# Is the war in Starship Troopers THE MOVIE fabricated? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 1, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747 "2015-08-01T19:55:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/1 "2015-08-01T19:55:21Z")
It all starts with a asteroid hitting earth, blamed on the bugs. But we never again see any indication the bugs have orbital capability or space travel or hell even technology, the best we see is beetles capable of firing energy bursts into orbit, not launching asteroids across vast space precise enough to hit other planets. Was the asteroid just a natural asteroid, or even launched by earth forces as a false flag attack? This would fit perfectly with the satire nature of the movie, but I’m not sold. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/2 "2015-08-01T20:26:22Z")
Well the war was already going strong at that point and we do see the bugs take out the spaceships in orbit by launching giant rocks at them. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/3 "2015-08-01T21:52:31Z")
How long would it take for a giant rock launched by Beetles to cross interplanetary place? :smack: And be accurate enough to hit Earth after travelling for ages? :smack::smack: Yes, it was all a lie. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/4 "2015-08-01T21:57:54Z")
I could have won that “war” in a day or less with a Sopwith Camel crop duster and a few gallons of Raid. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/5 "2015-08-01T22:18:39Z")
> [@glee](#): > > How long would it take for a giant rock launched by Beetles to cross interplanetary place? :smack: > And be accurate enough to hit Earth after travelling for ages? :smack::smack: > > Yes, it was all a lie. Not to mention infantry is about the stupidest way to fight the bugs, when they were training them in hand to hand knife combat how was that to come in useful? The base bug has two damn scythes for arms! And we know the humans had nukes. What did they want the bug planet for? It has oxygen but appears to be a desert wasteland. Just get rid of excess humans on earth? ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/6 "2015-08-01T22:56:40Z")
The story made no sense-it was just a backdrop for Heinlein’s ideas about patriotism, country, and sacrifice. Yeah-fighting the bugs with infantry made little sense-when a few tons of DDT would have worked much better. the bugs are a type of collective consciousness beings-they are directed by the tick-like master queen (the one that eats human brains). Makes as little sense as “star Wars”. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/7 "2015-08-01T23:03:26Z")
I always assumed we wanted their planets so they couldn’t just drop nukes over the whole thing and make them uninhabitable. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/8 "2015-08-01T23:09:42Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Not to mention infantry is about the stupidest way to fight the bugs, when they were training them in hand to hand knife combat how was that to come in useful? The base bug has two damn scythes for arms! And we know the humans had nukes. > > What did they want the bug planet for? It has oxygen but appears to be a desert wasteland. Just get rid of excess humans on earth? > [@ralph124c](#): > > The story made no sense-it was just a backdrop for Heinlein’s ideas about patriotism, country, and sacrifice. Yeah-fighting the bugs with infantry made little sense-when a few tons of DDT would have worked much better. the bugs are a type of collective consciousness beings-they are directed by the tick-like master queen (the one that eats human brains). Makes as little sense as “star Wars”. That is explained in the book. The book named Starship Troopers. There is no Starship Troopers movie. Never has been. Maybe some day there will be. Read the book. In the book there are other races besides the bugs. Here is the part that explains it > [@](#): > > “If we can use an H-bomb–and as you said it’s no checker game; it’s real, it’s war and nobody is fooling around–isn’t it sort of ridiculous to go crawling around in the weeds, throwing knives and maybe getting yourself killed . . . and even losing the war . . . when you’ve got a real weapon you can use to win? What’s the point in a whole lot of men risking their lives with obsolete weapons when one professor type can do so much more just by pushing a button?’ > Zim didn’t answer at once, which wasn’t like him at all. Then he said softly, ‘Are you happy in the Infantry, Hendrick? You can resign, you know.’ > Hendrick muttered something; Zim said, ‘Speak up!’ > I’m not itching to resign, sir. I’m going to sweat out my term.’ > I see. Well, the question you asked is one that a sergeant isn’t really qualified to answer . . . and one that you shouldn’t ask me. You’re supposed to know the answer before you join up. Or you should. Did your school have a course in History and Moral Philosophy?’ > What? Sure–yes, sir.’ > Then you’ve heard the answer. But I’ll give you my own–unofficial–views on it. If you wanted to teach a baby a lesson, would you cuts its head off?’ > Why . . . no, sir!’ > Of course not. You’d paddle it. There can be circumstances when it’s just as foolish to hit an enemy with an H-Bomb as it would be to spank a baby with an ax. War is not violence and killing, pure and simple; war is controlled violence, for a purpose. The purpose of war is to support your government’s decisions by force. The purpose is never to kill the enemy just to be killing him . . . but to make him do what you want him to do. Not killing . . . but controlled and purposeful violence. But it’s not your business or mine to decide the purpose of the control. It’s never a soldier’s business to decide when or where or how–or why–he fights; that belongs to the statesmen and the generals. The statesmen decide why and how much; the generals take it from there and tell us where and when and how. We supply the violence; other people–“older and wiser heads,” as they say–supply the control. Which is as it should be. That’s the best answer I can give you. If it doesn’t satisfy you, I’ll get you a chit to go talk to the regimental commander. If he can’t convince you–then go home and be a civilian! Because in that case you will certainly never make a soldier.” ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/9 "2015-08-01T23:19:41Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > The story made no sense-it was just a backdrop for Heinlein’s ideas about patriotism, country, and sacrifice. Yeah-fighting the bugs with infantry made little sense-when a few tons of DDT would have worked much better. the bugs are a type of collective consciousness beings-they are directed by the tick-like master queen (the one that eats human brains). Makes as little sense as “star Wars”. Heinlein had nothing to do with the movie and the movie is drastically different than the book. ---
**Author:** ![bb49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b38774/32.png) [@bb49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bb49)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/10 "2015-08-01T23:20:33Z")
Ahhh, but shower scene near the start of the movie made perfect sense. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/11 "2015-08-02T01:55:41Z")
As kind of a compromise view, I got the impression that the war might have been being _deliberately allowed_ to happen, and be prolonged needlessly through poor and wasteful strategy, in order to prop up the Earth-government’s society. Kinda like in “1984.” And, oddly enough, on terms of similarity to the source material, I thought that the direct-to-video “Starship Troopers 2” actually felt closer to Heinlein’s style, in terms of dialogue and characters, than the original film. Kinda like if Heinlein had been hired to ghostwrite a sequel to a story he’d had nothing to do with. It had the same scriptwriter, but maybe it was the [change in directors](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0864138/?ref_=tt_ov_dr) that had something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/12 "2015-08-02T02:32:42Z")
The number of idiocies in the film could fill the Albert Hall. [Here’s the best rundown.](http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/r_startro.htm) My favorite line: “Dizzy gets nailed by a bug! In fact, it puts a couple of three-inch diameter spikes through her torso, penetrating both lungs. So what does she do? She screams!” ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/13 "2015-08-02T06:06:38Z")
Odd half asleep fanwank, what if the bugs have recently had a sort of explosion of knowledge? See the queens learn by sucking brains right? What if they just recently had human contact, sucked the brain of a scientist or military higher up and learned about physics and orbital mechanics or what the government had planned for bug world? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/14 "2015-08-02T06:53:57Z")
Trouble is, there’s no way to be sure. Ignorant filmmakers, who think rocks can be thrown interstellar distances Government that is faking a war Both seem equally probable given the film we saw. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/15 "2015-08-02T07:33:36Z")
Of course it’s bogus. Pretty much the point of the film. As we know, it could never happen in real life … ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/16 "2015-08-02T08:02:36Z")
There’s a similar “throw a rock, watch it cross interstellar space in a reasonable amount of time” bit in _The Last Starfighter_. Heck, movies that depict space travel in a consistent manner (let alone a plausible one) are rarer than snake armpits. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/17 "2015-08-02T08:08:28Z")
Note that the asteroid in ST exits hyperspace(!) near earth, we see it on screen. How the hell did that happen? Was there a hyperdrive inside it? ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/18 "2015-08-02T08:28:20Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Is the war in Starship Troopers THE MOVIE fabricated? No, it’s not. The events of the movie make no sense, but that is because the movie is complete shit. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/19 "2015-08-02T10:11:25Z")
It makes a whole lot of sense if you insert the phrase ‘WMD’ at various points. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747/20 "2015-08-02T11:22:18Z")
I think the Movie strongly implies that the Government launched the asteroid itself. I also think most of the complaints about it being stupid were all by design because the movie is satire. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-war-in-starship-troopers-the-movie-fabricated/726747.md?page=2)