# What's so bad about "Starship Troopers"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888 "2003-09-01T00:55:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/1 "2003-09-01T00:55:27Z")
I’ve been hearing about how dreadful this movie is for years, so I decided to check it out for myself. (I was hoping to rent “Ishtar” and “Showgirls” at the same time, but neither one was available.) Okay, it’s stupid, neo-fascistic claptrap – but it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. What’s the hatred about? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/2 "2003-09-01T00:57:25Z")
The biggest problem is that the film is a shoot-em-up bughunt, and has only character names in common with the Heinlein novel it is alledgedly based upon. ---
**Author:** ![BethCro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cdc98d/32.png) [@BethCro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BethCro)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/3 "2003-09-01T01:11:47Z")
The biggest, baddest alien looks like a defrosted turkey. Most people I’ve spoken to about the film don’t see it, but to me, it IS a turkey, plucked and oven ready. _shudder_ I saw the film in early Nov, getting the Thanksgiving meal together was a real problem that year. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/4 "2003-09-01T01:21:06Z")
Some people have problems enjoying a straight shoot-em-up, no-plot, gore-fest. Not me. I enjoyed it for what it was. A mindless excuse to spend two hours relaxing after a big meal. It’s not odd that I saw it Thanksgiving day, is it? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/5 "2003-09-01T01:48:11Z")
The book is a well-loved classic. The movie screwed it up. The really sad part is now it will take fifty years for someone to do a real ST movie. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/6 "2003-09-01T01:54:07Z")
1. First and foremost, Verhoeven desecrated one of the classic science fiction novels by planting its title on his opus of offal. He basically skimmed through a synopsis of the book, decided (wrongly) that the society described was fascistic and then simply told a story about a fascistic society’s propoganda. 2. Even if you ignore the source material, even if you do Verhoeven the undeserved favor of assuming he meant the tale as an example of fascistic propoganda, and was putting a wry spin on it, it was still very poorly done. Propoganda has not, historically, portrayed the enemy as dumb animals but as clever and evil devils insidious in trying to overrun the forces of good. Verhoeven’s supposed propoganda piece portrays the bugs as nothing more than beasts, their only effective weapons giant version of themselves farting gasballs at short range. 3. If the story isn’t a propoganda piece, if it’s just an action flick, it fails because it is an incredibly stupid, poorly thought-through action flick. A society that can travel faster than light but it lacks such 20th-21st century technology as unmanned drones for intelligence, fucking ARTILLERY, tanks or even mortars? Tactics that basically involve sending lightly-armed and armored infantry into a meat grinder? Puh-lease. I’ve seen more intelligent action flicks starring Michael fucking Dudikoff. So, on all levels, this movie is a true, unadulterated piece of shit. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/7 "2003-09-01T01:57:48Z")
The problem is the wasted potential. If it had been an original work (that is, if they’d changed the names of the characters) I doubt anyone would be complaining – heck, I doubt anyone would be thinking of it anymore than, say **Evolution** now. If you take almost any popular book and make a movie out of it, and twist the message of the book… you’re going to have backlash. If Peter Jackson had reinterpreted LOTR to show how really it was Sauron who was the good guy, and that it was the Elves who’d started the war then there’d be just as many angry fans, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/8 "2003-09-01T01:59:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by twickster \* > \*\*I’ve been hearing about how dreadful this movie is for years, so I decided to check it out for myself. (I was hoping to rent “Ishtar” and “Showgirls” at the same time, but neither one was available.) > > Okay, it’s stupid, neo-fascistic claptrap – but it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. > > What’s the hatred about? \*\* Okay, first of all, the movie is a _complete_ 180 from what the book is about. The book deals with a unified Earth that is much like Switzerland as far as it’s government goes. (RAH had just gotten back from Switzerland and was impressed by what he saw there.) The [book](http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=5166) is also filled with _accurate_ science, and military tactics, while the film is most assuredly **not**. The director _refused_ to read the book as he didn’t want it to “corrupt” his vision and the screenwriter _hated_ the book, so you’ve got a recipe for disaster right there. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/9 "2003-09-01T02:09:30Z")
But it did have Doogie Howser giving a Vulcan mind-meld to a slug… “It’s afraid!” ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/10 "2003-09-01T02:13:22Z")
If it was meant to be a serious action piece (by that, I mean internally coherent), it fails miserably. If its meant to be a wry commentary, it also fails miserably. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/11 "2003-09-01T02:20:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*But it did have Doogie Howser giving a Vulcan mind-meld to a slug… > > “It’s afraid!” \*\* Yeah, and it had nudity in the showers. I mean, come on, if I want to watch a goofy sci-fi movie with lots of gratuitous nudity, I’ll watch [_Amazon Women on the Moon_](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0092546/). ---
**Author:** ![Selkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Selkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Selkie)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/12 "2003-09-01T02:25:09Z")
I not only don’t think it’s bad, I think it’s darkly hilarious and, most importantly, I think it _intended_ to be funny. It gets much funnier every time I watch it. Having not read the book until _after_ watching the movie, I see the two as completely separate entities sharing only a name. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/13 "2003-09-01T02:57:39Z")
All the criticisms mentioned above–that Verhoeven butchered Heinlein’s book, that the science is implausible, that the aliens are ridiculous, that the acting is terrible–are all absolutely valid. However, there is one mitigating factor that completely renders all criticism irrelevant. . . Caspar Van Dien’s bare ass in the shower scene. My word, but that man is as handsome as he is unable to act. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/14 "2003-09-01T02:59:20Z")
When you have a scene with a bunch of people standing around in a circle shooting machine guns at something in the center of the circle, without anyone being hit by stray bullets… It might as well be an episode of _The A-Team_. ---
**Author:** ![Gumbercules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gumbercules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gumbercules)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/15 "2003-09-01T03:00:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*But it did have Doogie Howser giving a Vulcan mind-meld to a slug… > > “It’s afraid!” \*\* And it also had Dina Meyers’ boobies! ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/16 "2003-09-01T03:04:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chimera \* > \*\*When you have a scene with a bunch of people standing around in a circle shooting machine guns at something in the center of the circle, without anyone being hit by stray bullets… > > It might as well be an episode of _The A-Team_. \*\* Technically, wouldn’t that be called a “circle jerk”?😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tempore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f6c823/32.png) [@Tempore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tempore)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/17 "2003-09-01T03:10:35Z")
It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but I didn’t think the movie was horrible. But the computer animated cartoon, Starship Troopers: Roughnecks, was much better. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2003, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/18 "2003-09-01T03:37:38Z")
In my book, _Starship Troopers_ gets put in the same category as _Wing Commander_, as a goofy teen-oriented sci-fi action flick, though I think _Wing Commander_ was the more interesting of the two. Having read the book “Starship Troopers” after seeing the film, I can see why fans of the book would get their panties all in a twist about the lack of fidelity, but geez, the book is so dated and hokey and 1950s-ish that it would have needed a major update anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/19 "2003-09-01T04:00:50Z")
Sorry, but I must disagree. I’ve been a fan of the book for 20 years, and I thought the movie was lots of fun. Not totally true to the philosophy of the book, but I’d hardly call it a 180. The fascism was apparent in both book and film. But, all that is trivia. It had Denise Richards! Can’t act, but oooooh baby! You can pilot my shuttle anytime!!..Timmy P.S. - I agree with the defrosted turkey comment. Hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888/20 "2003-09-01T04:04:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*In my book, _Starship Troopers_ gets put in the same category as _Wing Commander_, as a goofy teen-oriented sci-fi action flick, though I think _Wing Commander_ was the more interesting of the two. > > Having read the book “Starship Troopers” after seeing the film, I can see why fans of the book would get their panties all in a twist about the lack of fidelity, but geez, the book is so dated and hokey and 1950s-ish that it would have needed a major update anyway. \*\* I don’t know. Certainly some of the dialoge would need reworking, but I think much of it could have been left intact. IAC, had they simply shot the book and **not** the abortion of a script that they did, they would have had a much better movie. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-starship-troopers/198888.md?page=2)