Battlefield Earth (feat. Daniel Mann, Programmer Nerd) : Episode 16
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Battlefield Earth
What: Barry Pepper struggles to lead humanity against an oppressive alien occupation, lead by John Travolta.
Directed by: Roger Christian
Starring: Barry Pepper, John Travolta, Forrest Whitaker
With guest co-host:
Daniel Mann
Recommended and Related Media
Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard
Classic pulpy scifi novel on which the film is based.
Read it with your eyes iTunes | Amazon
Read it with your ears iTunes | Amazon
Life After People
History Channel special showing what the world might look like after people.
Get the thing iTunes | Amazon
Looking beyond the Cover and baggage of Battlefield Earth by Jason Heller
A good article where the author takes a look, steeped in nostalgia but without the Scientology baggage, at the book that L. Ron Hubbard most wanted to make into a film.
Read it on AV Club
The Fermi Paradox by Tim Urban
Dan recommends this In-depth review of the Fermi paradox. Probably much better than ours and by smarter people.
Read it on Wait, But Why?
Show Notes
50s Pulp Stories
The pulp school L. Ron Hubbard came from. The book should not stand out much against this background. Except it came out in the 80s!
The Film
DUTCH TILTS. The book Hubbard most wanted made into a movie. Travolta stood behind it as a love letter to Scientology. Reportedly, interference from Scientology higher-ups destroyed the whole thing, and then they threw John Travolta under the bus.
Earth After 1000 Years
Nature would take over. Paper would waste away. People would… start to act like chimps? Chernobyl. The Koream DMZ.
The Fermi Paradox
Read about the paradox on Wikipedia. The Psychlos as the great filter. They’re Made Out of Meat on The Truth Podcast.
Judging Alien Intelligence
Psychlos underestimating humans. Tool use and language.
Alien Design
In the book, they were feline! Douchey Klingons. Breathable atmosphere. High and low gravity. Cats are jerks.
Intergalactic Civilization
Why gold? Why slaves? Corporate space exploitation.
Goodbyes
Piece of cake!
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