Roughnecks - The Starship Troopers Chronicles - The Homefront Campaign

Rating:
Summary: A little schizophrenic, but still enjoyable
Review: Trying to figure out how this series was produced was a little confusing. The plan was to produce 40 episodes. However, the filmmakers ran low on money late in production and so they cheated a bit. They made several "clip" shows that were nothing more than scenes from previous episodes strung together. They skipped an episode completely (episode 33). So there are not really 40 complete episodes, which explains why there are only seven discs, with an eighth due in June 2004. But they also did not film the final three stories that they wrote--the stories that end the war. This campaign ends and the war is still raging.

But when they released the DVDs they also did some annoying things. For starters, the DVDs are not clearly numbered, so it is a little hard to figure out which one is first, second, third, etc. unless you look that information up. Some of the filmmaker's commentary tracks are repetitive. But one of the more annoying things is that they actually SKIPPED an episode that was after the Klendathuu Campaign and before the stories on this DVD. That one had the troopers hunting down the alien queen in space. The result is that this campaign starts rather abruptly with the war over and no explanation as to how that happened. It is really annoying and you only learn what happened by listening to the commentary track. That episode will be released in June 2004, but its exclusion from this disc lowers the value of this DVD.

That said, there is some excellent storytelling here, and also some plot holes. A major character gets killed and the troopers hold a funeral for him. It is fairly powerful for a show that was ostensibly aimed at kids.

[SPOILERS]

However, I also was annoyed at some plot holes. For starters, at one point we are told that earth has been devastated by the bugs and that "no major landmarks remain standing." Then a few minutes later we learn that San Francisco is completely intact. When Lt. Razak gets killed he is blown up, underwater. Yet in the next episode the troopers are gathered to spread his ashes over a lake. Where did they get the ashes from? He was blown up! And in the final episode, when they are battling on Hawaii, most of the action concerns their efforts to keep a radio tower up and yet one wonders why they don't simply use satellite communications. The show was usually well thought and executed, but occasionally they had the characters do rather stupid things just so the plot could carry along.

Rating:
Summary: A little schizophrenic, but still enjoyable
Review: Trying to figure out how this series was produced was a little confusing. The plan was to produce 40 episodes. However, the filmmakers ran low on money late in production and so they cheated a bit. They made several "clip" shows that were nothing more than scenes from previous episodes strung together. They skipped an episode completely (episode 33). So there are not really 40 complete episodes, which explains why there are only seven discs, with an eighth due in June 2004. But they also did not film the final three stories that they wrote--the stories that end the war. This campaign ends and the war is still raging.

But when they released the DVDs they also did some annoying things. For starters, the DVDs are not clearly numbered, so it is a little hard to figure out which one is first, second, third, etc. unless you look that information up. Some of the filmmaker's commentary tracks are repetitive. But one of the more annoying things is that they actually SKIPPED an episode that was after the Klendathuu Campaign and before the stories on this DVD. That one had the troopers hunting down the alien queen in space. The result is that this campaign starts rather abruptly with the war over and no explanation as to how that happened. It is really annoying and you only learn what happened by listening to the commentary track. That episode will be released in June 2004, but its exclusion from this disc lowers the value of this DVD.

That said, there is some excellent storytelling here, and also some plot holes. A major character gets killed and the troopers hold a funeral for him. It is fairly powerful for a show that was ostensibly aimed at kids.

[SPOILERS]

However, I also was annoyed at some plot holes. For starters, at one point we are told that earth has been devastated by the bugs and that "no major landmarks remain standing." Then a few minutes later we learn that San Francisco is completely intact. When Lt. Razak gets killed he is blown up, underwater. Yet in the next episode the troopers are gathered to spread his ashes over a lake. Where did they get the ashes from? He was blown up! And in the final episode, when they are battling on Hawaii, most of the action concerns their efforts to keep a radio tower up and yet one wonders why they don't simply use satellite communications. The show was usually well thought and executed, but occasionally they had the characters do rather stupid things just so the plot could carry along.

Rating:
Summary: I had the whole series on VHS
Review: While this series is only loosely based on the book "Starship Troopers". It is absolutely incredible. With recurring characters, great stories, told in a war documentary style. Even only rated PG it is some of the best stuff out there. In this Installment, Rico comes into his own and Rico's Roughnecks is born. The Roughnecks get a new replacement, and an old injured Squadmate is visited. I cannot stress enough, that while sometimes the story plods along in some episodes. That is not the case in this set of four.

Rating:
Summary: HOLY CRAP!!!!
Review: you're not going to find a better campaign. this is the battle of all battles. the bugs have infested earth and are ripping san francisco a new one!

with absence of L.T. and Sarge, rico has taken command of the roughnecks. his new Top Kick is the drill sargeant from their boot camp days - voiced by the actor that played him in the movie! if that's not the epitome of cool, rico has to deal with a brash new team member - Sarge's football hero son. this set of shows deals in rico's growth as a leader and the blossoming romance between himself and flores. how they find the time for that, i have no idea.

i think this is the best of the entire series and the most intricately concieved made-for-tv computer animation ever. i'm stunned.