Starship Troopers (film)

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Starship Troopers
Directed by	Paul Verhoeven
Produced by	Jon Davison Alan Marshall
Written by	Original Novel: Robert A. Heinlein Screenwriter: Edward Neumeier
Starring	Casper Van Dien Denise Richards Dina Meyer Jake Busey Neil Patrick Harris Clancy Brown
Music by	Basil Poledouris
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s)	November 7, 1997 [1]
Running time	129 min
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$100,000,000 (est.)
Followed by	Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Starship Troopers is a 1997 film directed by Paul Verhoeven, written by Edward Neumeier, and starring Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer and Denise Richards. The movie is loosely based on the novel Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Criticisms of the adaptation 4 Politics of Starship Troopers 4.1 Satire on militarism 4.2 Complications 5 Spinoff media 5.1 Games 5.2 Comic books 5.3 Sequels 6 Trivia 7 Footnotes 8 External links

[edit] Plot

Starship Troopers is set in the 23rd century, at a time that the news is being dominated by the ongoing war with aliens that are aptly called the "bugs", after their insect-like appearance. The movie follows a period of approximately two years after the graduation from a posh Buenos Aires high school of a young man named Juan "Johnnie" Rico (Van Dien). After much mulling over his future and disagreements with his parents about their wish for him to attend Harvard University and also on the issue, Rico follows his girlfriend Carmen (Denise Richards) into the military service in the hopes of becoming a citizen, a privilege afforded only to those who serve the military government ("The Federation").

Rico is assigned to Mobile Infantry, while Carmen is assigned to flight school and Rico's best friend Carl (Harris) to military intelligence. A girl from Rico's high school, "Dizzy" Flores (who had long been enamored with him), also ends up in the Mobile Infantry and is assigned to Rico's training platoon. Rico soon finds the grueling boot camp training program more difficult than anticipated, with terrible injuries being inflicted by the officers and NCOs (particularly his drill sergeant, Zim) in an effort to teach the new soldiers quickly and efficiently. Rico excels at the training and eventually is promoted to squad leader; in the meantime, Carmen, his present girlfriend, breaks up with him in favor of her classmate Zander (Muldoon). After a trooper is killed in a training accident and Rico found culpable (and subsequently punished), he decides to quit the program. However, just before he leaves the camp, an asteroid destroys Buenos Aires, and kills his parents, after which he decides to finish his training and join the newly-declared war against the perpetrators of the attack: the human-sized insect species known as Arachnids (called "Bugs" by soldiers), hailing from a distant planet called Klendathu.

His first engagement, the invasion of Klendathu, is a complete disaster, with over 80% of the soldiers being wounded (including Rico) or killed. The Federation military commander, Sky Marshal Dienes resigns and is replaced by Sky Marshal Tehat Meru. She says that they must understand the bug in order to fight it. Rico's unit was rescued by his former high school history teacher, Rasczak (Ironside), and his "Roughnecks", a unit which Rico, Dizzy, and his friend from training, Ace Levy, are reassigned to. After one engagement, Rico is field-promoted to corporal and assigns Dizzy to his squad leader position; after a celebration later that night, Rico and Dizzy consummate their budding relationship.

Their next mission plunges them into a trap as they are assigned to investigate the silence of an outpost on one of the Bug worlds, Planet P. They discover, from the only survivor, General Owen (Bell), that the bugs possess high intelligence and are "sucking" the brains out of humans to learn more about them. As the troopers realize their situation, a huge force of bugs attacks. Rasczak and Dizzy both die in the ensuing battle, and the Roughnecks barely evacuate alive - however, Rico's request to bombard the planet from orbit is denied. After a funeral service for Dizzy, Rico's old friend Carl, now a Colonel in intelligence, gives Rico his unapologetic reason for the deaths of many of Rico's squad mates: Military intelligence had already ascertained that there might be a "brain" bug on Planet P, and the Roughnecks had been used as bait in an attempt to verify the information. He tells Rico that the Mobile Infantry will return to Planet P and capture the brain bug for research. Rico accepts the mission and Carl gives him a battlefield promotion to Lieutenant and command of the Roughnecks. Rico is also reunited with Carmen, as she has been promoted to be a pilot of the ship from which the Roughnecks operate, the Rodger Young.

In the ensuing offensive against Planet P, the Rodger Young is destroyed, and Carmen barely evacuates with Zander; however, their escape pod lands deep underground in Bug territory. They are subsequently captured by the Bugs, and Zander's brain is eaten by the brain bug. Rico organizes a rescue attempt and manages to save Carmen in the nick of time, and they escape to the surface safely. Upon reaching the surface, they find the brain bug has been captured by Rico's former training sergeant Zim (now demoted to buck private). Rico and Carmen renew their relationship, and the brain bug is sent to Earth to be studied in an attempt to find a way to defeat the Bug menace.

[edit] Cast

Actor/Actress	Role
Casper Van Dien	Johnnie Rico
Dina Meyer	Dizzy Flores
Denise Richards	Carmen Ibañez
Jake Busey	Private Ace Levy
Neil Patrick Harris	Colonel Carl Jenkins
Clancy Brown	Career Sergeant Zim
Seth Gilliam	Private Sugar Watkins
Patrick Muldoon	Zander Barcalow
Michael Ironside	Lieutenant Jean Rasczak
Marshall Bell	General Owen
Lenore Kasdorf	Mrs Rico

[edit] Criticisms of the adaptation

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A report in an American Cinematographer article contemporaneous with the film's release states that the Heinlein novel was optioned well into the pre-production period of the film, which had a working title of Bug Hunt at Outpost Nine; most of the writing team reportedly were unaware of the novel at the time. According to the DVD commentary, Paul Verhoeven never finished reading the novel, claiming he read through the first few chapters and became both bored and depressed. This explains both the vast divergence between the book and film, and the volume of the uproar among Heinlein's fans when the movie was released.

The film was also characterized by a conspicuous absence of anything resembling Heinlein's mechanized Mobile Infantry; troopers wore an unpowered ensemble which seemed to differ only slightly from modern-day army gear. A substantial portion of the soldiers' anatomy was left unprotected, and what little armor was present seemed to be of little use. Reportedly, it was for budget reasons.

Some dialogue is straight out of the book, or some variation of it, while much of the dialogue and many of the themes are not from Heinlein's story. Additionally, most of the characters have been significantly altered. In the book, the lead character, Juan Rico does NOT originate from Buenos Aires and speaks Tagalog (the Phillipine language) at home, in the movie he appears as a white male. Flores is female in the movie in order to add a love interest sub-plot. In the book, Dizzy Flores is male, has no relation to Rico save the fact they were soldiers in the same platoon, and is only mentioned in the first chapter, due to the fact that he dies at its conclusion. Additionally, Carl Jenkins serves an even lesser role in the book, with a one sentence mention about his death far away from the narrator halfway through the novel, while he survives the movie.

This movie polarized both popular audiences and critics, as did the original book. On one level, the movie tells a straightforward action-adventure science fiction story, with attractive stars, innovative computer-generated imagery, and an entertaining but—as some people interpreted it—clichéd and often ludicrous plot. A prominent theme of the film is the human practice of senseless violence without reflection or empathy, which parallels the senseless aggression of the "Bugs." As such, the movie attracted widely divergent responses. The film included visual allusions to propaganda films, such as Triumph of the Will and wartime news broadcasts. However, this satire was embedded in slickly produced action sequences with clever special effects.^[1][2] Some wonder whether the satire went unnoticed by an audience who may have treated the movie as a simple gung-ho action movie.^[3]

Fans of the novel^{[attribution needed]} often regard it as a shallow insult to a great work. Others regarded it as a satire of American gung-ho attitudes and contrasted with what they saw as the book's endorsement of militarism. Some even considered it an artistic experiment in evoking certain emotions (such as sadism, militarism, and patriotism). Meanwhile, many simply assumed that the movie was endorsing fascism and responded to this negatively or positively, according to their own political beliefs.

[edit] Politics of Starship Troopers

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In his commentary on the DVD edition of the film, director Paul Verhoeven states unambiguously that the movie's message is "War makes fascists of us all", and that he sees the movie as a satire of American militarism. On the same commentary, screenwriter Ed Neumeier (who worked with Verhoeven previously on Robocop) broadly concurs, although he sees the satire as applying to the whole of human history, rather than solely to the U.S.

Since the filmmakers did not make these statements at the time of the film's release, viewers have interpreted it variously: as a satire, as a celebration of fascism, or as a simple action film.

[edit] Satire on militarism

The film depicts a future state that is extremely militaristic and uncompromisingly warlike in its attitude toward a race of bugs that inhabits a distant planetary system. The military training is cruel: officers purposely wound recruits, and flogging is a mode of punishment. The movie highlights this further by using weaponry (and tactics) that, considering it is the 23rd century, can only be seen as totally inadequate - the assault rifles of the Mobile Infantry force them into man-to-man fights with the bugs, the latter using their animalistic weapons like tooth and claws, as well as simple head en masse infantry charges, which are reminiscent of World War I, stressing the point. And both of them are getting slaughtered in high numbers, while being photographed by embedded television crews for the benefit of viewers at home. Also, as Verhoeven mentions in the DVD commentary, the humans are the aggressors and the bugs the victims: when the bugs bomb Buenos Aires, they are not attacking the human race but reacting to human colonists encroaching on bug planets.

Verhoeven's use of fascist emblems to imply criticism of the Federation may be related to his background.^{[citation needed]} He and some of his crew come from the Netherlands, which endured occupation in World War II. Verhoeven himself witnessed dead bodies of fellow countrymen killed by bombs, as his home was close to the German rocket base and was frequently bombed by Allied air forces, hence the pervasive feel of moral equivalence between a victim and a culprit in all his movies, not only in this one.

[edit] Complications

Despite its militarism and xenophobia, the society depicted in the film also contains notable differences from fascist ideology. The society depicted in the film is very open about sex, sexuality, and gender roles. In the army, men and women shower together, and appear to feel natural about it. Boys and girls compete more or less equally in high-school sports and are apparently recruited by professional teams with similar equality. Second, humanity's army consists of soldiers of all races and sexes. The most significant example of this is probably the nomination of Tahat Meru, a black woman, as the new Sky Marshal (i.e. supreme commander of the military), towards the middle of the movie, replacing a white male. Third, military service is not obligatory, and some civilians that have not served in the military are well respected (or, at least, financially successful) as evident by the high-society status of Rico's parents.

It is often believed that only citizens with military service are allowed to vote; however, the book explains that Federal Service is required to vote, and that there are other options besides the military. The film also explicitly uses the term Federal Service rather than Military Service. Also, if you are in military service, the Federation will pay your university fees, as exemplified by one character who wants to attend Harvard. One character in the film even states that "she wants to have babies...so joining the Federation would help her get a license". Another way the fascism of the movie differs is implied in the initial classroom scenes where it is asked what fascism would look like if it were stripped of sexism and racism, implying that such an "improved fascism" is ideal and the form of the Federation. Despite its dreary overtones, the future of Earth seems to be very bright after a series of catastrophic events. A devastating war between the Anglo-Russian Alliance and China has left humanity weary of internal wars. Also devastating Space Wars has left millions of humans dead. After all of the carnage arose the Federation which tore down racial and sexist views in the hopes of uniting humanity under a common cause. Technology is advanced and can be seen in the form of zero-gravity sports, jet propulsion vehicles, and faster than light travel. The state does have supreme control and this can be seen in public executions (in the film a murderer is executed on public TV) and the Federation itself. Travel on Earth isn't an issue because Rico, despite being of Filipino origins lives in Buenos Aires and has an American mannerism about him. Also in the film, Diz states that she wants to play Jumpball (future zero-gravity arena football) in Tokyo. ^[4]

The expanded role of women in the military is not in Heinlein's novel. Rather the novel tends to segregate genders to the point where the Mobile Infantry is exclusively male (reflective of the armed forces at the time of the writing) although numerous references are made to pilots and naval officers being almost exclusively female, as they are 'best suited to the job'.

[edit] Spinoff media

[edit] Games

In 1997, Avalon Hill released Starship Troopers: Prepare For Battle!, a boardgame based on the film version rather than Heinlein's book. Its beer and pretzel gameplay focused on limited skirmishes rather than larger battles. The "Skinnies" do not appear, nor is there a political element.^[5]

In 2000, a real-time tactics video game titled Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy was released. This game also incorporated the powered suits in Heinlein's novel into the Verhoeven version of the Mobile Infantry. It was developed by Australian software company Blue Tongue Entertainment.

A first-person shooter game also titled Starship Troopers was released 15 November 2005. This version was developed by Strangelite Studios and published by Empire Interactive. Set five years after the events of the movie, the game also featured Casper van Dien voicing the in-game version of Johnnie Rico.

A Starship Troopers pinball machine was produced. This is a fairly common pinball machine.

[edit] Comic books

The movie was released simultaneously with a graphic novelization, which retold events from the movie. There were also additional series that were released based in the Verhoeven universe, though not directly related to the movie. Further series were published by Dark Horse and Markosia.

[edit] Sequels

The film was followed by the CGI animated television series Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles in 1999, along with a direct-to-video sequel Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation in 2004. The sequel was not as popular as the first, mostly due to its low budget and the fact it was more in the horror genre than the Sci-fi-action original.

In May 2006, MovieHole.net reported that Ed Neumeier returned to write the script for a second sequel, Starship Troopers 3, and also stated that original cast members would be returning, including Casper Van Dien.^[6] Van Dien had this to say on the script: "The script is along the same line as the first. It is awesome."^[7]

It had been announced that Starship Troopers 3 was going to start filming in South Africa in March, 2007 but it's now pushed back to May, 2007.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Trivia

• The Trooper's combat uniforms (shown in the movie poster above) were later reused on the Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy series for military personnel aboard the colony ship Terra Venture. The uniforms were also repainted and reused in episodes of the TV series Firefly as Alliance soldiers' uniforms. The helmets were repainted again and used by the SWAT team at the end of the 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes. The uniforms, along with footage from numerous sci-fi films including Starship Troopers itself, were used in the sci-fi movie Impostor, starring Gary Sinise, and the live action Gundam film G-Saviour.
• The quote "Come on, you apes, you want to live forever?", repeated by multiple characters in the film, is seen at the beginning of the first chapter in the novel, and is quite similar to decorated Marine Daniel Daly's "Come on, you sons of bitches, you want to live forever?"
• Several cameos in the film include producer Jon Davison as the angry Buenos Aires resident who says to the FedNet camera, "The only good Bug is a dead Bug!", and screenwriter Ed Neumeier as the quickly captured, convicted, and condemned murderer in another FedNet clip. Former U.S. Marine Dale Dye, whose company Warriors, Inc. provided technical military advice on the film, appeared as a high-ranking officer following the capture of the Brain Bug ("What's it thinking, Colonel?").
• Director Paul Verhoeven, producer Jon Davison, writer Edward Neumeier and composer Basil Poledouris were all involved with the original Robocop movie. Actor Michael Ironside was also considered for the role of Murphy/Robocop.
• In the film Casper meets Wendy, Casper Van Dien says "Uhh...sorry, ladies I got to go kill some bugs".
• On the TV series Stargate SG-1, in the 9th season episode "The Scourge", the team decides to watch Starship Troopers for movie night after barely escaping a massive carnivorous alien bug infestation on another planet.
• Indie band Minus the Bear often reference quotes from Starship Troopers in song titles.
• Unknown at the time, actress Amy Smart had a small role at the end of the movie as a co-pilot along with Denise Richards' character.

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ Tobias, Scott. Who Will Love The Brown Bunny? A Decade Of Underrated Movies. TheOnion.Com. Retrieved on 2006-03-04.
2. ^ Murray, Noel; Nathan Rabin, Scott Tobias. Commentary Tracks Of The Blessed. TheOnion.com. Retrieved on 2006-03-04.
3. ^ Morgan, Kim. The DVD Journal. Retrieved on 2006-03-04.
4. ^ Peterson, Robert. Militarism and Utopia in Starship Troopers. Space.com. Retrieved on February 19, 2007.
5. ^ Starship Troopers: Prepare For Battle!. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/. Retrieved on December 3, 2006.
6. ^ Morris, Clint. Sony Debugs Starship Troopers. http://www.moviehole.net/. Retrieved on February 19, 2007.
7. ^ http://caspervandien.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=248&highlight=starship+troopers

[edit] External links

• Starship Troopers at the Internet Movie Database
• Starship Troopers at Rotten Tomatoes
• Starship Troopers Audio Soundboard