posted 05-12-2000 05:05 PM               

Has anyone seen the film - and can they comment?

posted 05-26-2000 01:32 PM               

I have had my eye on L. Ron Hubbard's Battle Field Earth novel for many years. About 10 years ago, I was just getting into science fiction and fantasy with Terry Brook, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Anne Macaffrey, and others. All these novels were 400-700 page'ers and were a bit of a challenge for me to complete as I was a slow, careful eader. There were several times at which I was tempted to pick up Battlefield Earth and dig in, but it was so intimidating.. over 1000 pages, I didn't think I would be able to stick it out. But the temptation kept coming back - I figured Hubbard for being one of the greatest Sci-fi writers for having put out such an immense, epic novel which was a best-seller. I never did pick it up. Ten years later, I have heard some pretty god-awful things that have made me glad that I did not. Apparently Battlefield Earth was one of those novels which was an over-night "best seller" by the publisher, author, whoever else actually printing tons of copies and buying them themselves. That gets you onto a best-seller list. Worst part is that reportedly, the novel is not so long because it was a genius masterpiece, but because Hubbard was a horrible writer who couldn't put it all down in anything less. I now imagine a tale packed with non-sensible ramblings from one end to the other.