Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles is an American animated television series based on the 1959 novel Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein and the 1997 Starship Troopers movie adaptation. The film's director, Paul Verhoeven, served as executive producer. It follows the exploits of the Mobile Infantry squad, "Razak's Roughnecks," during the SICON–Bugs War between a newly united humanity and an extraterrestrial race, known as the "Bugs," also sometimes referred to as Arachnids. The show focuses mainly on the Roughnecks' missions, rather than addressing the larger war.
The series aired for one season on the syndicated Bohbot Kids Network block beginning August 1999 in the United States and Canada. It was later picked up by the Sci-Fi Channel in the U.S. (along with the rest of the BKN block) and Teletoon in Canada. The entire series was available on Crackle in the U.S. included several Minisodes.
The show combines elements from Verhoeven's film and the original novel, such as the extraterrestrial race known as the Skinnies, powered armor suits and drop pods. The series also adds some original elements (e.g., the war starts on Pluto), while omitting the political aspects of the original work and film. Set right after the events of the 1997 film and ignoring the events of the film's sequels.
Plot When the Mobile Infantry defeats an infestation on Pluto, the world is united as the Strategically Integrated Coalition of Nations (SICON) declares war on the insectoids.
The main story focuses on a group of troopers known as Alpha Teamotherwise known as Razak's Roughneckswho are headed back to Pluto after Operation Pest Control.
After destroying Bug City on Pluto, SICON sights a giant Transport Bug. This reveals that the Bugs are not native to Pluto. They track it to the planet Hydora, which orbits a star in the Constellation Virgo and encounter a Brain Bug, an intelligent Bug that controls the other castes so they won't go insane and destroy each other. The Bugs are planning to take control of the entire universe and won't stop until the human race is extinct.
SICON attempts to set up a base on the planet Tophet, inhabited by a species nicknamed Skinnies. The Skinnies, however, have been enslaved by the Bugs to mine Xylon, a precious mineral used for Transport Bugs. The Mobile Infantry are able to destroy the Control Bugs overseeing the Skinnies and free Tophet, but the victory costs them their comrade Carl Jenkins, who has been put into a state of mental trauma. The Skinnies soon enlist in SICON to fight the Bugs, mainly due to their lack of interstellar travel technology.
SICON soon discovers the existence of the Bug homeworld Klendathu. They attempt to destroy the Bug Queen but she escapes, headed for Earth. Her Transport Bug is destroyed before she reaches the human homeworld, but she nevertheless makes it to Earth. With numerous battles on the home front and the arrival of Bug reinforcements, the battle had only just begun.
Campaigns The series is divided into eight story arcs or "campaigns," with five episodes each. Each campaign takes place at a different location. In the DVD release, each campaign is on a single disk. The Pluto Campaign (5 episodes) Takes place on Pluto. The Hydora Campaign (5 episodes) Takes place on Hydora, which is almost entirely covered by water. The Tophet Campaign (5 episodes) Takes place on Tophet, a desert planet which is home to the Skinnies. The Tesca Campaign (5 episodes) Takes place on the jungle moon of Tesca Nemerosa. The Zephyr Campaign (5 episodes) Takes place on a frozen asteroid. The Klendathu Campaign (5 episodes) Takes place on the Bugs' home world Klendathu. Trackers (5 episodes) 1st takes place on the journey from Klendathu to Earth. The others are recaps. 4th has Rico floating through space. 5th investigates Razak. The Homefront Campaign (5 episodes; 4 others planned but never completed) Takes place on Earth.
Production The show was produced by Columbia TriStar Television and Adelaide Productions for daily television syndication and ended its run of a single season with a cliffhanger instead of a proper series finale.
Though originally planned for 2-D animation, Sony contracted Foundation Imaging to produce the episodes with 3-D computer animation. Since Foundation was unable to keep up with the production schedule, Flat Earth Productions were involved with creating episodes 12 and 13, Hyper Image with 20 to 22, and Rainbow Studios with 23 to 25.
The series was to end with a titanic battle (on a larger scale than any previous episode) against the Bug forces on Earth, but production halted before this story arc was fully developed. Of the 40 episodes originally scheduled, only 36 were completed due to the production problems. Each week was to be a separate campaign with five daily episodes.
In the Homefront Campaign only five episodes were completed, with the last three episodes ("Gates of Hell," "Circle of the Damned" and "Final Inferno") left incomplete, along with "Homefront," a key episode in the campaign. "Homefront" was to show the destruction of Buenos Aires, referenced in later episodes. Summaries of two of these episodes are available at the TrooperPX website.
The missing episodes had their dialogue recorded, according to the Station Eight website, and some of their animation completed. This existing material was not included in the series' DVD release. Some of that material leaked online. A version of the lost episodes was performed once in 2000 in Orlando as an audio play at the annual Gathering of the Gargoyles fan convention, according to the story editor of the final arc.
In order to fulfill Sony's 40-episode order, four clip shows were produced, reusing footage from previous episodes along with snippets of new material. "Pluto and Beyond" and "Propaganda Machine" can be thought of as coming near the beginning of the Tophet Campaign. These summarize the events of that the preceding Pluto Campaign and a few Tophet events, without adding new material. In "Marooned," one of the main characters becomes lost alone in space and has flashbacks about events from the Pluto through Zephyr Campaigns (in no particular order); it appears intended to take place in the midst of the Klendathu Campaign. "Court-Martial of Lt. Razak" also takes place during the Klendathu Campaign (specifically, day 165), with various characters giving testimony (shown as previous-episode flashbacks from the entire series); of the four clip shows, it is the only one to introduce significant plot points. All four have been released on DVD.
Problems
Fan sites bemoaned production and distribution problems that prevented the series from finding an audience before it was canceled. Among the issues cited by Glen Oliver of Ain't It Cool News are:
The series was sold to syndication to air five episodes per week before there were enough episodes to accommodate this schedule. This resulted in a few episodes being repeatedly rerun, alienating viewers. Individual stations syndicating the show aired new episodes as they were completed, interrupting presently airing story arcs. The series was sold to SyFy without proper authorization. This soured relations between Sony and SyFy to the point that the cable channel lost the rights to air the show. One of the two effects companies working on the show was fired after a few episodes, ruining an already overly ambitious production schedule. "Flashback" or "clip show" episodes were added to fill gaps created by the inability to meet the production schedule. Some stations aired the series between 5 and 6 AM, while the Sci-Fi Channel aired the series at 7:30 AM, both of which Oliver feels were hardly desirable time slots for the target audience.
Fan campaign and DVD releases With a fan campaign begun by the now defunct Roughneck Chronicles website, the Pluto Campaign was released on DVD. Based on sales, the other arcs were released on DVD. However, these subsequent DVDs were released in order of popularity, not in chronological order. The last DVD released was called "Trackers," containing an episode bridging the gaps between the Klendathu Campaign and Homefront Campaign DVDs, and the four clip show episodes. Unlike the other DVDs, "Trackers" did not have any cast or crew commentaries.
The DVDs were re-released as a 4-disc Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles – The Complete Campaigns box set, which consists of stripped down versions of the individual DVD releases, removing the cast and crew commentaries (and in the United Kingdom edition the Tesca Campaign is incorrectly listed as volume 2, instead of volume 4).
Given the success of the earlier DVDs, it was hoped that the sales would encourage Sony to produce a final direct-to-DVD movie to complete the original Homefront Campaign story arc, but there have been no new announcements regarding the Roughneck series. The original production company, Foundation Imaging, has since dissolved.
While the series ends on a cliffhanger, the story editor of the final arc outlined his plan for the final three episodes on the crew commentary of the Homefront Campaign DVD (not included on the box set version).
Mill Creek Entertainment announced the complete series on DVD.
Characters
Earth forces
Alpha Team a.k.a. Razak's Roughnecks (later Rico's Roughnecks) Private/Corporal/Sergeant/Lieutenant John T. "Johnny" Rico (voiced by Rino Romano) – The main focus of the series, Rico is a good soldier but a distrustful of technology and overreliant on his instincts. He is best friends with Carl Jenkins and Dizzy Flores, and carries a torch for Carmen Ibanez for most of the series but eventually admits he is in love with Dizzy and they eventually become a couple. Rico is the last of the Roughnecks to accept T'Phai. He is promoted first to Corporal during the Zephyr Campaign, then to Sergeant in the Klendathu Campaign as a result of Brutto's paralysis, and finally to Lieutenant during the Homefront Campaign, carrying on Razak's legacy. Private Isabelle "Dizzy" Flores (voiced by Elizabeth Daily) – An old friend of Rico's from high school, Dizzy has a crush on him which is unrequited for most of the series. She figures they will sort out their relationship problems after their tour of duty. She had a relationship with Goss in an attempt to make Rico jealous which ended in the Tesca Campaign, but started an affair with Zander Barcalow for the rest of the Tesca Campaign and the entire Zephyr Campaign. This shattered as Barcalow became a Bug/Human hybrid during the Klendathu Campaign. She eventually redeems Barcalow in the Klendathu Campaign. In the Homefront campaign, Rico eventually admits to being in love with her, but Dizzy rejects him, revealing that she believes herself to be a "jinx" and that any relationship would bring about Rico's death. And, to keep him at a distance, she suggest that SICON command would find their behavior "wholly inappropriate" because of their respective ranks, hinting at the threat of fraternization issues that would arise if she made them aware of the situation. However, despite this, Dizzy still harbors feelings for Rico and eventually they do become a couple. Dizzy is claustrophobic, but lied about it to be accepted into the Mobile Infantry; her phobia was later remedied by Jenkins, who used his psychic powers to give her something akin to a very strong post-hypnotic suggestion. Lieutenant Jean Razak (voiced by Jamie Hanes) – The leader of the Roughnecks, Razak is a seasoned veteran who has been decorated ten times for meritorious service. He is described as having "broken the mold" of trooper officer behavior. Razak's left arm is a mechanical prosthetic, the legacy of his first command where the entire squad was ambushed and only he survived. He later dies a heroic death to save Rico in the Homefront Campaign.