wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (08/22/85)
I recall recently seeing a posting asking about a possible "Battlefield Earth" movie, and another posting from one of the well-known critics on the net saying that he had had no news of such a film. At that time I thought I had thrown away what evidence I had in this area, so I did not respond. I just moved my terminal and discovered the relevant piece of paper, so here is some info: What I have is a contest entry form, which I picked up off a bookstore display-stand which held copies of BATTLEFIELD EARTH many months ago (either late 84 or early 85). It is titled "Battlefield Earth Movie Contest". The entry deadline was 15 March 85, with the drawing to be held 31 March 85. It was sponsored by "Bridge Publications, Inc.; Salem Productions, Inc., and 'participating official Battlefield Earth radio stations'". The contest seemed to be directed to other areas of the country than here (St. Louis, MO), and I never heard anything of it except seeing this display. The entries were divided up in a strange fashion -- I never saw such a thing before. There are a number of radio stations in major markets listed as "Group One" (seven stations), then 33 or so stations in smaller markets listed as "Group Two", and finally the rest of the world is lumped as "Group Three". The rules say that people living in the areas covered by the listed radio stations should send their entries to that station; everyone else (that is, "group 3") should send the entries to an address in LA. Prizes are to be awarded thusly (exact quotes from form, plus my comments in [brackets]: One winner from each Group 1 radio station will be selected at random from the entries submitted. Each Group 1 winner will receive the opportunity to perform as an extra in the movie Battlefield Earth *plus* a free round trip airline ticket to the Colorado location (courtesy of Frontier Airlines), five days lodging at Denver's beautiful 19th Place Hotel [I assume that is a name, not a rating! :-)], and a cash prize corresponding to the call number of the sponsoring station (not to exceed $200). Listen to your official station for details. [I have no idea what a "call number" for a radio station is -- if they mean the frequency, it doesn't sound like much of a prize -- since they limit it to $200, it must be that they count kHz as pennies (for AM stations) or MHz as pennies (for FM) -- so, if the station is on 1570 kHz, you win $15.70. If an FM station is on 90.7 MHz, you win $9.07. Big deal... :-) WM] One Semi-Finalist from each Group 2 radio station will be selected at random from among those entries received. Each Group 2 semi-finalist will receive a cash prize equal to the call numbers of their sponsoring radio station (not to exceed $200) and will be eligible to enter the drawing for the finalists as described below. One Semi-Finalist will be selected at random from all the entries received in Group 3. This semi-finalist will receive a cash prize (not to exceed $200) and will be eligible to enter the drawing for the finalists as described below. Thirty-four finalists will be drawn from all of the Group 2 and 3 semi-finalists and awarded prizes as follows: A) Two first place prizes: the opportunity to perform as an extra in the movie Battlefield Earth and receive a free round trip ticket to the Colorado location courtesy of Frontier Airlines and five days lodging at Denver's beautiful [they said this before; I wonder if "beautiful" is part of the joint's name? :-)] 19th Place Hotel. B) One second place prize: A trip for two to the movie's Colorado location and dinner with the movie's Producer. [They have GOT to be kidding... "Producer" was even capitalized in the original... Let me guess -- third prize is *two* meals with the Producer...:-)] [I just noticed -- just a trip *to* the location; you probably have to get back on your own! If they *meant* "round-trip", they would have said that! Jeez!] C) Two third place prizes: A 22 carat gold nugget as featured in "The Banker" from the Battlefield Earth Album. [What? Does "Album" here mean there was a record album, too? This is sounding weirder and weirder...] D) Three fourth place prizes: A trip by limousine to a movie of the winner's choice playing in the winner's city, not to exceed $150 in value. (If no limousine service available in the winner's city, a cash prize of $150 to be awarded instead.) E) Ten fifth place prizes: Collector's sets of Battlefield Earth products (comprising one first edition hardback copy of Battlefield Earth, one B.E. Album, one B.E. Cassette, one B.E. T-shirt, and one 1985 B.E. Calendar). F) Ten sixth place prizes: A 1985 Battlefield Earth Calendar and one paperback edition of Battlefield Earht. G) All remaining semi-finalists will receive a collectors Battlefield Earth T-Shirt. [Note -- they have conveniently neglected to mention that all winners also get brainwashed by the Scientologists, who have to be running this thing... :-)] One of the fine print rules says "The sponsors reserve the right to omit the characters portrayed by the winners from the final edit of the movie and also reserve the right to substitute a paid five day vacation in Las Vegas (with a value not to exceed $1000) for the first and second place prizes in the event the movie is not produced in 1985 for any reason or in case it becomes logistically impractical to transport the winner to the filming location." [Interesting...] The address to write for info is: Battlefield Earth Movie Contest 1414 North Catalina St. LA, CA 90027 ***End of quotes from contest form*** This has to be one of the weirdest contests I ever heard of... Not only are the prizes extremely odd, but the winner-selection process actively discriminates in favor of residents of the "Group 1" seven major metropolitan areas (which happen to be LA, Chicago, NY, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and "DC/Baltimore" [as they put it]). Doesn't that violate a Federal law or FTC or FCC regulation? Note that they continually refer to the movie's "Colorado location", but never define it better -- it must be near Denver (and the "beautiful 19th Place Hotel :-); maybe all this info can help the movie mavens on the net to track down more data about this otherwise mysterious movie. Note to the ARPA SF-Lovers moderator -- since all this contest info is outdated, and the contest is over, it should be safe to post this on the ARPANET. [I can't believe I typed in all this stuff...] Regards, Will Martin UUCP/USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin or ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA
jeffh@brl-sem.ARPA (the Shadow) (08/23/85)
>C) Two third place prizes: A 22 carat gold nugget as featured in "The >Banker" from the Battlefield Earth Album. [What? Does "Album" here mean >there was a record album, too? This is sounding weirder and weirder...] As a matter of fact, there was a record album. I saw this on the stands about four months after the paperback came out. I didn't risk buying it, however (it went for $9.98!). And it didn't stay on the racks very long, though I doubt that that was because the thing sold like hot-cakes (or even cold-cakes). Did anyone ever actually HEAR this thing? "A politician approaches every problem with an open mouth." the Shadow ARPA: <jeffh@brl> UUCP: {seismo,decvax}!brl!jeffh
wws@whuxlm.UUCP (Stoll W William) (08/26/85)
> > As a matter of fact, there was a record album. I saw this on the > stands about four months after the paperback came out. I didn't > risk buying it, however (it went for $9.98!). And it didn't stay > on the racks very long, though I doubt that that was because the > thing sold like hot-cakes (or even cold-cakes). Did anyone ever > actually HEAR this thing? > > the Shadow > ARPA: <jeffh@brl> > UUCP: {seismo,decvax}!brl!jeffh I bought it, and it is really awful. Nice conversation piece, but that's it. If there's a movie, you can bet that this will NOT be used in the soundtrack! Bill Stoll, ..!whuxlm!wws