The novel was terrible, at least as art. But it was great fun. I used to think Hubbard was trying to emulate those stories we read in the pulp scifi mags of the

The novel was terrible, at least as art. But it was great fun. I used to think Hubbard was trying to emulate those stories we read in the pulp scifi mags of the 50s and 60s. Now I think that was just his usual style. It _was_ big. And long. The radio advert campaign for it at the time emphasized that. In the end, it really was the summer long scifi marathon in a single book they promised. Travolta's treatment is very faithful to the book, and the FX isn't that bad for the time. The most memorable parts of the story are the humor at the expense of the aliens, and their self-destructive decadence. Kind of a mirror of our own place and time. The movie got those elements exactly right.