Starship Troopers - Like you've never understood it before

I've always loved this movie and picked up on the hidden themes in it the more I watched it but never put it all together like Rob Ager can. Here is 45min of Starship Troopers analysis.

is it bad that my eyes welled with tears of joy at someone doing an in-depth analysis of this movie?
Watching now.

Edit: The third vid was the best, but great post. I've always liked that movie even though it is super cheesy. N.P.H. is a boss as always.

To be honest, the movie was terrible and just like most of the Steven King movies, lacking the integral heart of the story. Read the book! Heinlein was a genius at analyzing social constructs and often would satirize what he saw as debilitating social norms.

I watched the vids and understand that these relate to the movie, but without reading the book, the watcher is handicapped by the vision of someone other than the author.

just my two cents.



edit: The commentator of the videos DID do a great job of pointing out the socio-political connections that are inherent to the story itself.

reply to post by redbarron626


He also explains why he chose to analyze the film as a standalone project. Happy watching

One of my favorite books by my favorite author.

However, the movie is a watered down version which almost has nothing to do with the book. And on that note... I friggin' LOVE the first Starship Troopers movie! It's so ridiculously campy! It's a movie that will always be updated in my library when a new video format will be invented, as well as a book that will always be a trophy of my bookshelf.

I can't wait to check out this "analysis." I don't know what type of analysis can be made considering the movie is pretty straight forward and in black and white... either way... this is pretty cool already! I'm diggin' it!

Heinlein was a brilliant writer; my all time fav'! The cats who've adapted this to film probably knew it would only take a three-part mini-series to get it right... that's why we have this B-Type adaptation....

Have I already said I friggin' love this movie???

reply to post by hottoboggan


What a good thread, thanks for posting this.

Really great stuff - thanks!

Glad to hear you guys enjoyed this. Hopefully it doesn't get buried. I have a feeling a lot of people would like this if they gave it time. Ager's stuff is amazing.

Originally posted by hottoboggan
Glad to hear you guys enjoyed this. Hopefully it doesn't get buried. I have a feeling a lot of people would like this if they gave it time. Ager's stuff is amazing.

couldn't have been better timed as I watched this movie just last week and noticed these very same things.
this movie used to give me nightmares, I saw it when I was like 7-8, imagination ran wild with it back in the day lol, now I noticed all of the overtones the second time around, good post thanks.

reply to post by redbarron626


While many people say that the "book was better" or "they ruined the book", in this case, the movie was like the book in only superficial, thematic ways (and of course in name). When I read the Heinlein work, it was years after I had seen the movie (maybe 1999? - can't remember), and I took a pause from the story because I was not seeing the similarity with the story I thought it was. In fact, I recall thinking, wow, this guy (Heinlein) actualy wants this reality - whereas the filmmakers where lampooning it. I'll have to dust off the book and give it a re-read and I may have to rethink watching the third movie in the trilogy after this post. I remembered liking Starship troopers the first time I saw it, on someone's DVD player in a dark dorm room in fall of 99, when DVDs were new and 9/11 hadn't happened yet. I recall thinking how the movie was clearly poking fun at war in general. I did not get that impression when I read the book.

On another side note, the movie Gamer is another over-the-top, cheesy commercialized sci-fi pic that actually does a lot of contemporary societal soul-searching (Private prisons, surveillance and voyeurism in our culture, overstimulation/overenterainment, wealth privilege, etc.).

The vids do a pretty good analysis of the movie, while the movie is but a shadow to the book.
The book was all about the concepts discussed in the classroom (duty, honor, responsibility, etc). The bug war was just a framework to hold it all together.

Love 'em both, though. I've liked every movie I've ever seen made from a Heinlein book, though they all pale in comparison.

The question is- should anyone try to make a movie out of "Stranger in a Strange Land"? Or would that just be wrong?

Originally posted by subject x
[edit]

The question is- should anyone try to make a movie out of "Stranger in a Strange Land"? Or would that just be wrong?

Off topic, but... I personally would LOVE to see a film adaptation to Stranger in a Strange Land.
The book is by far my favorite for a LONG time running and I'd love for someone to make SiaSL the way Peter Jackson did with the Lord of the Rings trilogy... but I'd hope for a better director and a better screenplay.

My apologies to hottoboggan for being off-top!

"it's an ugly planet ... a bug planet" .... God I love that movie!
I didn't like the sequels ... Troopers 2 & 3 were not even close to the first one IMHO.
But when it's a rainy afternoon and Starship Troopers is on ... gotta watch it ... 'comfort tv'.

Very good!

Although I did see the irony, I originally didn't get the joke.

It seemed very much stomach-turning on every level, and I guess that's the reason.

I'll have to pay more attention next time it's on TV.