Battlefield Earth vs Space Truckers

Truly, Space Truckers stands on its own as far as B movies are concerned. Recently I was challenged to watch it, and a comparison was drawn between it and Battlefield Earth. This is a big deal to me, because Battlefield Earth is, in my opinion, The Worst Movie Ever. This is very important, and its not a title so easily achieved.

Why is this important? Or, more to the point, why is it important to know what the worst movie ever is? Because it's your basis for judging all other movies. It's your zero. You point of calibration. If someone asks you to rate something between one and ten your first question is probably, "what's a ten?" Being a glass-half-empty sort of person, my first question is, "what's a one?" or in this case, "what's a zero?"

What is the worst movie ever? I think it's safe to say that if you gave me a video camera and some editing equipment, I could make a movie that was far less tolerable than Battlefield Earth. The point is, that this Worst Movie Ever title is achieved based on a ratio of potential and reality. I have no film-making potential and the reality of my films would in every way live up to that. These people, however, had lots of money (the production budget was $73 million), they had first-rate special effects, they had A-List actors (John Travola, Forest Whitaker), and by all accounts, the cinematography itself was entirely acceptable. And yet they produced unquantifiable crap.

Going back to our comparison with Space Truckers. It was an Indie film with (most likely) a non-existent budget, no-name actors (I'm using myself as the standard for what qualifies as "known"), a mostly unknown director (Stuart Gordon - who also served as the story writer and screenplay writer) and pretty much nothing else going for it. Again, a solid B movie. And its not unwatchable. But perhaps only watchable once.

You need to see Battlefield Earth to understand.