How Did This Get Made? - Battlefield Earth w/ Rob Huebel (HDTGM Matinee)
Release Date: September 16, 2025
Hosts: Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas
Guest: Rob Huebel
Theme: Comedic breakdown of the infamous sci-fi flop Battlefield Earth (2000), examining how such a notorious disaster was made, why it fails so hard—often hilariously—and what it says about bad movies and Hollywood hubris.
Episode Overview
This episode of How Did This Get Made? dives deep into the baffling, infamous cinematic disaster Battlefield Earth. Paul, June, Jason, and guest Rob Huebel try to untangle L. Ron Hubbard's sci-fi muddle starring John Travolta, exploring its wild narrative, bizarre production choices, and status as a cult bad-movie legend. Through ribbing, incredulity, and relentless humor, the hosts celebrate the film's many failures and the ways it delights and baffles in equal measure.
Key Discussion Points
1. Immediate Reactions to Battlefield Earth
- The hosts' levels of rage and disbelief are immediately apparent.
- Jason, incandescent:
"I'm fucking furious." [02:04]
- June, with mock psychoanalysis:
"We love reasons. Go to emotion is anger." [02:05]
- Jason, incandescent:
2. Plot Breakdown & Basic Absurdities
- Paul summarizes (and struggles with) the plot:
- "It's like if Star Wars farted on the Planet of the Apes, it would become this film." [02:11]
- Aliens (Cyclos) have overtaken Earth in the year 3000 and enslaved humans to mine gold. Ludicrous plot details (slow-motion action, cavemen learning to fly fighter jets) are highlighted for their sheer implausibility.
- Jason, exasperated:
- "Don't bother. Fuck this movie!" [02:25]
- "I'm even angrier that those fighter planes fly." [02:38]
3. The Gold Question
- June asks the crucial question:
- "Why did the aliens need the gold?" [03:36]
- The hosts joke about the universality of gold as currency—June:
"Every planet's currency is based on gold value." [03:47]
Jason: "It is not. No way." [03:49]
4. Acting, Accents, and Character Choices
John Travolta’s Accent and Performance
- Paul:
"It changes from scene to scene. Sometimes it’s colonial British… and then other times… There’s four or five distinct different voices, right?" [06:41]
- Jason, on his notes:
"This movie instantly makes no sense. I have no idea what any of these people are talking about." [06:51]
Costumes, Slo-Mo, and Worldbuilding
- Rob sympathizes with the crew:
"I couldn't feel worse for the costume people and the art director… So much work went into actually building that world." [05:58]
"Can you imagine getting that fucking makeup every day?" [06:19] - Paul:
"If the movie didn’t have the slo-mo, it would probably be about 45 minutes." [05:16]
- Jason:
"The only way to make the action scenes look good was to do them in slow-mo. They look terrible." [05:24]
5. “Man-Animals,” Language, and Logic Gaps
- Rob:
"'Man animals,' which again, that's a fucking dumb name." [07:15]
- June notes “timeless” phrases:
- "Piece of cake was in there." [07:38]
- “Let’s get the hell out of here.” [07:41]
- Jason on the phrase “leverage”:
- "They have that whole...I hope you got some leverage." [07:46]
- Rob:
"The language is so unimaginative, it's lazy. They say words like 'vaporize…'" [07:22]
6. The “Knowledge” Machine and Sci-Fi Nonsense
- Jason describes Barry Pepper’s Power-Up:
"Barry Pepper has to...get, like, a fuckin' mind meld. Like a Matrix-style download of the Cyclo language, which is my favorite scene in the whole movie." [10:35]
- Rob, deadpan:
"It's the craziest fucking gobbledygook nonsense. And I don't understand. Why give him this power?" [12:25]
7. Behind-the-Scenes and Scientology Connections
- Jason asks if Scientology had a direct part in the production [08:53].
- June:
"He [L. Ron Hubbard] directed training videos for the Church of Scientology. Just not kidding." [09:04]
- Paul reveals John Travolta was supposed to play the hero before aging out, then cast as the villain (Terl) [09:15], with Kelly Preston cameoing [09:22].
8. Production Disasters & Lawsuits
- The hosts recount the infamous budget inflation scandal:
"Apparently there was a huge lawsuit because the company that made it inflated the budget by $40 million..." (Paul) [08:39]
9. Fighter Jet Nonsense: Cavemen Become Air Force Pilots
- Jason, incredulous:
"There is a sequence in this movie... where cavemen sit in a flight simulator at Fort Hood and learn to fly Harrier jets. Cavemen do." [17:26]
- Continued riffing on the absurdity and how easily the rebels adapt:
"They are a precision machine." (Paul) [17:56] "Absolutely." (Jason) [17:57]
10. Sex Appeal and Sudden Motivations
- Rob’s tongue-in-cheek question to June:
- "Were there any man animals you were attracted to?" [18:22]
- June skewers the film’s retrograde gender dynamics:
- "Why did all of the women...like when Kelly Preston was so excited to have a house...their motivations are so old-timey, so crazy." [19:05]
11. Bizarre Details and What-The-Fuck Moments
- Paul’s pick: "This entire race of cave people did not move more than a mile outside of their cave dwelling because there was a miniature golf course there." [23:00]
- Rob: "That was scary." [23:04]
- Jason on production design: "All of the special effects, both digital and practical, are fucking garbage." [24:05]
- Multiple riffs on Breathe Right strips (the facepieces all the aliens wear) and random Earth animals (cows post-holocaust).
12. Audience Awards: Custom Razzies & Memorable Categories
- “Worst eyes in any film: Forest Whitaker.” [36:48]
- “Best clean shaven caveman: Barry Pepper.” [36:59]
- “Most inebriated cinematographer.”
- Best/worst use of the word “leverage”—Travolta says it 8 times! [37:26]
- “Worst choice of video editing software: Microsoft PowerPoint.” [37:47]
- “Most informative public library” for the Denver Public Library’s nuclear secrets section [38:01]
- “Best performance by nostrils: Barry Pepper's nostrils.” [38:16]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
The Group's Consensus on the Film
- Paul: "This was as bad as I heard it was." [38:22]
- Jason: "I saw this in the theater." [38:31]
- Paul (on seeing it at the premiere): "I was really stressed out and I went in there not liking the movie. And then after I left, I loved it. I thought it was great." [38:56]
On Production Hell
- Rob: "Can you imagine fucking waking up? Because you'd have to go there and get there so early to put on this makeup, put in those contact lenses that they're all wearing… For five months." [31:23–31:48]
On Travolta's Unchecked Performance
- June: "We all know this was Travolta’s pet project… He wasn’t getting any direction at all. Like, he was just unleashed on the set." [31:57]
Key Timestamps
- [02:04] – Jason's furious reaction
- [03:36] – June on the gold question
- [05:16] – Paul: Cutting out slo-mo halves runtime
- [06:19] – Rob: Empathy for production crew
- [07:15] – Rob: "Man animals" and bad writing
- [10:35] – Jason: Language/knowledge download scene
- [17:26] – Jason: "Cavemen sit in a flight simulator"
- [23:00] – Paul: Mini-golf course as civilization’s boundary
- [31:23] – Rob: Makeup hell and production woes
- [36:48–38:22] – Audience awards and consensus on the film’s legacy
Tone & Style
The episode bristles with the trio’s signature mix of hilarity, incredulity, and righteous anger—punctuated by Rob’s dry wit. They roast every aspect of the movie—plot, performances, production, and unintentional comedy—while also pausing to acknowledge the impossible feat of actually making something this memorably bad. The episode is a celebration of failure, encouraging the audience to revel in the weirdest corners of Hollywood.
Summary
This HDTGM episode stands as a loving dissection of one of cinema’s most notorious failures. With unforgettable lines, searing one-liners, and deep-dive joke riffs, Paul, June, Jason, and Rob Huebel transform Battlefield Earth’s unwatchability into podcasting gold—making sense of a senseless movie so listeners don’t have to.
For more episodes dissecting the best of the worst, subscribe to "How Did This Get Made?" wherever you listen to podcasts.