Premium Post: How I Would Have Done STARSHIP TROOPERS (1997)

The Federation isn't fascist and shouldn't be portrayed as such, but the movie's Bug designs are cool and more women is a good idea.

As those of you who’ve listened to Myopia Movies know, an early episode covered the controversial 1997 film Starship Troopers. Opinions on that one were mixed — some of my colleagues liked it for its antiwar satire, while I very much disliked its deliberate mockery of the source material. I hesitate to go any further lest we get political (you want that, go here) and again, anybody can complain.

 So here’s how I would have done it:

In General

*The original novel refers to protagonist Johnny Rico as “Juan” and it’s referenced that he speaks Tagalog at home. Though they live in Buenos Aires, the Rico family are Filipino. Ergo, to be faithful to the novel, they should have cast an Asian or Hispanic lead if a specifically Filipino one isn’t available. Given the prevalence of Dawson Casting in Hollywood, Antonio Aquitania would’ve probably been a good idea given he’d be in his early 20s in 1997. If that’s something Hollywood at the time thought too risky (see what happened with the all-black movie Eve’s Bayou, where the suits were so desperate to have a white character they even suggested a white racist villain), an American Hispanic actor like Carlos Ponce (25 in 1997) or Michael Peña (21 in 1997 and acting since 1994) might have worked too.

*The rest of the casting is fine, or at least tolerable. The book is a bit of a boys’ club (for starters, Dizzy Flores is male), so I’d keep Carmen’s larger role and keep Dizzy female. From a Hollywood perceived risk/money perspective, if you’re going to take a “risk” with a foreign and/or non-white lead, bringing in more well-known (white) American actors like Denise Richards, Neil Patrick Harris, etc. for the rest of the cast is probably necessary. Flores is a Spanish surname, befitting someone from Buenos Aires, so while the Ricos might be immigrants, Dizzy is full Argentine. In a united world with free trade and travel I’d expect a lot more movement of people, so Carl being Anglo doesn’t seem too strange.

(Hmm…have Dizzy introduce Carl to the delights of tango dancing at the senior prom? We’d lose “Into It,” but that song didn’t hold a candle to the orchestral score.)

*The Bug designs are pretty cool, but in the book the Pseudo-Arachnids (that’s what they’re called, with “Bug” soldier-slang like “Kraut” for Germans) have advanced technology. I would keep the design of the warrior bugs, but attach weapons. Perhaps the Plasma Bugs could stay for Rule of Cool purposes (or as some kind of backup in the event technological weapons fail), but the Bugs will be a technological civilization with their own spacecraft.

*The film looks to only cover a year or so, while the book covers a longer time span and features Johnny going to Officer Candidate School. Given how this is a movie and not a TV show, I’d keep the film’s relatively compressed timeframe. Plus one of the book’s flaws was just how much talking and how little action there was and I’d like to avoid that. Much as I complain about film adaptations taking liberties (the canonical film is a particularly egregious example), film and books are distinctive art forms and sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

*I’d definitely keep the Basil Poledouris soundtrack. Even though I wasn’t allowed to see the movie when it came out, I did receive the soundtrack CD that Christmas. For a long time it was one of my favorite things to listen to. Check out “Klendathu Drop,” for example.

Act I

*The canonical film starts with the Federation’s invasion of Klendathu going to crap and then cuts to a year-ish earlier with everybody finishing up high school. I’d start with a prologue depicting Federation spacecraft exploring a new section of space and set upon by unknown foes. In the book it’s not clear who actually started the war and this new opening could play on that — the Federation might’ve been trespassing in Bug territory, but it was accidental and the Bugs overreacted by attacking and destroying the ship without warning.

*Then we jump to the high-school stuff. My main issue was that it went on too long, so I’d tighten it up. I’d also make the History and Moral Philosophy class (the one with all the “violence is the ultimate authority” stuff) less unsubtle and ham-handed. Finally, I’d make Xander Barcalow, instead of being the same age as everybody, somewhat older. He’s the brother of one of Carmen’s friends who joined the military a few years back and is home on leave, giving Carmen a serious case of hots for the man in uniform and making Johnny rather jealous. He’s also the bearer of bad news — there’ve been skirmishes with an unknown alien force and the Federation is going to war footing. The anime adaptation featured something similar — Johnny’s father (more on him later) opposed his son enlisting because as a government contractor he knew the war was coming and wanted his only son to contribute in a safer manner with the family company, not by joining the military.

Although Johnny is rather cynical toward the Federation’s government (in which one has to serve in the military or some other sufficiently dangerous federal service in order to vote and hold office), he signs up to follow Carmen and win brownie points with possible future in-laws. There’s a deleted scene where she reveals her father doesn’t like him because he doesn’t like how Johnny’s rich parents didn’t earn their citizenship like he did. Johnny not really caring about “The Cause” but doing things for selfish reasons matches with his character at this point. You could also throw in some issues of social class. Carmen’s father might resent the Ricos for their money and use his military service as a way to feel superior, and although Mr. and Mrs. Rico can’t vote under the existing system, they could use their money to exercise power without having to earn it through service. That would go against the Federation’s founding values (the book discusses this, including jibing at rich people who should “sweat for their toys” and thus appreciate them more), but it would demonstrate the systems’ fallibility in a more subtle way.

I’d make Carmen the one takes the initiative to enlist, following in her father’s footsteps. Johnny follows because he’s infatuated with her and he persuades Carl to tag along. This boosts Carmen’s as well as Xander’s importance and provides a more plausible reason for the main trio to sign up at the same time. The History and Moral Philosophy class might tell some unpleasant truths about human political history, but it’s not that impressive.

This is something his parents, especially Johnny’s pacifist father, find absolutely horrifying, so we keep some of the family drama. Although Carmen qualifies for pilot training and Carl’s psychic abilities get him a spot in military intelligence, Johnny finds himself assigned to what Heinlein called “the poor bloody infantry.”

*Next comes boot camp. Johnny meets new friends, including the sort of people he’d have never met in his privileged life in Buenos Aires, and learns how to a be soldier. This was one of the slower parts of the movie even though it’s necessary for Johnny’s character arc, so I’d tighten it up. No edge-lord stupidity like coed showers or sergeants deliberately injuring recruits to make points (i.e. the knife scene). However, when Johnny makes a mistake that leads to a man’s death in a live-fire exercise, he still gets flogged. The Federation, although not the fascist dystopia Verhoeven tried to make it, is still a much rougher society. Wracked by guilt for his role in the other soldier’s death and thinking the whipping insufficient punishment (growing up in Latin America maybe we can get some Catholic guilt going), Johnny decides he’s going to resign.

(This is something that’s allowed because the Federation only wants the most willing soldiers/citizens and the situation hasn’t reached the sort of emergency levels where no manpower leakage can be tolerated. Yet.)

*Just as Johnny is bringing his resignation papers, the war with the Bugs takes a turn for the worse. Rather than the frontier skirmishes escalating like the undeclared naval war with Germany before the US formally entered World War II, the Bugs have done something as unexpected as Admiral Yamamoto’s attack on Pearl Harbor.

They’ve launched a naval assault on Earth itself.

The unsuspecting Federal Navy is hit hard. Johnny and his boot-camp friends can see the battle unfolding from the ground, while Xander and Carmen, despite the latter being in roughly the same place in training herself, are rushed into an increasingly-desperate fight in space. The Bugs eventually retreat, but Johnny trashes his resignation papers when he learns that Buenos Aires was nuked. His parents and friends who stayed home are dead.

Now it’s personal.

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