I am a science fiction geek and i remember when Battlefield Earth came out and it got slammed by the critics. I remember one review said that this movie should be shown to prisoners to add to their punishment.

Then I tried to sit through the BYU-produced "Abinadi". Just awful on top of a steaming pile of awful. There was this one song where they go off naming all of these different weapons of war ("with their swords and their scimitars and their axes and pikes...") it made me wonder if the show's creator has a melee weapon fetish.

So...back to the "who created the most terrible theatre - the Scientologists or the Mormons" question. I'm not sure if anyone on this board has ever actually sat through BOTH films (I certainly couldn't) I just wanted to see what other people thought of these films.

Has anyone here actually been involved in the making of the Abinadi musical?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/2017 03:23AM by praydude.

Praydude, there is another thread about People Who Swear May Be More Honest ... which I seem to have agreed with; but when you said, "Just awful on top of a steaming pile of awful," I laughed so hard! That is sooo funny!!
:D

...Abinadi, the Musical. And now I see that it's on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bntrB_kDY3A

I couldn't watch it for as much as five minutes. It's like a parody which makes fun of bad musicals. It is to Mormon musical productions what "The Book of Mormon: The Movie" was to Mormon dramatic productions. It makes "Battlefield Earth" look like "Star Wars." It should be shown to children who have tummyaches, to make them throw up.

Thank you for the link! I did try and watch it for more than 5 min and I had to shut it off!

It is sad to see those performers, who (IMHO) have a lot of talent waste it on such a horrible show. Crummy story and bad music. I'm a trained musician and that music is utterly forgettable. It is symphonic but there are no strong melodies. It seems almost atonal. I mean I JUST listened to it and I could not hum a single tune from it if my life depended on it. (I suppose I could hum a random collection of notes and that would be close enough.)

I've never heard of this Abinidi the Musical until today. It seems more like an opera from the little bit I watched thus far. I've never really been into opera.

I sat through 3 days worth of the Ring of the Nibelung many years ago, that had pretty good special effects for a stage production.

However, I actually like Battlefield Earth to a degree. I don't have anything against Scientologist though, so perhaps that's part of it.

In that light, I'd say Battlefield Earth is definitely better than Abinidi the Musical Drama thingy.

Wondering what songs they might use for a musical about Abinadi.

"Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella"
"Come On Baby, Light My Fire"
"Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love"

Any others?

"Wondering what songs they might use for a musical about Abinadi.

"Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella"
"Come On Baby, Light My Fire"
"Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love"

"Any others?"

I don't have a title, but there should have been a song in which Abinadi instructs the people to leave no physical evidence of their existence, so that modern-day Latter Day Saints can believe the story by faith, rather than by sight.

A sword of obsidian?

"A sword of obsidian?"

Yep. You remember the Disney movie "The Sword In The Stone?" In the BOM, the sword IS a stone.

Yeah, that would be *really* useful.
Weighs a ton, and the first time you hit something with it, it shatters.

I turned the sound off (can't stand mormoneese).

It was horrid to watch, I can't imagine how it sounded. I last about 90 seconds.

I enjoyed the Book Battle Field Earth. The ending was stupid.

I've long thought the temple ceremony could be fun as a musical. I have sung parts of it for a cheap laugh.

"I've long thought the temple ceremony could be fun as a musical."

There ya go. They could call it "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Celestial Room."

That's like asking, "Which is worse: cholera or typhoid?"

Answer: neither is any good whatsoever.

HA! Like asking, "Which is worse: Mormonism or Scientology?!"

praydude Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> HA! Like asking, "Which is worse: Mormonism or
> Scientology?!"


Pretty much this. One's Mormon propaganda, and the other is badly written sci-fi by the founder of $cientology.