WOW... I just went to the website...

[Sharktopus]

I haven't read Battlefield Earth, but I'm fairly certain it won't turn you into a Scientologist, just as The Chronicles Of Narnia won't turn you into a Christian.

To be fair, Jesus didn't write the Chronicles of Narnia.

If I recall correctly, Jesus also did not write The Bible.

[BathTub]

But jesus is god, and god wrote the bible.

[Sharktopus]

But jesus is god, and god wrote the bible.

And we all know you can't trust autobiographies. I'm holding out for David Freedman or Doris Kearns Goodwin to write the definitive biography on God.

[Just Some Guy]

While you are waiting there is Kitty Kelly's tell-all unauthorized biography of Mary: Virgin Sex-Slave to the Godhead.

[RandyMistie]

Well, I read the book and I couldn't get through it.  I found it very put-downable.  The problem was it was very, very 50's sci-fi in the 80's so it just seemed really dated.  By then I was reading the more forward thinking classic sci-fi writers, the guys that even in the 50's were writing stuff that still stands the test of time.

Hubbard seemed stuck in, like, "Flash Gordon" mode, or something.  But there was a fair amount of action, I guess, once Goodboy got out of his cage, (which took a really, really long time in the book....)

[Sharktopus]

While you are waiting there is Kitty Kelly's tell-all unauthorized biography of Mary: Virgin Sex-Slave to the Godhead.

Yeah, that's next on my list once I finish David McCulloch's Odin. A fun read, but he focuses almost entirely on his relationships with Frigga, Thor, and Loki, and leaves out the day-to-day ruling of Asgard.

[6079SmithW]

Well, I read the book and I couldn't get through it.  I found it very put-downable.  The problem was it was very, very 50's sci-fi in the 80's so it just seemed really dated.  By then I was reading the more forward thinking classic sci-fi writers, the guys that even in the 50's were writing stuff that still stands the test of time.

Hubbard seemed stuck in, like, "Flash Gordon" mode, or something.  But there was a fair amount of action, I guess, once Goodboy got out of his cage, (which took a really, really long time in the book....)

Alfred Bester was busy deconstructing a lot of moronic sci-fi cliches in his short stories and writing The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man in the 50's, so people don't get a pass from me for writing crap just because it fits that style. Crap was still crap, it's just that few people knew sci-fi could be any good at the time.

I am 100% positive Hubbard is the least talented world famous author of all time, and I'm including Dan Brown in that.

[RandyMistie]

Well, I read the book and I couldn't get through it.  I found it very put-downable.  The problem was it was very, very 50's sci-fi in the 80's so it just seemed really dated.  By then I was reading the more forward thinking classic sci-fi writers, the guys that even in the 50's were writing stuff that still stands the test of time.

Hubbard seemed stuck in, like, "Flash Gordon" mode, or something.  But there was a fair amount of action, I guess, once Goodboy got out of his cage, (which took a really, really long time in the book....)

Alfred Bester was busy deconstructing a lot of moronic sci-fi cliches in his short stories and writing The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man in the 50's, so people don't get a pass from me for writing crap just because it fits that style. Crap was still crap, it's just that few people knew sci-fi could be any good at the time.

I am 100% positive Hubbard is the least talented world famous author of all time, and I'm including Dan Brown in that.

Agreed all around.

[Hobbit]

Well, I actually have read all of Battlefield Earth, and while it's not perfect, it still makes the movie look even worse, in a sort of Jurassic Park 2 sort of way (you mean they started with this gem and ended up with THAT?  WTF?!)  The book is cheesy at times, and has a fairly implausable race of alien overlords, but it doesn't stray too far off the plausibility limb.  One of the first things they changed between the movie and the book is that, in the book, Johnny is the first human the Psychlos at the base have ever seen, which made the idea that one would try to teach him things more plausible.  There's also a LOT fewer humans.  Once Johnny gets out of his cage, he doesn't find any humans other than his village until he reaches Scotland (and everybody knows a bunch of rowdy highlanders makes ANYTHING better).  There's other differences that make it better, but the largest is that the movie ends about halfway through the book, and even given that, the climax used for the ending of the movie is far less tense and action-packed than it was as a halfway mark climax in the book.

Oh, and their air power in the book isn't thousand year old Harriers that still work.  It's Psychlo planes.

[mrbasehart]

So how does the book go on from the ending of the movie?

[gbeenie]

But jesus is god, and god wrote the bible.

And we all know you can't trust autobiographies. I'm holding out for David Freedman or Doris Kearns Goodwin to write the definitive biography on God.

HA!   

[Hobbit]

So how does the book go on from the ending of the movie?

Well, it's been a while, so I don't remember a lot of specifics, but I remember that there are a lot more alien species out there than Psychlos.  Some of them are good.  Some of them are not, though I do remember something about an alien showing the humans a video they intecepted showing the destruction of Psychlo.  It actually took a few dozen nuclear blasts to get through the force shield around the teleportation pad.

[bluefalcon74]

I'm not sure how closely the movie follows the book, but even the thought that a fighter jet could sit in a hangar for 1000 years, and be instantly flight-worthy is a bit ludicrous.

[Hobbit]

I'm not sure how closely the movie follows the book, but even the thought that a fighter jet could sit in a hangar for 1000 years, and be instantly flight-worthy is a bit ludicrous.

Like I said, they used psychlo aircraft in the book, not jets.  The only old technology they could find that still worked was sealed in an airtight bunker deep underground (can't remember how they got it open) and was packed in such a way as to prevent wear indefinitely, and that was the nukes.  The other stuff they found were a bunch of unused tommy guns with depleted uranium rounds, and the guns still had the packing grease on them.  I, being a colossal nerd (see, I even know how to use the word colossal), immediately noticed that with the half-life of uranium, the effectiveness of the bullets might be a bit on the low side, but it didn't stand out as ridiculously implausible.

[gbeenie]

I'm not sure how closely the movie follows the book, but even the thought that a fighter jet could sit in a hangar for 1000 years, and be instantly flight-worthy is a bit ludicrous.

Like I said, they used psychlo aircraft in the book, not jets.  The only old technology they could find that still worked was sealed in an airtight bunker deep underground (can't remember how they got it open)

Because it was AIRtight, not MORONtight.