Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles Volume 4
Continuing the reviews of Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles, an animated series made for television and based on the live action movie version of 60's sci-fi best-selling book, Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein. While it's not directly translated from the movie version, you'll recognise some familiar scenes throughout and you can check out our review of the movie
Continuing the reviews of Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles, an animated series made for television and based on the live action movie version of 60's sci-fi best-selling book, Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein. While it's not directly translated from the movie version, you'll recognise some familiar scenes throughout and you can check out our review of the movie version here as well as reviews of the other campaigns in the series…
The series follows Razak's Roughnecks, a Mobile Infantry platoon that's always in the front line of the action. In particular, it follows a group of four ex-schoolmates as they progress from rookies with romantic visions of travel and adventure into battle-hardened soldiers.
The series was broken down into groups of five episodes, each roughly 20 minutes long, and based on a single planetary campaign. What we get on each DVD is a composite of the five episodes that form each campaign. Even though this DVD is labelled as Volume Four, it is actually the third campaign and comprises episodes 11 to 15…
Volume Four - The Tophet Campaign
Having identified the planet Tophet as a possible staging point for further excursions into the galaxy, S.I.C.O.N. sends the Mobile Infantry in on a recon mission as a prelude to a major tactical landing. From orbit, they can see nothing due to heavy atmospheric interference but once on the ground, the Roughnecks soon learn that Tophet is a searingly hot, volcanic desert planet with boiling rivers and constant dust laden winds. They find no evidence of Bugs but discover that Tophet is inhabited by a sentient humanoid civilization - they call them Skinnies. The Skinnies seem friendly enough so plans are made to start landing the main force but, as you'd expect, all that changes when the Roughnecks are attacked!
Again, as I've said before, there are no episode breaks on the DVD but here's a plot breakdown of each…
Episode 11 - Betrayal
The Roughnecks are sent on a routine recon mission to determine if the planet can be used as a way station to the rest of the galaxy. There, the Roughnecks encounter an indigenous race of tall, thin iridescent humanoids that appear to be friendly. Finding no Bugs, the landing is given the go ahead but soon the aliens turn on them and the Bugs come out of hiding. The Roughnecks must then battle against the seemingly allied Bugs and Skinnies in order to call off the landing before disaster occurs.
Episode 12 - Stranded
Lt. Razak, annoyed with Higgins' attempts to get him to open up to his camera and suspicious of a lull in the Bug offensive, takes him with him to investigate further in a surface skimmer. They spot a huge Bug migration underway and call in an air strike but, unfortunately their skimmer crashes on the way back to base. Left without communications and with the Bug horde advancing, they attempt to find a nearby unmanned relay station to call for pick up before the air strike and along the way, they start to form a bond. Meanwhile, the Roughnecks strike out on a Search and Rescue mission for their lost comrades and eventually find them in the nick of time and fend off the Bug horde until Carmen picks them up just seconds before the air strike vaporizes the area.
Episode 13 - Of Flesh And Steel
A Cybernetic Humanoid Assault System is assigned to the Roughnecks and it is befriended by Higgins after it saves him from a fall. Higgins sees the robot as a kindred outsider and nicknames "him" CHAS. However, during a battle, CHAS ignores the fact that Carl's been hit, labelling him an acceptable loss, and Rico has to step in to save him. Because of this, the squad won't trust CHAS at all and Razak recommends that it be deactivated when they return to base but, unfortunately CHAS overhears this and becomes seemingly paranoid. However, CHAS eventually proves himself in the middle of a minefield by sacrificing himself and saving the squad from both Bugs and the mines.
Episode 14 - Captured
While returning from a mission, the Roughnecks are attacked and taken prisoner by the Skinnies. Held in a primitive but seemingly inescapable cell, tensions mount amongst the squad while Carl's mental state seems to have deteriorated. When he and Brutto are taken away for interrogation, the rest of the squad blast their way out using the batteries from their power suits and the help of a small squirrel like creature. When the Skinnies get nowhere interrogating Carl and Brutto a Brain Bug appears and plans to suck out their brains, but Carl is able to use his mental powers to empower Brutto, allowing the pair to kill the Bug and escape.
Episode 15 - The Face Of Truth
After clearing a mountain pass of Blaster Bugs, the Roughnecks are able to capture Colonel T'Phai, the leader of the Skinnies. After normal interrogation methods fail, High Command orders Carl to use his special abilities and when he complies, he discovers that a small, crab-like Control Bug has been attached to T'Phai, controlling all his actions. When its been removed, T'Phai reveals that the Skinnie population had been enslaved by the Bugs in order to mine a highly unstable material called Xylon, which powers the Transport Bugs for interstellar travel. The Roughnecks then join forces with T'Phai to free the enslaved Skinnie population and prevent a Transport Bug from leaving the planet with a full load of Xylon.
Review
I've mentioned the DVD and TV sequence disparity before and I suggest that you watch this DVD before Volume Two - The Tesca Campaign in order to appreciate the continuing storyline involving the Skinnies.
Again, great visuals and sound effects all round presented in fullscreen mode with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. This particular campaign, as the third in the series, shows even more improvement in the storylines. It brings in first contact with an intelligent alien species and introduces a robotic character into the frame so it's not just a straightforward bug blaster campaign like its predecessors. Character background development continues as we learn via flashback how Lt. Razak lost his arm. The introduction of CHAS to the team is well handled as a one off episode and the writers haven't used the addition of the much more powerful robot as an excuse to always help the team get out of sticky spots.
Flat Earth Productions, who animated a couple of the episodes before pulling out of the series, and Foundation Imaging do the business again with motion capture and CG animation - the Skinnies and CHAS are really well done and Skinnie city looks good too inside and out with lots of detail. On top of all that there's some excellent desert wind and dust effects.
Extras
Again, like the previous two volumes, there are a few more extras on this DVD, which is a great improvement given the lack of them on Volume One.
Filmmakers' Commentary - Director and producer Audu Paden, senior vice president for corporate affairs Bob Higgins, director Jay Oleva and story editor Tom Pugsley give us another very good commentary on the making of the series and this set of shows in particular.
Technical Commentary - Director and producer Audu Paden gets together with animation director Mike Stetson for another well handled and interesting technical commentary with various members of the animation teams from Foundation Imaging and Flat Earth Productions.
Photo Gallery - Another large gallery of images and drawings of backgrounds, bugs, characters, props, structures and vehicles.
Filmographies - of some of the cast and crew. Exactly the same as that presented on Volume Three - The Hydora Campaign.
Trailer - Another repeat offering, a trailer for Volume Two - The Tesca Campaign.
Overall
Sorry to be repetitive here but If you've read the book or seen the movie, then this series is a very good addition to the experience. If you haven't done either, then it's still worth watching as the storylines are very good, the character development is improving all the time and the quality of the animation and sound is excellent. Aside from the repeated extras on this volume, the addition of the two excellent commentaries adds some good rewatch value to the package. If you like sci-fi and animation, then you won't get much better than this.
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