By Johnny Rico
In 1997, a truly great science fiction film was released by TriStar Pictures. Starship Troopers was loosely based on the classic science fiction novel by Robert Heinlein.
Screenwriter Edward Neumeier, known for his work on RoboCop, had written a script called “Bug Hunt at Outpost 7.” Producer Jon Davison read it and suggested adapting it to a movie version of Heinlein’s novel to make it more commercially viable to the studio bigwigs.
If you read the book and then watch the movie you’ll notice similarities, particularly with the characters, but the storyline is very different. That deviation in the plot is partially responsible for igniting harsh treatment from the many critics who eviscerated Starship Troopers following its release.
Directed by Paul Verhoeven, the film is set in the 23rd century. The story follows a teenage Johnny Rico and his high school friends when they enlist in the military to join an interstellar war against an alien species known as the Arachnids. Giant insects straight out of Robert Heinlein’s imagination.
The United Citizen Federation is the Earth-based world government in power in the movie and misinterpreted by the unhappy critics. They said Verhoeven was endorsing fascism but that’s an absurd premise. The authoritarian society was meant to be satirical and if you watch the film understanding that important point, you’ll find it has moments of truly funny dark humor. It was not meant as an argument for fascism, it was poking fun at it. Like Mel Brooks spoofing the Nazis in The Producers.
The tremendous special effects were what impressed me the most when I saw it on the big screen. I liked the characters too. I think Robert Heinlein would have loved it, especially the humorous socio-political satire. The critics were dead wrong about Starship Troopers in 1997, and in the years since its release, the film has become a cult classic. One of my all time favorite science fiction movies.
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