# Open Spoilers - How does the Starship Troopers movie diverge from the book? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-spoilers-how-does-the-starship-troopers-movie-diverge-from-the-book/465596 "2008-09-28T18:23:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-spoilers-how-does-the-starship-troopers-movie-diverge-from-the-book/465596/101 "2008-10-02T15:42:00Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Exactly. And I never suggested it was satirizing Heinlein; I said it was satirizing American imperialism. It’s also satirizing the American political culture, and WWII movies, and pro-military propaganda in general. AFAIK, Verhoeven probably saw it as more of a Neumeier work than a Heinlein work; I doubt he gave Heinlein much thought at all. He worked from the screenplay Neumeier gave him. Maybe Verhoven doesn’t get enough credit for shaping Starship Troopers into something that is at least loved by some people. Ed Neumeier both wrote and directed Starship Troopers 3 and it was a god-awful piece of dreck that seemed to be satirizing the satire of the first movie (“You thought I laid it on thick the first time, you ain’t seen nothing yet!”). I know it was direct-to-DVD and I know I shouldn’t have expected much, but it was eye-gougingly bad. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-spoilers-how-does-the-starship-troopers-movie-diverge-from-the-book/465596/102 "2008-10-02T16:10:51Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Well, if you regard Johnnie as “Everyman,” and let Carmen and Dizzy represent “Free Silver” and the “Gold Standard,” respectively, it does serve as a scathing indictment of Eastern Monied Interests in favor of a more Populist ideology. No, that would be the Oz scenes from _"The Number of the Beast…_. (See Cecil’s column on “The Wizard of Oz”.) > [@silenus](#): > > Or I could be projecting my own ideas onto a movie with absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever outside of a few scant scenes of mid-grade boobies. Again no, that would be **lissener** doing that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-spoilers-how-does-the-starship-troopers-movie-diverge-from-the-book/465596/103 "2008-10-02T16:18:10Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > No, that would be the Oz scenes from _"The Number of the Beast…_. (See Cecil’s column on “The Wizard of Oz”.) **Poly** , one of these days I’m going to start charging you rent for living in my brain. I just passed on throwing a Wizard of Oz reference in a response to that about an hour ago. ---
**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:** [October 2, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-spoilers-how-does-the-starship-troopers-movie-diverge-from-the-book/465596/104 "2008-10-02T16:50:08Z")
Maybe we can petition for an “All Heinlein, All The Time” sub-forum. There are enough of us here that it might just work. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-spoilers-how-does-the-starship-troopers-movie-diverge-from-the-book/465596/105 "2008-10-04T01:55:56Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Maybe we can petition for an “All Heinlein, All The Time” sub-forum. There are enough of us here that it might just work. 😃 I’m in! ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-spoilers-how-does-the-starship-troopers-movie-diverge-from-the-book/465596/106 "2008-10-04T02:02:08Z")
Toss in Ringo, Flint, Drake and a few others and I am sure it would fly. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-spoilers-how-does-the-starship-troopers-movie-diverge-from-the-book/465596/107 "2008-10-04T02:03:39Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Maybe we can petition for an “All Heinlein, All The Time” sub-forum. There are enough of us here that it might just work. 😃 Now wait a minute while Heinlein is my second favorite author I think before we had a Heinlein forum we would need a Tolkien Forum and a Pratchett forum with this board. 😉 Maybe next year we can do a Heinlein reading club. I wouldn’t object to rereading all of his books and talking about them. I have been busy rereading all of Tolkien this year. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-spoilers-how-does-the-starship-troopers-movie-diverge-from-the-book/465596.md?page=5)