BREAKING NEWSENTERTAINMENTTITTLE-TATTLESECURITY/TERRORISMHEALTHSCIENCETECHSPORTSCONTACT
ORIGINAL NEWS:TITTLE-TATTLE TOOENTERTAINMENTSPORTSTECHOPINION/COMMENTARYSUBMIT ARTICLE
tPC FEATURES tPC
HOME
ABOUT tPC
COLUMNISTS
DAILY TOONS
DAILY PUZZLE
DA CHRONIC BOARD
SEARCH tPC
SUBMIT TO tPC
CONTACT tPC
tPC BOOKSTORE
WIRE NEWS
VOTING CENTER

tPC SPONSORS tPC

tPC MY tPC tPC
CLASSIC
MAROON\BEIGE
OLIVE\NAVY
WIDEN CLASSIC
WIDEN M\B
WIDEN O\N

tPC FRIENDS OF tPCtPC
tPC Friend Links
Become a tPC Friend


Tittle-Tattle™
Dishing Hollywood Dirt Daily


Email this articlePrint this pageSend Us A Tip
Tom Cruise, Dianetics & Scientology's Orientation Video
By Mike Baron
Jun 26, 2006


Thanx to a tip from our friend Jossip this morning,  we got to watch the Scientology's orientation video.  So like Jossip, we threw some Orville Redenbacher into the microwave, dimmed the lights, and tuned in for some really cheesy canned interviews.

Like our friend Jossip, Our biggest problem wasn't with the film's peddling L. Ron Hubbard's medicine-man-like wares, but rather with the poor production value. One would think with all of Scientology's cash and the fact that they boast some serious star power the least they could have done was whip-up a little special effects besides those awful meteorites in the beginning of the film.

IMDB has this summary: '

okay, this was bad. Unspeakably bad, but to the person informed about the truth about Scientology, kind of funny in a very sad way (think "Battlefield Earth," only worse, and with a lot of the same people involved). The audience won't be getting an unbiased view of this cult, but that's to be expected in a feature produced by the Church. What's unexpected is the degree to which it is pure, unadulterated propaganda, at a level that would make Leni Riefenstahl blush with envy. For example, Kirstie Alley, with a look of seriousness that is unsettling, declares, "Without Scientology, I would be dead today." The viewer is paraded with a number of Scientology suits, each with their own title. (One person, introduced as the "Director of Processing," acts as Orwellian as his job title implies. A sinister, b-movie villian chuckle, and the exacerbated sigh, (paraphrased) "The world out there is such a corrupting influence. We really have our work cut out for us in breaking our new recruits of that influence." Ick.

Continue reading this article below 

Nevertheless, the propaganda of this film is produced in such a cheesy way that the film approaches self-parody. When actors like John Travolta are tapped as intellectual spokesmen (no offense to Travolta, but he isn't exactly Stephen Hawking), when L. Ron Hubbard is portrayed as the ultimate renaissance man/prophet/saint with utter sincerity, it's difficult to take any of the film's claims seriously. And as self-parody, you almost don't even need the MST3K crew to heckle the show; one would have to have the intelligence of peanut brittle to be unable to do it oneself.

Despite a rating of 1, I will recommend people see this movie at their local Scientology centers (the only place this movie can be seen), if anything else, for a good laugh, and a view at how intellectually bankrupt this excuse for a film really is. A word of caution though: after this film, I and the group of friends I saw it with were split up and separately "interviewed" by members of the church. They were reluctant to allow us to leave, and were eager to have us confess personal shortcomings that caused us distress and difficulty in life, which of course they alone could solve. How you choose to handle this is up to you, but I ultimately found any attempt at a dialogue futile. I recommend that you treat this situation like you would a telemarketer, politely thank them for their movie and their time, but state you aren't interested and leave. Certainly don't give them personal info like your address and phone #'

See the film for the sheer hilarity of it, but don't expect to see Tom Cruise like we did.


More articles from:
Mike Baron

Email this articlePrint this pageSubmit An Article

E-mail comments to Mike Baron
Your full name:

Your email address: (e.g.: you@aol.com)

Comments


© Copyright 2004-2005 by The Post Chronicle™
Top of Page

PostChronicle.com is best viewed with an 1024x768 screen resolution

tPC TITTLE-TATTLE tPC

tPC SPONSORS tPC

tPC HOT RANDOM BLOG tPC

tPC SPONSORS tPC