# Just read Starship Troopers for the first time. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2010, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075 "2010-11-18T07:17:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/141 "2010-11-21T19:51:56Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Technically superior? Give me a break. This is a large part of the problem. The Mobile Infantry in the movie has barely more firepower than the defenders at Rourke’s Drift. They can travel through interstellar space, but their army doesn’t sport any weapons heavier than assault rifles. It’s ridiculous. As I said above, this is one way that Starship Troopers: Marauder was so much better than the first movie. They actually got around to teaching the Troopers some basic combat tactics. As I said though, the plot doesn’t actually follow the MI guys, instead having two plotlines about an intel officer trying to unravel a conspiracy and a group of Navy types shipwrecked on a Bug Planet. Oh, and religion, there was a whole religion plotline through the whole movie that was handled with all the subtlety and delicacy of that scene with the printer in Office Space. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/142 "2010-11-21T21:27:15Z")
I’ve started a new thread for the discussion of [Heinlein’s character archetypes](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=586420). ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/143 "2010-11-21T23:13:06Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Technically superior? Give me a break. This is a large part of the problem. The Mobile Infantry in the movie has barely more firepower than the defenders at Rourke’s Drift. They can travel through interstellar space, but their army doesn’t sport any weapons heavier than assault rifles. It’s ridiculous. Chill, mate. “Technically superior” can mean “has better technique” or “superior technically, if you really want to argue”. So on that count you could be barking up the wrong tree. Or there’s the more obvious answer: I meant to write “technologically superior”. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/144 "2010-11-21T23:26:04Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Chill, mate. > > “Technically superior” can mean “has better technique” or “superior technically, if you really want to argue”. So on that count you could be barking up the wrong tree. > > Or there’s the more obvious answer: I meant to write “technologically superior”. Yes, I know. That’s the problem. These sci-fi troops are approximately on par with WWI armies in firepower and tactics. Their rifles are full auto, unlike the service rifles in WWI, but they’ve got no artillery. I expect the Mobile Infantry would have lost at Ypres. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/145 "2010-11-21T23:33:38Z")
Ypes? They would’ve lost in Compton! ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/146 "2010-11-21T23:45:26Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Yes, I know. That’s the problem. These sci-fi troops are approximately on par with WWI armies in firepower and tactics. Their rifles are full auto, unlike the service rifles in WWI, but they’ve got no artillery. I expect the Mobile Infantry would have lost at Ypres. I always found the rifles in the movie to be the least believable part of the film, which is pretty crazy in a film about attacking giant bugs on a far off planet and ending with full on mind-reading. They seem to magic up ammo from somewhere as they fire and fire and fire and fire on full auto with no reloading. I still maintain that it is a very misunderstood film, not just in the US where apparently it performed much worse. I have watched it (or just discussed it) on several occasions with Brits that have never picked up on the fact that in the film the humans were the aggressors. I’m not saying for a second that no-one in the thread hasn’t picked up on it, but merely that it is something so basic and important to the whole point of the film, yet so many just seem to forget/ignore the propaganda reel where it is revealed that humans settled in bug territory, thus stealing areas of their homeland. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/147 "2010-11-22T02:23:58Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > But it was clearly just showing that sheer strength of numbers can overrun a technically superior enemy. There are clear references to the film ‘Zulu’, which was based on the real-world events of Rorke’s Drift. > > Surely a “student of military history” would know this? But.. that’s what didn’t happen at Roarke’s Drift. The British, outnumbered between thirty and forty to one, stood. They were not greatly superior, technologically, either. The Zulus had quite a number of guns. The difference was largely military discipline. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/148 "2010-11-22T02:52:50Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > humans settled in bug territory, thus stealing areas of their homeland. You seem to be misusing language rather egregiously. Even in the crapfest of a film, it was never claimed that the humans had set up colonies on Klendathu. Not once. As such nonsense about the bug “homeland” is whatever narrative you’re looking to tack onto the film. More likely than not what you’re actually reffering to and shoehorning into a narrative is: [ > [@](#): > > Disregarding Federal warnings, Mormon extremists established Port Joe Smith, a settlement of 300 on Tango Urilla, a system just inside the Arachnid Quarantine Zone. > […] > Too late they realized tha Tango Urilla had already been chosen by other colonists – Arachnids ! ]([http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Starship-Troopers.html](http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Starship-Troopers.html)) Hardly “aggressors” “stealing” someone’s “homeland”. The movie was a celluloid abomination that deliberately smeared a first rate science fiction classic. We don’t have to dream up alternate narratives to show how much more unlike its “source” material it was. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/149 "2010-11-22T03:40:28Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > You seem to be misusing language rather egregiously. Even in the crapfest of a film, it was never claimed that the humans had set up colonies on Klendathu. Not once. As such nonsense about the bug “homeland” is whatever narrative you’re looking to tack onto the film. > > More likely than not what you’re actually reffering to and shoehorning into a narrative is: > > [URL=“[http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Starship-Troopers.html](http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Starship-Troopers.html)”] > > Hardly “aggressors” “stealing” someone’s “homeland”. > The movie was a celluloid abomination that deliberately smeared a first rate science fiction classic. We don’t have to dream up alternate narratives to show how much more unlike its “source” material it was. Nothing of which disagrees with what I said. Humans settled in a territory. Turns out bugs were their first. (What I wrote: humans settled in bug territory) Ergo humans had invaded the bugs’ turf. (what I wrote: thus stealing areas of their homeland.) My guess is that you are getting hung up on homeland. I was honestly just trying not to repeat the word territory. The area is not at any point “colonies on Klendathu” as it was clear that the bugs had expended a bit away from Klendathu. It is you and you alone that has made this incorrect jump. I simply didnt say it. But I’ll try and write it really, really clearly and not be worried about repeating words that can then be misunderstood. Humans colonise areas of space. Turns out these areas of space belonged to the bugs. The bugs were none to chuffed with this invasion of their territory. War followed. It is really that simple. It is the very essence of how the conflict started, clearly showing what your quote confirms were Mormon Extremists taking bug territory. Mormons that then proceeded to do scientific test on the bugs. Mormons that were under the watchful eye of the Feds and for all intents and purposes had done their service and hence were part of the war machine. So, commonly known as an act of war. which is why I am so shocked when people genuinely don’t seem to realise it. Now unless this is going to devolve into a GD-style picking away at the Geneva Conventions and what not … sod it. For the sake of the context of the film that has its clear biases (by design), the Humans committed an act of War. And it was the humans fault. And no, I never said they got to Klendathu, You are just going to have to deal with that. And I said, a surprising amount of people seem to miss this in the propaganda film. Pity really as it was utterly essential to understanding the tone of the film. I will happily say it, if you didn’t catch, or misunderstood, that little propaganda film then it is highly unlikely you understood the subtleties of the plot and then devolve into “yeah cool, tits, bangs” or someone who thinking Heinlein was raped for every second that film is on a cinema screen. You’re both wrong. The evidence is there - you just choose not to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/150 "2010-11-22T03:46:18Z")
Just streamed the movie on Netflix. Not as good as I remember and far worse than the book. Kind of jarring just how much this movie resembles Robocop in both it’s production values and atmosphere. Robocop is my favorite movie of all time. You’d think I’d love ST since it’s the same director but it was just cheesy. Good shower scene though. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/151 "2010-11-22T03:48:12Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > You seem to be misusing language rather egregiously. Even in the crapfest of a film, it was never claimed that the humans had set up colonies on Klendathu. Not once. As such nonsense about the bug “homeland” is whatever narrative you’re looking to tack onto the film. > > More likely than not what you’re actually reffering to and shoehorning into a narrative is: > > [URL=“[http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Starship-Troopers.html](http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Starship-Troopers.html)”] > > Hardly “aggressors” “stealing” someone’s “homeland”. > The movie was a celluloid abomination that deliberately smeared a first rate science fiction classic. We don’t have to dream up alternate narratives to show how much more unlike its “source” material it was. Sorry again. Do you read what you write? Quote from script: Disregarding Federal warnings, Mormon extremists established Port Joe Smith, a settlement of 300 on Tango Urilla, a system just inside the Arachnid Quarantine Zone. Too late they realized tha Tango Urilla had already been chosen by other colonists – Arachnids ! You said: Hardly “aggressors” “stealing” someone’s “homeland”. The humans built homes for themselves slap big in the middle of Tango Urilla (which lets not forget it “just inside the Arachnid Quarantine Zone” - ie. in legitimate Arachnid territory), which they then found out had been colonised by Arachnids. It was a colonial invasion. Of a Zone that had been set aside for arachnids. THERE. In black and white. Your inability to understand this, with the taking of other people’s land in a fictional context, has gone a long way to me understanding how you view the situation in the middle east. And I’m shocked. Apparently people that were there first stand for nothing and should just bow dow to the greater power. Shocking. Genuinely disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/152 "2010-11-22T04:00:28Z")
Some nice little titties in the movie though eh? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/153 "2010-11-22T04:14:45Z")
**amanset** , you should really watch **Zulu** again before you post any more. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/154 "2010-11-22T04:20:11Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Nothing of which disagrees with what I said. Well, yes. If we ignore the fact that every single thing you said was wrong, then nothing that you said disagrees with the facts. I’m not sure that’s a valid argument for you to make, however. > [@amanset](#): > > Humans settled in a territory. > Turns out bugs were their first. (What I wrote: humans settled in bug territory) > Ergo humans had invaded the bugs’ turf. (what I wrote: thus stealing areas of their homeland.) Let’s break this down, shall we? You’ve invented bugs being there first, all we’re told is that bugs had chosen it for colonization and, even then, we’re not told that that dreadful Mormon aggressors (:rolleyes:) were anywhere near bug cities on the planet. In point of fact, you’re trying to conflate “already chosen” with “already settled by”. For all we know, the humans were there first and the bugs had already chosen it but it took them a while to make planet fall. You’ve also invented a territorial dispute whereby one claim makes territory “owned” and the other makes it an “invasion”. This wasn’t in the book or the movie, and is a narrative that you’re grafting on to it. As for “homeland”, rather obviously as the planet involved is not Klendathu, trying to invent a narrative about “aggressors” “stealing” a “homeland” is simply an addition of a narrative that didn’t actually exist, but that you’re adding to the film. Even the claim that there was a human colony on a planet where the bugs also had a colony, therefor there were human “aggressors” “stealing” “[whatever]” is grafting a narrative onto the story that simply doesn’t exist it in. You might talk about a human colony in a zone that’s been put off limits due to potential bug presence and that the colony was on a planet that had already been chosen by the bugs for colonization, but you’re hammering and hammering on a square peg to get it to fit into a round hole so that it conforms to a narrative that doesn’t actually exist in the film. “Invading” “aggressors” “stealing” a “Homeland”, naturally, is a good bit different than “two races both choose to colonize a planet and then fight over it.” Likewise, let’s look at your claim that claim "Mormons that were under the watchful eye of the Feds and for all intents and purposes had done their service and hence were part of the war machine. " You’re pretty much inventing all of that, and what’s more, it directly contradicts the film itself as it says that the Mormons disregarded the federal quarantine and nowhere, at all, does it say that they were citizens. And there’s also the fact that you’re, again, tacking your own narrative onto the film. The only way a civilian can gain citizenship is to serve and then _muster out_. Someone who was in the service and is no longer can, hardly, be called “part of the war machine”. > [@amanset](#): > > The humans built homes for themselves slap big in the middle of Tango Urilla (which lets not forget it “just inside the Arachnid Quarantine Zone” - ie. in legitimate Arachnid territory), which they then found out had been colonised by Arachnids. It was a colonial invasion. No, actually, most of that is stuff you’ve invented as \*you’re adding on a narrative that didn’t actually exist in the film. \* First you’ve decided that a quarantine zone due to bug presence is, in fact, a “legitimate” “territory”. Then you’ve decided that something that had already been “chosen” by bug colonists was actually already colonized and (even if that were true) that a human colony on the same planet as bugs was an “invasion”. By that logic, China was established as a nation on Earth long before virtually every other civilized modern nation, so all of you folks in Europe had better get out, this planet is already colonized by the Chinese. What the film actually says is that human settled on a planet that was in a quarantine zone (due to the danger of bug presence, that’s why it was a _Quarantine zone_), bugs had already decided to colonize the world and then they massacred the human colonists. The “invaders” 'stealing" a “homeland” is a separate narrative that you’re adding in. > [@](#): > > Apparently people that were there first stand for nothing and should just bow dow to the greater power. > > Shocking. Genuinely disgusting. … This is a movie. A horrible movie. About incompetent soldiers fighting 12 foot tall evil spiders. Do you, perhaps, have an opinion on whether or not the Balrog had wings? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/155 "2010-11-22T04:32:01Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Some nice little titties in the movie though eh? Oh, totally. Tits = awesome. That’s the one reason RAH didn’t gravespin as much as he could have. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/156 "2010-11-22T04:32:14Z")
This is a general reminder that everybody is expected to be polite even when discussing a controversial movie. > [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Oh so the whiners here are all armchair generals? Confirms my thoughts. You can say what you like about the movie, but you’re required to be civil with other posters. Cafe Society is not the forum for calling other posters ‘whiners.’ > [@amanset](#): > > Your inability to understand this, with the taking of other people’s land in a fictional context, has gone a long way to me understanding how you view the situation in the middle east. > > And I’m shocked. > > Apparently people that were there first stand for nothing and should just bow dow to the greater power. > > Shocking. Genuinely disgusting. Please don’t make personal comments about other people (and about unrelated issues) when you’re discussing the movie. This doesn’t belong in Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/157 "2010-11-22T05:00:14Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Some nice little titties in the movie though eh? Pretty much its only redeeming feature. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/158 "2010-11-22T05:06:46Z")
God damn it. [This](http://www.spoonyexperiment.com/img/movie-reviews/starship-troopers/img07.jpg) is what I get when I google for “Starship Troopers shower scene”… ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/159 "2010-11-22T07:59:14Z")
> [@Darth\_Nader](#): > > **amanset** , you should really watch **Zulu** again before you post any more. The Zulu connections are not something that I have pulled from my arse. Many other have seen it. To start you off, this is from the Wikipedia page for Zulu: > **[Zulu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zulu_(film))** > > Zulu may refer to: > [@](#): > > The fort defence scene in the 1997 science-fiction film Starship Troopers contains references to Zulu such as the phrases “We’re all gonna die!”, “Fire at will” and “Fall back into the compound”, as well as similar battle scenes and camera angles. Do a bit of googling and you’ll see plenty of others. I guess you’ve got the one true vision and everyone else is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075/160 "2010-11-22T08:12:34Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Let’s break this down, shall we? > You’ve invented bugs being there first, all we’re told is that bugs had chosen it for colonization and, even then, we’re not told that that dreadful Mormon aggressors (:rolleyes:) were anywhere near bug cities on the planet. In point of fact, you’re trying to conflate “already chosen” with “already settled by”. For all we know, the humans were there first and the bugs had already chosen it but it took them a while to make planet fall. > You’ve also invented a territorial dispute whereby one claim makes territory “owned” and the other makes it an “invasion”. This wasn’t in the book or the movie, and is a narrative that you’re grafting on to it. > As for “homeland”, rather obviously as the planet involved is not Klendathu, trying to invent a narrative about “aggressors” “stealing” a “homeland” is simply an addition of a narrative that didn’t actually exist, but that you’re adding to the film. > > Even the claim that there was a human colony on a planet where the bugs also had a colony, therefor there were human “aggressors” “stealing” “[whatever]” is grafting a narrative onto the story that simply doesn’t exist it in. You might talk about a human colony in a zone that’s been put off limits due to potential bug presence and that the colony was on a planet that had already been chosen by the bugs for colonization, but you’re hammering and hammering on a square peg to get it to fit into a round hole so that it conforms to a narrative that doesn’t actually exist in the film. > > “Invading” “aggressors” “stealing” a “Homeland”, naturally, is a good bit different than “two races both choose to colonize a planet and then fight over it.” > > Likewise, let’s look at your claim that claim "Mormons that were under the watchful eye of the Feds and for all intents and purposes had done their service and hence were part of the war machine. " > > You’re pretty much inventing all of that, and what’s more, it directly contradicts the film itself as it says that the Mormons disregarded the federal quarantine and nowhere, at all, does it say that they were citizens. And there’s also the fact that you’re, again, tacking your own narrative onto the film. The only way a civilian can gain citizenship is to serve and then _muster out_. Someone who was in the service and is no longer can, hardly, be called “part of the war machine”. > > No, actually, most of that is stuff you’ve invented as \*you’re adding on a narrative that didn’t actually exist in the film. \* > > First you’ve decided that a quarantine zone due to bug presence is, in fact, a “legitimate” “territory”. > Then you’ve decided that something that had already been “chosen” by bug colonists was actually already colonized and (even if that were true) that a human colony on the same planet as bugs was an “invasion”. By that logic, China was established as a nation on Earth long before virtually every other civilized modern nation, so all of you folks in Europe had better get out, this planet is already colonized by the Chinese. > > What the film actually says is that human settled on a planet that was in a quarantine zone (due to the danger of bug presence, that’s why it was a _Quarantine zone_), bugs had already decided to colonize the world and then they massacred the human colonists. > The “invaders” 'stealing" a “homeland” is a separate narrative that you’re adding in. > > … > This is a movie. A horrible movie. About incompetent soldiers fighting 12 foot tall evil spiders. > > Do you, perhaps, have an opinion on whether or not the Balrog had wings? I disagree with you entirely. I think the implication is clear. One thing you have to remember is that it is a propaganda film, made to make humans feel good and righteous. The truth is bent to make you feel that the arachnids are the aggressors. That’s the whole point of the movie. Verhoeven puts it as “war make fascists of us all”. I see it more as “in war it is far to easy to overlook what your side has done wrong”. For the record, the sequence we are talking about is found in this video here, so others can view it and make their judgement: https://www.youtube.com/embed/TiU_NmYUy7U?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque Amusingly, as I watched that, this exchanged happened with my mother who is currently visiting me after I had recent back surgery: “What’s that?” “It is a film I am discussing online. There’s my DVD of it” (points to disc). “Oh my word. I thought that was real.” No real point to that. I just found it amusing. She said it right after the scene of devastation on the planet due to arachnid deaths. Ultimately, it would appear that Verhoeven is on my side. I found a review that contains this quote: > **[Starship Troopers (film)](https://starshiptroopers.fandom.com/wiki/Starship_Troopers_(film))** > > Starship Troopers was directed by Paul Verhoeven, and written by Edward Neumeier. It starred Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer and Denise Richards. The movie is based on the novel Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. Starship Troopers tells the story... > [@](#): > > Also, as Verhoeven mentions in the DVD commentary, the humans are the aggressors and the bugs the victims: when the bugs bomb Buenos Aires, they are not attacking the human race but reacting to human colonists encroaching on bug planets. I suppose I could rewatch it with the DVD commentary and see exactly what he says. It is a very interesting commentary IIRC. Finally, here’s a well known Sci-Fi blog (io9) saying the exact same thing as I have been saying: [http://io9.com/387469/are-you-ready-to-be-an-evil-colonist](http://io9.com/387469/are-you-ready-to-be-an-evil-colonist) > [@](#): > > And there’s a new direct-to-DVD sequel to Starship Troopers coming out in a couple of months. In the original Troopers, director Paul Verhoeven’s aim was to show that humans were the aggressors and the bugs were simply reacting to human colonies encroaching on their territory. This message flew over a lot of people’s heads, so maybe Troopers scriptwriter Ed Neumeier (who’s directing the new movie) will make it more blatant this time around. So clearly I am not the only one that is seeing it this way. Many others seem to, I could post loads more examples in this thread of people seeing it that way. But again, like I said to another poster in this thread, I guess yours is the one true vision, eh? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-read-starship-troopers-for-the-first-time/561075.md?page=9)