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ralfy · Mission Specialist Joined: 23 Sep 2014 Posts: 488

"'Starship Troopers' Reboot in the Works (Exclusive)"

ralfy · Mission Specialist Joined: 23 Sep 2014 Posts: 488

"Paul Verhoeven Slams "Starship Troopers" Remake, Says It'll Be a Fascist Update Perfect for a Trump Presidency"

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/11/paul-verhoeven-slams-starship-troopers-remake-fascist-update-perfect-trump-presidency-1201747155/

Gord Green · Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2016 1:29 am Post subject:

Well, Verhoeven's version was a fascist parody of Heinlein's original story.

Heinlien was definitely a nationalist and with his Navy background through WW2 he was also a firm believer in a strong military.

He carried it to the point where he did believe that in order to be a voting member of society you had to have given public service. In other words the vote had to be earned and was not just a blanket right of citizenship.

It will be interesting to see how a remake goes, but I would think with the Progressive trend in Hollywood it will be more action than politically dominant.

Andrew Kidd · Planetary Explorer Joined: 20 Feb 2016 Posts: 43

Gord Green · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 12:51 am Post subject:

If Paul Verhoeven's STARSHIP TROOPERS had been done as Heinlien wrote it, it would have been more inline with WW2's patrioticly inspired films.

Instead he took a very leftist reaction ridiculing patriotism and Nationalism, not respecting that the whole idea of Heinlien's novel was a global nationalistic, even Humanistic, form of Nationalism that extolled the right of Humans to exist in the Universe.

Paul Verhoeven's take was to try to expose Nationalism as an evil, destructive cancer on the Universe and that any attempt to express our hegemony was a bad thing.

In SST3 the nationalist movement was parodied by the song
Music here :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66AWetS2hPQ

"It's a Good Day to Die"-----

Courage, Duty, Honor!

We call upon our troopers, in this our darkest hour,
Our way of life is what we're fighting for,
The flag that flies above us, inspires us each day,
To give our very best, in every way!

It's a good day to die,
When you know the reasons why,
Citizens, we fight for what is right,
A noble sacrifice,
When duty calls, you pay the price,
For the Federation I will give my life!

Well all is fair in love and war,
That's what my gunny says:
You're not alive unless you're almost dyin',
These are the words I march by: Duty, Courage, Honor,
Every single day and I've been tryin'!

It's a good day to die,
When you know the reasons why,
Citizens, we fight for what is right,
A noble sacrifice,
When duty calls, you pay the price,
For the Federation I will give my life!

(Courage, Duty, Honor!)

The Eagle, he flies high above us,
The Eagle, he makes our spirit soar,
He gives me the strength to carry on,
To fight, and win this war!

It's a good day to die,
When you know the reasons why,
Citizens, we fight for what is right,

(Courage, Duty, Honor!)

A noble sacrifice,
When duty calls, you pay the price,
For the Federation I will give my life!

(Courage, Duty, Honor!)

It's a good day to die,
When you know the reasons why,
Citizens, we fight for what is right,
A noble sacrifice,
When duty calls, you pay the price,
For the Federation I will give my life!

(Courage, Duty, Honor!)

For the Federation I will give my life!

Although I think this is a better expression of the spirit :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7y36GfDOeQ

This was to be a slap against Nationalism by making it a quasi-Nazi like anthem.

This is why the bagpipe squirls above a Highland Regiment.

A man who has never been a warrior could never understand that instead of it being a put-down it was an explanation of why we fight to allow us to survive.

Andrew Kidd · Planetary Explorer Joined: 20 Feb 2016 Posts: 43

Heinlein's novel had already been satirized very well by Harry Harrison in BILL THE GALACTIC HERO and then Joe Haldeman wrote THE FOREVER WAR as a response to it...and that ole' fascist Heinlein declared it the finest SF war novel ever! He was also, incidentally, very opposed to military conscription.

Gord Green · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:22 am Post subject:

True, Robert esposed a truly all volunteer military. But the reward for that volunteering was full citizenship which was held back from those who did not put their bodies where their mouths were.

The FOREVER WAR was a fantastic novel. It showed some of the futility of conflict, especially in a universe dominated by time dilation. In many ways it was a superior effort to TROOPERS, but it was written in a different era, reflecting a post Viet Nam experience while TROOPERS was a WW2 allegory.

Literature is often a prisoner to it's zeitgiest and must be respected as such. Too many reviewers fail to do this.