Starship Troopers (1997) is coming back to Theaters...

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

But there are two catches:

It's only for one showing (8/15)

and it will be riffed by Rifftrax, which actually, for me, is icing on the cake. The film is hilarious, sharply satirical, and over the top as it is.

Let's not forget it has Michael Ironside, who is the greatest actor ever.

 

[Harvey]

I think it's a great movie that's in on the joke. It doesn't need riffing. I saw a film print of it in 2012 for its fifteenth anniversary and it was a blast.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I think it's a great movie that's in on the joke. It doesn't need riffing. I saw a film print of it in 2012 for its fifteenth anniversary and it was a blast.

I actually think that's a good point. Still, it might be fun.

 

[trevanian]

Since 1997 was for me the pinnacle year for VFX, especially spaceship VFX, and since it was mostly miniature work supplemented as needed with CG, I'd love to see TROOPERS on a big screen.

But I'd prefer seeing 2001 again that way even more, especially a 70mm print.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I think it's a great movie that's in on the joke.

Which is precisely the problem, as the novel was not a joke.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Well, no, it's not a problem. The thing about Veerhoven is that he will see that almost all science fiction is inherently satire. That's his great gift.

 

[Mysterion]

Classic novel written by a master of the genre.

Awful, awful movie.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Well, no, it's not a problem. The thing about Veerhoven is that he will see that almost all science fiction is inherently satire. That's his great gift.

Not in this case.

 

[Hound of UIster]

I think it's a great movie that's in on the joke.

Which is precisely the problem, as the novel was not a joke.

Its premise should be treated as one. Veerhoven at least made the right call.

 

[Mysterion]

I think it's a great movie that's in on the joke.

Which is precisely the problem, as the novel was not a joke.

Its premise should be treated as one. Veerhoven at least made the right call.

Why should the premise of Starship Troopers be treated as a joke? What is your reasoning here?

 

[scotpens]

Why should the premise of Starship Troopers be treated as a joke? What is your reasoning here?

Three words: politics, politics, politics.

 

[J.T.B.]

The satirical approach is as valid as any, but I was never impressed with Verhoeven's handling of it. Over-broad, un-subtle, sensationalized and trashy, it comes across as the product of a director who fancies himself a trenchant satirist but is really just a basic schlockmeister.

 

[crookeddy]

But I'd prefer seeing 2001 again that way even more, especially a 70mm print.

Did you ever get a chance to do this? I saw 2001 in the CineramaDome last year. Looked like a brand new movie. Amazing restoration work.

 

[marillion]

Went and saw this last night here in Albuquerque.. Was REALLY REALLY funny.. Was good to see the MST 3K gang (albeit mostly the "B-team" IMHO) in top form... I LOVED Starship Troopers when I saw it.. I thought, taken for what it was - political satire and an homage to propaganda movies, it was really effective...

But seeing now that it has had the Rifftrax treatment? I will never see it the same way...

The best news is that there will be an encore showing in theaters on September 12, I believe...

Very much worth the money!!

 

[DarthTom]

^^^^

What kind of comments did they make during the shower scene?

 

[marillion]

Funny you should ask... They did a big build up to it and just as the shower scene takes place, a guy in a gorilla suit, carrying a boquet of balloons, bursts onto the stage as Kevin Murphy crys out "I got you guys a Gorilla-gram..." You have to have seen it to appreciate it...

So the audience watching the live performance could still see the shower scene in the background, but those of us watching remotely mostly just got the gorilla-gram bit...

While I was a bit let down that they didn't riff directly on that or the bit of Dina Meyer cheesecake with Casper in the tent, I can see they probably didn't want to dwell on it.. You still got a quick shot of Dina topless in the tent, so I don't think they did it, figuring there would be kids in the audience... I think they just thought it would be a good gag to build up to it and then not have a payoff...

It was about half and half on the success meter, in my opinion...

I also meant to mention that they are going to do "Night of the Living Dead" in October as another "Fathom Event"...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Which is precisely the problem, as the novel was not a joke.

Its premise should be treated as one. Veerhoven at least made the right call.

Why should the premise of Starship Troopers be treated as a joke? What is your reasoning here?

It's the tired old joke about how the novel makes Heinlein out to be some sort of fascist and that it supposedly advocates the position that only soldiers can and should vote, which is also not true for at least two reasons: 1) you can't vote while on active duty, you have to retire first; and 2) it's not just soldiers. Any kind of federal service whatsoever, even cooks or accountants or quartermasters, qualify. If you don't have any qualifications, they have to make up a job for you. Doesn't have to be anywhere near the front lines.

And since the military is not allowed to reject candidates for any reason - they must, by law, accept absolutely everyone who signs up - then, by definition, there is no 'disenfranchisement' either.

 

[Brolan]

After Starship Troopers Heinlein wrote Stranger in a Strange Land. That's about as opposite of being fascist as you can get.

 

[Sci]

Its premise should be treated as one. Veerhoven at least made the right call.

Why should the premise of Starship Troopers be treated as a joke? What is your reasoning here?

It's the tired old joke about how the novel makes Heinlein out to be some sort of fascist and that it supposedly advocates the position that only soldiers can and should vote, which is also not true for at least two reasons: 1) you can't vote while on active duty, you have to retire first; and 2) it's not just soldiers. Any kind of federal service whatsoever, even cooks or accountants or quartermasters, qualify. If you don't have any qualifications, they have to make up a job for you. Doesn't have to be anywhere near the front lines.

And since the military is not allowed to reject candidates for any reason - they must, by law, accept absolutely everyone who signs up - then, by definition, there is no 'disenfranchisement' either.

The idea that it would ever be possible to have a "meritocratic" system which disenfranchises people and denies them citizenship without violating their other rights is absurd. Any such system would inevitably become subject to corruption and degeneration, and would end with the wealthy elite as the only ones with the franchise, and with "federal service" ending up either as an impossible or an insufficient standard for achieving citizenship. And idolizing service in the armed forces would inherently produce a violent, militaristic government.

Heinlein may not have intended it to be so, but his Terran Federation would inevitably degenerate into an authoritarian state, and lacking T.F. citizenship would be like living under Jim Crow as an African American. Veerhoven is being very smart when he constructs an adaptation in which eager servants of the Terran Federation are compared to the eager servants of the Third Reich.

 

[DalekJim]

One of the main reasons I list Heinlein as my favourite author is because he could convincingly write any ideology in a positive manner. His works range from liberal, anarchist, conservative, libertarian and fascist. You could convincingly paint him to be any of these things by just focusing on one novel.

Starship Troopers isn't a fascist novel, but it definitely shows in a very positive light many elements of the authoritarian, militaristic society within it. And that's brilliant. Science-fiction is so often dominated by the exact same left-wing, progressive, politically correct mindset that I find Heinlein's novels to be a breath of fresh air.

I love the film, even though it's a dumbed down bastardisation of the book. There's no way we'll ever get a true adaptation from Hollywood. It would be way too controversial for anybody in the liberal media to touch it. Paul Verhoven was accused of making a fascist film by the media when he made his version. Even though it's fucking obviously a spoof of the novel that holds it in contempt. He has Neil Patrick Harris dress like a Nazi!