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Roughnecks: Startship Troopers Chronicles


Roy Fokker

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Big time fan. I actually liked this series to the movie as it had a lot more to do with the book than the movie ever did (not blaming Verhoeven. I understand it wasn't his intention anyway to make his movie relating to the book).

In anycase, anyone else out here who likes 'em?

I feel cheated that they never finished the series - imagine making Macross and not doing the Battle with Dolza of the final showdown with Khaifun! There's been petitions going around. Hopefully they will finish it. The show isn't being aired anymore but I understand that some parts of Austalia are still airing this series.

I totally loved it. :)

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I second that Gui. Paul Verhoven should be buried up to his neck in an Amazonian ant pile and left to rot for ruining one of the greatest pieces of sci-fi of all time. :angry:

Actually, Verhoeven produces the animated series as well :)

The point is, Verhoeven never really intended to stay true to the book in it's entierity - to do so would have easily meant box-office failure. Most of heinlein's books deals with morals and philosophy - which are hard to convert to onscreen action.

The movie was essentially an action flick - much like RoboCop - with subtle hints of trademark Verhoeven satire and philosophy.

But I'm not talking about the movie ehre - I'm talking about the animated series. It simply rocks. :D

Gui and Lynx :: Thanks for those links :)

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2nd movie was sci-fi channel level C crap IMO. All takes place in one compound, with parasitic bugs taking people over. That's about it. The horde of bugs is being held off by a force field barrier. No philosphy really, though they try to poke at the war machine some.

The animated series was very good, though I missed a lot of episodes. Well done show.

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The point is, Verhoeven never really intended to stay true to the book in it's entierity - to do so would have easily meant box-office failure. Most of heinlein's books deals with morals and philosophy - which are hard to convert to onscreen action.

Actually...Verhoven went out of his way to 'parody the book' and turn it into a Nazified caricature of itself. Nothing like some a$$hole Hollywood director to come along and take a big sh*t on your work cause he thinks he so much g*ddamned smarter than you. Yea, I love the elite media liberals so much I wanna vomit. Verhoven is an a$$clown. :angry:

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I thought Roughnecks was good. I didn't see how it ended though.

The final episodes were scrapped :(

Red Devil :: What does it have anything to do with "liberal" ? Heinlein's novel was about a "fascist" human society in it's fight against the "comministic" bugs. The movie wasn't supposed to be true to the book - you said it yourself, it is a 'parody'.

I wouldn't essentially call Verhoeven "Hollywood" either. Verhoeven left Europe because of the interference the liberals/Leftists gave in his work. He got tired of it, packed his bags and came to America.

But I digress.

About the series :: I just recently got my hands on the entire series, all released versions, in it's entierity for the first time :) Been watching it ALL day long :D

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I feel cheated that they never finished the series - imagine making Macross and not doing the Battle with Dolza of the final showdown with Khaifun!

Dude... The final battle was with Kamjin; Kaifun was Minmay&s cousin, remember..? :lol:

Been a while since we saw the show, has it? :p

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Red Devil :: What does it have anything to do with "liberal" ? Heinlein's novel was about a "fascist" human society in it's fight against the "comministic" bugs.

Oh God, what absolute wankery! This is the crap that Verhoven used to justify his version of things by claiming the society created in the novel was fascistic.

The 14 Defining Characteristics Of Fascism

by Dr. Lawrence Britt

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause

4. Supremacy of the Military

5. Rampant Sexism

6. Controlled Mass Media

7. Obsession with National Security

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined

9. Corporate Power is Protected

10. Labor Power is Suppressed

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption

14. Fraudulent Elections

I fail to see how the society Heinlein wrote about was a fascist one. Certainly, it was a Meritocracy where the Right of Suffrage only belonged to those who had served the State, but that is NOT the same thing as being fascistic.

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1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause

4. Supremacy of the Military

6. Controlled Mass Media

7. Obsession with National Security

9. Corporate Power is Protected

10. Labor Power is Suppressed

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment

14. Fraudulent Elections

Renato: Thanks :p Yes, it's been a while...

Red Devil :: Do you always foam and froth when someone has a different opinion?

10 points out of the 14 you highlighted apply to Heinlein's work.

To be a fascistic society, there is no reason that ALL fourteen points must be fulfilled. 10 out of 14 is a high proportion, don't you think? Fine, it maynot be a Fascist state - but it certainly wasn't republican or democratic.

And I don't really have a problem with that (nor do I have a problem with that concept of sufferage really ;))

In anycase, we are heading offtopic.

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1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause

4. Supremacy of the Military

6. Controlled Mass Media

7. Obsession with National Security

9. Corporate Power is Protected

10. Labor Power is Suppressed

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment

14. Fraudulent Elections

Renato: Thanks :p Yes, it's been a while...

Red Devil :: Do you always foam and froth when someone has a different opinion?

10 points out of the 14 you highlighted apply to Heinlein's work.

To be a fascistic society, there is no reason that ALL fourteen points must be fulfilled. 10 out of 14 is a high proportion, don't you think? Fine, it maynot be a Fascist state - but it certainly wasn't republican or democratic.

And I don't really have a problem with that (nor do I have a problem with that concept of sufferage really ;))

In anycase, we are heading offtopic.

I don't get even 10? lets see

1. is debateable

2.even though rico's family couldn't vote they still had an easy life. from what I gathered everyone did

3.this isn't as much a fascist point than it was during WWII with america and the japanese sneak attacks tend to get you vilified.

4.before the war military service was considered a joke and during the war civillians tied up half the fleet to protect earth. civilians are in power not the military

6.the media isn't really touched on in the book

7.if your state got bombed you would too ask new yourk how they feel.

9.Rico's family traded in an open market

10.nowhere is this shown in the book

12.corporal punishment is still in use in the marines and capital punishment is still thought of in extreme cases.

14.there were no elections in the book

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Next time someone makes a movie "inspired by" or "based on" a book, I'll remind them that they should keep it 100000% accurate. Maybe they should call it a Documentary or "Starhip Troopers: A Study on Heinlein's Philosophy" instead of "Action movie". I wonder where all the hound-dogging went when they made Saving Private Ryan.

In anycase - this thread is about Roughnecks: Startship Troopers Chronicles.

Can we please stick to that? :)

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I think Focker is confusing the book, movie and TV show, combining them which I've know many people to do. I myself found the series to be fun and a little closer to the book the then movie, at least technologically. However it still had far too many elements from the movie driving it. I have the whole series as well, mostly because I like the designs and can sort of watch it as a seperate entity. The movie however was complete garbage. As for the anime version, I have a non-subbed copy, its not bad, I love the mechanical designs, but the bugs look like garbage, and after the boot camp portion the story goes seriously off track from the book.

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To be a fascistic society, there is no reason that ALL fourteen points must be fulfilled. 10 out of 14 is a high proportion, don't you think? Fine, it maynot be a Fascist state - but it certainly wasn't republican or democratic.

The ST society IS republican because there's NOT only one person at the head of the society, contrarily to monarchy, dictatorship, despotism or tyranny. Also the only difference with actual democracies is that only people who did their national service have the right to vote, so it is ***partially*** democratic

Some societies have been organized like this in the past: Sparte for example was a timarchy, and at some point the greek democracy was almost like this aswell. Both of them have been great and powerful civilisations in their time

As for fascism, it's important to notice that Plato's book 'The Republic' was the main inspiration of such doctrin... like it was for democracies in general :)

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