History Headscratchers / BattlefieldEarth

*** The Podcast/{{Rifftrax}} of the movie bring this up.
--->'''Mike:''' Wait, so these guys are too stupid to wipe themselves, and yet they run a smelting operation? \\
'''Bill:''' They don't run it well.

* Website/SFDebris gave a rather convincing theory about the film. About midway through the film, Johnny loses his breathing tube while inside the Psychlo dome. It's likely that everything afterwards is actually a DyingDream as the last trickles of oxygen reach his brain, effectively eliminating all the stupidity and plot holes in the second half.
** That does nothing to explain the stupidity and plot holes of the first half, however.

** For all the film's many issues (and there are ''several''), this one at least does make sense. The Psychlos would have been unable to work with the material necessary to build a nuclear bomb for long enough or in large enough quantities to gain more than a very basic understanding of how it functions. It's more than a little ridiculous that their atmosphere has such an extreme reaction to radiation, but accepting that it ''does'' means that research into radioactive materials would have to be conducted at the trace scale, so it's doubtful that they would have ever recognized the utility of nuclear reactions for any kind of practical purpose. The idea of bombing their planet also makes sense in context, despite the risks if it doesn't play out as planned. It's theoretically sound, after all, and is pretty much the only viable option. If it works, which they have reason to believe will be the case, then humanity will be free and the Psychlos will be unable to mount an effective response. If it doesn't work (for whatever reason), then they'll all be killed. They're already enslaved and well on their way to dying out as a species anyway, though. There's really no good reason not to make an attempt.
* More of a meta-question; why does every single person who reviews this movie, be it [[WebVideo/NostalgiaCritic Doug Walker]], [[WebVideo/CinematicExcrement Sean Moore]], or [[https://m.youtube.com/@DarkCornersReviews?itct=CHoQ6p4EGAIiEwjcotaHp7X7AhVk94IKHU8zCIs%3D&rootVe=3611&endpoint=%7B Robin Bailes]], assume that the Psychlos were dumber than a bag of hammers from minute one of the invasion? Wouldn't a more logical conclusion be that the Psychlos used to be highly intelligent but over the past ''millenium'' slowly got dumb, lazy, and careless?

* A big one is how in the hell have they never come across nuclear weapons or atomic type research in general when they’re basically BloodKnights from outer space? Ok it’s somewhat explained that their whole planet is made of a gas that violently reacts with radiation but this leads to another problem: that being the incredible stroke of luck that the one nuke the humans were able to get through basically wiped out an entire planet. What if the atmosphere didn’t react to radiation in the same way and instead the nuke only bombed the capital city or some podunk Psychlo settlement?

** For all the film's many issues (and there are ''several''), this one at least does make sense. The Psychlos would have been unable to work with the material necessary to build a nuclear bomb for long enough or in large enough quantities to gain more than a very basic understanding of how it functions. It's more than a little ridiculous that their atmosphere has such an extreme reaction to radiation, but accepting that it ''does'' means that research into radioactive materials would have to be conducted at the trace scale, so it's doubtful that they would have ever recognized the utility of nuclear reactions for any kind of practical purpose The idea of bombing their planet also makes sense despite the risks if it doesn't play out as planned, because it's theoretically sound and is pretty much the only viable option. If it works, which they have reason to believe will be the case, then humanity will be free and the Psychlos will be unable to mount an effective response. If it doesn't work for whatever reason, then they'll all be killed, but they're already enslaved and well on their way to dying out as a species. There's really no good reason not to make an attempt.

** For all the film's many issues (and there are ''several''), this one at least does make sense. The Psychlos would have been unable to work with the material necessary to build a nuclear bomb for long enough or in large enough quantities to gain more than a very basic understanding of how it functions. The idea of bombing their planet is also pretty much the only viable option. If it works, which they have reason ti believe will be the case, then humanity will be free and the Psychlos will be unable to mount an immediate response. If it doesn't for whatever reason, then they'll all be killed, but they're already enslaved and well on their way to dying out as a species. There's really no good reason not to make an attempt.

* A big one is how in the hell have they never come across nuclear weapons or atomic type research in general when they’re basically BloodKnights from outer space? Ok it’s somewhat explained that their whole planet is made of a gas that violently reacts with radiation but this leads to another problem: that being the incredible stroke of luck that the one nuke the humans were able to get through basically wiped out an entire planet. What if the atmosphere didn’t react to radiation in the same way and instead the nuke only bombed the capital city or some podunk Psychlo settlement?

* Why is the Psychlos' method of breathing in our atmosphere (implied to be like a DeadlyGas to them) just putting breathing tubes in their noses? I would think if air is that poisonous to them just having it come in contact with their eyes would be harmful.

-->'''Mike:''' Wait, so these guys are too stupid to wipe themselves, and yet they run a smelting operation?
-->'''Bill:''' They don't run it well.

!! The Film

* Why is the Psychlos' method of breathing in our atmosphere (implied to be like a DeadlyGas to them) just putting breathing tubes in their noses? I would think if air is that poisonous to them just having it come in contact with their eyes would be harmful.
!! Behind the scenes
* So, I've been looking into the development behind this movie, and I have noticed how the executive meddling tab discusses how Franchise Pictures inflated the budget of the film to disguise the fact that they were taking a fraction of the budget as pure profit, and how the Scientology leader David Miscavige influenced most of the choices made by John Travolta during production. Given all this, wouldn't it be unlikely that David Miscavige could just let Franchise Pictures commit fraud of this magnitude without noticing, unless he was either in on the scheme or had masterminded the whole scheme from the beginning?

So, I've been looking into the development behind this movie, and I have noticed how the executive meddling tab discusses how Franchise Pictures inflated the budget of the film to disguise the fact that they were taking a fraction of the budget as pure profit, and how the Scientology leader David Miscavige influenced most of the choices made by John Travolta during production. Given all this, wouldn't it be unlikely that David Miscavige could just let Franchise Pictures commit fraud of this magnitude without noticing, unless he was either in on the scheme or had masterminded the whole scheme from the beginning?

*** Psychlos aren't shown to have much in the way of curiosity. Also, it might be like the line in Film/MenInBlack when it's mentioned that human thought is so primitive it's considered an infectious disease.

*** Psychlos aren't shown to have much in the way of curiosity. Also, it might be like the line in Film/MenInBlack when it's mentioned that human thought it so primitive it's considered an infectious disease.

*** Indeed, sheer curiosity would make many humans eager to be able to talk with other species if it were possible.

*** FridgeBrilliance: Terl actually is clever enough to suspect something is amiss, and so moves up the deadline for the mining operation. He even lampshades this when inspecting the gold.

* I can accept that a bunch of cavemen would be completely uneducated and their so-called history is full of FutureImperfect, but how far has mankind regressed in the last thousand years that Johnny and the others can't figure out what statues are in the beginning of the movie? Whatever this defect is, the learning machine wasn't able to fix it, because even after Johnny starts using it, he doesn't understand that markings on a map (such as borders) don't appear on the land itself.

*** ...Yeah, we probably would.

** Johnny's not the one reading the map. And it's Carlo that suggests that "the lines must have faded." It's actually a funny line.
-->'''Johnny:''' There it is, I think that's Washington.
-->'''Map guy:''' That's impossible. We're still in Colorado.
-->'''Carlo:''' No way, we've gone way too far.
-->'''Map guy: I'm telling you, we haven't crossed a single one of these lines.''' I'd have seen it.
-->'''Carlo:''' Well they must have faded over time.
** Just rewatched the scene. Johnny is the one who says the lines must have faded over time.

** Hey, apparently humans are capable of running a full, high-capacity and perfect smelting operation ''in the middle of fucking nowhere.'' And Terl just accepts it.
** FridgeBrilliance: Terl actually is clever enough to suspect something is amiss, and so moves up the deadline for the mining operation. He even lampshades this when inspecting the gold.

*** The {{Rifftrax}} of the movie bring this up.

** FridgeBrilliance: Terl actually is GenreSavvy enough to suspect something is amiss, and so moves up the deadline for the mining operation. He even lampshades this when inspecting the gold.