Battlefield Earth is the name of both a science fiction novel written by Scientology founder

L. Ron Hubbard as well as a film adaptation of said novel produced by and starring John Travolta

The book
The novel Battlefield Earth was first published in 1980 by St. Martin's Press, though all subsequent reprintings have been by Scientology publishing companies Bridge Publications and Galaxy Press. This was Hubbard's first science fiction novel since his pulp magazine days of the 1940s, and it was promoted as Hubbard's "return" to science fiction after a long hiatus.

Written in the style of the pulp fiction era (during which Hubbard began his writing career), the novel is a massive work (over 750 pages in hardcover, 1000+ in paperback) telling a fictional story set approximately 1,000 years in our future. Before the story begins, the reader learns, an evil alien race called the "Psychlos" invaded Earth near the end of the 20th century, destroying human civilization in a matter of days and reducing humankind to little more than cave dwellers. A thousand years later, a series of events is put into action that finally gives humanity a chance to rebel against their alien overlords and free Earth from the control of a massive galactic empire.

Reaction to the book from literary critics and science fiction fans has been decidedly mixed since its publication. While generally acknowledged to be one of Hubbard's better books, reviews and comments on it have ranged from being thrilling and action-packed to plodding, overlong, and even unreadable. In particular, accusations have been made that the book includes themes of Scientology.

A large number of booksellers, publishing executives, and former Scientologists state that, as with other Hubbard books, the organization of Scientology engaged in a massive public relations campaign to buy enormous quantities of the book, in order to place it onto best-seller lists and foster the image of Hubbard as a best-selling author. As reported in The San Diego Union, representatives of Hubbard actually promised the publishing house a particular number of copies would be bought by subsidiary organizations of Scientology. Various bookstore chains (including Waldenbooks) have cited examples of Scientologists repeatedly coming into stores and buying armfuls of the book at a time. Several bookstores reported that shipments of the book arrived with the store's own price tags already affixed to them, even before they were unpacked from the shipping boxes.

Example of possibly Scientology-related content

Psychlo, the name of the alien species, may be derived from the word psychiatrist. Within the book the Psychlos or Catrists are described as a group of charlatans of unknown origin who managed to become the elite within their people and thus gave the name to their entire species and the planet. Psychlos or Catrists are described as atheistic, cynical and cruel; those who do not share the views of the Catrists or oppose them are subjected to various forms of persecution. It is stated that a supporting character, a Psychlo mathematician named "Soth", was shaped by the views of his mother who was a member of a resistance group, a so-called "church", which held religious meetings secretly.

The movie

After his success in the movie Pulp Fiction, Hollywood star John Travolta pushed hard to make a movie adaptation of Battlefield Earth a reality. Travolta, a devoted Scientologist and one of the organization's most vocal supporters, described the book in interviews as "like Star Wars, only better." The movie Battlefield Earth based on the novel came out in 2000 and was produced by Franchise Pictures, JTP Films (Travolta's company), and Morgan Creek Productions, and distributed by Warner Bros. in the U.S. It was directed by Roger Christian and starred John Travolta, Barry Pepper, Forest Whitaker, Kim Coates, Richard Tyson, Sabine Karsenti, Michael Byrne. Travolta's wife Kelly Preston also appeared; her role is often incorrectly described as "starring" even though she only appears in one scene.

In this futuristic epic, a greedy alien security chief, played by John Travolta, enslaves human prisoners to mine gold for him. Barry Pepper plays the human (or "man-animal") who decides to liberate his people by fighting the security chief.

The film received nothing but bad reviews, including from The New York Times and acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert. It was also voted on the Internet Movie Database as one of the 100 worst films of all time. The ultimate insult came in 2001, when the movie received seven Razzie Awards, including Worst Movie of the Year and Worst Actor (Travolta), effectively classifying the movie as the worst film made in Hollywood since Showgirls. In 2004, the movie received a Razzie for Worst 'Drama' Of Our First 25 Years. The negative reaction to the movie halted plans to make a sequel.

Released in over 3,300 theaters, Battlefield Earth grossed a total of $29,725,663 worldwide, falling far short of its $73 million production budget and $30 million in estimated marketing costs.