m pet sci-fi project--an adaptation of Scientology guru L Ron Hubbard's rambling pulp novel --is like the long lost sequel to Ed Wood's Plan Nine from Outer Space. Incompetent, incomprehensible and, at nearly two hours running time, way over long, Battlefield Earth is nothing more than a rehash of hackneyed post-Star Wars sci-fi clichés. It has the production values of Buck Rogers in the 21st Century and a sprawling plot that merges Planet of the Apes and the TV mini-series V."
 

Enthetan

Master of Disaster
Science Fiction, fantasy, and horror movies depend on the concept of "suspension of disbelief". The audience has to accept the premise of the movie (aliens exist, dragons and monsters show up, etc), and just go with it. This works as long as the writer doesn't abuse his audience's sensibilities.

Things like non-technological primitives finding a hanger full of thousand-year-old Harrier jets, and the things are still in flyable condition, and a bunch of cavemen can quickly learn to be jet pilots by reading some thousand year old manuals (cavemen can read? read a language a thousand years old? ) and flight simulators, just takes the concept of "suspension of disbelief" and whacks it over the head with an ax a bunch of times.

[video=youtube;4aIsymzDRb8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aIsymzDRb8[/video]

My guess is that "LRH film expert" David Miscavige did a LOT of behind-the-scenes controlling of the film, deciding that HE knew how to make a great movie, and he would SHOW those guys in Hollywood how great the LRH Way of making movies was.
 
Last edited:

oneonewasaracecar

Gold Meritorious Patron
Science Fiction, fantasy, and horror movies depend on the concept of "suspension of disbelief". The audience has to accept the premise of the movie (aliens exist, dragons and monsters show up, etc), and just go with it. This works as long as the writer doesn't abuse his audience's sensibilities.

Things like non-technological primitives finding a hanger full of thousand-year-old Harrier jets, and the things are still in flyable condition, and a bunch of cavemen can quickly learn to be jet pilots by reading some thousand year old manuals (cavemen can read? read a language a thousand years old? ) and flight simulators, just takes the concept of "suspension of disbelief" and whacks it over the head with an ax a bunch of times.

And they don't seem to realize that the public watches this and thinks, how can anyone not notice that this is just bad science fiction? Oh wait.

[video=youtube;4aIsymzDRb8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aIsymzDRb8[/video]

My guess is that "LRH film expert" David Miscavige did a LOT of behind-the-scenes controlling of the film, deciding that HE knew how to make a great movie, and he would SHOW those guys in Hollywood how great the LRH Way of making movies was.

Well he did work directly one set with one of the greatest screenwriters, film makers and photographers in the gah-LAX-y.
 

BunnySkull

Silver Meritorious Patron
It would be odd for public scientologists to shit talk JT. Talking ill of scientology celebrities, or anything they do, is a big no no. I wonder if the reviews saying such things are coming from the OSA shills writing reviews, because I have a hard time thinking a typical public would dare to do such a thing. The typical public who is dutifully writing a review on command is the same type who dutifully saw BFE five times in the theaters because they were commanded to and then raved about how great it was. Coming up with anything negative that's associated with Scientology or it's celebrities is a though crime and will cost them dearly.

So I would have to think the negative JT stuff is coming from on high - and being written by SO. It's long been rumored that DM hates JT and makes gay jokes about him. After BFE I think DM's hate went up 100 times because he wanted to blame JT for the movie being a bomb, instead of the obvious culprits: a book that nothing good could ever come from and DM's own non-stop meddling and input. The fact is DM created that godawful film and he will blame anyone but himself for the disaster. (I still love stories about how DM raved about the movie the night he saw it, and how quickly he back tracked praise when the entire world laughed at it.)

I don't think JT has ever been in DM's good graces, but I think DM hated him even more after BFE because he was a reminder of DM's own failure. I'd almost bet that the "throw JT and the film" under the bus is a direct order based on DM's rantings when the program was discussed. I can't really imagine it any other way. Public scientologists aren't brave enough to publicly post any entheta about JT or that movie, esp when they know the cult is closely reading every word posted on those reviews.

I do find it really odd that the tackled this stinker book for a re-release. The mockery and horrible stench of the movie will always being attached to the title, so why did that shit up and pour millions into rereleasing the book? I can only think it's one of the very few novels DM has ever read so he thinks its top shelf? Probably a bunch of crap written by Hubbard demanding his awful book be promoted endlessly every 10 years or so to create tidal waves of new members. LOL.

Hubbard wrote a fuckton of awful books, so why pick this one for re-release given that it's a major lolcow of the internet? Could it be that none of Hubbard's books have stood the test of time and Battlefield Earth is the best one they have to reach modern audiences? It was written in 1980, but Hubbard's cringe inducing, cheesy prose is still firmly stuck in the worst pulp writing of the 1930's aimed firmly at adolescent boys.
 

WildKat

Gold Meritorious Patron
It would be odd for public scientologists to shit talk JT. Talking ill of scientology celebrities, or anything they do, is a big no no. I wonder if the reviews saying such things are coming from the OSA shills writing reviews, because I have a hard time thinking a typical public would dare to do such a thing. The typical public who is dutifully writing a review on command is the same type who dutifully saw BFE five times in the theaters because they were commanded to and then raved about how great it was. Coming up with anything negative that's associated with Scientology or it's celebrities is a though crime and will cost them dearly.

So I would have to think the negative JT stuff is coming from on high - and being written by SO. It's long been rumored that DM hates JT and makes gay jokes about him. After BFE I think DM's hate went up 100 times because he wanted to blame JT for the movie being a bomb, instead of the obvious culprits: a book that nothing good could ever come from and DM's own non-stop meddling and input. The fact is DM created that godawful film and he will blame anyone but himself for the disaster. (I still love stories about how DM raved about the movie the night he saw it, and how quickly he back tracked praise when the entire world laughed at it.)

I don't think JT has ever been in DM's good graces, but I think DM hated him even more after BFE because he was a reminder of DM's own failure. I'd almost bet that the "throw JT and the film" under the bus is a direct order based on DM's rantings when the program was discussed. I can't really imagine it any other way. Public scientologists aren't brave enough to publicly post any entheta about JT or that movie, esp when they know the cult is closely reading every word posted on those reviews.

I do find it really odd that the tackled this stinker book for a re-release. The mockery and horrible stench of the movie will always being attached to the title, so why did that shit up and pour millions into rereleasing the book? I can only think it's one of the very few novels DM has ever read so he thinks its top shelf? Probably a bunch of crap written by Hubbard demanding his awful book be promoted endlessly every 10 years or so to create tidal waves of new members. LOL.

Hubbard wrote a fuckton of awful books, so why pick this one for re-release given that it's a major lolcow of the internet? Could it be that none of Hubbard's books have stood the test of time and Battlefield Earth is the best one they have to reach modern audiences? It was written in 1980, but Hubbard's cringe inducing, cheesy prose is still firmly stuck in the worst pulp writing of the 1930's aimed firmly at adolescent boys.

Agree with everything above. This trashing of JT comes straight from the self-hating gay shrimp himself. Hopefully this will lead to JT growing a pair and leaving the cult. Hey, I can dream, can't I?
 

JustSheila

Crusader
It seems there is a story behind this after all:

According to a new report in The National ENQUIRER, Marty Rathbun – the one-time former No. 2 of the religion and Cruise’s personal auditor, has claimed that Cruise blasted Travolta over the failure of his Scientology film Battlefield Earth — even allegedly calling him a “son of a bitch!”
In a newly released video, Rathbun said the Scientology spat began right after Battlefield Earth opened in May 2000 to universally bad reviews – and Cruise came to the Scientology headquarters in Clearwater, Florida.

http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2...s-reveal-claims-fight-over-battlefield-earth/
 

WildKat

Gold Meritorious Patron

It's last year's story but it's germane to JT-bashing this year. DM micromanaged the BE movie, then when the bad reviews rolled in, he blamed JT. As well as his general bashing of JT for being gay. He'll probably blame JT for any negative reviews that come from this re-release of the book.

If good PR for the church happens, DM will take credit. If it's bad PR, it's JTs fault for being gay.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. If JT bashing is being promoted among the general membership, could his defection be far behind? That would be good news.
 

Gizmo

Rabble Rouser
It's always been the nature of the beast to kill anyone who takes attention away from the top man.

No tolerance for taking the limelight !

Sooner - or later - everyone who gathered any attention that the top man felt he deserved ?

They always get thrown way up under the bus - it's just a matter of time.

Has JT's time come ? Probably.

Who's next ?

The cult chews 'em up whole & spits 'em out in pieces.

Ah, so it goes in the cult. Next victim please !

<><><><>

BFE was just way too bad to comment on.

Only a psycho would drag that mess of a stinking steaming pile out of the dark to once again show how bad that bad can get !

And drag it out little dm did. INSANE !
 

Lulu Belle

Moonbat
I've just been reading the deluge of cult reviews on Amazon about Battlefield Earth as well as writing my own reviews. Five stars from all the culties, you know, all over a few days. :eyeroll: Quite a few comments look identical, even more look like they never read the book.

That aside, I was shocked to see dozens of comments by scientologists blaming John Travolta for the Battlefield Earth movie turning out to be such a bomb! Seriously? He was at the height of his career at the time and probably the only reason anyone ever bought a single ticket to it.


Can you link to these comments? I don't see them in the reviews I'm reading.
 

JustSheila

Crusader
Can you link to these comments? I don't see them in the reviews I'm reading.

I only have my phone now, maybe later in week. I wish I had marked them at the time; there are some 1500 comments on 4 sites that I went thru, lol, I was on a mission, I don't like scn abusing and manipulating the personal review system just to make money, on such an terribly written, boring book, too. So maybe wasn't Amazon, it was late and I didn't notice at first, but they were longer 5 star reviews, some of the earlier ones from days ago when the order came down for scns to write reviews. Could have been good reads or Barnes & Noble reviews. I'll find the specific ones when I'm back on my computer in a few days.
 

Lulu Belle

Moonbat
I only have my phone now, maybe later in week. I wish I had marked them at the time; there are some 1500 comments on 4 sites that I went thru, lol, I was on a mission, I don't like scn abusing and manipulating the personal review system just to make money, on such an terribly written, boring book, too. So maybe wasn't Amazon, it was late and I didn't notice at first, but they were longer 5 star reviews, some of the earlier ones from days ago when the order came down for scns to write reviews. Could have been good reads or Barnes & Noble reviews. I'll find the specific ones when I'm back on my computer in a few days.

It may have been Amazon. There's more than one listing for BE; I just looked at the early one.
 
Top