John Travolta's Alien Notion
He Plays a Strange Creature In a New Sci-Fi Film, but That's Not the Only
Curious Thing About This Project
By Richard Leiby
Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, November 28, 1999; Page G01
MONTREAL-Something otherworldly is happening inside Hangar 12, something
they're trying to keep secret. But we can tell you this much: John Travolta
is involved, and so are space aliens.
Soldiers have secured the perimeter. "Warning: This establishment is under
permanent surveillance by the military police," a sign says. Absolutely no
trespassing, by order of Canada's minister of national defense.
But through the 10-foot-high chain-link fence topped with triple strands of
barbed wire, you can spy pieces of weird aircraft. They look like menacing
insects. Occasionally a large, hairy creature will amble into view.
It's only a movie, the authorities say. The Canadian military is simply
renting a secure facility to Travolta and his film crew. Here is the
official story:
Inside Hangar 12, they are making an $80 million sci-fi epic called
"Battlefield Earth." Travolta, the co-producer, stars as a nine-foot-tall
alien overlord with glowing amber eyes set in a grotesquely elongated head.
He has hooklike talons for hands. "Planet of the Apes" meets "Star Wars":
Travolta as you've never seen him before.
Okay. But what's the real story? At the end of the millennium, you can't
believe press releases. On the Internet, startling allegations are flying:
about an invasion fleet deployed from the Marcab Confederacy; about
mind-control implant stations set up on Mars; about the parallels between
the top-secret teachings of the Church of Scientology and the novel
"Battlefield Earth" by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
So is "Battlefield Earth" a recruiting film for Scientology?
====
The Washington Post, January 4, 2000, Tuesday, Final Edition
THE RELIABLE SOURCE
Lloyd Grove, With Beth Berselli With Beth Berselli
SCIENTOLOGY'S FUNNY PHOTOS
The Church of Scientology insists that more than 14,000 of its faithful
packed the Los Angeles Sports Arena for a millennial celebration of
Scientology's first 50 years and the "triumph of spirituality over
materialism." To bolster that claim, the church's PR operation posted four
panoramic color photographs of the Dec. 28 event--for use by the news
media--on the Scientology Web site. . .
Church PR operatives also said in a press release that President Clinton
was "among those sending congratulations" on the church's "half-century of
spiritual leadership." That much is true. In a Dec. 22 letter of "warm
greetings," Clinton expressed gratitude to the Scientologists for "all your
efforts to promote [religious freedom] and to build just communities united
in understanding, compassion and mutual respect."
Louis Proyect
(The Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org)
