Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

I liked the "Starship Troopers" movie as far as it goes (it does get a bit repetitive, like most Verhoeven films). But, this show is totally mindless. The characters spout action movie cliches, the drama is non-existent (even by kids show standards), and every episode basically devolves immediately into random shooting. Haven't read the book, but it must have more to it than this show.

But, the animation does look nice.

Oh, I remember this show so fondly. I came across it in the summer of 1999. It was before The Sci-Fi Channel was sold to Paramount Entertainment and got ruined. From 7AM to 9AM five days a week in the summers. Like many small budget, yet effective, channels it was a BKN (Big Kids Network) outlet. They played a lot of mid-level budget cartoons those days in the morning. Mummies Alive, Extreme Ghostbusters and Roughnecks.

I remember so fondly waking up in the morning and lounging in bed watching Roughnecks. Oh, man I miss my youth. It's right up there with the one summer Sci-Fi played nothing but Anime when I was sick for two months and did nothing but watch it and sleep.

Despite negative reviews, I actually loved the film "STARSHIP TROOPERS." It ran on a feasable and likable theme, and had a good "feel" to it, even if it was a little campy. Why the critics seem to hate it is beyond me.

But to get on with this review, I didn't expect much from "ROUGHNECKS," The Starship Troopers Television series, but in the morning before going to work I managed to catch an episode. I was impressed at first by the visual computer effects. The movements of the CGI characters are very lifelike and believable. But what really had me tuning in from then on were the great storylines. They are deep and intelligent; I have no idea why this show is marketed to children. As an adult, this is one of the few "cartoons" I can still sit through, probably because this show isn't exactly written for younger audiences. From the few episodes I've seen, I can already tell that "ROUGHNECKS" is a completely valid series, and not just because it is entertaining. It refrences many classic moral themes that pertain to the horrors of war, and also references many historical points in military history (most noticeably the Roughnecks' Home Ship, the VALLEY FORGE).

My only complaint is that the three main characters should

closer resemble their real-life counterparts. Call me shallow for wanting to see the familiar faces of Hollywood celebrities, but I can't think of "Johnny Rico," "Dizzy Flores," or "Carl Jenkins" without seeing the faces of Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer and Neil Patrick Harris in my mind (though to be honest, the CGI character of "Diz" actually does resemble Dina Meyer).

All in all, a great show that is very worthy of all praise it receives. Don't miss "Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles." You won't be sorry.

This animated series was better than the movie (though I love the movie too), but was unfinished. There were only 37 episodes (though you can see several that never aired on the "Trackers DVD). The problem is that the series ended before the Roughnecks saved earth and kill the Queen. THat being said there were many more positives. First, the animation was top quality (though I would have gone for traditional cartoon over computers). Secondly the character development was fantastic. Thirdly, the "serial" nature of the episodes were reminiscent of some of the old 40's serials. The story starts out on Pluto were the Roughnecks are sent to save miners from the Arachnids. After Pluto is saved, the Roughnecks go to Hydora a waterworld (and probably the best campaign) to find the transport bug which had escaped Pluto. From there they go to Tophet, were we meet the "Skinnies," a race of aliens who are controlled by the Bugs. After liberating the Skinnies, the Roughnecks move onto Tesca, a jungle campaign where the Roughnecks must battle spiders and prejudice. From Tesca, the Roughnecks are marooned on an asteroid infested with "Firefrys" and a living asteroid. From here they attack the Bugs on their home world of Klandathu were they discover the bug queen. The Bug Queen escapes and heads to earth where the series culminates with the "Homefront Campaign."

Good Luck Apes!

Working on this show was one of the highlights of my career! The team that brought this to the masses was as hard working as any in the business. To those of you that are into backstage info, these shows took about 9 weeks each to produce, and with what were considered massive teams of animators at that time. This show had some of the best CGI modelers and animators in all of CGI-Dome. Was a thrill to work on as a technical director and a pleasure to work with such talented folks. The production was fast paced and well thought out. Was the first show where I was introduced to motion capture and it worked out great! Glad folks here like it, was a labor of love for all involved.