STARSHIP TROOPERS!

[Virus-x]

I'm itching to either get a new book, or re-start one I already have.

Being impatient, I looked to my own books, and "Starship Troopers" leapt out and socked me in the eye.

I'm ashamed to admit this, but back when I was in school, I got bored, ignored the girlfriend, and hit the Star Southfield (back when it was still a good theater), where I ended up seeing this movie.

And I loved it.

I remember from my jr./sr high days at my friend's bookshop (the Book Bin in Belleville, MI) seeing a board game by that name, seeing the cover art and saying (out loud):

"Damn, that's cheesy!"

Couldn't be more thoroughly unimpressed.

Years later, I'm cheering the movie and taking up arms to defend it against all critics, eventually remembering how my bookstore buddies defended it against MY onslaught, saying how great a book it was. So I grabbed a copy (but not from Book Bin; he shut that down decades ago).

What an unpleasant surprise that was.

Starship Troopers is reputed to be the first (or one of the first) to start the genre of "hard sci-fi". It was a totally adult book, very much unlike the movie. After reading that, it was a wonder they called that stinkbomb Starship Troopers, because damned if they weren't anything alike.

OK.

They had starships and they had troopers in that sweaty turd of a movie, but that's about where similarities end.

The idiot that directed it obviously didn't even read the Cliff Notes, because nothing that made this ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE EVER READ was anywhere present in that loaf that dumb director and writer pinched on screen.

A book about people working toward unity was turned into a movie about dime store fascism.

A book about a guy trying to get what he wanted out of life and to better himself was turned into Beverly Hills: 90210 in Space.

A book about suffering loss was turned into a movie about teenage rebellion.

A book about Humanity fighting a pair of dangerous and genocidal wartime enemies became Saturday matinee, half-assed, poor-man's Flash Gordon CRAP.

A book about morality was turned into a movie about 'if it feels good, do it'.

A book about government and the military was turned into a movie about agitprop, and black propaganda.

This book was/is so great, it became a component of all 4 armed services' reading lists, and official reading lists of the USA (Army) and USMC. And he wrote it in a few weeks. As the book progresses and gets deeper (Heinlein graduated from Annapolis, so the military officers' classwork shot right over my head), it really lives up to being "hard" science fiction, and made me a fan. At times, it really doesn't even read like sci-fi, but more like great drama and history. And even non-fiction. Robert A. Heinlein made a lot of predictions about society in this 1959 book, and they've all come frighteningly, and unfortunately, true.

It is political, it is military, it is philosophical, it is theological and it is excellent. Do something nice for yourself by reading it.

"Correct morality can only be derived from what Man IS - not from what do-gooders and well-meaning Aunt Nellies would like him to be." -from the book Starship Troopers

[Troy Spiral (13)]

From a "uber quality" standpoint (whatever the heck that means) I wouldn't suggest it that highly. Even so, I remember defending it a bit in my circle of friends. But I did enjoy it at the time and have thought about it a lot on and off over the years. Its also the movie that got me drooling over Denise Richards for years to come. If just a few things were different it would be in the upper echelons of sci fi films (which I love). I need to get in a time machine, take the whole production crew of BSG (to save money, since James Cameron (who would be the guy for this type of film) costs too much heh), give them a movie size budget and say "go at it!". I'm sure it would rock. I've not seen any of the sequels as the reviews were so horrible , and there are so many films to see, that I've not gotten around to it.

Please don't take this as an insult to your preferences. Its just commentary.

The book, which i read so long ago ( I think i was like 12) i can't comment on legitimately but I remember enjoying it. I really like Robert Heinlein as a writer although I've been working toward weening myself off of fiction reading in the last few years. (In favor of science/history/"real" story reading)

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I'm itching to either get a new book, or re-start one I already have.

What did you mean here? A book in a series of Starship Troopers books?

[Virus-x]

What did you mean here? A book in a series of Starship Troopers books?

No, no. Just the one-and-only, stand-alone novel from Heinlein. There were books based on it (sort of), but I don't read them.

[Virus-x]

Nah, no insult.

A $20,000.00 bounty on my head, dead or alive?

Fu-kin' insulting.

Me, I loved the book for its messages, its unrelenting clarity, its military realism (being a military guy, myself), and its politics. As for the quality issues, I'm not seeing that one, especially how its one of the most highly rated books of its kind/genre, of all time. I don't know if I'll ever stop reading this book. However, I want no more movies. Screenplay writers usually suck, and always try rewriting everything to be their own. Directors are even worse.

[L3GS D1aM0nD]

If you liked Starship Troopers, you should read the Forever War by Joe Haldeman

[Virus-x]

I've heard of it, but that's it. Synopsize me, Kind Sir!

[Simon Bar Sinister]

[Virus-x]

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Certainly better than that crappy movie!