I’m an avid reader, and while I don’t get into them as much as I used to, a lot of my earlier days were spent reading science fiction. But not just any science fiction, I was drawn to the works if Robert Heinlein. I started with “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” and it just escalated from there. Didn’t matter if they were collections of short stories of full out novels, I just couldn’t get enough. To the day, he is still my favorite science fiction writer. Of course that being the case, it goes without saying that I read “Starship Troopers.” It’s an awesome book, and I highly recommend giving it a read if you get the chance. Unfortunately, what that will do for you is ruin some of the enjoyment you might have had for Paul Verhoeven’s sci-fi blockbuster. This isn’t in any way a slight towards that film, but as is the case with most books that are adapted, way too much gets changed and a lot of the initial tone of the author often gets lost.

Where the book of “Starship Troopers” gets a bit more cerebral, the film is all action and special effects. That said, I am a fan of the film, if only because it is well shot, and at times offers quite the jolt of adrenaline. It’s an action film through and through and a lot of fun to watch. But that’s only part of what I enjoy about the film. What really hooks me in is the same type of sarcastic humor that Verhoeven used to great effect in his earlier “Robocop.” That film was littered with all manner of ‘commercials’ which poked fun at the rampant and often ridiculous tactics used by advertisers to sell a product. In “Starship Troopers”, Verhoeven turns his attention on the propaganda style advertising that sells the idea of enlisting in the Armed Forces as the end all, beat all of patriotic aspirations. These advertisements show smiling soldiers defeating the evil and horrible ‘bug menace’ touting lines like, “The only good bug is a dead bug…”, or showing school children ‘doing their part’ by stomping on cockroaches.

These are funny to be sure, but at the same time, there is a sense of dread knowing the reality of the fate that most of the soldiers will face. The type of propaganda Verhoeven uses in the film “Starship Troopers” has been used for ages, and unfortunately is still being used to some degree by a certain inept government today. Not so funny.

With the popularity that the “Starship Troopers” movie found, it was bound to have some sort of sequel down the road. What it had, was two different types. More recently, there was a direct to video sequel that was better than average, but still paled in comparison to the original. More interesting and entertaining was an animated series that found its way onto television screens back in 1999. The series was called “Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles” and it focused on most of the same characters that were introduced in the film, though based on the fate of some of those characters, these events had to have happened somewhere in between boot camp and the end of the film.

“Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles” wasn’t a traditionally animated series by any stretch of the imagination, and that’s part of what made it so entertaining. It was created using 3D computer imaging, and while not fully lifelike, is as close an anything seen up to that point. The style is similar to the film “Final Fantasy”, which used CGI animation to fully create the characters and their environments. Sometimes the movement is a bit choppy, the overall effect is very well done, especially in the way the faces move.

The series was made up of ‘Campaigns’, each one lasting 5 episodes and taking the characters to different planets to fight the bugs. I tried watching the series whan it first aired, but the schedule had the episodes all over the place and often out of order, so even though I really liked it, I gave up. A while back, Sony / Columbia Tristar released the seven main campaigns in individual sets, but I never had the chance to check these out. I’m kind if glad I waited, because now they are releasing a 4-disc set that includes all of these campaigns, plus some original (and recently thought to be unfilmed) standalone episodes.

The set is very well produced and each disc has two of the campaigns, while the final disc holds the last campaign as well as the bonus episodes. It was great to be able to watch all of these episodes, cut together and shown in the order they were intended to be seen. I’ll grant you that most of the episodes feature the Troopers shooting a seemingly endless armada of bugs, but while this makes up the bulk of the scenes, there is still enough of a plot to keep viewers interested.

I spoke with a friend of mine who had seen the earlier DVD releases and there does seem to one thing that this new complete set does not include. I was told that the earlier sets had some commentary by the show’s creators and there is nothing like that to be found here. If this is true, I’m mildly disappointed to have to miss out on hearing them. Admittedly, since this is the ‘Complete Campaigns’, fir all intents and purposes, they should have been included here. But this is a minor nitpick, being as that the overall look and sound of the series on these DVDs are great.

The release of “Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles Complete Campaigns” comes in a great looking slipcase, which holds the four individual super slim DVD cases. There is also a collectible illustration inside that can be opened to reveal the synopsis of each campaign and the titles of the episodes that make them up.

Includes:
The Pluto Campaign
The Hydora Campaign
The Tophet Campaign
The Tesca Campaign
The Zephyr Campaign
The Klendathu Campaign
Trackers
The Homefront Campaign

Extras: 4 Bonus Episodes, Photo Galleries, Collectible Roughnecks Illustration
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Sony / Columbia Tristar
Release Date: 7/5/2005
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles Complete Campaigns an A.