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I've never seen the movie, but as a child, Battlefield Earth was one of my favorite novels. I read it maybe ten times before age 20. I think it's a fairly child
by kunwon1 3y ago
I've never seen the movie, but as a child, Battlefield Earth was one of my favorite novels. I read it maybe ten times before age 20. I think it's a fairly childish and simplistic novel, but it is VERY long, and that is what I was looking for as a 13 year old voracious reader in the 90s.
I moved on to LRH's 'Mission Earth' decalogy. It's substantially weirder, with some sexual themes that seemed to my teenage self to be pretty far out of left field. But, again - it was very long. It gave me months of reading about a sci-fi world, which was basically the only thing I was looking for.
- CobrastanJorji 3y agoAlso as a teen, I made it to around the 6th book of 'Mission Earth' before I just couldn't anymore. It was weirdly sexual, fairly bad, but the sense of scale was fun, and there were occasionally interesting sci fi thingies thrown in. 4/10.
- cjohnson318 3y agoI saw the movie early during Covid. I think the aliens are (accidentally) the only realistic part of the film. If human corporations ever make it to a planet with sentient life, I am certain that event would be plagued by sloppiness, self-interest, in-fighting, and exploitation.
- pc86 3y agoIt seems odd to specify corporations when the same would likely happen with any humans.
- JohnFen 3y agoCorporations tend to amplify the worst aspects of human nature.
- Etrnl_President 3y agoAny form of organization that relies on extortion, brings out the worst of humanity.
- stametseater 3y agoGovernments perpetrate more wars and genocides than corporations do. In the 20th century they murdered tens of millions of people.
- JohnFen 3y agoI don't think that's actually true, honestly, but it depends on how you count. For one thing, it's very hard to see where "corporations" end and "government" begins. I mean, yes, wars have killed tens of millions of people. But an awful lot of those wars were on behalf of corporations, involved corporations, or were made much worse by corporations. Just in American history, corporations have directly engaged in straight-up genocides. All wars, in the final analysis, are about economics.
- stametseater 3y agoI grant IBM their fair share of the blame for the Holocaust, but their involvement does not somehow wash the hands of the Nazi Party. The Nazi government of Germany was responsible for tens of millions of murders. Trying to divide the blame such that all of it falls on the premise of corporations and leaves the premise of government pure is absurd. Both of these are dangerous social structures which need to be regulated and checked to keep them within reasonable moral bounds. Unchecked, both are capable of immeasurable evil.
- JohnFen 3y ago> Trying to divide the blame such that all of it falls on the premise of corporations and leaves the premise of government pure is absurd. I agree. And I was doing no such thing.
- pinewurst 3y agoDon't forget Uncle Joe, Mao, and Pol Pot who were hardly corporate. They tortured and starved millions to death without war. (And please don't say it was evil capitalism that drove them to do so.)
- aksss 3y agoYou’re really just saying that when humans get together in organized groups it tends to amplify the worst aspects of human nature. “Corporations” is pointlessly specific and smacks of simplistic rhetoric.
- rep_lodsb 3y agoMission Earth is fascinating in how terrible it is. Parts of it might reach "so bad it's good", but there's just so much boring, repetitive padding that reading it feels like a chore. The sexual stuff also gets worse as the series goes on... Definitely do not buy, but if you have a few days to waste you might want to read this blog: https://missionspork.blogspot.com/p/table-of-contents.html https://missionspork.blogspot.com/p/table-of-contents.html
- FpUser 3y agoI loved both - Battlefield Earth and Mission Earth. Still do. Sure it is not Fahrenheit 451 but I do not care. It provides lots of interesting reading. As for blogs - I've never liked reading about books. I lover reading books instead. I am a bookoholic
- Brendinooo 3y agoI liked the novel as well. Been awhile, but if I recall the movie was only about half the book, and the second half was really interesting because it confronted the idea that "okay you threw off your oppressors, but we still Live In A (Galactic) Society", and it was neat to see the humans wrestle with that.
- at-fates-hands 3y ago>> but if I recall the movie was only about half the book, This was my recollection as well, and I remember he had a sequel planned for the second half of the book but had to shelf it after the first movie bombed so badly along with his reputation. There was a point in one of the articles that mentioned it took Travolta 15 years to get a studio to greenlight the project.
- stubybubs 3y ago"One of the longest novels I've ever read." High praise!
- eep_social 3y agoI just re-read the novel recently after having read it many years ago. It’s pretty good. Keeping in mind that he claims, “this time I decided not to cut everything out and to just roll her as she rolled” [1], I’d say quite good. I never got around to seeing the movie and I am so glad I didn’t after reading all the comments in this thread. [1] https://battlefieldearth.com/introduction/ https://battlefieldearth.com/introduction/
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- animal531 3y agoAs a kid I really enjoyed it, but as an adult I felt that the story wasn't that well constructed. The book was a sort of first in many areas of sci-fi.
- rythmshifter 3y agoMission earth was phenomenal. It’s too bad I can’t get anyone to read Hubbard. They are missing out.