It all started with a novel, Starship Troopers (Etoiles Garde-à-Vous in French) written by Robert A. Heinlein in 1959. The writer is considered to be one of the great Masters of Science Fiction, together with Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick.
I have read the novel ten years after seeing the Verhoeven movie for the first time (and many many times in between), and only then I realized the amount of adaptation that was done for the film.
The novel doesn't contain all the cynicism and as much of political background as the film. Also it doesn't focus so much on the bugs and their advanced war techniques, but more on the day-to-day state of mind of a trooper. The book also introduces the alien spieces known as The Skinnies, that is not mentionned at all in the movies, but is in the TV-series.
The Skinnes reminded me of the Taurans in another excellent SF novel I have read: The Forever War written in 1974 by Joe Heldeman. There are other similarities between the two books so that I start to confuse them now, a few years after reading them.
To summarise, Starship Troopers the novel is an excellent SF novel, it left me with a good memory and I will enjoy reading it again.
I have started to read some other work by Heinlein. The cat that walks through walls (1985) is hit by a change of tone halfway through the book, and I lost interest in the second half so that I actually never finished to read it. I recently read -All you zombies- (1959), after hearing that it was one of the best time travelling novel ever. This short novel (~20 pages) in indeed quite good and very well built so that in the end, the cycle is completed.
The novel doesn't contain all the cynicism and as much of political background as the film. Also it doesn't focus so much on the bugs and their advanced war techniques, but more on the day-to-day state of mind of a trooper. The book also introduces the alien spieces known as The Skinnies, that is not mentionned at all in the movies, but is in the TV-series.
The Skinnes reminded me of the Taurans in another excellent SF novel I have read: The Forever War written in 1974 by Joe Heldeman. There are other similarities between the two books so that I start to confuse them now, a few years after reading them.
I have started to read some other work by Heinlein. The cat that walks through walls (1985) is hit by a change of tone halfway through the book, and I lost interest in the second half so that I actually never finished to read it. I recently read -All you zombies- (1959), after hearing that it was one of the best time travelling novel ever. This short novel (~20 pages) in indeed quite good and very well built so that in the end, the cycle is completed.
The first adaptation of the Starship Troopers book in another medium, from what I could find, is a board wargame first published in 1976, and named Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers. It has been re-released in 1997 to match the design of the first movie.
Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy (2000) is the first video game inspired from the novel, and is supposed to be closer to it than future adaptations, in particular the simply named Starship Troopers (2005), more inspired by the first movie.
Finally in 2005 were released a set of figurines called Starship Troopers: The Miniatures Game, and another Starship Troopers Role-Playing Game.
Now in the video register, there has been a japanese animed series inspired by the book and called Uchū no Senshi (1988). I would like to see that one.
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Then came the central piece, the movie Starship Troopers (1997) by Paul Verhoeven that made me discover the universe created by Heinlein. I already knew and loved Verhoeven from Robocop and Total Recall, I also liked Hollow Man that followed, and I still have to discover his Dutch filmography. I remember that I had been expecting the movie and I was impressed. I immediately didn't agree with the critics calling the movie a Ken and Barbie in space, or strongly condemning the clothing of the intelligence agents that made them look like SS officers. I found all of this completely justified in the depicted totalitarian society in which the riches look beautiful and the poor can't afford to, as they are busy fighting the war.
I have seen the movie (French version) many time on VHS (recorded on TV) until I bought an offical VHS edition to watch on my first home cinema and 55" cathodic TV. I then upgraded to a good Zone 1 DVD edition that I found in the USA, and appreciated the image quality improvement and the original English soundtrack. This Special Edition contains a second disk filled with bonuses, but the most interesting feature (and the reason why I keep this DVD through the Blu-ray era) is that the movie can be watched with the isolated score and commentary from the composer Basil Poledouris filling the blanks by describing his vision for the music and telling interesting anecdotes. I am a huge fan of Poledouris' soundtrack for Conan the Barbarian, the one of Robocop is not bad either, and the one of Starship Troopers is for me his second best. I remember already downloading pieces of it on my slow modem internet connection back in 1997. The seperate soundtrack is a brillant idea, unique to this rare edition.
I acquired the Blu-ray edition as soon as it was on the market. On a full-HD Home cinema and a four-meters wide screen, the video and sound quality clearly surpasses the DVD. Most of the bonus from the Zone 1 DVD are present, except for the aforementioned isolated score, unfortunately.
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I have seen the movie (French version) many time on VHS (recorded on TV) until I bought an offical VHS edition to watch on my first home cinema and 55" cathodic TV. I then upgraded to a good Zone 1 DVD edition that I found in the USA, and appreciated the image quality improvement and the original English soundtrack. This Special Edition contains a second disk filled with bonuses, but the most interesting feature (and the reason why I keep this DVD through the Blu-ray era) is that the movie can be watched with the isolated score and commentary from the composer Basil Poledouris filling the blanks by describing his vision for the music and telling interesting anecdotes. I am a huge fan of Poledouris' soundtrack for Conan the Barbarian, the one of Robocop is not bad either, and the one of Starship Troopers is for me his second best. I remember already downloading pieces of it on my slow modem internet connection back in 1997. The seperate soundtrack is a brillant idea, unique to this rare edition.
I acquired the Blu-ray edition as soon as it was on the market. On a full-HD Home cinema and a four-meters wide screen, the video and sound quality clearly surpasses the DVD. Most of the bonus from the Zone 1 DVD are present, except for the aforementioned isolated score, unfortunately.
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It took some time after the first movie to shoot a second: Starship Troopers: Hero of the Federation (2004) directed by Special Effects specialist Phil Tippett (creature visual effects supervisor on the first movie). Unfortunately the movie was not given the means of its ambition, and ended up beeing a cheap direct-to-video in which most of the action takes place in one room.
The following Starship Troopers: Marauder (2008) was directed by Edward Neumeier, also screenplay writer on the first three episodes as well as on Robocop. It shows the return of Johnny Rico played by Casper Van Dien and the first (clumsy) apparition of armored suits. I have recently done a full review of it.
An interesting choice was made to produce in full CGI the latest episode Starship Troopers: Invasion (2012) directed by Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed). For me it does not "Top the original" like the cover says, but for sure it comes second. You can read more in my recent review.
An interesting choice was made to produce in full CGI the latest episode Starship Troopers: Invasion (2012) directed by Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed). For me it does not "Top the original" like the cover says, but for sure it comes second. You can read more in my recent review.
Meanwhile, a TV-series was produced by Paul Verhoeven in the USA, trying to extend the spirit of the first movie: Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles (1999). It is composed of only one season and was unfortunately never even completed (the last episode ends with an unresolved cliffhanger). It is immediate to notice that the animation is poor but in spite of that, the series exhibits a fast-paced techno music and some good ideas, like the attempted invasion of Earth by the bugs (copied in Invasion), the transport bugs flying through space, the control bugs, the return of the Skinnies, the variety of planets...
After writing this review, I will be sure to watch again Starship Troopers this year, and Starship Troopers: Invasion once in a while because it is a good piece of Science-Fiction and Action. I will also keep an eye open for a sequel, or maybe another TV-series... I have read that a remake of the original movie (or other adaptation of novel) is in development, which doesn't sound good to me.
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