‘Starship Troopers’ Is (Finally) Getting a Reboot

Time makes fools of us all. As the years go by, Paul Verhoeven’s borderline campy adaptation of Robert Heinlein’s beloved 1959 book ages like a fine wine. When it was first released in 1997, however, critics believed it was an endorsement of fascism that worshipped a militarized society. The truth is that this now-cult classic was brilliant satire on a level the egghead critics just couldn’t understand at the time.

What is striking about the movie is how much it differs from its source material. It’s not hard to see why those familiar with the book (and 20th-century history) might think the movie promotes fascism. Heinlein’s characters are of Filipino descent, while the movie features a bunch of white teens with Aryan looks who just happen to be from Argentina. The movie also cuts out an entire alien civilization from the book, Johnny Rico’s actual name is “Juan” and Dizzy Flores is a man (there’s no love story).

But soon, none of that will matter. A new “Starship Troopers” movie is currently in the works from writer and director Neill Blomkamp (“District 9,” “Elysium”) -- and while the actual plot is not yet public, Deadline reports that Blomkamp is starting from the original Heinlein book as a source.

The “Terran Federation” of Heinlein’s original “Starship Troopers” is run entirely by military veterans, and people have to serve in the armed forces in order to vote or hold public office. It might sound like fascism (and Heinlein was also accused of promoting fascism), but those veterans provided the people of Earth with the freedoms of speech and assembly while racism, sexism and religious intolerance are a thing of the distant past. All that has since been replaced by anti-bug sentiment -- and even chaplains are expected to fight.

What we really hope Blomkamp can change for the better over Verhoeven’s film is the portrayal of Rico’s Mobile Infantry, namely their weapons and tactics. In the 1997 film, they never did any scouting or reconnaissance, appearing to just wander around in a giant gaggle with zero thought to any kind of tactical formation. Instead of powered armor, their primary weapons had little real effect against the bugs, they spent a lot of training on throwing knives, and their tactical anti-tank weapons are nuclear for some reason. It’s also not the best idea to build forts with the structural supports on the outside of the walls.

The Fleet in the movie wasn’t any better. With an entire planet’s orbit in which to maneuver, the fire support ships and troop transports just bunched up together to make a nice target for the bugs. Clearly no one in the Fleet leadership ever played Battleship. Although the Federation was supposed to have underestimated the bugs’ capabilities, these kinds of tactics underestimate human capabilities. I was in the Air Force, and even I know these are bad ideas.

For all of the fascism smack talk against Heinlein, the Earth government of his book discourages federal service at every opportunity. Even the recruiters try to talk potential recruits out of serving. In what is perhaps a really good idea, recruits get a 48-hour grace period after enlisting to give them one last chance to back out. Once in, they have every opportunity to resign.

What’s most poignant in the book is that there’s also a lot of discussion on the nature of war and what it means to be a warfighter. In truth, the “Starship Troopers” book is, at times, more akin to a “Full Metal Jacket” in space than Paul Verhoeven’s “Triumph of the Will” satire -- and the combat is closer to “Helldivers 2” than the movie led us to believe.

All this is to say that the potential for an even better “Starship Troopers” is high. But no one really knows what Blomkamp’s take on this masterpiece of fiction will be and there’s no timeline for release as of yet.

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