Starship Troopers (franchise)

Starship Troopers is an American military science fiction media franchise based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert A. Heinlein and the satirical 1997 film adaptation by screenwriter Edward Neumeier and director Paul Verhoeven.

Starship Troopers
Official franchise logo
Created by	Robert A. Heinlein (original novel) Edward Neumeier and Paul Verhoeven (film and Sony Pictures–owned adaptations)
Original work	Starship Troopers (1959)
Owners	Heinlein Prize Trust (publishing) TriStar Pictures (Sony Pictures Entertainment) (multimedia)
Years	1959–present
Print publications
Novel(s)	Starship Troopers (1959)
Films and television
Film(s)	Starship Troopers (1997)
Animated series	Starship Troopers (1988) Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles (1999–2000)
Television film(s)	Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation (2004)
Direct-to-video	Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (2008) Starship Troopers: Invasion (2012) Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars (2017)
Games
Traditional	Starship Troopers (1976) Starship Troopers: The Miniatures Game (2005)
Role-playing	Starship Troopers: The Roleplaying Game (2005)
Video game(s)	Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy (2000) Starship Troopers (2005) Starship Troopers: Terran Command (2022) Starship Troopers: Extermination (2023)
Miscellaneous
Pinball	Starship Troopers (1997)
Official website
starshiptroopers.com

Setting

The series is set hundreds of years in the future, after a collapse of Western democracy and many resulting wars. In this future, human society is now ruled by the Terran Federation, a government run by military veterans. Military service is voluntary, but required to earn the full rights of citizenship, such as holding office and voting.

Much of the series focuses on the experiences of Juan "Johnny" Rico and the lessons he learns enlisting in military service along with his hometown friends, Carmen Ibanez (a love interest who becomes a pilot) and Carl (who, in the films, is shown as being a psychic who joins military intelligence). Johnny joins the 'Mobile Infantry', the primary foot soldiers of the Federation (depicted in the book as having advanced armored suits equipped with jetpacks and nuclear weapons). While Johnny is in training, an alien species known as the "Arachnids" attacks Buenos Aires, resulting in the death of Johnny's family (only his mother in the books, his entire family in the film). After this, the Federation goes to war and the series follows their attempts to defeat the "bugs", especially by capturing part of the Arachnid ruling class.

Novel

Starship Troopers (1959)

At some point between 1958 and 1959, Robert Heinlein put aside the novel that would become Stranger in a Strange Land and wrote Starship Troopers. His motivation arose partially from his anger at US President Dwight Eisenhower's decision to suspend US nuclear tests, and the Soviet tests that occurred soon afterward. Writing in his 1980 volume Expanded Universe, Heinlein would say that the publication of a newspaper advertisement placed by the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy on April 5, 1958, calling for a unilateral suspension of nuclear weapons testing by the United States sparked his desire to write Starship Troopers. Heinlein and his wife Virginia created the "(Patrick Henry League)" in an attempt to create support for the US nuclear testing program. Heinlein stated that he used the novel to clarify his military and political views.

Like many of Heinlein's books, Starship Troopers was completed in a few weeks. It was originally written as a juvenile novel for New York publishing house Scribner; Heinlein had previously had success with this format, having written several such novels published by Scribner. The manuscript was rejected, prompting Heinlein to end his association with the publisher completely, and resume writing books with adult themes. Scholars have suggested that Scribner's rejection was based on ideological objections to the content of the novel, particularly its treatment of military conflict.

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction first published Starship Troopers in October and November 1959 as a two-part serial titled Starship Soldier.

Commentators have written that Starship Troopers is not driven by its plot, though it contains scenes of military combat. Instead, much of the novel is given over to a discussion of ideas. In particular, the discussion of political views is a recurring feature of what scholar Jeffrey Cass described as an "ideologically intense" book. A 1997 review in Salon categorized it as a "philosophical novel". Critics have debated to what extent the novel promotes Heinlein's own political views. Some contend that the novel maintains a sense of irony that allows readers to draw their own conclusions; others argue that Heinlein is sermonizing throughout the book, and that its purpose is to expound Heinlein's militaristic philosophy.

Films

Live-action

Film	U.S. release date	Director(s)	Screenwriter(s)	Producer(s)
Starship Troopers	November 7, 1997	Paul Verhoeven	Edward Neumeier	Jon Davison Alan Marshall
Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation	April 24, 2004	Phil Tippett		Jon Davison
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder	August 5, 2008	Edward Neumeier		David Lancaster

Future

In December 2011, film producer Neal H. Moritz announced plans to produce a reboot of the Starship Troopers film franchise. In November 2016, Columbia and Moritz announced the writing team of Mark Swift and Damian Shannon had been signed to pen the screenplay. Verhoeven expressed skepticism at the proposed remake, citing reports that it draws heavily from the original militaristic 1959 novel.

Animated

Film	U.S. release date	Director(s)	Screenwriter(s)	Story by	Producer(s)
Starship Troopers: Invasion	August 28, 2012	Shinji Aramaki	Flint Dille	Shinji Aramaki Joseph Chou Shigehito Kawada	Joseph Chou
Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars	August 21, 2017	Shinji Aramaki Masaru Matsumoto	Edward Neumeier		Joseph Chou Max Nishi Tomi Hashimoto

Television

Series	Episodes	First released	Last released	Showrunner(s)	Network(s)
Starship Troopers	6	October 25, 1988	December 17, 1988	Tetsurō Amino	—
Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles	36 + 4 clip shows	August 30, 1999	April 3, 2000	Richard Raynis	BKN

Video games

Video game	U.S. release date	Developer	Publisher	Platform(s)
Starship Troopers	1979	Dendron Amusements	Dendron Amusements	(CP/M)
Starship Troopers	1997	MGA Entertainment	MGA Entertainment	Handheld LCD game
Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy	October 23, 2000	Blue Tongue Entertainment	Hasbro Interactive	Windows
Starship Troopers	October 27, 2005	Strangelite	Empire Interactive and Destineer	Windows
Starship Troopers: Terran Command	June 16, 2022	The Artistocrats	Slitherine Software	Windows
Starship Troopers: Extermination	May 17, 2023 (early access)	Offworld Industries	Offworld Industries	Windows

Cast and characters

List indicator(s)

• This table shows the principal characters and the actors who have portrayed them throughout the franchise.
• A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film or video game, or that the character's presence in the film or video game has not yet been announced.
• A ^V indicates a voice only role.

Character	Anime series	Original series			Animated films		Animated series
	Starship Troopers	Starship Troopers	Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation	Starship Troopers 3: Marauder	Starship Troopers: Invasion	Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars	Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles
	1988	1997	2004	2008	2012	2017	1999–2000
Fed Net Announcer		John Cunningham^V	Stephen Stanton^V	Corey Burton^V		Andrew Love^V
Juan D. Rico John "Johnny" Rico	Yasunori Matsumoto^V	Casper Van Dien		Casper Van Dien	David Matranga^V	Casper Van Dien^V	Rino Romano^V
Carl Jenkins	Yūji Mitsuya^V	Neil Patrick Harris			Justin Doran^V		Rider Strong^V
Carmencita Ibañez Carmen	Rei Sakuma^V	Denise Richards			Luci Christian^V		Tish Hicks^V
Charles Zim Charlie	Akira Kamiya^V	Clancy Brown					Clancy Brown^V
Yvette Deladrier	Mika Doi^V	Brenda Strong
Emilio Rico Bill	Shinji Ogawa^V	Christopher Curry
Mrs. Maria Rico	Kazuko Yanaga^V	Lenore Kasdorf
Smith Alphard Kitten	Kazuhiko Inoue^V	Matt Levin
Pat Leivy Ace	Shō Hayami^V	Jake Busey
Ian Frankel	Tomomichi Nishimura^V
Theodore C. Hendrick Ted	Kazuyuki Sogabe^V
Greg Paterson	Hirotaka Suzuoki^V
T. Azuma	Shūichi Ikeda^V
S. Cherenkov	Masahiro Anzai^V
Clea	Saeko Shimazu^V
Dunn	Shingo Hiromori^V
Isabelle Flores Dizzy		Dina Meyer				Dina Meyer^V	Elizabeth Daily^V
Shujumi		Anthony Ruivivar
Jean Rasczak		Michael Ironside					Jamie Hanes^V
Zander Barcalow		Patrick Muldoon					Nicholas Guest^V
Breckenridge		Eric Bruskotter
"Birdie" Byrd		Ungela Brockman
Djana'D		Tami-Adrian George
Katrina McIntire		Blake Lindsley
Lei Sahara			(Colleen Porch)
V.J. Dax			Richard Burgi
Pavlov Dill			Lawrence Monoson
Dede Rake (née Deladier)			Brenda Strong
Dix Hauser				Boris Kodjoe
Lola Beck				Jolene Blalock
Omar Anoke				Stephen Hogan
Enolo Phid				Amanda Donohoe
Holly Little				Marnette Patterson
Bull Brittles				Stelio Savante
J. Kirby				(Nicole Salandra)
"Slug" Skinner				(Garth Breytenbach)
A. Sunday				Tanya van Graan
Link Manion				Cécile Breccia
A. Danner				(Graeme Richards)
M. Hightower				(Antonio Summerton)
Elmo Goniff				(Joe Vaz)
Tony Daugherty					Sam Roman^V
"Ice Blonde"					Melissa Davis^V
Tia Durer Trig					Emily Neves^V
"Mech"					(Jovan Jackson)^V
Henry Varro Hero					David Wald^V
Otis Hacks Bugspray					(Andrew Love)^V
"Ratzass"					Leraldo Anzaldua^V
"Holy Man"					Kalob Martinez^V
Francis Brutto							David DeLuise^V
Richard LaCroix Doc							James Horan^V
Jeff Gossard Goss							Bill Fagerbakke^V
"Colonel" T'Phai							Steve Staley^V
Marlow							Thomas Wagner^V
Miriam Redwing							Irene Bedard^V
Sanchez							R. Lee Ermey^V
Earl Walker							Michael Harrington^V

Reception

Critical and public response

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	CinemaScore
Starship Troopers	63% (63 reviews)	51 (20 reviews)	C+
Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation	33% (6 reviews)	—	—
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder	50% (6 reviews)	—	—
Starship Troopers: Invasion	— (4 reviews)	—	—
Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars	— (4 reviews)	—	—

References

1. Both Neumeier and Verhoeven are involved on the writing of the movie; the former received the screenplay credit. Four of the five films that form the main continuity of the movie universe (including the first movie itself) were written by Neumeier.

1. Gifford, James (1996). "The Nature of Federal Service in Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers" (PDF). Retrieved March 4, 2006.
2. Heinlein 2003, pp. 468–469.
3. Heinlein 2003, pp. 468–469, 481–482.
4. Samuelson, David N. (1979). "Starship Troopers". In Magill, Frank N. (ed.). Survey of Science Fiction Literature: Volume V. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, US: Salem Press. pp. 2173–2177. ISBN 0-89356-199-1.
5. "Biographies of Robert and Virginia Heinlein". The Heinlein Society. Retrieved March 4, 2006.
6. Crim, Brian E. (2009). ""A World That Works": Fascism and Media Globalization in Starship Troopers". Film & History. 39 (2): 17–29. doi:10.1353/flm.0.0105. S2CID 155012971.
7. Booker & Thomas 2009, p. 215.
8. Cass 1999, p. 52.
9. Shoales, Ian (November 13, 1997). "Ill Humor". Salon. Archived from the original on May 14, 2009. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
10. White, James (December 4, 2011). "Starship Troopers Remake Planned". Empire. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
11. "'Starship Troopers' Reboot in the Works (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. November 3, 2016. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
12. Reed, Ryan (November 16, 2016). "Original 'Starship Troopers' Director: Remake Fits Trump Presidency". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
13. "Starship Troopers 1979".
14. "Starship Troopers (1997)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
15. "Starship Troopers (1997) Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
16. "CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on April 13, 2022. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
17. "Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
18. "Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
19. "Starship Troopers: Invasion (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
20. "Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 4, 2020.

Sources

• Booker, M. Keith; Thomas, Anne-Marie (2009). The Science Fiction Handbook. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781405162067. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
• Cass, Jeffrey (April 1999). "SS Troopers: Cybernostalgia and Paul Verhoeven's Fascist Flirtation". Studies in Popular Culture. 21 (3): 51–63. JSTOR 23414533.
• Heinlein, Robert A. (2003). Expanded Universe. New York City, New York, US: Baen. ISBN 0-7434-7159-8. OCLC 223822885.

External links

• starshiptroopers.com