Terl (Battlefield Earth)

Terl "I can assure you that I was not groomed since birth to have some cushy job. While you were still learning how to SPELL YOUR NAME, I was being trained to conquer galaxies. And do anything less is a disgrace in my entire family line." Gender: Male Type: Generic and Pathetic Excuse for a Villain Age: 1,000 Species: Alien Portrayed by: John Travolta Status: Alive Media of origin: Battlefield Earth

Terl is the main antagonist of the 2000 seven-time-Razzie-award-winning sci-fi action adventure movie Battlefield Earth based on the first half of the 1982 science-fiction novel Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

He was portrayed by John Travolta, who also portrays Billy Nolan in the 1976 film Carrie, Anthony "Tony" Manero in Saturday Night Fever, Daniel "Danny" Zuko in Grease and Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction.

This article will only focused on the movie version of Terl and not the book version.

Why He's Terl-ble

1. The problem with him is that he's like a generic "alien invader" who tries too much to be like other science fiction villains such as Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon, Darth Vader from Star Wars, Dr. Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog and the Klingons from the Star Trek franchise.
2. John Travolta didn't do a very good job playing him.
3. Similar to the live action counterpart of the Cat in the Hat and Heloise from Jimmy Two-Shoes, he tends to over-act most of the time.
4. He is an idiot, as he literally trains their enemies in weaponry and how to fly their ships and don't expect them to fight back.
5. His major plot hole where he is informed by his district manager that he has to stay on Earth for a long time after having an illicit relationship with the Senator's daughter is laughable.
6. He is meant to be taken seriously as a main "villain" but feels rather hilarious with laughably bad dialogue like one infamous example is his "Do you want lunch?" line.
   • So therefore, it's impossible to take him seriously and it's also extremely impossible to find him funny as a main villain.
7. His alien and costume design depicted in the film feels poorly made in early 2000s standards.
   • It also looks really weird and laughable where he has long, messy hair with dreadlocks that look similar to a metal rock band, Rastafarian people or even octopus tentacles.
8. He has little to no character development other than being a laughing tyrant.
9. While Jonnie, the protagonist is the focus of the film, Terl himself gets a lot of focus than him (only he just goes into meetings with his race).
10. Like other movie villains, he is quite forgettable.
11. He treats his race very poorly and has a rivalry with them.

Redeeming Qualities

1. As mentioned above, he can be hilarious at times.
2. He was a much better villain in the novel of the same name, because he at least got his defeat just like the novel in the end of the film.

Trivia

• John Travolta was originally going to play Jonnie Goodboy Tyler, but since he was too old to star as the protagonist, he was cast as the film's antagonist.

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