Solos blaster
Sr Member
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Starship Troopers Reboot Coming
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firesprite
Master Member
Why not try reading it and finding out for yourself? Starship Troopers is a fantastic book and is, in my opinion, one of Heinlein's best. It's a fairly short one too, so even if you're not a fast reader, it shouldn't take long to get through.
Toadmeister
Sr Member
I've always enjoyed it interpreting as a kind of social and political parody.
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Snikt
Sr Member
Maybe Ill check it out, I do have some spare time on my hands. Im a pretty quick reader so I should get through it fairly fast. Thank you!
Axlotl
Master Member
I actually saw the movie before I read the book.
I dig the hell out of the movie, but a friend of mine hated it because it wasn't like the book.
He loaned me the book, and I dug the heck out of that, too.
I would LOVE to see a Starship Troopers based on the book.
I'm not at all interested in seeing a remake of Verhoeven's interpretation.
That movie is darn near perfect for what it is.
I dig the hell out of the movie, but a friend of mine hated it because it wasn't like the book.
He loaned me the book, and I dug the heck out of that, too.
I would LOVE to see a Starship Troopers based on the book.
I'm not at all interested in seeing a remake of Verhoeven's interpretation.
That movie is darn near perfect for what it is.
firesprite
Master Member
I feel the same. The book is amazing, but I also have a soft spot for Verhoven’s version.
Solos blaster
Sr Member
This mirrors my experience and sums up my feelings pretty well.
I also saw the movie first, but even on the first viewing, I found myself just as enthrallled with Rajchek's(sp?) class as I was with the Klendathu drop. The former made me search out the book after hearing there was more in it.
Dizzy was a throwaway character in the first chapter. Male. Not someone Johnnie went to school with or was in Basic with or was in any way romantically entangled with. Carl (Doogie) was a friend all through school and they did join up at the same time, and he did go on to weapons development, and that was the last he appeared in the book (barring a mention when his base was wiped out by the Bugs). Carmen is in it a bit more, but we don't see her after she visits Johnnie while he's in OCS on her way to her new posting.
The Hero's Journey in the book, with a lot of sociopolitical introspection, is how Johnnie goes from not planning to join up* to volunteering for reasons he doesn't really understant yet himself to finding himself in the infantry because he doesn't really have any of the advanced training or skill at maths that would have landed him in more specialized service, through some personal tribulations and revlations, to going career and becoming an officer. It's a gem of what poli-sci wonks call "Heinleinian Libertarianism". That is, political power is granted those who have demonstrated a sense of personal civic responsibility, and individual freedom exists within a political framework to lubricate what happens when one person's individual freedom rubs up against another's. I don't feel he's all the way there, but it was written in the 1950s, and I feel it is a stronger starting point than many other social/political models.
[*Civilians have plenty of rights and privileges, can own land, start businesses, etc., but to vote or hold political office, one has to be a Citizen -- that is, satisfactorily complete a minimum-two-year term of government service. Not necessarily military, but that's what the book focuses on, because that's the route Johnnie went.]
He wasn't from Buenos Aires, he wasn't European. He was Filipino, from the Phillipines. He didn't really have much interest in Buenos Aires being destroyed until he found out his parents had been there at the time on one of his father's business trips.
And one thing I really want in any new adaptation, I'll just leave here:
Those familiar with the book will get it. Each troop transport had a bit of a song they'd play to recall personnel. The one Johnnie spent the most time on was the Rodger Young, and its recall tune was taken from the Ballad.
"To the everlasting glory of the infantry
Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young..."
--Jonah
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Probably my single favorite Rifftrax line is in this movie, Denise Richards-"I can fit a whole can of tuna in my mouth"
"The studio has tapped Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, the writing duo behind the upcoming Baywatch movie, to write the script for a new theatrical feature film that would relaunch a potential franchise."
And that's all that needs to be said. I can hear the pitch session now.
"Think Baywatch in space....with giant bugs....and bewbs!!"
Oddly enough "Star ship Troopers" was required reading in the U.S Army Armor Officers course. Not because of the technology or tactics. Because it brought up the question of who gets to participate in a Democracy. Those that have a vested interest in preserving it, veterans, or those that have given nothing to it and don't care. The idea of having to be a veteran to have a vote goes back to the Roman Empire.
Slightly Fascist? maybe but it forces people to think about what a democracy is. Heinlein was defiantly a bit of a radical in his later works.
And that's all that needs to be said. I can hear the pitch session now.
"Think Baywatch in space....with giant bugs....and bewbs!!"
Oddly enough "Star ship Troopers" was required reading in the U.S Army Armor Officers course. Not because of the technology or tactics. Because it brought up the question of who gets to participate in a Democracy. Those that have a vested interest in preserving it, veterans, or those that have given nothing to it and don't care. The idea of having to be a veteran to have a vote goes back to the Roman Empire.
Slightly Fascist? maybe but it forces people to think about what a democracy is. Heinlein was defiantly a bit of a radical in his later works.
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I don't consider it fascist at all. In the book's case, it's not even specific military service. Any government service. Like, you could spend two years as an auditor for the IRS or as a National Park Ranger or like that. And it's all volunteer, none of it compulsory. Including which branch to go into. When Johnnie didn't qualify for anything but Mobile Infantry, he was given the option of refusing his placement and they'd have to try to find something for him to do. One of the guys who washed out of his boot camp he ran into later as third cook on one of the troop transports, and he was still proud as could be that he was a Currie Man (after Camp Arthur Currie, where they trained).
As the book itself brings up, it's an ongoing question of peoples trying over the ages to figure out who gets to have a say in how things go. Does the sovereign franchise go only to white male landowners? Do we include women? At what age is someone considered qualified to make such a choice or hold such an office? And so on. The system in the book was said to have started after the Troubles (global breakdown of things as we know it now, at some point in the near future), when a group of veterans in Scotland banded together to stop the looters and impose order on their city. The only people they trusted to include in their group were other veterans, and so it went from there. And they kept using it approach because it seemed to work well enough.
Any further opinions I have on the matter start straying into politics, so I'm-a end here.
--Jonah
As the book itself brings up, it's an ongoing question of peoples trying over the ages to figure out who gets to have a say in how things go. Does the sovereign franchise go only to white male landowners? Do we include women? At what age is someone considered qualified to make such a choice or hold such an office? And so on. The system in the book was said to have started after the Troubles (global breakdown of things as we know it now, at some point in the near future), when a group of veterans in Scotland banded together to stop the looters and impose order on their city. The only people they trusted to include in their group were other veterans, and so it went from there. And they kept using it approach because it seemed to work well enough.
Any further opinions I have on the matter start straying into politics, so I'm-a end here.
--Jonah
I'm interested to see a reboot that is closer to the book. I don't particularly like the book, but the setting, technology, etc. is interesting enough on its own that another writer could do a better job with character, drama, and story, and tone down the heavy handed monologues that dominated the book.
I thought the movie was average when I first saw it, but I was in high school then. A few years later I had read the book and seen Triumph of the Will and Why We Fight. Watching it again I enjoyed it immensely.
I enjoy science fiction and fantasy with a message so long as the characters and stories come first, and the message emerges from them. For example I love Dune but not God Emperor of Dune. I love the socio-political message in Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country, but found the heavy handed sermons from later TV series pretentious.
Matt Pfingsten
I thought the movie was average when I first saw it, but I was in high school then. A few years later I had read the book and seen Triumph of the Will and Why We Fight. Watching it again I enjoyed it immensely.
I enjoy science fiction and fantasy with a message so long as the characters and stories come first, and the message emerges from them. For example I love Dune but not God Emperor of Dune. I love the socio-political message in Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country, but found the heavy handed sermons from later TV series pretentious.
Matt Pfingsten
Riceball
Master Member
Yup, both do, along with South Korea, Denmark, Austria, and Norway to name just a few.
The book was very clear that everyone could serve. I believe the line was something like: If you were blind and couldn't do anything else, they would have to invent a way to serve. Perhaps counting the hairs on fuzzy caterpillars by touch, if it came to that.
You could resign at any time, and the only consequence was that you couldn't vote.
Victor3
Sr Member
Yeah, the movie makes it sound like only military vets can be full citizens.
The movie was silly fun, especially because I was living in Casper, WY when it came out. The desolate exterior shots were filmed in WY, and many of the MI extras were from the Casper area. On opening night, the film was frequently interrupted as people called out their friends' appearances on screen.
And, we're remiss in talking about this without mentioning Miyatake's ST power armor:
The movie was silly fun, especially because I was living in Casper, WY when it came out. The desolate exterior shots were filmed in WY, and many of the MI extras were from the Casper area. On opening night, the film was frequently interrupted as people called out their friends' appearances on screen.
And, we're remiss in talking about this without mentioning Miyatake's ST power armor:
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