Review of "Roughnecks - The Starship Troopers Chronicles - Trackers" (1999)

When director Paul Verhoven made a live-action feature based on Robert Heinlein's classic sci-fi/war/horror novel, Starship Troopers, diehard fans of the book complained that the director took too many liberties and strayed from the storyline. Lucky for me, I hadn't read the book and made no such comparisons. It had to grow on me a bit, but ultimately I came to really like the movie and its b-movie tone.

Five years ago, Verhoven returned to the Starship Trooper universe going the route of a CGI-animated TV show, which he executive produced. With a continuing serial show, Verhoven was able to more precisely follow the novel. It's quite a bit different in tone from the movie, but I still liked it (I'm a late-comer to the series, having only seen this 8th DVD installment in the series).

The Starship Trooper Chronicles takes the characters, known as the Roughnecks (us; the good guys) through interstellar campaigns as they battle hordes of evil, hell-bent bugs. Each campaign lasted five episodes, and each Campaign has been packaged into one DVD.

One: 'The Pluto Campaign' takes the Roughnecks to the outermost planet in the solar system. There they fought arachnids and flying bugs, later to be known as Ripplers. They thought they were only fighting a infestation limited to Pluto, but it turns out Pluto was just a jumping off point for an all-out invasion of Earth.

Two: 'The Hydora Campaign' sees the Roughneck follow the transport ship to a water world. The troopers hope that this is the bug's base of operations, but find out that it's just a refueling area.

Three: 'The Tophet Campaign' takes the troopers to a desert planet populated by a race of humanoids called the Skinnies (sounds like Hollywood to me). We soon learn that the bugs are subconsciously controlling the Skinnies. They turn on the troopers and capture them. The troopers fight the good fight, and it all works out in the end.

Four: 'The Tesca Campaign' leads the tireless troopers to a jungle-like planet. This campaign show some interesting, realistic war-like encounters. There's a beach ambush similar to the D-Day landings, and there are tunnel engagements similar to Vietnam; to name just a couple.

Five: 'The Zephyer Campaign' This campaign leads the intrepid troopers to an ice asteroid where -- you guessed it -- they live to fight another day. here that the Roughnecks learn that the Bug Homeworld is called Klendathu.

Six: 'The Klendathu Campaign' sees the troopers invade the Bug Homeworld.

Seven: 'The Homefront Campaign' is an all-out battle for human survival when the bugs invade Earth.

Eight: 'Trackers' - aha! Here we are. This is the DVD we're reviewing.

Trackers has the few remaining episodes of the show, plus some short films which recap what's happened before in the series. The series was cut short and the last three episodes were never aired. Now, new episodes made especially for the DVD round out the collection.

Even though it's a bit difficult trying to review the ending of a series you never saw in the first place, I'll try. That's why they pay me the big bugs, after all. I enjoyed the use of voice over by a character called Higgins, a likeable reporter / trooper. It helped a newbie like me to identify with at least one crew member. I also like T'Phai, an alien trooper.

The look of the series is very much like a Play Station game, or a rougher Final Fantasy film. It's far from realistic, but certainly a cut above most animated television shows you see on commercial TV. There are lots of exciting air battles with scary bugs that fly, and fight tooth and nail (or what passes for teeth and nails in the insect world). The bug queen is one bad mother, and it takes a lot to kill her hoard. Never holding back on the violent content, the cartoon shows bugs being mangled, shot, and electrocuted -- just to name a few manners of death. Unlike the Starship Troopers films, there isn't any humor. This is a serious story, taken seriously. It actually reminded me quite a bit of Band of Brothers, only with a sci-fi and horror twist.

Short films included on the DVD:
 
Pluto & Beyond
Propaganda Machine
Marooned
Court Martial of Lt. Razek

Trailers:
Cyborg 09
Starship Troopers 2
Tokyo Godfather

Review by Staci Layne Wilson for Horror.com