Hey, beautiful watchers, The Dom here. So it turns out home world two has a very small
But very dedicated group of fans who don't take kind people criticizing their favorite games
*High Pitched Annoyed Fan shooting at The Dom* "You cant hide forever scam!"
Screw you! *Gun shots*
So it anyways I thought for my next review I'd pick something that didn't disappoint me quite so much
So I wouldn't have to be as negative
This might be tricky as I've decided to start doing comparisons of films to the books
They were based on I'm going to call it Lost in Adaptation
Because I'm just that witty. As a guy who loves reading and watching films
I often get a big kick out of seeing adaptations on the big screen although more often than not
I also get annoyed and frustrated at the little changes they've made. I'm a nitpicker, I can't help it. It's who I am
That's why I decided to start with a film-book combo where they made huge changes, but I still ended up liking both versions
albeit for very different reasons
*Gun shots by High Pitched Annoyed Fan shooting at The Dom* "DIE HOMEWORLD HATER"
Oh for goodness sake!
This is Starship Troopers
*Epic Music Plays*
You ought to know I've set myself a couple of ground rules here
I'm going to be working on the assumption that most people have seen the film but not read the book if I'm doing you a
Disservice here, I wholeheartedly apologize
It's just that I asked a group of friends about this and that seems to be the status quo
I promise you I'm not one of those know-it-all literature snobs been popping up since game of thrones hit the TV screens
Also, I promise you my goal isn't going to be to convince you the book was better
And I also disagree with the general consensus of that is automatically true
That said you probably don't hear the words missed
Opportunity quite a lot as I come across things that I really wish they had included
Oh and by the way there will be no
References to the awful sequels here. I haven't even watched them
I tried, I got about three minutes into number two and I tried to beat myself to death for the spatula.
Okie dokie! Let's do this
*Wonderful accordions + piano play*
The film actually held true to the books general premise a future in which the human race is spread out among stars and come into
Contact with a hostile race of arthropodick aliens with whom they become embroiled in a long and bloody war they're referred to as both
Insects and arachnids, but I'm refusing to do so for mathematical reasons
They also help true to the new political system on Earth where things like voting or having children as a privilege you have to earn
with military service or other significant contributions to society and
flogging is made a fashionable comeback as an acceptable form of punishment in both the military and for civilians
the main character Johnny Rico Story Arc survives mainly intact. He comes from a wealthy family that doesn't really give a crap out citizenship
but decides to join the army anyway despite the tension it causes with his father
He has a few ups and downs at first
But eventually decides to go career and stay in the army for life
The twist at the end where turns out that Johnny's Tough-as-nails drill sergeant
Demoted himself, so you go back to a combat unit and ends up saving the day is in both versions also
The science is quite bad in both versions as neither bothers to explain how an asteroid moving at conventional speeds can possibly make its way
Across most of the Galaxy in anything less than a couple of hundred billion years
But that's about it as far as I can see for the book in the film have in common
They change pretty much everything else. Like I said I like both versions of the story so bear with me
*Wonderful accordions + piano play*
This is where it gets interesting people
The most significant change between the Nature of the books in the film comes in the form of the mobile infantry that Johnny joins
in the film they're not actually that dissimilar to modern soldiers other than having slightly bigger guns and slightly grayer armer.
the deployed on masses can unfollow and
Take massive casualties in every engagement with the enemy
I mean jebus a good parent figure in a disney movie wearing a red shirt on the starship Enterprise who also happens to be a
Black guy in a horror flick would have a longer life expectancy than these poor bastards
now in the book they all wore super high-tech powered armor with an arsenal of inbuilt weaponry and a jet pack capable of repelling them
at high speeds for hundreds of miles in a single jump
Essentially they were a cross between master chief and Iron Man. Just take a second to think about how cool THAT movie would have been
*Gun Shots Against Alien Bad Guys*
*Iron Man Shooting a Rocket into the Enemy Cave Being Cool*
*BOOM*
The Troopers are deployed from orbit in individual capsules which shatter once they reach atmosphere
So they can start blowing shit up the second they hit dirt if not before. The book bugs can all shoot plasma
So the armored Troopers still have a serious fight on their hands
They just don't get shredded on anything like the scale they do in the film now
Don't go saying anything like what they couldn't do that
So when this films made look at the CGI in this movie
They have this shit nailed they could've at least done some of the stuff I've described
Another thing, the capabilities the mobile infantry is what struck me
as one the biggest missed opportunities of filmmaking history
But the possible exception of Johnny Rico most characters are given pretty serious revamps
ace is a middle-aged career corporal who gives the newly promoted
Rico trouble at first until you gain personal respect by punching the piss out of each other in the men's bathroom
it's a guy thing just not particularly smart one
Dizzy is actually a man in the novel
So obviously he and Johnny have a slightly different relationship or maybe they don't!
what happens on Klendathu stays on Klendathu.
No, judgment
His only scene is in the first chapter where he's wounded in battle, saved by Johnny an ace
But dies of his injuries in the shuttle flight off planet.
Carmen Belly features in the book she is not Johnny's girlfriend
She apparently shaves her head when she becomes a pilot
I Can forgive them for omitting this because I would personally kill anyone who touches a perfect hair on the perfect head of young Denise Richards
Damn, girl you so fine. I'd be willing to blow myself up with a mini nuke to save you.
Barney's-I mean Karl's character also doesn't appear much in the book as he's
killed early on in the war when the space station He's on is destroyed by the bugs
Also, fun fact,
in the book Johnny joins the Army because Carl is doing so, not because he's trying to impress a girl that was Just the final tipping point
I'm thinking maybe they thought in 1997 of the world wasn't ready for a bromance of such stunning proportions
So they change it to a run-of-the-mill story of a young man letting his boner and make life decisions for him damn them damn them
I say for downplaying that best friendship
*out dated bromance song plays*
Um, so ah Rat-Jack wasn't Johnny's teacher,
they combined two characters into one there, but it works quite well
So I can probably forgive them
you may be noticing a theme
Emerging are the filmmakers taking a rather minor character and stretching their story out through half the movie
This is mainly because in the book Johnny was transferred so quickly three different regiments and spaceships and they killed off his friends so quickly
They never really bothered to do any character development for anyone but him.
I actually approved the filmmakers decision to force him to share the limelight
Another sadly missed opportunity was Johnny's father. In the book it turns out
He wasn't killed in the meteor attack that wiped out the rest of the family and he joins the mobile infantry to get revenge
He and Johnny end up fighting side-by-side and develop the close Father-son relationship that eluded them in peacetime
*snifs* It was beautiful man
finally, in the book Johnny tends to earn his promotions more through hard work and general competence than
Acrobatics and constantly stepping into dead men's shoes although admittedly that was still a factor because you know war
*Wonderful accordions + piano play*
The film's overall story has been pretty well streamlined
but I'm honestly a little glad that it was. Robert Heinlein is a very talented author
But he spent three whole pages describing how the boot camp regimental band was put together and what instruments everybody played
That said there were a few things are mourn the exclusion of. A huge part of Johnny's army training didn't make it into the film
in written form mobile infantry training
Is way more terrifyingly harsh than just playing laser tag and winning obstacle courses
awwwww did you fall in the mud?
well book Johnny is currently being dumped butt-ass-naked in the middle of nowhere and freezing winter conditions to see if he'll survive the
Trip home. Spoiler warning: some of his friends don't
the book also mentions the other alien races that Earth is currently at war with
Unlike the bugs these ones are more at your traditional humanoids
But it's not a huge part of the story just the intro really where they show off the capabilities of the powered armor.
they also left out the hypnosis therapy all the troopers go through so that they can fall asleep instantly with a verbal command
Could have got a few lapses is all I'm saying.
to my everlasting disappointment they also left out the genetically improved
Detergent K9 Scout Troops. That's right people in the starship trooper books
alien planets are scouted out for us by talking dogs!
*Clip from Disney/Pixar movie "Up"* Doug-"SQUIRREL"
okay, The Dom's final thoughts.
if you're interested in taking a deep and fascinating look at a young man's journey into becoming a soldier and
fighting a war in what's essentially a
1950s army armed with futuristic weaponry then this is the book for you
If you enjoy somewhat mindless-And I don't use that word entirely derogatorily-
action sci-Fi movies then by all means watchful! film the CGs years ahead of its time,
Soundtrack is immense, the storyline isn't completely dumped out
It's a really good film if you accept it for what it is,
they're not quite so different I would advise you to treat them as completely separate entities but it's damn close
if you really enjoyed one or the other you're probably not
Going to get much out of seeking out its counterpart, but if you're like me
And you enjoy the deep and the exciting and equal measure then by all means give the book and the film a try
*High Pitched Annoyed Fan who was once shooting at The Dom* PREPARE THE BATTERING RAM *BANG*
Gotta Go!
*BANG X 3 followed my door being knocked down*
You'll never take me alive You elitist sci-fi strategy game bastards! Eat our lead!
*Gun Shots full on war breaks out*
*screams and gun shots continue*