Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles

Oh, I remember this show so fondly. I came across it in the summer of 1999. It was before The Sci-Fi Channel was sold to Paramount Entertainment and got ruined. From 7AM to 9AM five days a week in the summers. Like many small budget, yet effective, channels it was a BKN (Big Kids Network) outlet. They played a lot of mid-level budget cartoons those days in the morning. Mummies Alive, Extreme Ghostbusters and Roughnecks.

I remember so fondly waking up in the morning and lounging in bed watching Roughnecks. Oh, man I miss my youth. It's right up there with the one summer Sci-Fi played nothing but Anime when I was sick for two months and did nothing but watch it and sleep.

I first read the book STARSHIP TROOPERS when I was ten years old (now some 25+ years ago) and I have always loved that book. So much of modern SF has come from that novel, like the movie ALIENS, and novels such as ARMOR and THE FOREVER WAR. STARSHIP TROOPERS is more than just a great story, it's actually about the US island hopping campaign in the Pacific during WW2 (Heinlein was a Naval Academy graduate who served in troopships moving soldiers and Marines into battle), and it speaks eloquently about a society and its military, their roles and what is right and wrong with them. It also addresses such things as force structure, officer training, and the "tooth to tail" ratio. This book is even on the USMC reading list for NCOs, as much of the book deals with the interactions within a small, platoon-sized unit. Realizing this, it gives a different perspective on ROUGHNECKS than it does for someone who has never read the book and maybe only seen the movie. ROUGHNECKS does attempt to keep faith with the book, especially with the addition of the Skinnies, even in portraying them as they are in the book--allies, then enemies, then allies again. It also blends in the movie characters, like Zander Barcalow, with new characters like Brutto and Doc. It even leaves Dizzy as a girl (in the book, Dizzy is a guy, and he dies in the first chapter). Also, there is an attempt to add in what made the book so special to begin with--the battle armor. I saw about a dozen episodes in whole or in part, mostly on the local channel that showed it. I can only hope that SCI-FI channel will reshow them, or maybe another cable network, like TNN, could pick it up. New episodes would also be good. One person said that there was more character development in ROUGHNECKS than in five seasons of VOYAGER. That's true, especially as all the characters in ROUGHNECKS were allowed to evolve, whereas on VOYAGER only Seven or the Doctor were really allowed to expand and grow. And for all those out there who have never read the book, or any of Heinlein's work, I would highly recommend it. You'll gain a new insight into this show, the movie, and maybe even more.

For a "kids" show, this is one of the better shows on TV. There is more plot and characterization in one season of "Roughnecks" than in five years of "Voyager." The computer animation is excellent (for it's time), but it is not a crutch or the star of the show. Rather, the CGI is just a well-used tool that is used to create an excellent show.

I think this show, as a whole, is much better than the movie in many ways. It has action without being too violent, and drama without being too frightening for kids.

Even though the show is targeted at kids (older kids), there is plenty for adult sci-fi fans to enjoy: good stories, long story arcs, morals, consequences, and characters that are more real than 75% of the "real" shows on TV. The animators give the characters life and the voice actors give them souls.

Working on this show was one of the highlights of my career! The team that brought this to the masses was as hard working as any in the business. To those of you that are into backstage info, these shows took about 9 weeks each to produce, and with what were considered massive teams of animators at that time. This show had some of the best CGI modelers and animators in all of CGI-Dome. Was a thrill to work on as a technical director and a pleasure to work with such talented folks. The production was fast paced and well thought out. Was the first show where I was introduced to motion capture and it worked out great! Glad folks here like it, was a labor of love for all involved.

I found the roughneck series 100% better than both movies and the book. All six of the dvds are worth purchasing. The stories are very good and the animation excellent. I continue to watch them to this day. There was a little goof up in the continuity when they company had to outsource the production. However, it does nothing to detract from the stories. The only one I did not like was trackers. And the DVD's left out 3 very major episodes. There are episode guides that will fill in the missing pieces. All in all the cgi animation series is excellent entertainment.

Applseed