AICN Story Newsbytes

Ok folks, you all know that I am off to Los Angeles to attend the world premiere of STARSHIP TROOPERS. This raises issues of being bought off, and of being in the pocket of "them". Well, I decided that I didn't want to be thought of in those respects, so I contacted my spies, who have infiltrated every level of power in Hollywood, and they managed to get
me a print of Starship Troopers in advance. So I've watched it, and now I'm set to give you a review, so I will be immune to the inevitable earthly delights that await me in LA. To the
spies that got me this print, I salute you. Good show. STARSHIP TROOPERS is a cool movie. In fact it's a super cool movie. I've watched my print about 4 times and I can't wait to fly across the country to see it again! Why? Because it's that cool.

Now the print I have is a work copy, meaning it's got a lot of flaws (ie breaks between reels, unfinished effects, and an incomplete soundtrack), but it is an incredibly cool film.

I like these actors, to me they are exactly who they should be... young, idealistic, full of piss and vinegar. They are perfect victims/recruits for the Mobile Infantry. They are clean cut seemingly perfect and unchipped beings. And they must deal with the worst nightmare you could possibly imagine.

In alot of ways this is what I wanted from JURASSIC PARK. Spielberg made the film he had to, to be as broad base as possible. But Verhoeven is not necessarily about demographics. He wants to show viscious creatures ripping through men and women like there is no tomorrow. He doesn't tame these animals, there are no "cute" monsters in his world. Here they are all evil and mean. And as weird as it sounds... that's remarkably refreshing to me.

When I screened the film, I got as many people I knew together to watch it. And even with this crappy copy with screwed up sound, they cheered, whooped and hollered!!! All as it should be!!!

The effects by Tippet, Boss, ILM and the many many other companies are staggering. The teeming masses of bugs, the ships in space, the... well that'd be telling wouldn't it? Suffice to say, you effects junkies will go nuts.

It is a bit slow at the get go, but this is what we call development. You know to show why Rico got where he did. When those that gripe about the film, show up, it'll be this part that they highlight. Personally, I love the way it contrasts with the rest of the film. That sort of "Barbie" existence followed quickly thereafter with the "anti-Barbie" existence where nothing is pink (exept for the...) and fluffy.

And as for the "hair" issue. Well, let's just say the advancement in hair care has progressed to a startling level of perfection. Which is where the world should progress, cause isn't it always about the hair?

And finally, for my non-spoiler part of the review, a look at Verhoeven. Once again he proves why he is the "madman" I love. Noone would assault you like he does. He reaches down and pulls up that "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, this is sooooooo frigggginnnnnn' coooool!!!!" just right out of ya. When I started off in support of this film way back in September of last year (as you long timers'll remember) I talked about a level of scope that these battle scenes would have. How Tippet would bring an incredible world to life, and how Verhoeven would interact in that world. Well, they did it. He made a cool film that, for me anyway, justifies all the energy I put into the "spying" that I helped organize. Am I biased towards this film. Ya damn straight I am. This was a cool movie I didn't want to see pass us by. I wanted everyone to know, THIS was gonna be a good one. This is the sci-fi action film you wade through Johnny Mnemonics for. This is that immature kickass balls to the wall cool flick you salivate over. That you buy action figures from, and that you talk about in endless arguements in newsgroups and forums.

Well, I'm going to bed, I have to wake up in about 6 hours to catch a plane to LA to see the world premiere of this baby on a gigantic screen with super sound. I can't wait. I'm giddy and excited. I have cool spy meetings arranged left and right, and you my friend will hear the results!!! That's it for the non-spoiler review. Like I said, this print was incomplete. So if you are wondering why I don't mention the Basil Poledouris score, that's because in this BAD print sound wasn't it's best. So when I get back from LA you'll be getting a full report on the finished film and "The First Seduction Of Harry" Will Harry succumb to the evil that lies in LA? We'll see... If you want to read below about why I think Starship Troopers is a western go ahead, but be warned, there will be spoilers!!!

I have seen people refer to this as a "war" film based on World War II. Personally, I see it as a western.

My evidence?

All spaceships are treated like Stagecoaches in space. They arrive and depart the different worlds just like the old stagecoaches arriving to a valley.

First the "indians" / "insects" destroy a civilian settlement, specifically the one that our hero is from.

Second the "good guys" convince themselves that they are smarter than the "indians" / "insects" and severly underestimate the enemy and are nearly destroyed entirely.

Third, the "good guys" use their "advance technology to wipe out a whole community of "insects" / "indians"

Fourth the "insects" / "indians" slaughter everyone in a fort and lay a trap for a dispatchment of soldiers, which only the "cavalry"/"spaceship" can save them from as the "good guys" retreat, only to come back for...

The Fifth and final bit where they have to capture the "insects" / "indian" version of "chief" / "brain bug" to end the fighting or understand the fight more.

In between the third and fourth violent events, there is a "light" interlude of rest. In here they bring out a fiddle and they play western period music, including the song (I believe it's call La Golda Drema) from THE WILD BUNCH. This is the song that is played when everyone is with the "whores" before the perverbial "sh*t" hits the fan. It is used likewise here.

Phrases like "mount up", "saddle up" are used to order troops to do their thing.

It definately has war aspects, but the locale, types of fights, and specifically the "party" reminds me of the western genre. Of course that fourth battle is reminescent of ZULU, as the men in the fort fight and fight and fight as the Zulu hordes' dead bodies pile up at the base of the walls.

I'll see this film a whole bunch more!!!

Glen writes...

Zim! Power suits! Skinnies! Bug guts and death!

DINGLE BERRY just sent in heaping' gobs of information about the Starship Troopers animated series previously reported on Coaxial (I didn't make up that codename - it was requested by the source).

The following information far transcends anything I've said about this topic before (which was...basically...that a series was in development). Here's what Dingle Berry had to say about the Starship Troopers animated series:

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DINGLE BERRY wrote:

REMEMBER - while the series is definitely a go, they are still in the script development stages and casting stages, so what I tell you now may not end up on screen.

It is being made by Sony and most of the staff who worked on the MIB animated series for the WB.

The Starship Troopers animated series is taking elements from the Robert A. Heinlein book as well as the Verhoven film - and some new elements that the animation writers and producers will add.

The series is going to be all CG (like Beast Wars). A digital house has not been selected yet although Netter Digital (owned by Douglas Netter-Producer of Babylon 5) looks like the leading candidate.

((Glen Note: Netter Digital has also been mentioned in conjunction with the Sci-Fi Channel's six hour DUNE miniseries, which has apparently hit some financing snags. Back to Dingle Berry:))

There are 40 episodes being produced for strip syndication. So it will be aired Monday-Friday. The entire series will be aired over a period of 8 weeks. The series is an arcing story-line and will have closure by the end of the 40th episode. In each week of the series the mobile infantry will travel to a new planet (or other location) and that weeks episodes will mostly take place there.

Characters such as Johnny Rico, Carmen, Sgt. Zim will be in the series, but they are part of the regular cast (Zim is only written into 5 episodes as far as I know). There are about 10 voice actors who make up the regular cast of the series, no big names have been cast in any of the lead roles.

It seems like the story line starts before the events that happened in the film, when humans are fighting the bugs, but not having a full scale war with them. But the story arc seems to end long after the events of the film.

One element from the book that you will see in the series are the Mobile Infantry Power Armor. It isn't exactly like the armor from the book (that was able to drop from out of the sky in orbital troop carriers). But it isn't like that cheezy non-armor stuff from the movie either.

There are 2 different types of power armor. There is the standard mobile infantry power which will give enhanced strength, agility and full protection from any environment. Most of the infantry will be wearing this kind of armor. But in each M.I. unit there will also be 2 Marauder class power armor suits which will be less agile, but much more heavily armed.

Another element from the book that willl be used in the animated series will be the appearance of the Skinnies. Skinny are an alien race that the troopers also fought before taking on the bugs. They are rather thin and elongated (hence they are called Skinnies). One week of the series deals specifically with the battle against the Skinnies.

Now for some of the story outline:

Warning! SPOILERS BELOW !!!

Week 1: Takes place on Pluto. The a squadron of M.I. is assigned to eradicate what they believe some relatively non-hostile bugs that are indigenous to Pluto. They discover that the bugs are not indigenous and quite hostile.

Week 2: The troops are sent to Hydora- a water world planet to fight the bugs there.

Week 3: The troops are sent to Tofid, homewolrd of the Skinnies, where they do battle. The troopers eventually realize that the Skinnies are actually being controlled by a psychic "Mind Control Bug" who has been manipulating them and forcing them to fight with the humans. When the trooper free the Skinnys from the Mind control bug's power, they want revenge against the bugs. But since the Skinny's do not have faster than light travel, several of them join with the troopers (one becomes part of the regular cast).

Week 4: Takes place on a Jungle planet.

Week 5: The troopers are marooned on an ice asteroid-which turns out be really be a giant bug heading for Earth.

Week 6: The Troopers launch a major offensive strike against Klendathu, the homeworld of the bugs.

Week 7: While the troopers attacked Klendathu, the bugs launched their own campaign against the Earth, the troopers return to Earth to stop the bug invasion.

Week 8: Final battle against the bugs. (location unknown)

They want to get it on the air by Fall of 1999, but with all the heavy CG work that is planned it could be much later than that...

Regular readers of AICN may remember DINGLE's last message to Coaxial, which pretty much blew the lid off of Sony's forthcoming CGI series adaptation of Starship Troopers. You can read more about the plans of
Starship Troopers' visual effects overlords (Foundation Imaging and Flat Earth) by visiting AICN!

DINGLE just wrote, with an update regarding the project's status, how the series is shaping up structurally, and some voice casting which has already been done for the show. Here's what Dingle Berry had to say...

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Dingle Berry wrote:

Most of the main voice cast are made up of unknowns, but there are a couple notable names:

Kristy McNichol will be the voice of one the generals in charge of the Earth military forces.

Clancy Brown (the voice of Lex Luthor on the Superman animated series) will reprise his role as Sgt. Zim. I say reprise because Clancy also played Sgt. Zim in the Starship Troopers movie.

Bill Fabberbake (from Coach and the voice of Broadway from Gargoyles) will be playing one of the Mobile Infantry.

Now on to some series plot points:

The series seems to be straying away from the movie and using the book as its story guide. But they are throwing in a lot of stuff that never appeared in either the book or movie.

I must make a correction from my previous post, in that Johnny Rico and Carmen will be main characters in the series (I originally stated that Johnny and Carmen would only be supporting characters).

The series will incorporate something like the "eggshell delivery system" from the book, but it isn't exactly like how it is described in the book.

A new type of power suit has been added to the series, the "Marauder II". I wouldn't really call it a power suit, it's more like a small tank designed for 1 man. It won't really appear until about 1/2 way into the series.

The final battle during the last week of the series will take place on Earth...

________________________________________

Glen again...

...special thanks to Dingle Berry for the updated and revised news. Your efforts are profoundly appreciated by many, and we're looking forward to more reports...

Glen here...

...with a follow-up to Coaxial's previous report regarding a proposed all-CGI series based on Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers.

My previous post contained vast amounts of story & concept information about this limited-run series (40 episodes with an arcing storyline). Since my initial report, I have been able to ascertain that all the conceptual / structural information previously conveyed was accurate save one element - my statement that Netter Digital Entertainment (NDE) would be responsible for animating the series was erroneous.

NDE will not be animating the CGI Starship Troopers series for Sony. As had been rumored across the Internet for the last few weeks, Foundation Imaging (who brought us the FX for the first three seasons of Babylon 5, is currently working on Star Trek: Voyager, whose dark comedy The Universe & Harry Morgann has been previously referenced on Coaxial) will be animating the CGI Troopers series.

To accomplish the monumental task which lies before them, Foundation has partnered with Flat Earth, the effects house bringing us the whizbangery of the current Hercules and Xena television series.

The Executive Producer of Starship Troopers is Richard Raynis (Dilbert, King of the Hill, The Simpsons, The Critic). Raynis is said to be asking for an amazing level of "detail and complexity". Despite Raynis' comedic background, the storytelling on Starship Troopers will often be skewed towards adult action, with some of the series' humor being described as "very adult".

Foundation Imaging will be animating 25 of the SI episodes, the remaining 15 falling to Flat Earth. The only design being kept from the Verhoven film of the same concept & name is a Warrior Bug, and even its appearance will be slightly altered. Other than that? Suits, armor, vehicles, ships, and new kinds of bugs will all be rendered from new designs by Foundation / Flat Earth.

The series is described as being action intensive, with lots and lots of bug squashing. To get a sense of what Starship Troopers will actually look like, visit the Foundation Imaging web site, where you can see images from another Foundation project called Vortex - which will serve as something of a template for the design of the Starship Troopers CGI series.

Glen here...

A while back, some people working on the CGI animated series Starship Troopers told me not to expect a very substantial "push" for the series once it hit the airwaves.

I remember them saying this, but I took it with a grain of salt. After all, given the show's pedigree and brand recognition, I could not conceive that Sony would discharge this production onto the airwaves as if it were hocking out a piece of troublesome throat film.

God, was I wrong.

Would you like to know more?

Seems the Starship Troopers CGI series...now called Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles...will debut THIS FRIDAY...AUGUST 27...at 7:30am on the Sci-Fi Channel. CLICK HERE to see for yourself! The show will begin airing on the Sci-Fi Channel daily in that timeslot starting Monday August 30.

A search of TV GUIDE.COM reveals the series will also begin airing in wide syndication on Monday August 30 - which means it will air on different stations (at different times) across the country. So, I can't tell you precisely when and where Roughnecks will be showing in your area: that part's up to you. But this does (at least) mean you might have a chance of seeing the show if you don't receive the Sci Fi
Channel.

So call your local stations...overrun some Internet search engines...and scope-out when you can see Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles!

And to think Columbia / TriStar's legal department gave me grief for being too detailed in my past coverage of this series. Turns out, my coverage was the most advertising this show would receive - and they didn't have to pay a cent for it!!!

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I had a chance to see a completed episode of Roughnecks last night.

I was very impressed by the sheer quantity of the CGI used (I know it's an all CGI series. Read on to see what I mean...). Where CGI series often feel like they were conservative with the number of cuts, cutaways, angles, etc. used to tell their story, Roughnecks does not have that feel. It feels very full.

As a whole the show looks dazzling, although I had some problems with a few of the voices (they sounded inorganic with the characters). The sound-mix (guns firing, explosions, etc.) is downplayed quite a bit - diminishing the overall sensibility and impact of the episode's numerous action sequences. A big mistake in my book.

The show is well-designed, and the series' over-all ambiance (atmosphere, design, technology, etc.) is effective - despite competition with juvenile scripting and an occasionally horrendous score which sounds like video game background music (I am told the score is wildly variable throughout the episodes - and can sometimes be rather good).

The particular episode I saw felt a bit childish (although the essence of it's story was good: the Roughnecks have to capture, wrangle, and bring back a baby Plasma Bug for research. There's a cool little Wages of Fear / Sorcerer pseudo-homage as the troops try to drive their platform truck across a marginal bridge, hauling unstable Plasma Bug as they go). Despite my criticism of this particular episode being slightly more juvenile than I would have liked, I am assured that...over the course of the series...Roughnecks will see some of its main characters killed, and head into more mature territory from time to time.

So there you have it. It's geeky fun - I would have died for this series when I was a kid. Go watch it...decide for yourselves...and come back to COAXIAL on Monday when I'll open the "Reader reaction: Roughnecks" TALKBACK.

Good luck - and enjoy!!!

Over the last few weeks, I've received a ton of e-mail regarding the scheduling situation of Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles. People asking and asking: "Why are they showing the same five or six repeats over and over again!?!?!?"

The answer to this question is both extremely comical and profoundly unfortunate. In layman's terms: it is a "cluster f**k" pure and simple.

Turns out, some genius sold Roughnecks episodes into strip syndication before the show was ready to go on the air. Usually, strip syndication isn't a bad thing. In T.V. terms "strip" means a show has been sold into syndication to air on multiple, consecutive days in a week (four, five, six, even seven days a week in some instances). Strip programming is fairly commonplace, and happens all the time with shows like Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Star Trek, etc.

Trouble is: all of the titles cited above have a great many episodes in their history, so it would take any station quite a bit of time before cycling through & repeating the syndication package they've purchased. In Roughnecks' case, however, the series was sold into strip syndication with only five or six episodes completed.

In other words, stations expecting to receive roughly two months worth of Roughnecks programming (which would have accounted for just about the entire limited run series) actually received less than a week of Roughnecks programming from the outset. While The Powers That Be assured stations that fresh episodes of the series would be put into rotation as
soon as the episodes were out of post-production, the newer episodes were few and far between (and were very slow in arriving - an expected byproduct of time-intensive CGI work) - leaving stations with no alternative but to re-air Roughnecks episodes in tight rotation, ad nauseum - or to drop the show altogether.

At this point, it does appear that some stations have dropped Roughnecks due to lack of new programming - what (if any) legal ramifications this will have for the series' production entities remains to be seen. Other stations are indeed re-airing episode after episode of Roughnecks, occasionally integrating new episodes into the mix whenever they are received.

On a related note, it appears the Bohbot Kids Network, a partner in the Roughnecks endeavor, improperly sold Roughnecks to The Sci Fi Channel (they did not have the authority to do so) - infuriating Roughnecks' home company (Sony) to no end. So, for those of you asking why Roughnecks no longer appears on SFC's schedule, this is why: it was sold
to SFC by folks who didn't have the right to sell the series to them, and the deal was rescinded.

Okay - so all of this is bad. Can it be worse? Oh, yeah.

There were two visual effects companies handling the CGI animation on Roughnecks. One was Foundation Imaging (I kneel before them in humbled awe and reverence), the other was Flat Earth (of Hercules and Xena fame). Well, somewhere in the midst of all this, Flat Earth dropped out of the project. I have heard two rumors about why Flat Earth left Roughnecks: 1) Flat Earth was thrown-off the project because they fell too far behind on their Roughnecks animating duties. A more accurate assessment re: Flat Earth's departure from the show is likely something to the effect of: 2) Flat Earth backed out of the series because Sony held up a delivery check beyond acceptable limits, forcing Flat Earth to finance their Roughnecks work (and staff) out of the company's own coffers. This was hurting Flat Earth, so they had to back out of the project to protect themselves.

Either way, Flat Earth is off of the project, and Foundation seems to be going it alone for the moment. PLEASE NOTE: I have heard NO indication whatsoever that Foundation is...in any way... responsible for the mess Roughnecks has become.

The fate of Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles seems to be a question mark at the moment. I have heard everything: "the series will be pulled until all required episodes are completed - then re-aired in sequence"; "the series will continue this funky rotation - adding new episodes into the mix until it's done"; and finally, "the series will go on for a bit longer, but the whole enterprise may become straight-to-video fodder somewhere down the line - and only then will we see the Roughnecks story completed."

Which brings up, perhaps, the greatest Roughnecks tragedy of all: the series is not unfolding the way it was designed to be told. There is some indication that, because of time pressures generated by having sold the series into syndication before its completion, the original arc of Roughnecks (a progressive, linear arc of about 44 episodes which would have followed the lives and deaths of the Roughnecks as the Bug War drew them towards a finale on Earth) has been significantly compromised.

In order to speed the production process along, some newer episodes are being turned into "flashbacks" to earlier episodes - to allow for the utilization of previously existing footage, etc. Other elements of the series will now seem incongruous in the bigger picture. For example, several main characters were to die on the show - but with all the schedule flip-flopping, their deaths may now seem disjointed and incongruous with what is happening on either side of these specific "impact" episodes.

So there you have it folks. Hope this answers some of the questions sent in by many concerned viewers of this show. If all of this sounds like chaos it's because...well...the making of Roughnecks is chaos. 'Twill be fascinating to see what happens from here, and I'll be sure to let you know as more information becomes available...

The following information was blind-posted to me, that tries to clear things up for the fellow Trooper fan. I have drawn attention to key points, and I submit it now for your consideration:

1. Yes, what Glen said on the AICN website is true about the show being pulled off of Sci-Fi channel... but it IS still on Network TV around the country. In short, BKN did not have the rights (at the time) to sell the show to the Sci-Fi Channel because it only had distribution rights for Network TV. Whether or not the show will return to Sci-Fi at a later date in not known to...

2. As you know, Starship Troopers is produced by Sony. But what a lot of people don't understand is that Foundation and Flat Earth were only doing the CGI animation for the series. A majority of the designs, all the writing, development, story boards, etc. are done at Sony. For example: A director begins by going to the voice-acting recordings (for which all of the episodes are completed), approving designs for props and backgrounds for the various planets, translating the script into story boards. And only then does the work proceed to Foundation or Flat Earth. All three studios working together: Sony, Foundation, and for a time Flat Earth contribute to the overall quality of the show.

Please don't blame Sony wholly for the mix up. There was a great deal going against the show from the beginning within all facets of production. All of those directly involved wanted, was to do this show, and to do it well. Yes, it was some Sony exec. who sold the show before the show was finished (Being a common occurrence for TV animation so it isn't that much of a big surprise). Who that exec is, no one knows (They may already be in hiding). But who really cares?

All that should matter is that everyone support the show and write their support to the TV stations, BKN, Sci-Fi channel and everyone else who can make the show a success and keep it on the airwaves on any channel. Again... write, and show your support for the show. "program@kcal.com", "program@www.scifi.com". What's important to remember is that the entire production crew at Sony and all the animators at Foundation and Flat Earth have put their hearts and long hours at work into this project to make it more than just a "kiddie" show.

3. Please remember, this show IS made for kids. 95% of all animated TV shows are made for one purpose, to sell toys to kids. If this show was sold as a Primetime sci-fi action show, then many things that we'd all like to see would be in the show. <Grins> Unfortunately, it is on at 7:30am in the morning, and it's made primarily for children. So don't expect too much. The overall goal is to make the shows appeal to everyone. There are big explosions and fight scenes for the kids, and the "character" moments for the adults (like Gossard recently hitting on Dizzy and other moral issues). Please keep an open mind to the plots of upcoming episodes. They aren't going to win any Emmy awards but they'll be damn fun to watch.

4. The show is not dead. Repeat: THE SHOW IS NOT DEAD! Everyone's response at AICN makes it sound like the show is already gone. The show is not. At the moment, a great number of episodes are being worked on. They will eventually air in the future, as deadlines are met, and the production is still going strong. Too much money has been invested into this project, (for the powers that be to just "pull the plug" on it) before any money has been made on the franchise.

5. You may have noticed that there is no advertising for this show. Why? Who knows except for the Sony PR guy. So go ask him.

The only advertising the show is really gonna get is from people like you who get the word out on the street. SO I tip my hat to you and all of the other fans out there who are supporting the show. We apologize for the mix up and hope you and everyone else will continue to be patient and just wait and see how everything unfolds.