Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

Roughnecks - The Starship Troopers Chronicles - The Complete Campaigns

The Complete Campaigns is a four-disc compilation of the Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles series that was originally released on eight DVDs: The Pluto Campaign, The Hydora Campaign, The Tophet Campaign, The Tesca Campaign, The Zephyr Campaign, The Klendathu Campaign, Trackers (including the four bonus episodes), and The Homefront Campaign. While Paul Verhoeven's dark, satirical adaptation of Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers seriously strayed from the novel, this Verhoeven-produced TV series--part sequel, part remake, all CGI animated--hews closer to the spirit of the novel, a space-age twist on a World War II battle adventure. Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles is a series of military skirmishes and assignments on a variety of fronts, such as Bug City, water-dominated Hydora, the desert planet Tophet, the jungle planet Tesca, fiery Klendathu, and good old Earth.

The episodic nature works perfectly within this framework, and the mix of Marine grit ("No retreat, no surrender!"), military jargon, and understated melodrama give a feel somewhere between the steely seriousness of an old-fashioned war comic book and the spectacle and romance of a Japanese anime space opera. The CGI animation is less ambitious than in such feature films as Toy Story, but it's one of the most impressive examples of the animation made for TV. The detailed designs, rich textures, 3-D modeling, and awesome sense of scale (not to mention the pumped-up action and whiplash speed of the bug army) give it the look of an impossibly sophisticated video game, with the rat-a-tat editing and soaring camerawork of a Hollywood movie. The budgetary shortcuts are evident in moments of blurring and jerking, but overall it's startlingly effective. The PG-level violence may not be appropriate for younger viewers, but it's aimed at an older crowd and has won a loyal adult following.

The packaging is very convenient (a shelf-space-friendly four discs in Thinpaks), but unfortunately, serious Roughnecks fans will want to hold onto their old discs. Cramming the eight discs of content plus bonus episodes (granted, Trackers was a short disc) onto four single-sided discs apparently left no room for the producer/technical commentary tracks that accompanied most of the previous discs. The only bonus features are photo galleries and a fold-out illustration. --Sean Axmaker, David Horiuchi

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The Book

Stills from Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles (click for larger image)

ROUGHNECKS STARSHIP TROOPERS CHRONICLES: THE COMPLETE CAMPAIGNS follows the adventures of Rico Carmen and Carl a trio of high school buds. Lured to enlist by the thrill of travel and adventure on distant planets these unsung heroes are unaware that the battle of the bugs is about to re-erupt sending them all to the front lines of the First Interstellar War. As members of Lieutenant Razak's "Roughnecks" these three ordinary teenagers find themselves in an extraordinary set of circumstances-infiltrating alien worlds to battle monstrous bugs one-on-one. Armed with an anti-arthropod arsenal the "Roughnecks" battle hand-to-hand against massive insects as they struggle with their youth in the face of deadly grown-up battles.System Requirements:Running Time: 778 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ANIMATION/ADULT SWIM Rating: PG UPC: 043396106567 Manufacturer No: 10656

Roughnecks - The Starship Troopers Chronicles - The Zephyr Campaign

The Emmy-nominated ROUGHNECKS: STARSHIP TROOPERS CHRONICLES is the groundbreaking sci-fi adventure series featuring breathtaking 3-D computer animation and nonstop war action. In THE ZEPHYR CAMPAIGN, the fearless Troopers are back for a terrifying mission on a mysterious frozen asteroid deep in space. When beautiful pilot Carmen is forced to crash land their powerful spaceship on icy, unpredictable terrain, heroic Rico, Flores, T'Phai and Co. set out to complete their work: finding a powerful toxin they can use against the deadly insects taking over the universe. What they encounter instead arefire-breathing bugs and asteroid-shaking earthquakes which plunge the Troopers and their ship further into the center of the planet. Now, their only mission is survival, and when the Troopers realizethe true nature of the asteroid, even survival seems out of reach.

Roughnecks - The Starship Troopers Chronicles - Trackers

Prepare yourself for the ultimate arachnid invasion right here on Earth. Based on the book that inspired the hit movie and sequel the Emmy®-nominated ROUGHNECKS: STARSHIP TROOPERS CHRONICLES has the sci-fi action fans love and the computer-generated 3-D visual excitement critics applaud. After escaping a showdown on Klendathu the Bug Queen is heading to Earth and it's up to the Roughnecks to sneak aboard her transport ship and destroy it from the inside out. The mission appears to be a success until the Roughnecks land on earth and Carl realizes the Bug Queen has survived to hatch her diabolical plot. By cloning human DNA the bugs have taken human form and they're unleashing a global campaign for world domination. Mobilizing the most advanced weaponry and tapping into the latest satellite tracking devices the team is ready to combat the clones and launch an all assault for the future of mankind.System Requirements:Running Time: 20 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: NR UPC: 043396034198 Manufacturer No: 03419

Roughnecks - The Starship Troopers Chronicles - The Pluto Campaign

Paul Verhoeven's dark, satirical adaptation of Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers seriously strayed from the novel. This Verhoeven-produced TV series--part sequel, part remake, all CGI animated--hews closer to the spirit of the novel, a space-age twist on a World War II battle adventure. Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles--The Pluto Campaign is a mini-platoon epic comprised of the initial five episodes of the series, essentially a series of skirmishes and assignments leading up to the climactic confrontation at Bug City. The episodic nature works perfectly within this framework, and the mix of Marine grit ("No retreat, no surrender!"), military jargon, and understated melodrama give a feel somewhere between the steely seriousness of an old-fashioned war comic book and the spectacle and romance of a Japanese anime space opera. The excellent voice cast includes the inimitable E.G. Daly (who also contributes to Rugrats and Powerpuff Girls) as the gung-ho Private "Dizzy" Flores.

The CGI animation is less ambitious than in such feature films as Toy Story, but it's one of the most impressive examples of the animation made for TV. The detailed designs, rich textures, 3-D modeling, and awesome sense of scale (not to mention the pumped-up action and whiplash speed of the bug army) give it the look of an impossibly sophisticated video game, with the rat-a-tat editing and soaring camerawork of a Hollywood movie. The budgetary shortcuts are evident in moments of blurring and jerking, but overall it's startlingly effective. The PG-level violence (no humans are killed, only demonic-looking bugs) may not be appropriate for younger viewers, but it's aimed at an older crowd and has won a loyal adult following. --Sean Axmaker

Battling seemingly invincible forces primed to take over the universe, "Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles: The Pluto Campaign" is a state-of-the-art CGI feature length story that features elements of action, humor, coming-of-age, teamwork and fantasy.

Roughnecks - The Starship Troopers Chronicles - The Homefront Campaign

"The Homefront Campaign" brings the Troopers back to a familiar yet newly bug-infested planet: Earth. Tough-as-nails war veteran Rico, telepathic Carl, fearless female soldier Flores and their special squad must face an impossibly difficult assignment to capture and kill scores of enormous bugs without harming San Francisco civilians. But in the midst of their complicated mission, the Troopers suffer a shocking loss that threatens to tear their team apart. Could this be the Troopers' last stand and the final hope for humanity?

Roughnecks - The Starship Troopers Chronicles - The Hydora Campaign

After chasing the bugs out of the solar system in "The Pluto Campaign," S.I.C.O.N. tracks the enemy's retreat in hopes of finding the invaders' homeworld. Razak's Roughnecks are in the first wave of humans to hit water-dominated Hydora, a refueling planet infested with deadly new armies of alien insects. This second campaign in Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles is packed with whiplash action scenes, but it also ups the ante in a startling manner. Psychic soldier Jenkins gets a shock to the system after a meeting of minds with the Brain Bug: the bugs' final solution is the complete extermination of the human race. As hatched by the show's animators, the fierce dart-spewing ripplers and amphibious water tigers are marvelously sinister-looking things, more "realistic" than the humans. That's a fair tradeoff. The stylized 3-D computer animation makes this look unlike any other high-tech sci-fi TV adventure. --Sean Axmaker

The Troopers are back for more non-stop action in the Emmy-nominated Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles. In "The Hydora Campaign," Lieutenant Razak's fearless Troopers land on the aquatic Hydora planet hoping to find--and extinguish--the enemy bugs' home base. But soon, they're trapped inside a cave-like insect and attacked by swarms of gigantic, vicious mosquitoes. And when they find the terrifying mother insect who controls the bug universe, they realize its only intention is to kill off the entire human race. Now, the Troopers have found the source of the problem - but can they ever hope to control it? 96 minutes.

Roughnecks - The Starship Troopers Chronicles - The Tophet Campaign

The Roughnecks take a breather from combat (or so they think) to scout the desert planet Tophet for a possible base, and meet a race of tall, lizardlike, apparently friendly aliens they dub "skinnies." But nothing is as it seems in this intergalactic war, not even the double-crossing skinnies, who have laid a deadly trap for the humans. The truth behind their collaboration hides an even more disturbing twist in the bug infestation of the universe. Dry, desolate, and full of wide-open spaces, "The Tophet Campaign" is a sci-fi take on a World War II platoon drama in the African desert. It lacks the visual spectacle of other adventures but makes up for it with heavy artillery (including an experimental cyborg soldier loaded with firepower) and more complicated character dynamics. The eerie mental breakdown of telepath Jenkins gives the Roughnecks their first casualty of the war. --Sean Axmaker

In "The Tophet Campaign," young journalist Higgins, fearless war hero Rico, and courageous female Trooper Flores land with their fellow soldiers on a desert planet. They meet a group of humanoid Skinnies who make them feel strangely at home--until gigantic killer bugs appear. Lieutenant Razak accepts help from a newly designed Trooper robot, who quickly saves the team from an intense ambush of massive crawlers. But the Skinnies have more than one surprise in store for the Troopers, proving again that the universe-wide bug war is far from over. 96 minutes.

Roughnecks - The Starship Troopers Chronicles - The Klendathu Campaign

In "The Klendathu Campaign," Rico and his fellow Troopers are confronted with a disturbing turn of events when their leader Lieutenant Zander is infected with a bug virus and is transformed into a super-strong half-human/half-bug mutant. Intent on destroying the Troopers, Zander follows them in the fiery Klendathu planet. Now, while they try to beat impossible odds fighting the enormous Arachnid army, they're also trying to save their former leader--before he destroys them.

Roughnecks - The Starship Troopers Chronicles - The Tesca Campaign

Razak's Roughnecks, the toughest marines to spatter a space bug across the interstellar landscape, return in the second feature-length collection from the cult TV series, a completely computer-animated space-age epic based on Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers. On the jungle planet Tesca, the Roughnecks confront a whole new array of bug soldiers, including web-spewing spiders and sea-based water tigers, as well as their own prejudices. Their newest squadmate is an alien and a former enemy, and a marine is not quick to forgive. Played out as a single movie, The Tesca Campaign has the feeling of a World War II platoon drama crossed with a Japanese space opera. The stylized CGI animation forgoes realism for dynamic direction, energetic action, and stylized designs, making for an impressive world of mechanical creations and insectoid creatures. The PG-level violence (there's a big bug body count) isn't appropriate for young children. --Sean Axmaker

Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles [Region 2]