...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Starship Troopers
- 1864 statements
- 369 feature instances
- 281 referencing feature instances
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Starship Troopers is a 1997 Military Science Fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven. Loosely based on Robert A. Heinlein's novel of the same name, the film is generally considered to be the biggest middle finger the original source material will ever receive, and that is no accident.A co-production between TriStar Pictures and Touchstone Pictures, the film is a satire of militarism, the Cold War, dehumanization of the enemy, War Movies, propaganda and Military Science Fiction in general. It originally started out as an unrelated script called Bug Hunt before the studio acquired the rights to the novel and Verhoeven, disgusted by what little he was able to stomach of Heinlein's book, had the script rewritten to deepen the satire.The film was intentionally designed as the polar opposite of the book in terms of message, characterization, and themes — an attack on the idea that War Is Glorious. Rather than be a literal adaptation of Heinlein's plot, the movie is structured in the style of a pro-war propaganda film from the universe it portrays, with all of the bad acting, empty platitudes, and craven jingoism that such films typically contain. A fairly detailed exploration of the film's themes can be found on The AV Club. The film was also riffed by RiffTrax. (It should be noted that some people missed the satire, perceiving a simple gung-ho action flick instead; to Verhoeven's credit, the film is his most action-packed.)There were two live-action Direct to Video sequels, Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, which had puppeteer parasites in the form of brain-eating Control Bugs, and Starship Troopers 3: Marauder, with the introduction of Powered Armor and religious subtext.In addition, an All-CGI Cartoon was released in 1999, called Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles, which takes place in its own continuity and incorporates the Powered Armor from the book. Years later came the CGI movie Starship Troopers: Invasion, made largely by fans of the book Running the Asylum. Invasion is set several years after the third movie. As such it does reference other movies, and acts as a Spiritual Adaptation of the book, in a colossal Tone Shift from the previous movies, with the end result been it feeling very similar to a certain other adaptation of the book with a helping of Fanservice and Technology Porn added in. Of note are its Japanese influences, and the fact that Rico now looks like Big Boss IN SPACE! It was followed in 2017 by Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars.A Real-Time Strategy game based on the movie, Starship Troopers: Terran Command, was released in 2022. | |
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http://data.linkedmdb.org/resource/film/534 | |
Starship Troopers | sameAs |
http://dbpedia.org/resource/Starship_Troopers_(film) | |
Starship Troopers / int_10134c97 | type |
Artistic License – Gun Safety | |
Starship Troopers / int_10134c97 | comment |
Artistic License – Gun Safety: As thoroughly analyzed on the Internet Movie Firearms Database, the live-fire exercise was a fatal accident just waiting to happen, with the fact that just one person died being nothing short of miraculous. To say nothing of the propaganda reel where two soldiers pass out guns to kids and then start handing out bullets. This is entirely deliberate, as a demonstration of how eerily comfortable the Federation is with the risk of death and violence (not least because that gives it an excuse to hurt people in retaliation). | |
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Starship Troopers / int_117b3429 | type |
A Taste of the Lash | |
Starship Troopers / int_117b3429 | comment |
A Taste of the Lash: Rico's punishment after his actions during a training exercise lead to a soldier being killed is to receive 10 lashes across the back. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_1230e19e | type |
Overranked Soldier | |
Starship Troopers / int_1230e19e | comment |
Overranked Soldier: Rico rockets up the ranks because his superior officers keep dying. "Fresh meat for the grinder" indeed. Carmen and Zander are watch officers within a year of their joining the fleet. Carl is the only one who seems suited to his rank after going through Military Intelligence training, though his young age still stands out among the older Psi-Corps officers. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_1237828f | type |
Anyone Can Die | |
Starship Troopers / int_1237828f | comment |
Anyone Can Die: Most of those close to Rico are slaughtered brutally. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_127fc252 | type |
Creator Cameo | |
Starship Troopers / int_127fc252 | comment |
Creator Cameo: Screenwriter Ed Neumeier makes an appearance in one of the news segments as a murderer sentenced to death with his execution to be broadcast live. One of the producers, Jon Davison, appears as the Buenos Aires survivor who angrily proclaims that the only good Bug is a dead Bug. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_1290b446 | type |
Whoosh in Front of the Camera | |
Starship Troopers / int_1290b446 | comment |
Whoosh in Front of the Camera: When the soldiers explore the alien planet we see one of the Insectoid Aliens rush by in the foreground, alerting the audience of the dangers to come. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_1420a9b8 | type |
Scenery Censor | |
Starship Troopers / int_1420a9b8 | comment |
Scenery Censor: There is a mixed-sex shower. As the camera pans around we see naked young men and women showering, chatting and walking about. But somehow a bit of plumbing always manages to be between the camera and any genitals. The boobs do show up, though. There is also Dizzy and Johnny's sex scene which cuts away before they get farther than removing their shirts. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_1439161f | type |
Heroic BSoD | |
Starship Troopers / int_1439161f | comment |
Heroic BSoD: Ace freezes up during the Klendathu assault, shocked by Lieutenant Willy's death and the sight of thousands of Bugs pouring out of the ground. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_1542e3c6 | type |
Themed Tattoos | |
Starship Troopers / int_1542e3c6 | comment |
Themed Tattoos: Johnny, Dizzy, Ace, and Kitten are shown getting the same "Death From Above" tattoo on their right bicep after completing basic training. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_1722aaf | type |
Hitler Ate Sugar | |
Starship Troopers / int_1722aaf | comment |
Hitler Ate Sugar: The movie heavily leans into this, being a stern condemnation of militarism, nationalism, and propaganda dressed up as a mindless action flick. Problem is, the movie runs with the idea that those things are all evil because they were used by Nazi Germany, to the point that some of our "heroes" are decked out in what amounts to SS uniforms. What director Paul Verhoeven seems to have missed in all this is that not only were such concepts not invented by the Nazis, but they were in fact the very same things the Allies in part relied on to defeat the forces of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_17fe889f | type |
Goal-Oriented Evolution | |
Starship Troopers / int_17fe889f | comment |
Goal-Oriented Evolution: The biology teacher in the beginning thought the Bugs were more evolved than humans. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_18aff462 | type |
Artistic License – Biology | |
Starship Troopers / int_18aff462 | comment |
Artistic License – Biology: The bugs are referred to both as "insects" and "arachnids" throughout the movie. Apart from those being mutually exclusive terms, it's unlikely that alien creatures from across the galaxy would belong to any terrestrial animal class. The film also ignores the square-cube law that would make those giant bugs collapse under their own weight. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_19c92081 | type |
Tear Up the Contract | |
Starship Troopers / int_19c92081 | comment |
Tear Up the Contract: Following an accident in boot camp that kills a fellow trainee, Rico signs his discharge papers and prepares to leave in disgrace until he learns that a Bug attack has destroyed his hometown and tells Sgt. Zim he wants to stay in the Mobile Infantry. Zim points out Rico signed the forms, then says, "Doesn't look like it to me," before ripping the papers up and ordering Rico to get in his gear. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_1c398324 | type |
Death from Above | |
Starship Troopers / int_1c398324 | comment |
Death from Above: The Bugs supposedly use this by (somehow using plasma) shooting asteroids at Earth, but the humans seem to have trouble with the concept. Yes, this makes so little sense that it's implied it's bull anyway; the more likely explanation is that the government did it themselves or used a natural disaster as a Pretext for War. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_1c8e73ef | type |
Shooting the Swarm | |
Starship Troopers / int_1c8e73ef | comment |
Shooting the Swarm: The Roughnecks are firing at a massive Zerg Rush of Space Bugs. When Lt. Racszak sees just how many bugs there are, he gives a stoic Oh, Crap! look and calls for an evacuation. Few make it out, including Racszak. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_1cc527d7 | type |
Asskicking Leads to Leadership | |
Starship Troopers / int_1cc527d7 | comment |
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Rasczak's entire History & Moral Philosophy lecture about why only veterans have the right to vote (one of the few ideals directly taken from Heinlein's novel that saw the light of day in this film). | |
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Starship Troopers / int_1e7159cf | type |
Propaganda Machine | |
Starship Troopers / int_1e7159cf | comment |
Propaganda Machine: All the viral messages in the movies are a pastiche of propaganda recruitment tools, split with newsreels VERY reminiscent of today's 24-hour news services; prescient considering the original film is from the mid-1990s. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_1f137e42 | type |
Artificial Limbs | |
Starship Troopers / int_1f137e42 | comment |
Artificial Limbs: Rasczak's mechanical left hand. In his first scene he just has a stump, so it seems that he got it fixed when he signed back up with the Mobile Infantry. The recruitment officer also has one. Though he's also missing some legs, which makes you wonder if artificial legs even existnote In the book Rico meets him again later and he has a full set; he explains his disability is deliberately played up on the job so any potential recruits that it would scare off don't waste the corps' time. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_1f862cf | type |
Dare to Be Badass | |
Starship Troopers / int_1f862cf | comment |
Dare to Be Badass: "Come on, you apes! Do you wanna live forever?!" | |
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Starship Troopers / int_207046bd | type |
Deadly Training Area | |
Starship Troopers / int_207046bd | comment |
Deadly Training Area: Not only do the ground troops go into a training course with live rounds, the training area directly abuts other parts of the base—for example, a running course—with almost no walls between them! | |
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Starship Troopers / int_222df7f7 | type |
Lowered Recruiting Standards | |
Starship Troopers / int_222df7f7 | comment |
Lowered Recruiting Standards: Early on, we see a cheesy "I'm doing my part!" Federation propaganda clip where a little kid wearing junior-sized combat armor gets a laugh from a regiment of Mobile Infantry. It's less funny later in the movie, when Johnny Rico is given his own command and a lot of his New Meat consists of terrified Child Soldiers, indicating that the Bug War is going badly. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_22cf536c | type |
Chekhov's Gun | |
Starship Troopers / int_22cf536c | comment |
Chekhov's Gun: "Who needs a knife in a nuke fight anyway?" | |
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Starship Troopers / int_23561f0d | type |
Tactical Reminiscence | |
Starship Troopers / int_23561f0d | comment |
Tactical Reminiscence: During the Capture the Flag training mission, Dizzy suggests Rico do the flip he used to perform during their indoor football games. First he doesn't get the reference but then it clicks. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_23a37bb9 | type |
So Happy Together | |
Starship Troopers / int_23a37bb9 | comment |
So Happy Together: Dizzy's dream of a Relationship Upgrade with Rico came true right before her death. As she says in her Last Words: | |
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Starship Troopers / int_23f80ecd | type |
Devoured by the Horde | |
Starship Troopers / int_23f80ecd | comment |
Devoured by the Horde: After pulling a Leeroy Jenkins, Shujumi is torn apart by a horde of Arachnids. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_2469cff4 | type |
Oblivious Astronomers | |
Starship Troopers / int_2469cff4 | comment |
Oblivious Astronomers: The Bug Meteor isn't spotted by anyone before it crashes into Buenos Aires, despite the Federation's highly-advanced technology and orbital defences. Which lends credence to the idea that the strike was a False Flag Operation to justify a war against the Bugs. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_2493b31d | type |
Fire-Forged Friends | |
Starship Troopers / int_2493b31d | comment |
Fire-Forged Friends: Rico and Ace, with Ace initially starting out as The Rival, but he is eventually humbled and becomes Rico's friend. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_2534ee67 | type |
In Medias Res | |
Starship Troopers / int_2534ee67 | comment |
The usual result of someone getting caught in a Warrior Bug's mandibles, including Kitten Smith and the FedNet Correspondentnote Which is seen twice, once during the In Medias Res opening and again when the film eventually works its way back to that point. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_261bfbfc | type |
Pummeling the Corpse | |
Starship Troopers / int_261bfbfc | comment |
Pummeling the Corpse: Sugar Watkins curses continually while repeatedly shooting a dead bug. Even after Dizzy pushes him off he fires a few more rounds into the bug. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_26d18908 | type |
Puny Earthlings | |
Starship Troopers / int_26d18908 | comment |
Puny Earthlings: The Bugs can take a full magazine of ammo (or more as drama demands) and still fight. During the battle of Klendathu it took three people all their ammo to kill one Bug, which killed two of them in the process. The only person who had an effective weapon only used it after the Bugs had torn him in half. This is (almost) consistent with the book, as warrior Bugs have no sense of self preservation and may not even feel pain: if your torrent of bullets fails to hit a vital organ but only chops away at limbs, the Bug will keep coming so long as it has a limb left. But in the book, and later in the film, they realized this and aimed for the braincase on the back to disable them quickly. Subverted whenever they need a heroic stand, at which point the Bugs start dropping like... well, bugs. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_27d00b28 | type |
Same Content, Different Rating | |
Starship Troopers / int_27d00b28 | comment |
Same Content, Different Rating: In 1997 in the UK, Touchstone Pictures released two films, one of them being this one (and the other being Con Air) with '15' ratings for their cinema release. However, the BBFC felt that their decisions were too lenient and so they upgraded them to '18' for the video releases, where they remain to this day. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_285b66d7 | type |
I'll Pretend I Didn't Hear That | |
Starship Troopers / int_285b66d7 | comment |
I'll Pretend I Didn't Hear That: Rico resigns from the military (which precludes ever being allowed to re-enlist). The same day, his hometown is destroyed in an alien attack, so he begs to be allowed to fight for revenge. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_292d1ccd | type |
Everyone Went to School Together | |
Starship Troopers / int_292d1ccd | comment |
Everyone Went to School Together: We learn that the human troop strength is well in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Nonetheless, Rico ends up in the same unit as Dizzy. Later Rasczak joins them. Also Carmen winds up on the same ship as Zander, though he arranged for that to happen. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_2a44899 | type |
Plot Armor | |
Starship Troopers / int_2a44899 | comment |
Plot Armor: Any character that needs to survive a Bug attacking them for the purposes of plot gets stabbed in the shoulder or leg. Anyone else gets it right through the chest multiple times or is torn in half. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_2ae247a4 | type |
Auto-Doc | |
Starship Troopers / int_2ae247a4 | comment |
Auto-Doc: An injured Rico is placed in a nutrient tank with automated metal hands mending his thigh wound. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_2aff6a25 | type |
Death of the Hypotenuse | |
Starship Troopers / int_2aff6a25 | comment |
Death of the Hypotenuse: Dizzy. Also, [[spoiler: Zander. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_2b9cf587 | type |
Back in the Saddle | |
Starship Troopers / int_2b9cf587 | comment |
Back in the Saddle: Rico's teacher Mr. Rasczak returns to duty as lieutenant in the MI. Drill Sergeant Zim is so eager to get back on the front lines that he deliberately gets himself demoted to private to do so. | |
Starship Troopers / int_2b9cf587 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2b9cf587 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_2b9cf587 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2c62c9f0 | type |
You Would Do the Same for Me | |
Starship Troopers / int_2c62c9f0 | comment |
You Would Do the Same for Me: A marine is snatched by a flying Arachnid, which begins to dismember him alive. Rasczak grabs a sniper rifle and shoots him through the heart. He then turns to the remaining marines and says gravely: "And I expect anyone to do the same for me." Rico later does.. It's worth noting that this is exactly the opposite of the book's philosophy, which is all about No One Gets Left Behind. The lieutenant's death, in fact, comes when he's making sure every last one of his troopers, dead or alive, is evacuated from a battle. | |
Starship Troopers / int_2c62c9f0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2c62c9f0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_2c62c9f0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2cb29dd7 | type |
Standard Human Spaceship | |
Starship Troopers / int_2cb29dd7 | comment |
Standard Human Spaceship: The movie seems to follow this school of design, with big blocky ships which launch transports by extending them out the sides on davits and releasing them. Interestingly, several models were built in different sizes (smaller, less detailed ones for background shots), including two different designs (a transport and a carrier), in three different tones to show it was a fleet of different ships, rather than a bunch of identical ones. | |
Starship Troopers / int_2cb29dd7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2cb29dd7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_2cb29dd7 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2cb9b1a9 | type |
Cool, but Inefficient | |
Starship Troopers / int_2cb9b1a9 | comment |
Cool, but Inefficient The standard-issue assault rifle of the Mobile Infantry is the Morita. It fires a hefty round that can punch through two inches of solid titanium and the carapace of a Bug creature with ease, and it can even blow a limb clean off with one shot. It also features an underslung pump shotgun, for close encounters. However between the bulk of the rifle and the sheer power of the rounds it fires, troopers fire like graduates of the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy, and the guns still have little effect because Arachnids Feel No Pain and will keep fighting even as automatic fire is pumped into them. Later, the knowledge that troopers can kill an Arachnid with a single aimed shot to a specific nerve cluster is frustrated because the Morita lacks any sights. In Real Life, the trend for military rifles is towards smaller, lighter weapons that have superior handling, cause less fatigue on the soldiers and allow them to carry more ammunition (modern western-style military thinking says the army that can put more lead in the air is the one that will win). Rasczak uses a compact carbine version of the Morita that looks just as powerful and has sights, raising the question why they don't equip all the soldiers with that weapon, but again, it's probably keeping with the Federation's theme of style over practicality. | |
Starship Troopers / int_2cb9b1a9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2cb9b1a9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_2cb9b1a9 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2d2e3275 | type |
Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat! | |
Starship Troopers / int_2d2e3275 | comment |
Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: At the Battle of Klendathu, the Mobile Infantry go from spraying Arachnids to a complete and disorderly rout back to the dropships in a span of about half a minute. | |
Starship Troopers / int_2d2e3275 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2d2e3275 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_2d2e3275 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2dddd99d | type |
False Flag Operation | |
Starship Troopers / int_2dddd99d | comment |
One very common interpretation is that the asteroid attack was a False Flag Operation to serve as a Pretext for War, and the stuff about them being stupid and poorly defended is what the Federation thinks is the truth. The existence of an intelligent leadership caste is only introduced in the movie after the battle of Klendathu, as an explanation for behavior that nobody saw coming. | |
Starship Troopers / int_2dddd99d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2dddd99d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_2dddd99d | |
Starship Troopers / int_2ecf6052 | type |
Newsreel | |
Starship Troopers / int_2ecf6052 | comment |
Newsreel: "Would you like to know more?" | |
Starship Troopers / int_2ecf6052 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2ecf6052 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_2ecf6052 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2ef833e7 | type |
Burial in Space | |
Starship Troopers / int_2ef833e7 | comment |
Burial in Space: Dizzy Flores' gets a Meaningful Funeral during which her casket is sent into space. Mostly because she's a main character; none of the thousands of unnamed soldiers who die onscreen are ever seen getting such a lavish service. Her funeral serves mainly as a vehicle for Rico's Character Development by demonstrating that he finally understands the concept of sacrifice during war. | |
Starship Troopers / int_2ef833e7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2ef833e7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_2ef833e7 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2f62653b | type |
Borrowed Catchphrase | |
Starship Troopers / int_2f62653b | comment |
Borrowed Catchphrase: After the death of Rasczak (rad-chak), Rico is given command of the Roughnecks and recites each of the former's phrases nearly verbatim, perhaps to honor his legacy. Its almost as if he was becoming a Legacy Character. | |
Starship Troopers / int_2f62653b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2f62653b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_2f62653b | |
Starship Troopers / int_2f69c343 | type |
Resigned in Disgrace | |
Starship Troopers / int_2f69c343 | comment |
Resigned in Disgrace: Sky Marshall Dienes resigns after the full frontal assault he ordered on the planet Klendatu ends in failure, with the invasion force forced to retreat and several hundred thousand soldiers dead in the operation (a propaganda clip says 100,000 died in one hour, but the casualty list on a hospital bay aboard a space station lists the total at over 300,000). His successor, Sky Marshall Maru, changes to a more cautious strategy by targeting the outlying Klendathu colonies first and to investigate Arachnid intelligence. | |
Starship Troopers / int_2f69c343 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_2f69c343 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_2f69c343 | |
Starship Troopers / int_30b7cee8 | type |
Post-Injury Desk Job | |
Starship Troopers / int_30b7cee8 | comment |
Post-Injury Desk Job: A serviceman who has lost both legs and one arm in the Mobile Infantry has been reassigned to processing the application papers of new recruits. | |
Starship Troopers / int_30b7cee8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_30b7cee8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_30b7cee8 | |
Starship Troopers / int_30dff15f | type |
Physical Fitness Punishment | |
Starship Troopers / int_30dff15f | comment |
Physical Fitness Punishment: One of several methods of punishment used by the instructors in boot camp. One trooper is sent running around a distance armory (with a Corporal swatting him with a cane to keep pace) as punishment for failing to address his instructor as "Sir". | |
Starship Troopers / int_30dff15f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_30dff15f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_30dff15f | |
Starship Troopers / int_3133d1d7 | type |
Hollywood Acid | |
Starship Troopers / int_3133d1d7 | comment |
Hollywood Acid: Tanker bugs spray, what looks to be, a extremely corrosive orange fluid, it simply touching you dissolves through everything within seconds, it also seems to be semi plasma as it's clear you aren't just dissolving, you are burning. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3133d1d7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3133d1d7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3133d1d7 | |
Starship Troopers / int_31da1e24 | type |
Shipper on Deck | |
Starship Troopers / int_31da1e24 | comment |
Shipper on Deck: Racszak encourages Johnny to not pass up on Dizzy’s advances. When they finally do dance together, Ace plays the violin specifically for them. When Dizzy and Johnny do finally hook up, Racszak gives them some extra time to seal the deal. | |
Starship Troopers / int_31da1e24 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_31da1e24 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_31da1e24 | |
Starship Troopers / int_336c1a31 | type |
Kinda Busy Here | |
Starship Troopers / int_336c1a31 | comment |
Kinda Busy Here: While inside the cave, Carmen talks to Rico on the intercom all while Bugs start attacking. | |
Starship Troopers / int_336c1a31 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_336c1a31 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_336c1a31 | |
Starship Troopers / int_33b4e7f | type |
Helmets Are Hardly Heroic | |
Starship Troopers / int_33b4e7f | comment |
Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Oddly averted. In every battle scene, more or less everyone is seen wearing their helmet at all times. In fact, the one time a trooper removes his helmet, it's during a training exercise and it doesn't end well for him. | |
Starship Troopers / int_33b4e7f | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_33b4e7f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_33b4e7f | |
Starship Troopers / int_33c99c49 | type |
Might Makes Right | |
Starship Troopers / int_33c99c49 | comment |
Might Makes Right: The entire point of Mr. Rasczak's Federal History class. He argues that voting is exercising authority, and authority is violence, the supreme directive from which all other authority is derived. When a student protests that violence doesn't always solve everything, he points to how violence was successfully used against Hiroshima, and that it has solved more problems in history than any other factor. | |
Starship Troopers / int_33c99c49 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_33c99c49 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_33c99c49 | |
Starship Troopers / int_33d5b7f2 | type |
Adapted Out | |
Starship Troopers / int_33d5b7f2 | comment |
Adapted Out: In the book, the Mobile Infantry were also fighting a war against the Skinnies: A tall, green, humanoid species who were initially allied with the Arachnids, but later joined with humanity. The original text also included the Cap Troopers wearing Powered Armor (in fact, the novel is the Trope Codifier for this particular Trope). The film Mobile Infantry has nothing of the sort until the third film, Marauder (and even then, they are experimental Mini-Mecha). Needless to say, this is one of the biggest reasons why people decry the film as an In Name Only adaptation. | |
Starship Troopers / int_33d5b7f2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_33d5b7f2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_33d5b7f2 | |
Starship Troopers / int_34077cb2 | type |
Warfare Regression | |
Starship Troopers / int_34077cb2 | comment |
In the third film, set eleven years after the events of the first one, MI infantry tactics have interestingly regressed yet improved; 19th Century-style "fire by rank" has made a comeback (think if the British soldiers from Zulu had automatics and you have an idea) and troop discipline is better too. | |
Starship Troopers / int_34077cb2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_34077cb2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_34077cb2 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3456f3c5 | type |
Good Thing You Can Heal | |
Starship Troopers / int_3456f3c5 | comment |
Good Thing You Can Heal: Played with, in that it's not a Healing Factor, but medical technology that lets boot camp be more brutal than in the real world. Zim visibly breaks a recruit's arm to the point the bone is sticking out and impales Ace's hand with a knife. The first recruit is wearing a futuristic cast with a blue liquid in the next scene, and appears totally healed thereafter, and Ace's injury is shown covered by a bandage then not at all after that. Further shown with Rico's Auto-Doc scene, where he's back in fighting shape within a couple of weeks when such a real-life injury would've, at best, been months of healing and rehabilitation (most likely he'd have been disabled for life). The advanced prosthetics also allow the characters to get back into action after losing whole limbs. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3456f3c5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3456f3c5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3456f3c5 | |
Starship Troopers / int_34889673 | type |
Gender Flip | |
Starship Troopers / int_34889673 | comment |
Gender Flip: Dizzy Flores, mostly to add a Love Triangle and a Squadette. | |
Starship Troopers / int_34889673 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_34889673 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_34889673 | |
Starship Troopers / int_34c3144b | type |
Lured into a Trap | |
Starship Troopers / int_34c3144b | comment |
Lured into a Trap: The Arachnids' initial attack on the Mormon base was part of their plan to lure more soldiers into the same trap. | |
Starship Troopers / int_34c3144b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_34c3144b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_34c3144b | |
Starship Troopers / int_36e63b81 | type |
Rule of Cool | |
Starship Troopers / int_36e63b81 | comment |
Rule of Cool: It would make more sense to have a trooper or a Fleet rating loading troopers into the rescue boat on Planet P (this is, in fact, how it typically works on military helicopters in Real Life), but it was so much cooler to see Fleet officer Zander heroically jump out with an assault rifle to get Rico's men aboard. This is explicitly stated to be because nobody else is crazy enough to try the landing. The massed infantry charge during the first assault on Klendathu. You'd think with a fleet of spaceships and bombers, they'd carpet bomb the Bugs a bit first before landing boots on the ground to secure the planet. Interestingly enough, they do this on the second planet they attack, and the MI faces much less resistance, initially at least. | |
Starship Troopers / int_36e63b81 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_36e63b81 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_36e63b81 | |
Starship Troopers / int_374c339d | type |
I'll Kill You! | |
Starship Troopers / int_374c339d | comment |
I'll Kill You!: Said by Zander during his and Rico's fight scene. | |
Starship Troopers / int_374c339d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_374c339d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_374c339d | |
Starship Troopers / int_37b5c1b0 | type |
Big Badass Battle Sequence | |
Starship Troopers / int_37b5c1b0 | comment |
Big Badass Battle Sequence. There are at least three with many tropes, including Bloody Hilarious, Curb-Stomp Battle, and Hollywood Tactics. | |
Starship Troopers / int_37b5c1b0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_37b5c1b0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_37b5c1b0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3931557e | type |
Storming the Beaches | |
Starship Troopers / int_3931557e | comment |
Storming the Beaches: Unlike the original novel, the movie features the Mobile Infantry landing on Klendathu in dropships which are very much inspired by World War II landing craft. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3931557e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3931557e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3931557e | |
Starship Troopers / int_393ec3f9 | type |
Zeerust | |
Starship Troopers / int_393ec3f9 | comment |
Zeerust: Unlike in the book, CRT monitors are prominent despite flat-panel monitors already having been invented and in production by the time the movie was made. | |
Starship Troopers / int_393ec3f9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_393ec3f9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_393ec3f9 | |
Starship Troopers / int_396e1c2a | type |
Face Death with Dignity | |
Starship Troopers / int_396e1c2a | comment |
Face Death with Dignity: After being mortally wounded Rasczak doesn't hesitate to order Rico to perform a mercy kill on him and not lose any more precious time during their retreat. | |
Starship Troopers / int_396e1c2a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_396e1c2a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_396e1c2a | |
Starship Troopers / int_39cee4cc | type |
Team Power Walk | |
Starship Troopers / int_39cee4cc | comment |
Team Power Walk: Not a slo-mo one, but Rico, Ace and Sugar have a meaningful one on their return to Planet P, being the last of their old squad, coming to review some new recruits. | |
Starship Troopers / int_39cee4cc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_39cee4cc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_39cee4cc | |
Starship Troopers / int_3a153596 | type |
Dead Guy Puppet | |
Starship Troopers / int_3a153596 | comment |
Dead Guy Puppet: It's heavily implied that the Brain Bug did this with radio operator Farley, making him send a Distress Call that lures the Roughnecks into a trap at the Whisky Outpost on Planet P. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3a153596 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3a153596 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3a153596 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3b0479f2 | type |
You Shall Not Pass! | |
Starship Troopers / int_3b0479f2 | comment |
You Shall Not Pass!: Watkins after he gets too injured to move. He insists that Rico leave a tactical grenade/nuke to kill as many Bugs as he can before he dies. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3b0479f2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3b0479f2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3b0479f2 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3b41dde5 | type |
Eat Brain for Memories | |
Starship Troopers / int_3b41dde5 | comment |
Eat Brain for Memories: The Brain Bugs, who use a rather straw-like proboscis to stab through the skull and suck out the juicy brainmeats within. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3b41dde5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3b41dde5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3b41dde5 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3bc27275 | type |
Bubblegum Popping | |
Starship Troopers / int_3bc27275 | comment |
Bubblegum Popping: The animation Carmen sends back to Rico at class has her popping a bubble into his face. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3bc27275 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3bc27275 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3bc27275 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3c7d0418 | type |
Doom Magnet | |
Starship Troopers / int_3c7d0418 | comment |
Doom Magnet: Rico, to almost Walking Disaster Area degrees. Anyone in his squad should have a counter ticking down on their head. His initial squad is his initial squad is whittled down to just himself, Ace and Dizzy by the botched assaullt on Klendathu. Birdie loses an arm and is invalided out on Tango Uerilla, and then most of his new squad is killed (including Dizzy, who had just completed a Relationship Upgrade with Rico) on Planet P, along with Lt. Rasczak. By the end of the movie, the only surviving named members of the initial group are himself, Carmen, Ace and Carl. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3c7d0418 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3c7d0418 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3c7d0418 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d59c9a0 | type |
Powered Armor | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d59c9a0 | comment |
The original text also included the Cap Troopers wearing Powered Armor (in fact, the novel is the Trope Codifier for this particular Trope). The film Mobile Infantry has nothing of the sort until the third film, Marauder (and even then, they are experimental Mini-Mecha). Needless to say, this is one of the biggest reasons why people decry the film as an In Name Only adaptation. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d59c9a0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d59c9a0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3d59c9a0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d699462 | type |
Curb-Stomp Battle | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d699462 | comment |
Curb-Stomp Battle: The attempted invasion of Klendathu to end the war right away ends up putting a critical dent in the Federation's military strength, costing them a number of starships and at least 100,000 Mobile Infantry soldiers, including some of Johnny's boot camp buddies when they stumble into the Arachnids' defensive swarms; it doesn't take long before the Zerg Rush tilts in the Bugs' favor and an order to abort the mission is given. The propaganda clip after the battle states "100,000 dead in one hour," but the casualty list on the hospital ship shows a number above 300,000. Another communication broadcast during the battle mentions the Bugs are actually overrunning the dropships as they're picking up the retreating troops. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d699462 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3d699462 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3d699462 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3ed23024 | type |
Surprisingly Realistic Outcome | |
Starship Troopers / int_3ed23024 | comment |
Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Lots of this, usually in ways that result in the Humans getting handed a pile of bloody ass-chunks: The Humans' xenophobia and jingoism lead them to seriously underestimate the capabilities of the Bug forces. Mobile Infantry training consists of team-building exercises, slapdash drills treated like sporting events, and casual brutality intended more to weed out those with weak stomachs than anything else (thanks to their medical tech, even compound fractures can be healed in a day, so they can get away with a lot). This results in a force with terrible discipline, morale so bad they break at the first casualties, and no tactics beyond waves of disposable meat shields. For all the Hollywood Tactics displayed, the film is actually pretty realistic when it comes to the importance of helmets. The only time someone deliberately removes their helmet during a live-fire scenario, he is almost instantly shot in the head by accident. The Hollywood Tactics employed by the human forces don't work at all well. The very basic tactics used by the Bugs completely massacre them. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3ed23024 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3ed23024 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3ed23024 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3eee0728 | type |
Captain Obvious | |
Starship Troopers / int_3eee0728 | comment |
Captain Obvious: It probably doesn't take a man with Psychic Powers to tell you that your prisoner is afraid. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3eee0728 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3eee0728 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3eee0728 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3f064a0d | type |
Humans Are Morons | |
Starship Troopers / int_3f064a0d | comment |
Humans Are Morons: It's less "Humans are Morons" and more "Humans Are Absolutely Too Dumb to Live". The overwhelming majority of human characters underestimate the Bugs as mindless animals in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. For example, early on in the film, the city of Buenos Aires is annihilated by an asteroid knocked from the Asteroid Belt into Earth, by Bug plasma from Klendathu, thousands of light years away. Something like this was far beyond anything humanity can do without trillions of dollars worth of supercomputers, and the Bugs are doing these calculations in their heads. The humans insist that the Bugs just managed a lucky hit ("Bug plasma is random and light"), and retaliate with an invasion of Klendathu that ends in abysmal failure with thousands of humans dead and wounded, all due to massive tactical blunders on the human's part. Even after all this, the majority of humans are adamant that the Bugs are just unthinking beasts that can be easily crushed by human superiority. To quote one expert, "I find the idea of an intelligent bug offensive!" With the humans constantly underestimating the Bugs, paying dearly for it, and never once learning their lesson, one has to wonder if the Bugs find the idea of intelligent monkeys offensive as well... One very common interpretation is that the asteroid attack was a False Flag Operation to serve as a Pretext for War, and the stuff about them being stupid and poorly defended is what the Federation thinks is the truth. The existence of an intelligent leadership caste is only introduced in the movie after the battle of Klendathu, as an explanation for behavior that nobody saw coming. | |
Starship Troopers / int_3f064a0d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_3f064a0d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_3f064a0d | |
Starship Troopers / int_40bb59d0 | type |
Blatant Lies | |
Starship Troopers / int_40bb59d0 | comment |
Blatant Lies: The information spread by the Propaganda Machine. But because it plays its satire with such a straight face, you have to be paying attention to catch it. Pay particular note to casualty numbers in the newsreel on the Battle of Klendathu and then the numbers displayed in Rico's Federation hospital. The media are underreporting the deaths by a factor of ten. | |
Starship Troopers / int_40bb59d0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_40bb59d0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_40bb59d0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_40d15d7a | type |
Spoiler Cover | |
Starship Troopers / int_40d15d7a | comment |
Spoiler Cover: The Ghanese poster◊ spoils the fact that Zander ends up getting his brains sucked out of his skull by the Brain Bug. | |
Starship Troopers / int_40d15d7a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_40d15d7a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_40d15d7a | |
Starship Troopers / int_4108bb3e | type |
Doomed Hometown | |
Starship Troopers / int_4108bb3e | comment |
Doomed Hometown: Rico was just leaving the academy when he finds out about the asteroid destroying his home of Buenos Aires. He goes and convinces the commanding officer and Zim to tear up his resignation and allow him to stay. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4108bb3e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4108bb3e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4108bb3e | |
Starship Troopers / int_41dd77d | type |
Zerg Rush | |
Starship Troopers / int_41dd77d | comment |
Zerg Rush: By both sides, but as humanity learns the hard way, the quick-breeding, highly expendable warrior Bugs are much better at it. | |
Starship Troopers / int_41dd77d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_41dd77d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_41dd77d | |
Starship Troopers / int_420081bf | type |
Alien Sky | |
Starship Troopers / int_420081bf | comment |
Alien Sky: There are three day moons visible in the sky over Dantana and Planet P. | |
Starship Troopers / int_420081bf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_420081bf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_420081bf | |
Starship Troopers / int_42d3be0b | type |
Population Control | |
Starship Troopers / int_42d3be0b | comment |
Population Control: Implied by one woman saying she joined the military because she'd like to have babies, and it's easier to get a license after you serve. | |
Starship Troopers / int_42d3be0b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_42d3be0b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_42d3be0b | |
Starship Troopers / int_430ae566 | type |
Ankle Drag | |
Starship Troopers / int_430ae566 | comment |
Ankle Drag: Katrina loses her nerve after seeing Shujumi torn apart by several Bugs and flees for her life. As she runs, the ground collapses beneath her and she lands in one of the Bugs' tunnels and is confronted by one. She tries to crawl away but the Bug grabs her ankle and drags her deeper into the tunnels to an undoubtedly grisly end. | |
Starship Troopers / int_430ae566 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_430ae566 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_430ae566 | |
Starship Troopers / int_43a045de | type |
Dropped a Bridge on Him | |
Starship Troopers / int_43a045de | comment |
Dropped a Bridge on Him: A ton of characters die pointless, inglorious deaths and are never mentioned again, most notably Kitten, who is killed by a Bug during the Klendathu invasion in a quick, blink-and-you-miss-it manner, and is never mentioned again. This was almost certainly intentional. | |
Starship Troopers / int_43a045de | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_43a045de | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_43a045de | |
Starship Troopers / int_43b154c9 | type |
Not Even Bothering with the Accent | |
Starship Troopers / int_43b154c9 | comment |
Not Even Bothering with the Accent: You'd be forgiven if you thought Rico and the rest of the "Argentinian" characters went through Adaptational Nationality, since no one even bothers to modify their American accents while portraying Argentinian characters. | |
Starship Troopers / int_43b154c9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_43b154c9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_43b154c9 | |
Starship Troopers / int_44106359 | type |
Last-Second Villain Recovery | |
Starship Troopers / int_44106359 | comment |
Last-Second Villain Recovery: During the invasion of Klendathu, Johnny Rico guns down one of the attacking Warrior Bugs, killing it... only for the Bug to use the last of its strength to briefly get back up and skewer Rico in the leg, before finally collapsing onto the ground for the last time. Because of this injury, Rico is unable to retreat and seemingly meets his demise. Though he somehow survives, recovers, and takes advantage of mistaken reports of his death to join an off-the-books elite unit. | |
Starship Troopers / int_44106359 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_44106359 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_44106359 | |
Starship Troopers / int_442a6995 | type |
Stupid Sacrifice | |
Starship Troopers / int_442a6995 | comment |
Stupid Sacrifice: When Carmen and Zander find themselves surrounded by aliens and with the big brain-eating alien readying to do just that. Zander has a knife hidden, but he doesn't use it himself. No, he gives it to Carmen and promptly gets his brain eaten. The girl then uses it to wound the brain-eating alien and escape. No clear reason is given why the Zander didn't use the knife himself, other than to conveniently Murder the Hypotenuse. | |
Starship Troopers / int_442a6995 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_442a6995 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_442a6995 | |
Starship Troopers / int_44a65728 | type |
Hospital Surprise | |
Starship Troopers / int_44a65728 | comment |
Hospital Surprise: Played for Laughs when Rico wakes up in a rejuvenation tank to see his buddies holding his death certificate. | |
Starship Troopers / int_44a65728 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_44a65728 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_44a65728 | |
Starship Troopers / int_44cdd259 | type |
War Is Glorious | |
Starship Troopers / int_44cdd259 | comment |
War Is Glorious: Parodied - or at least they tried to, anyway. Sweaty bulging muscles, a faceless implacable enemy guilty of genocidal war crimes, big guns and comradeship. And if you don't fight you are a nonperson. The troopers are also alarmingly blase about the horrible deaths happening around them sometimes. When the panicked general during the trap is crushed by a Bug, Ace has this big grin on his face like "Hey, that was really cool!" And even during a panicked evacuation, killing one big Bug is enough to get at least a couple of them cheering like they're at a football game, even while they're supposed to be running for their lives. It is heavily implied throughout the first film however that beneath the shiny veneer, humanity is ultimately losing the Guilt-Free Extermination War against the Bugs, and badly at that. All the main characters end up in command positions with the deaths of every senior officer despite barely being out of training, suggesting nobody better for the role was available. The deranged general in the outpost trap is hysterically screaming "We're ALL going to DIE!" because he is high up enough to know the real strategic situation. Finally, at the end of the film, Rico's fresh troops are clearly Child Soldiers. The sequels make this more explicitly the case. | |
Starship Troopers / int_44cdd259 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_44cdd259 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_44cdd259 | |
Starship Troopers / int_45de345c | type |
The Peter Principle | |
Starship Troopers / int_45de345c | comment |
The Peter Principle: Generally averted. In general, if you're promoted and can't handle it, you're bumped back down to where you were. When Johnny is stripped of his squad leader status after getting another recruit killed in a live-fire exercise, Ace is given the position in his place. Come Klendathu, he panics and has no idea what to do until Rico snaps the squad out of it. Later, Ace makes reference to this when he refuses Johnny's offer of a squad leader position when Johnny becomes a Corporal. Even at the end of the film, he's still a Private. After the disasterous invasion of Klendathu, Sky Marshal Dienes accepts responsibility and resigns his position and is replaced by Sky Marshal Meru who takes the Arachnid threat far more seriously. Career Sergeant Zim plays this the other way; he deliberately demonstrates incompetence (or implies that he will) and is "busted to private," which is what he wants so that he can serve in the field rather than at a training base. | |
Starship Troopers / int_45de345c | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_45de345c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_45de345c | |
Starship Troopers / int_470980a7 | type |
Fetish-Fuel Future | |
Starship Troopers / int_470980a7 | comment |
Fetish-Fuel Future: There are co-ed showers. Also, getting fitted for a mecha unit requires that you stand naked in front of a small device which is only high enough, and large enough, to cover your crotch. Notably, these scenes (from the first and third movies) aren't played like typical Fanservice. All the characters, male and female, have a reasonable, non-sexual discussion. Meanwhile, the camera does not focus on the sexy bits. It simply films everyone talking and interacting, exactly as if they were still wearing clothes. | |
Starship Troopers / int_470980a7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_470980a7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_470980a7 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4856ac40 | type |
Stock Footage | |
Starship Troopers / int_4856ac40 | comment |
Stock Footage: The scenes involving explosions and fire after the destruction of Buenos Aires were actually videos taken from the Oakland Hills fire in October of 1991. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4856ac40 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4856ac40 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4856ac40 | |
Starship Troopers / int_489ce93a | type |
Capital Offensive | |
Starship Troopers / int_489ce93a | comment |
Capital Offensive: The Federation shows what a bunch of geniuses they are by invading Arachnid territory and going straight for their homeworld Klendathu, the most heavily populated and fortified planet of the Arachnid's interstellar empire. The human assault force is routed within the hour and they are forced to retreat with embarrassing casualties. The next Sky Marshal goes for the somewhat more sane strategy of attacking the outlying colonies first and trying to take prisoners for interrogation. | |
Starship Troopers / int_489ce93a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_489ce93a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_489ce93a | |
Starship Troopers / int_48c99e19 | type |
Death by Adaptation | |
Starship Troopers / int_48c99e19 | comment |
Death by Adaptation: Johnny's father. In the book, only his mother is in Buenos Aires when it's destroyed; his father was meant to join her there later and survives as a result, joining the military and going on to become Johnny's second-in-command. In the movie, he dies along with her. | |
Starship Troopers / int_48c99e19 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_48c99e19 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_48c99e19 | |
Starship Troopers / int_49d18492 | type |
Scenery Gorn | |
Starship Troopers / int_49d18492 | comment |
Scenery Gorn: Buenos Aires burning and the look of its remains after getting hit by the Bug Meteor and Tango Urilla's smoking and dead Warrior Bug-ridden surface after the clean-up bombing operation. | |
Starship Troopers / int_49d18492 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_49d18492 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_49d18492 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4ac8b81f | type |
Humans Are the Real Monsters | |
Starship Troopers / int_4ac8b81f | comment |
Since the movie is a satire of the gung-ho jingoism of the novel, they use the Nazi-like symbolism to portray the humans as an evil invading race by Putting on the Reich, and occasionally showing a propaganda commercial. This is capped by Neil Patrick Harris (at the time, best known for Doogie Howser, M.D.) as a Dr. Mengele Expy. One fan theory is that the humans faked the asteroid attack to justify the invasion. Either that, or used the opportunity provided by the otherwise natural asteroid strike to start a war. Just like the Nazis, the Federation is forced to have child soldiers as well. As the RiffTrax guys put it: "In case you're not getting it yet, all the rest of his lines will be in German." | |
Starship Troopers / int_4ac8b81f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4ac8b81f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4ac8b81f | |
Starship Troopers / int_4b1afa0d | type |
Spiteful Spit | |
Starship Troopers / int_4b1afa0d | comment |
Spiteful Spit: Zander (Carmen's boyfriend) to the Brain Bug just before it sucks out his brain. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4b1afa0d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4b1afa0d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4b1afa0d | |
Starship Troopers / int_4c1e47cb | type |
War Comes Home | |
Starship Troopers / int_4c1e47cb | comment |
War Comes Home: John "Johnny" Rico has submitted his resignation from the military before hearing of an attack on his hometown, after which he returns and asks to rescind his resignation. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4c1e47cb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4c1e47cb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4c1e47cb | |
Starship Troopers / int_4ce20451 | type |
Rhetorical Request Blunder | |
Starship Troopers / int_4ce20451 | comment |
Rhetorical Request Blunder: Subverted (barely). When General Owen says, “I wish you would just shoot me,� Racszak is happy to oblige and cocks his gun. Rico stops him at the last second, but then Owen is killed in a Bug attack anyway. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4ce20451 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4ce20451 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4ce20451 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e0444f2 | type |
No Guy Wants to Be Chased | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e0444f2 | comment |
No Guy Wants to Be Chased: During the first part of the film, Dizzy makes her interest in Rico extremely obvious, but Rico continually finds her interest irritating and pushes her away in favor of Carmen. It takes Carmen outright dumping him before Rico starts reciprocating Dizzy's affections. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e0444f2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e0444f2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4e0444f2 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e3d253b | type |
Downer Ending | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e3d253b | comment |
Downer Ending: By the film's end, Rico's parents, his mentor, and a woman who truly loved him are all dead. Only two of his friends survive and he will see neither of them in the same light again. It's implied that despite their technology and new insights into the Bugs, humanity is losing the war because they can't replace their losses quick enough due to their opponents being R-selected bugs that breed fast— which explains the Child Soldiers and the fact all the main characters have found themselves in senior command positions despite their near-total inexperience. And worst of all, Rico has gone the way of Winston Smith and been so thoroughly indoctrinated into the ideals of his brutal society, that he doesn't see this as a horrible outcome. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e3d253b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e3d253b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4e3d253b | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e8b83a | type |
That's an Order! | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e8b83a | comment |
That's an Order!: Rasczak says this after telling his troops to have fun during their party celebrating their victory. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e8b83a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4e8b83a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4e8b83a | |
Starship Troopers / int_4eaa9b84 | type |
Author Tract | |
Starship Troopers / int_4eaa9b84 | comment |
Author Tract: The film is one, in a way diametrically opposed to the original book. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4eaa9b84 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4eaa9b84 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4eaa9b84 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4ebb6a0 | type |
Insert Grenade Here | |
Starship Troopers / int_4ebb6a0 | comment |
Insert Grenade Here: Johnny Rico jumps onto the back of a giant Bug, blows a hole in its carapace with his gun, and then tosses in a grenade. Much orange and green paint ensues. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4ebb6a0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4ebb6a0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4ebb6a0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4efc4fae | type |
Good Scars, Evil Scars | |
Starship Troopers / int_4efc4fae | comment |
Good Scars, Evil Scars: All of the adults have horrible injuries. Rasczak is missing his arm, Rico's biology teacher is blind with massive burn scars all over her face, the recruiter is missing his legs and one forearm, and so on. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4efc4fae | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4efc4fae | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4efc4fae | |
Starship Troopers / int_4fb9a00b | type |
Get a Room! | |
Starship Troopers / int_4fb9a00b | comment |
Get a Room!: Carl teases Rico and Carmen this way when the latter two share a patient kiss at the school dance. | |
Starship Troopers / int_4fb9a00b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_4fb9a00b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_4fb9a00b | |
Starship Troopers / int_506bf16a | type |
Sex Signals Death | |
Starship Troopers / int_506bf16a | comment |
Sex Signals Death: After spending over half of the movie pining, the day after Dizzy and Rico have sex, she dies. | |
Starship Troopers / int_506bf16a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_506bf16a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_506bf16a | |
Starship Troopers / int_50c7749f | type |
Dead Man's Trigger Finger | |
Starship Troopers / int_50c7749f | comment |
Dead Man's Trigger Finger: During a (remarkably unsafe) live-fire training exercise, Djana'd is hit in the back by a Static Stun Gun as she turns to bicker with Breckinridge while he's trying to fix his helmet (on Rico's orders) by taking it off. She ends up inadvertently firing a burst that takes part of his head off. | |
Starship Troopers / int_50c7749f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_50c7749f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_50c7749f | |
Starship Troopers / int_515189ab | type |
Single-Biome Planet | |
Starship Troopers / int_515189ab | comment |
Single-Biome Planet: There is an entirely single biome solar system. Even the moons are deserts. Apparently, they all look like Wyoming's Hell's Half Acre or the Badlands of South Dakota. Rasczak mentions that the Fleet glasses each planet before the Mobile Infantry is sent in so it explains why they all look like a wasteland. | |
Starship Troopers / int_515189ab | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_515189ab | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_515189ab | |
Starship Troopers / int_519c2e3a | type |
Trashcan Bonfire | |
Starship Troopers / int_519c2e3a | comment |
Trashcan Bonfire: Rasczak's Roughnecks are having a party on the planet Tango Urilla after escaping the Bug-besieged outpost. A barrel with flames coming out can be seen in the middle of the mass of soldiers. | |
Starship Troopers / int_519c2e3a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_519c2e3a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_519c2e3a | |
Starship Troopers / int_51c7574c | type |
Abandon Ship | |
Starship Troopers / int_51c7574c | comment |
Abandon Ship: After the Rodger Young is split in two by a plasma blast. | |
Starship Troopers / int_51c7574c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_51c7574c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_51c7574c | |
Starship Troopers / int_53dc1e7 | type |
Throw-Away Country | |
Starship Troopers / int_53dc1e7 | comment |
Throw-Away Country: Buenos Aires is destroyed at the beginning of Starship Troopers, providing a pretext for the war against the bugs and the main character (who is from there) to sign up for the Army. | |
Starship Troopers / int_53dc1e7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_53dc1e7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_53dc1e7 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5501256b | type |
Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated | |
Starship Troopers / int_5501256b | comment |
Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: "Hey, Rico! Congratulations—you're dead!" Said to Rico while he's in a stasis tank, getting his various battle wounds repaired. Of course, nobody thought to tell Carmen that Rico had actually survived. Ironically enough, it's Zander who informs Carmen that Rico is still alive, immediately after seeing him among the troopers they just picked up on Planet P. | |
Starship Troopers / int_5501256b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5501256b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_5501256b | |
Starship Troopers / int_5526b660 | type |
Humans Are White | |
Starship Troopers / int_5526b660 | comment |
Humans Are White: The cast is significantly whiter than in the book it's supposedly based on. The protagonist Johnny Rico, a Filipino in the novel, is given a Race Lift in order to make the human society look more Nazi. Granted they're supposed to be future Argentinians (Argentina is the most European Latin American country, though still not that white in terms of looks). | |
Starship Troopers / int_5526b660 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5526b660 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_5526b660 | |
Starship Troopers / int_559d1202 | type |
Improbable Parking Skills | |
Starship Troopers / int_559d1202 | comment |
Improbable Parking Skills: It is implied that Carmen Ibanez has to have Improbable Parking Skills to land her shuttle in the middle of a besieged Mobile Infantry outpost during a fierce battle. Of course, she had already been established as the Ace Pilot. That is less a case of being skilled enough to land in the middle of the area (considering the shuttles are virtually VTOL craft to begin with) as it is she is the only one insane enough to actually do it in the middle of a millions-strong wave of incoming Arachnids. | |
Starship Troopers / int_559d1202 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_559d1202 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_559d1202 | |
Starship Troopers / int_566f1565 | type |
10-Minute Retirement | |
Starship Troopers / int_566f1565 | comment |
10-Minute Retirement: Rico tries to quit basic training after he is demoted (due to getting a fellow trainee killed because of his desire to win), but just as he is walking out of the base, the Bugs supposedly Colony Drop his hometown and he promptly forces his way back into the Infantry. | |
Starship Troopers / int_566f1565 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_566f1565 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_566f1565 | |
Starship Troopers / int_579d50de | type |
Monster Threat Expiration | |
Starship Troopers / int_579d50de | comment |
Monster Threat Expiration: The Arachnids. In the first major battle scene it takes a fire team of soldiers blasting away on full auto to put down one. In the final battle scene, a trio of heroes with the exact same weapons mow them down by the dozens, and other soldiers do so as well. Justified, as the Arachnid Warriors can take a lot of damage but go down easily once you hit their nerve stem: at the start the still green troopers were just firing at them at random, but later they learned where to hit. | |
Starship Troopers / int_579d50de | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_579d50de | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_579d50de | |
Starship Troopers / int_57b80b45 | type |
Fantastic Racism | |
Starship Troopers / int_57b80b45 | comment |
Humanity in general has elements of this. In the first movie, the Bugs (supposedly) attack Earth by using plasma to send an asteroid from Klendathu all the way to Earth, across three quarters of the galaxy. Something like that would take genius surpassing anything humanity is capable of without a couple trillion dollars worth of supercomputers backing them up. And the Bugs (or at least their leaders) can do those kinds of calculations in their heads. The humans assume that the Bugs are unintelligent, and that their plasma attacks when they try to land will be "random and light". They're neither. Even after the horrible slaughter at Klandathu, there are more than a few humans who insist that the Bugs can't be intelligent. In the words of one pundit, "Frankly, I find the idea of a bug that thinks offensive!" One wonders, do the Bugs find the idea of intelligent monkeys offensive as well? | |
Starship Troopers / int_57b80b45 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_57b80b45 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_57b80b45 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5874eb12 | type |
Organic Technology | |
Starship Troopers / int_5874eb12 | comment |
Organic Technology: The movie Bugs come in varying breeds for battle, instead of being tool-using like the novel. | |
Starship Troopers / int_5874eb12 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5874eb12 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_5874eb12 | |
Starship Troopers / int_588d6b3e | type |
Vasquez Always Dies | |
Starship Troopers / int_588d6b3e | comment |
Vasquez Always Dies: Dizzy and Rake. Corporal Birdie subverts this. Despite fitting the trope, she merely loses an arm to a Tanker Bug on Tango Urilla and is removed from the action. | |
Starship Troopers / int_588d6b3e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_588d6b3e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_588d6b3e | |
Starship Troopers / int_588d766f | type |
BlackAndGreyMorality | |
Starship Troopers / int_588d766f | comment |
Black-and-Grey Morality: The film presents the conflict between the human race and the Bugs as Black-and-White Morality, but it has the tone of an in-universe propaganda movie and it's quite clear to most viewers that the humans are meant to be the real monsters of the movie. The sequels are better described as Evil Versus Evil. | |
Starship Troopers / int_588d766f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_588d766f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_588d766f | |
Starship Troopers / int_59c0c00 | type |
Sighted Guns Are Low-Tech | |
Starship Troopers / int_59c0c00 | comment |
Sighted Guns Are Low-Tech: The basic Morita rifle lacks any sort of sighting system, save for the large scope attached specifically to Pvt. "Sugar" Watkins' weapon, and even the Mk II variation briefly demonstrated later on only has a front sight. | |
Starship Troopers / int_59c0c00 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_59c0c00 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_59c0c00 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5a8f3057 | type |
Hand Signals | |
Starship Troopers / int_5a8f3057 | comment |
Hand Signals: Lieutenant Rascak uses them while approaching the outpost on Planet P. | |
Starship Troopers / int_5a8f3057 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5a8f3057 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_5a8f3057 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5a963d1c | type |
False Reassurance | |
Starship Troopers / int_5a963d1c | comment |
False Reassurance: When Rico first signs up, the recruiter boasts that the Mobile Infantry made him the man he is today... as he shakes Rico's hand with an artificial arm and rolls his chair back to reveal he's had both legs amputated.note In the novel, the recruiter has proper prosthetics that are indistinguishable from normal limbs; he tells Rico that he takes them off while he's on the clock in order to make prospective recruits give very careful thought to what they're getting into. | |
Starship Troopers / int_5a963d1c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5a963d1c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_5a963d1c | |
Starship Troopers / int_5bad2ab4 | type |
Military Maverick | |
Starship Troopers / int_5bad2ab4 | comment |
Military Maverick: Everyone! The Federation seems to encourage recklessness and lack of discipline among the military. As long as they're killing Bugs, it seems nobody cares if they're putting themselves in needless jeopardy. We see soldiers express contempt for perceived cowardice, but the only time one of them is actually punished is when Rico gets a squadmate killed during a training exercise (even then, he's shown sympathy for explaining his actions with "I wanted to win!") | |
Starship Troopers / int_5bad2ab4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5bad2ab4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_5bad2ab4 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5c446b43 | type |
Aliens in Cardiff | |
Starship Troopers / int_5c446b43 | comment |
Aliens in Cardiff: The first city to be attacked by the aliens is Buenos Aires, which happens to be our hero's hometown. | |
Starship Troopers / int_5c446b43 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5c446b43 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_5c446b43 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5d414804 | type |
Just Friends | |
Starship Troopers / int_5d414804 | comment |
Just Friends: This happens to Johnny Rico after his girlfriend Carmen decides to go career as a federation pilot. However, they still remain friends. Ace lampshades it immediately after the video message ends. | |
Starship Troopers / int_5d414804 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5d414804 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_5d414804 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5eca52dc | type |
Distress Call | |
Starship Troopers / int_5eca52dc | comment |
Distress Call: A fake Distress Call is sent out on Planet P. While the grunts never saw it coming, it was in fact, an Obvious Trap to Intelligence, who tripped it with aforementioned grunts to see if there was a Brain Bug on the planet. | |
Starship Troopers / int_5eca52dc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5eca52dc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_5eca52dc | |
Starship Troopers / int_5f4097ba | type |
Not Distracted by the Sexy | |
Starship Troopers / int_5f4097ba | comment |
Not Distracted by the Sexy: During the mixed-gender Shower Scene, nobody seems terribly aroused, and instead simply carries on completely normal conversations with their comrades just as they would as if they were fully clothed. An amusing backstage anecdote: while shooting the scene, the actors gently ribbed Verhoeven by suggesting that he should be naked too while filming them. To their amusement, he was not only a good enough sport to agree, but his cameraman and director of photography stripped down too (Verhoeven is Dutch, a culture which has far less nudity taboos). | |
Starship Troopers / int_5f4097ba | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_5f4097ba | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_5f4097ba | |
Starship Troopers / int_6023a9bc | type |
Bloody Hilarious | |
Starship Troopers / int_6023a9bc | comment |
Bloody Hilarious: Several examples, most notably General Owen getting crushed by a flying Bug that had already been killed because he didn’t move out of the way in the absurdly long time it took to crash and instead screamed his head off. Ace is clearly struggling not to grin at this. | |
Starship Troopers / int_6023a9bc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6023a9bc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_6023a9bc | |
Starship Troopers / int_61c683d2 | type |
We Have Reserves | |
Starship Troopers / int_61c683d2 | comment |
We Have Reserves: Both the Bugs and the humans apparently follow this philosophy, with the former obviously benefitting more from this tactic. Carl actually points out how stupid this is; "It's simple numbers. They have more." Special mention goes to the attack on Whisky Outpost. Though the Mobile Infantry is firing from raised walls, the Bugs are able to overrun the compound because the expendable Bugs leave so many piled-up corpses in their wake that the next wave can simply walk right over the walls. | |
Starship Troopers / int_61c683d2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_61c683d2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_61c683d2 | |
Starship Troopers / int_61e43473 | type |
Dramatic Space Drifting | |
Starship Troopers / int_61e43473 | comment |
Dramatic Space Drifting: On their escape route from the disintegrating Rodger Young, Carmen and Zander pass by a field of debris and bodies floating in space. | |
Starship Troopers / int_61e43473 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_61e43473 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_61e43473 | |
Starship Troopers / int_637b6123 | type |
Sickening "Crunch!" | |
Starship Troopers / int_637b6123 | comment |
Sickening "Crunch!": When Sergeant Zim breaks the arm of one of the new recruits. | |
Starship Troopers / int_637b6123 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_637b6123 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_637b6123 | |
Starship Troopers / int_638b65bc | type |
Armor Is Useless | |
Starship Troopers / int_638b65bc | comment |
Armor Is Useless: The MI's heavy body armor doesn't do shit against anything, least of all the Bugs. There's not a single instance in the movie where it actually provides protection. It's possible that it's simply flak armor designed to protect against shrapnel, but we don't see it perform this function either. As Advanced Sci-Fi Civilisations Too Stupid to Exist notes, the armor is actually a detriment because it restricts movement and the Bugs don't use human weapons which it was built to protect against.note And even then, we see Rasczak Mercy Kill a trooper who was taken by a Hopper bug and the bullet goes right through his armor, at long range and center-mass. Makes you wonder if the armor is good for anything. | |
Starship Troopers / int_638b65bc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_638b65bc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_638b65bc | |
Starship Troopers / int_63f22889 | type |
Insectoid Aliens | |
Starship Troopers / int_63f22889 | comment |
Insectoid Aliens: The Arachnids come in various shapes and sizes — the common "infantry", so to speak, consists of pretty large (taller than humans, but not by much), four-legged, shrieking horrors, but there are also giant fire-breathing beetles, dragonfly-wasp-fly-like flyers big enough to grab and lift a man from the ground and, best of all, enormous brain-eaters that resemble bloated larvae. They seem to have a hive mind system. | |
Starship Troopers / int_63f22889 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_63f22889 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_63f22889 | |
Starship Troopers / int_658f7193 | type |
Lack of Empathy | |
Starship Troopers / int_658f7193 | comment |
"It's afraid. IT'S AFRAID!" (the gathered soldiers cheer triumphantly) | |
Starship Troopers / int_658f7193 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_658f7193 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_658f7193 | |
Starship Troopers / int_66bee5ea | type |
Shooting Gallery | |
Starship Troopers / int_66bee5ea | comment |
Shooting Gallery: Used when the aftermath of a mistake while using live rounds on the hazard course leaves one soldier dead and his commanding officer stripped of rank and given ten strikes with a whip. | |
Starship Troopers / int_66bee5ea | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_66bee5ea | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_66bee5ea | |
Starship Troopers / int_66ff4a54 | type |
We Will Wear Armor in the Future | |
Starship Troopers / int_66ff4a54 | comment |
We Will Wear Armor in the Future: Rather noticeably by fans of the novel, not Powered Armour. Here the armor is more like modern GI flak armor in terms of bulk and coverage. | |
Starship Troopers / int_66ff4a54 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_66ff4a54 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_66ff4a54 | |
Starship Troopers / int_68333a8b | type |
Elite Army | |
Starship Troopers / int_68333a8b | comment |
Elite Army: Averted for the most part due to the Mobile Infantry’s questionable tactics. However it was noted that the Roughnecks were the ones to record the highest kills during the Klendathu invasion. | |
Starship Troopers / int_68333a8b | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_68333a8b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_68333a8b | |
Starship Troopers / int_68a5e1c3 | type |
Humans Are Psychic in the Future | |
Starship Troopers / int_68a5e1c3 | comment |
Humans Are Psychic in the Future: In the 22nd century, some humans are displaying latent psychic abilities and demographic tests are conducted to find people for the Federation's Psy-Corps division. To quote an ad that's shown on the TV: "If you think you're psychic ... maybe you are!" | |
Starship Troopers / int_68a5e1c3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_68a5e1c3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_68a5e1c3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b00879d | type |
Disconnected by Death | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b00879d | comment |
Disconnected by Death: Video Phone example in the first movie. Rico is talking with his mother and father, who live in Buenos Aires. As they're talking, a shadow comes across the parents' end of the line. The screen then dissolves into static and a short time later the news shows the destruction of the city. | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b00879d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b00879d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_6b00879d | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b05b601 | type |
Jerkass Has a Point | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b05b601 | comment |
Jerkass Has a Point: When Carl meets with Carmen and Rico again before the climax, he rightfully points out that he has to make decisions based on numbers that give humanity the best chance at survival that will kill people. | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b05b601 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b05b601 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_6b05b601 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b3c357e | type |
Ivy League for Everyone | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b3c357e | comment |
Ivy League for Everyone: Rico's father is adamant that he attend Harvard rather than join the infantry. Since Rico is outright shown to be a dim bulb, it seems the trope name has come true. More than possibly justified, however, in that Johnny's family is rich (as in the novel), and historically children of wealthy families can more easily gain admission to prestigious universities than the children of poorer families. One of the other recruits mentions he got into Harvard, and joined the MI so he could afford it. A more worrying possibility, and one that is backed up by the relative lack of intelligence demonstrated by humankind in general throughout the movie, is that the standards of human intellectual excellence have degenerated to the point that Rico, who isn't too bright by modern standards, is actually much more intelligent than the average human of the future. | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b3c357e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6b3c357e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_6b3c357e | |
Starship Troopers / int_6c62b1a8 | type |
Covered in Gunge | |
Starship Troopers / int_6c62b1a8 | comment |
Covered in Gunge: Whenever the Arachnids are riddled with bullets up close, and especially when Rico blows up the Tank bug, the characters tend to get drenched in their bright green and orange Alien Blood. | |
Starship Troopers / int_6c62b1a8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6c62b1a8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_6c62b1a8 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6dcbe9aa | type |
Deconstructive Parody | |
Starship Troopers / int_6dcbe9aa | comment |
Deconstructive Parody: The film started out as a satirical story called Bug Hunt before it was tied to the novel. Paul Verhoeven, who grew up in the Netherlands under German occupation, tried to read the novel and found what little he could stomach of it disgusting in a very familiar way, so he made the film specifically parody the novel, the Why We Fight WWII propaganda films, and jingoistic warmongering and fascism in general through deconstructing the entire premise. The inhuman enemy that is "Othered" is literally inhuman monsters, even more so than in the novel. The militaristic society makes the humans so complacent in their superiority that they refuse to even consider the enemy to be intelligent after the Bugs attack them with a Colony Drop from across the galaxy. They try to use horrendous military tactics and their forces are completely slaughtered. The humans only seem like heroes because of the propaganda-like tone of the film itself. They accomplish a (in retrospect) small victory and are clearly still having problems with the Bugs by the end, but the viewer is encouraged to join the Mobile Infantry because every soldier is needed. Yet despite all that, it's done in such an over-the-top fashion that most viewers don't even realize the parodic intent and cheer the humans on as if it were a straight-up action movie. | |
Starship Troopers / int_6dcbe9aa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6dcbe9aa | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_6dcbe9aa | |
Starship Troopers / int_6eb4e408 | type |
Artistic License – Military | |
Starship Troopers / int_6eb4e408 | comment |
Artistic License – Military: All over the place, but one that stands out is Carmen revealing that she'd altered the course of the spaceship they were on in order to save time and fuel...putting them directly in the path of the asteroid. In reality, a helmsman who altered a ship's course on their own would be facing court-martial, demotion, and jail time. | |
Starship Troopers / int_6eb4e408 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6eb4e408 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_6eb4e408 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6f619fab | type |
Let's Split Up, Gang! | |
Starship Troopers / int_6f619fab | comment |
Let's Split Up, Gang!: Rico gets a feeling that Carmen is down a separate tunnel than the one his platoon has been ordered to explore. Knowing the severe penalties for disobeying orders during a battle (what he's doing could be considered desertion, plus abandoning his command), he places the platoon under a subordinate's command, takes a small handful of volunteers (coincidentally the entire surviving main cast) and goes off on his rescue mission after Carmen. | |
Starship Troopers / int_6f619fab | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6f619fab | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_6f619fab | |
Starship Troopers / int_6fbe85e6 | type |
Adaptation Personality Change | |
Starship Troopers / int_6fbe85e6 | comment |
Adaptation Personality Change: In the original book, the Arachnids were high-tech imperialists using artificial weaponry, making their war with humanity a simple clash of empires. In this one, they're territorial isolationists with a significantly less human-like culture and mindset that (along with their reliance on advanced Organic Technology) allows humanity to (falsely) dismiss them as tough but mindless animals. | |
Starship Troopers / int_6fbe85e6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_6fbe85e6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_6fbe85e6 | |
Starship Troopers / int_713d994b | type |
Token Romance | |
Starship Troopers / int_713d994b | comment |
Token Romance: In this case, a whole-cloth token Love Triangle gets tacked on. | |
Starship Troopers / int_713d994b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_713d994b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_713d994b | |
Starship Troopers / int_716c0b1b | type |
And the Adventure Continues | |
Starship Troopers / int_716c0b1b | comment |
And the Adventure Continues: The movie ends with Johnny Rico in charge of the Roughnecks and a Federation propaganda spot, enticing civilians to enlist for the war effort. | |
Starship Troopers / int_716c0b1b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_716c0b1b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_716c0b1b | |
Starship Troopers / int_7225232 | type |
Self-Punishment Over Failure | |
Starship Troopers / int_7225232 | comment |
Self-Punishment Over Failure: After getting a fellow trainee killed, Rico quits Mobile Infantry boot camp... but quickly joins back up when the Bugs drop an asteroid on his home town. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7225232 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7225232 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7225232 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7426582d | type |
Token Minority | |
Starship Troopers / int_7426582d | comment |
Token Minority: Most troopers seen are White, though a couple at boot camp are Black (the woman is kicked out after accidentally killing a fellow trainee). There's another that might be a mestiza as well (since they're all supposed to be Argentinians, and thus Latin American), since she has olive skin. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7426582d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7426582d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7426582d | |
Starship Troopers / int_7453bc5b | type |
Spared by the Adaptation | |
Starship Troopers / int_7453bc5b | comment |
Spared by the Adaptation: Carl, who gets an anticlimactic off-screen death in the book when the research base he's stationed on is destroyed, makes it to the end of the movie. And then some when you take Invasion into account. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7453bc5b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7453bc5b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7453bc5b | |
Starship Troopers / int_74cd99f8 | type |
See the Whites of Their Eyes | |
Starship Troopers / int_74cd99f8 | comment |
See the Whites of Their Eyes: Futuristic humanity, in possession of portable small-yield nuclear weapons, prefers to send footsoldiers en masse into battle with weaponry largely incapable of hitting a target other than at point blank or very short range. On the other hand, this is only to be expected when you're employing the Redshirt Army, all of whom are equipped with Cool, but Inefficient weaponry. | |
Starship Troopers / int_74cd99f8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_74cd99f8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_74cd99f8 | |
Starship Troopers / int_76340146 | type |
Underequipped Charge | |
Starship Troopers / int_76340146 | comment |
Underequipped Charge: Carmen pulls a knife at a Brain Bug during the climax of the film and actually manages to fend it off until Rico's squad arrives to extract her. | |
Starship Troopers / int_76340146 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_76340146 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_76340146 | |
Starship Troopers / int_773b0523 | type |
Impaled Palm | |
Starship Troopers / int_773b0523 | comment |
Impaled Palm: The main characters are in basic training, learning how to throw knives. After blowing his throw, Ace asks Sergeant Zim why throwing knives is important in an age when pressing a button can unleash nuclear weapons with far more power. Zim orders him to lay his hand against a wall, and throws a knife through his palm, pinning it. He explains (while Ace moans painfully in the background) that by disabling a hand, you can prevent that button from being pressed. | |
Starship Troopers / int_773b0523 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_773b0523 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_773b0523 | |
Starship Troopers / int_77414bc2 | type |
Action Prologue | |
Starship Troopers / int_77414bc2 | comment |
Action Prologue: The opening starts with the initial landing on Klendathu, then cuts away as it starts to get bad and Rico is seen getting attacked by Bugs on the camera. | |
Starship Troopers / int_77414bc2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_77414bc2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_77414bc2 | |
Starship Troopers / int_794f3589 | type |
Adaptation Explanation Extrication | |
Starship Troopers / int_794f3589 | comment |
Adaptation Explanation Extrication: The Mobile Infantry operating without armor or artillery support was actually lampshaded and justified in the novel because the MI-powered armor suits let them provide their own support (making aircraft, tanks, and artillery useless). When the movie eliminated the powered armor, it failed to account for this, making the MI's tactics look very silly. Lampshaded: After the initial attack on Klendathu failed miserably, everyone acknowledged that the MI's tactics were moronic. In later operations they're seen operating with heavy air support. Also, the scene when the soldiers were practicing throwing knives at targets. In the book, when Ted Hendrick (Ace Levy in the film) questioned Sergeant Zim on the purpose of this training exercise when the enemy uses more advanced and deadly weapons, Sergeant Zim responded by saying there are no such thing as dangerous weapons; only dangerous men. He explained that he is training his soldiers to be dangerous with any weapon in battle even if they only have one arm and one leg left. The movie changed this scene by having Sergeant Zim throw a knife at the questioning soldier's hand without even explaining the purpose of the training, which is doubly silly when you remember that the Bugs aren't tool users so throwing a knife at one would do precisely squat. A more minor example that is easy to miss: In the movie, the soldiers are occasionally referred to as "Cap Troopers". In the book, this referred to the capsules they dropped in, but in the film the nickname becomes orphaned. | |
Starship Troopers / int_794f3589 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_794f3589 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_794f3589 | |
Starship Troopers / int_798e72aa | type |
Just Hit Him | |
Starship Troopers / int_798e72aa | comment |
Just Hit Him: In the cave, Carmen and Zander are being kept alive by the Arachnids. Apparently, this was needed by the Brain Bug for its Eat Brain for Memories procedure. Naturally, this creates a chance for Carmen to escape. | |
Starship Troopers / int_798e72aa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_798e72aa | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_798e72aa | |
Starship Troopers / int_7994c93a | type |
Violence Really Is the Answer | |
Starship Troopers / int_7994c93a | comment |
Violence Really Is the Answer: Zigzagged. The teacher, Mr. Rasczak, lectures his class on how all political power ultimately derives from the threat of violence; but, he is a representative of an overtly fascist system of government that is being satirized to high heaven. The characters in the film, by and large, believe this; the filmmakers have a different view. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7994c93a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7994c93a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7994c93a | |
Starship Troopers / int_79c2062e | type |
Inappropriately Close Comrades | |
Starship Troopers / int_79c2062e | comment |
Inappropriately Close Comrades: There's quite a lot of fraternization in the military. Rico even turns down Dizzy during their downtime on Tango Uerilla, only for Rasczak to tacitly encourage him to take her up on it. But that's merely one of many symptoms of discipline that the Federation military is clearly shown to be lacking in. | |
Starship Troopers / int_79c2062e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_79c2062e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_79c2062e | |
Starship Troopers / int_7a2b8057 | type |
Government-Exploited Crisis | |
Starship Troopers / int_7a2b8057 | comment |
Government-Exploited Crisis: The asteroid that destroyed Buenos Aires is said to have been sent towards earth by Bug plasma from the Klendathu system. A visual representation shows that Klendathu and Earth are literally on opposite sides of the Galaxy, and seeing as the Terran Federation is secretly a fascist government (showing public executions on TV, glorification of the military, military uniforms that took inspiration from the Third Reich), it's heavily implied that the Terran Federation used the coincidental asteroid impact as an excuse to expand their dominions by invading the Arachnid's territory. To ensure public support, the Federal Network is putting on a very positive spin on the fact that the war has ground down to a quagmire. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7a2b8057 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7a2b8057 | featureConfidence |
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Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7a2b8057 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7b0fddcd | type |
Battle Cry | |
Starship Troopers / int_7b0fddcd | comment |
Battle Cry: | |
Starship Troopers / int_7b0fddcd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7b0fddcd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7b0fddcd | |
Starship Troopers / int_7cb9e33 | type |
Dying Declaration of Hate | |
Starship Troopers / int_7cb9e33 | comment |
Dying Declaration of Hate: Zander is about to be killed by a "brain bug" which controls the seemingly mindless insects in the Bug War. He uses his last words to tell it, "One day, someone like me is gonna kill you... and your whole fucking race!" | |
Starship Troopers / int_7cb9e33 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7cb9e33 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7cb9e33 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d260070 | type |
Corporal Punishment | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d260070 | comment |
Corporal Punishment: Rico is publicly whipped after he tells Breckinridge to take off his helmet during a live firing exercise, and Breckinridge gets killed. Johnny's father mentions that it happens to civilians too. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d260070 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d260070 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7d260070 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d34f23a | type |
Reckless Gun Usage | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d34f23a | comment |
Reckless Gun Usage: Parodied in one television story, as soldiers hand out automatic weapons to kids to play with - then to make it more ridiculous, hand out live ammo. The fact that only one person died while Rico was leading a live-fire exercise in the middle of a military installation buzzing with activity is nothing short of miraculous. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d34f23a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d34f23a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7d34f23a | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d5324cf | type |
The Federation | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d5324cf | comment |
The Federation: What the in-universe Federation presents itself as. Subverted in that it's The Empire pretending to be The Federation (something which a lot of audience members totally never picked up on). | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d5324cf | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7d5324cf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7d5324cf | |
Starship Troopers / int_7e6c0522 | type |
Off with His Head! | |
Starship Troopers / int_7e6c0522 | comment |
Off with His Head!: The flying Hopper Bugs are able to swoop down and decapitate humans with their claws mid-flight. At least two unfortunate troopers meet their demise this way. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7e6c0522 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7e6c0522 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7e6c0522 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7eb49b31 | type |
Almost Kiss | |
Starship Troopers / int_7eb49b31 | comment |
Almost Kiss: Between Carmen and Zander just before the asteroid appears. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7eb49b31 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7eb49b31 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7eb49b31 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7eccbb3d | type |
Shower Scene | |
Starship Troopers / int_7eccbb3d | comment |
Shower Scene: One of the most famous in 90s cinema, in that it's communal, unisex and features full frontal nudity from many of them; the characters casually walk in, strip off and start showering while having a conversation and teasing each other.note Dina Meyer noted that she and the other actors told Verhoeven, only half-joking, that it wasn't fair they were all naked and he wasn't, and they were all highly amused and impressed when he agreed with them and took off his own clothes, as did cinematographer Jost Vacano. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7eccbb3d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7eccbb3d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7eccbb3d | |
Starship Troopers / int_7f390ebc | type |
Developing Doomed Characters | |
Starship Troopers / int_7f390ebc | comment |
Developing Doomed Characters: The shower scene gives us a name, backstory, and motivation for all the soldiers in Rico's unit. You'd believe this to be the film's Ragtag Bunch of Misfits protagonist group, and in a standard sci-fi movie, they likely would be. All of them die quick, gruesome deaths in the very first battle, with the exceptions of Ace, Diz, Djana'D (who dropped out during training), and Rico himself. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7f390ebc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7f390ebc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7f390ebc | |
Starship Troopers / int_7fbb2a3 | type |
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! | |
Starship Troopers / int_7fbb2a3 | comment |
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: During the live-fire exercise, Breckinridge's helmet begins slanting and obstructing his view, leading to him running into someone else's line of fire. Rico stops what he's doing, runs over and takes Breckinridge's helmet off on the field right away. An alien statue rises up out of of the ground and zaps another soldier, causing her to fall over and fire, and one of the bullets blows the top of Breckinridge's skull clear off his head. The exercise ends immediately along with Rico's command over the unit, and he earns himself ten lashes from a whip in view of the whole camp; he nearly resigns before the meteor that destroys his hometown convinces him to stick around as a lowly private. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7fbb2a3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7fbb2a3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7fbb2a3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7fff034b | type |
Kent Brockman News | |
Starship Troopers / int_7fff034b | comment |
Kent Brockman News: The media are owned by the Federation, so the line between "news" and propaganda is non-existent. | |
Starship Troopers / int_7fff034b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_7fff034b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_7fff034b | |
Starship Troopers / int_80251be3 | type |
How We Got Here | |
Starship Troopers / int_80251be3 | comment |
How We Got Here: The opening newsreel takes place during the initial invasion of Klendathu, before the movie jumps back a year, then catches up about half-way through. | |
Starship Troopers / int_80251be3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_80251be3 | featureConfidence |
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Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_80251be3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8042e814 | type |
Actually Pretty Funny | |
Starship Troopers / int_8042e814 | comment |
Actually Pretty Funny: Johnny can't help but smile when Ace and Dizzy show him a notice declaring him KIA. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8042e814 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8042e814 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8042e814 | |
Starship Troopers / int_823c6e3e | type |
Large Ham | |
Starship Troopers / int_823c6e3e | comment |
Large Ham: Michael Ironside and Clancy Brown needed to look down to see where "over the top" stood. Later, Casper Van Dien tries to replicate their Large Ham performance as a hard-ass officer, only to come off as a small slice of baloney. | |
Starship Troopers / int_823c6e3e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_823c6e3e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_823c6e3e | |
Starship Troopers / int_8252652c | type |
All Planets Are Earth-Like | |
Starship Troopers / int_8252652c | comment |
All Planets Are Earthlike: And they all look like the same stretch of desert, too. Maybe the Bugs thrive best in dry, mountainous environments? | |
Starship Troopers / int_8252652c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8252652c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8252652c | |
Starship Troopers / int_844e261e | type |
Super Spit | |
Starship Troopers / int_844e261e | comment |
Super Spit: The giant Tanker Bug can spray a flammable substance from its mouth which is ignited by an electrical spark, thus making it a living flamethrower. | |
Starship Troopers / int_844e261e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_844e261e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_844e261e | |
Starship Troopers / int_85557b38 | type |
Reality Is Unrealistic | |
Starship Troopers / int_85557b38 | comment |
Reality Is Unrealistic: Many people (especially those who missed the point of the satire) have criticized the fact that for a group of characters supposedly from Buenos Aires, everyone looks rather suspiciously white and of the few exceptions (Watkins, Djana'D, Shujumi), none of them look particularly Argentinian either. This is actually one of the least ridiculous things about the Federation: While the fact that everyone uses an American accent isn't really explicable, Argentina is in fact one of the whitest countries in South America, and its population is, proportionately speaking, paler than the United States. Would you say that Lionel Messi◊ or, at the time of this writing, the Pope◊ look like people who could believably portray Argentinians? | |
Starship Troopers / int_85557b38 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_85557b38 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_85557b38 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8605f0c0 | type |
Promoted to Love Interest | |
Starship Troopers / int_8605f0c0 | comment |
Promoted to Love Interest: Both Carmen and Dizzy (who also gets a Gender Flip and Ascended Extra status for the purpose), for Johnny. In the book, Carmen and Johnny have a mild interest in each other in high school, and later go on one date and share a kiss when they chance to meet up in training, but never exactly have a romance. In the film, it's a full-on Love Triangle. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8605f0c0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8605f0c0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8605f0c0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_86ae1278 | type |
Adaptational Dumbass | |
Starship Troopers / int_86ae1278 | comment |
Adaptational Dumbass: Subtly done. Much of the Federation's policies and tactics are deliberately altered to be less logical, fair, factually correct, and reasonable, as part of how Verhoeven feels about Heinlein's pro-military politics. When arguing that Violence Really Is the Answer, the city of Hiroshima is discussed like it ceased to exist completely after it was nuked (spoiler alert: people still live in Hiroshima), whereas in the book it was Carthage being cited as an example.note It is still inaccurate, as the city of Carthage remained an important metropolitan center under the Roman Empire, leading many historians to believe that the tales of its destruction were highly exaggerated. When Ace Levy brings up the very reasonable question of why they need to practice knife-throwing when they're training to fight pickup truck-sized Bugs that shrug off heavy arms fire, in the book, Sergeant Zim actually explains that he's training his soldiers to keep fighting no matter what, while in the movie, Zim just throws a knife at Levy's hand without even properly answering his question and justifies it by saying that "the enemy can't press a button if you disable his hand" (not only is this flatly untrue, considering the enemy could presumably just press the button with his other hand or some other part of his body, the Bugs don't even use control panels and do not have hands). Rico's depiction is subtly altered to make him a dumber and less competent soldier. Most notably: in the book, he's whipped as punishment for carelessly launching a rocket during a training exercise without checking to make sure his fellow soldiers were out of the blast zone—which would have resulted in a death by friendly fire in a real combat situation. In the film, he's whipped for foolishly removing a fellow recruit's helmet during a live-fire training exercise, which leads to said recruit actually dying after he's hit in the head by a stray round. Instead of just getting a painful lesson about the dangers of carelessness in the field, he's outright court-martialed and demoted for gross incompetence. | |
Starship Troopers / int_86ae1278 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_86ae1278 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_86ae1278 | |
Starship Troopers / int_86f27af6 | type |
Bait-and-Switch Tyrant | |
Starship Troopers / int_86f27af6 | comment |
Bait-and-Switch Tyrant: Lt. Rasczak has a reputation for being a "real nutbuster" among troops outside his unit, but Rasczak's Roughnecks are fiercely loyal to their commander. He comes across as stern and demanding, not hesitant to shoot one of his own troopers to save the poor ape from being eaten alive by a nest of Bugs, and says he'd expect anyone in his unit to do the same for him. But then we see that he understands the importance of soldier morale by ordering his troops to have a party while they're in a safe zone, and even allowing Rico and Dizzy to finish up their R&R in the tent. | |
Starship Troopers / int_86f27af6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_86f27af6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_86f27af6 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8713e490 | type |
If You Taunt Him, You Will Be Just Like Him | |
Starship Troopers / int_8713e490 | comment |
If You Taunt Him, You Will Be Just Like Him: Prior to the battle of Klendathu, Zander taunts Rico, trying to get him to fight back. When Rico tells him that he would have to be insane to hit an officer, Zander tells him to 'disregard rank'. This ends in an all-out brawl. This is an aversion because the room was full of people, including officers who outranked them both, who heard Zander loudly announce "We are disregarding rank" right before Rico beat the shit out of him. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8713e490 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8713e490 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8713e490 | |
Starship Troopers / int_874176be | type |
Psychic Powers | |
Starship Troopers / int_874176be | comment |
Psychic Powers: Some humans have psychic powers in the future. Carl uses these on his pet ferret ("Go bug Mom!"), the Brain Bug at the end ("It's afraid!"), and to guide Rico to Carmen. | |
Starship Troopers / int_874176be | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_874176be | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_874176be | |
Starship Troopers / int_898ff050 | type |
Villain Protagonist | |
Starship Troopers / int_898ff050 | comment |
Villain Protagonist: The subtext of the Starship Troopers trilogy is that the humans are the evil invading aliens. On the surface, however, you're still supposed to be rooting for the humans. | |
Starship Troopers / int_898ff050 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_898ff050 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_898ff050 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8a8c7344 | type |
Plasma Cannon | |
Starship Troopers / int_8a8c7344 | comment |
Plasma Cannon: The Bugs combine this with their Hive Caste System. The towering Bugs that the Mobile Infantry first encounters during their initial ground invasion of Klendathu are so-called "Plasma Bugs". They shoot huge bursts of plasma from their backs to target the human space vessels in orbit around the planet. Two of them are blown up on-screen, but the rest of them end up destroying most of the Federation's Fleet. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8a8c7344 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8a8c7344 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8a8c7344 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8aa0f76 | type |
Deconstructed Trope | |
Starship Troopers / int_8aa0f76 | comment |
On top of all that, it is heavily implied several times throughout the film that humanity is losing the war off-screen because they're so guiltless about the war. Exhibit A: The replacements in Rico's Roughnecks are clearly fourteen-year-olds, meaning that the military will soon be sucked dry of soldiers (and possibly what's left of humanity) by the time the war ends. Exhibit B: The main characters all end up in senior command positions that they realistically don't deserve while Captain Deladier and Lieutenant Rasczak both end up as battle fatalities. Exhibit C: The deranged General Owen screaming "My God! We're ALL going to die!" could be interpreted as him knowing the real strategic outlook. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8aa0f76 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8aa0f76 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8aa0f76 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b606a51 | type |
There Is No Kill Like Overkill | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b606a51 | comment |
Watkins empties roughly a hundred rounds into a Bug, even after it's clearly obvious it's dead. Instant Section Eight. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b606a51 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b606a51 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8b606a51 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b7e2c1a | type |
BBC Quarry | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b7e2c1a | comment |
BBC Quarry: The alien planets all look like this. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b7e2c1a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8b7e2c1a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8b7e2c1a | |
Starship Troopers / int_8c431fe4 | type |
Band of Brothers | |
Starship Troopers / int_8c431fe4 | comment |
Band of Brothers: Johnny, Dizzy, and Ace become this after they went through training together, got tattoos together (with Kitten), and survived Klendathu together (without Kitten). Sugar joins the band after they join the Roughnecks, and he sees them in action. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8c431fe4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8c431fe4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8c431fe4 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8cb844c6 | type |
Mr. Exposition | |
Starship Troopers / int_8cb844c6 | comment |
Mr. Exposition: Rasczak and the biology teacher serve as this early in the movie. Rasczak explains how the military-fascist government came to be, and the biology teacher explains how the Bugs colonized several planets. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8cb844c6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8cb844c6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8cb844c6 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8e803915 | type |
Strategy Versus Tactics | |
Starship Troopers / int_8e803915 | comment |
And perhaps worst of all, there seems to be no established ground game or grand strategy for the planetary invasion. The troops simply land on the surface and run around in a confused mass, attacking Arachnid forces as they encounter them. It's one thing to use Hollywood Tactics, but Hollywood Strategy as well? | |
Starship Troopers / int_8e803915 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8e803915 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8e803915 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8edd1883 | type |
Colossus Climb | |
Starship Troopers / int_8edd1883 | comment |
Colossus Climb: Rico climbs up on top of a giant bug that's attacking his squad. He blows a hole in the bug's body, drops a large explosive in the hole, and jumps off. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8edd1883 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8edd1883 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8edd1883 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8ef99dbb | type |
Pin-Pulling Teeth | |
Starship Troopers / int_8ef99dbb | comment |
Pin-Pulling Teeth: In the first movie, Dizzy pulls out a grenade's pin with her teeth. Which seems entirely unnecessary, as pushing the big red button on top of the grenade is also shown to remove the pin. | |
Starship Troopers / int_8ef99dbb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_8ef99dbb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_8ef99dbb | |
Starship Troopers / int_903e4b74 | type |
Healing Vat | |
Starship Troopers / int_903e4b74 | comment |
Healing Vat: Rico ends up in one after he is injured on Klendathu. | |
Starship Troopers / int_903e4b74 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_903e4b74 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_903e4b74 | |
Starship Troopers / int_91697559 | type |
Half the Man He Used to Be | |
Starship Troopers / int_91697559 | comment |
Half the Man He Used to Be: The usual result of someone getting caught in a Warrior Bug's mandibles, including Kitten Smith and the FedNet Correspondentnote Which is seen twice, once during the In Medias Res opening and again when the film eventually works its way back to that point. Captain Deladier, crushed by an emergency bulkhead door. Rasczak at the base. Rico has to kill him. | |
Starship Troopers / int_91697559 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_91697559 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_91697559 | |
Starship Troopers / int_91c651a1 | type |
Guilt-Free Extermination War | |
Starship Troopers / int_91c651a1 | comment |
It is heavily implied throughout the first film however that beneath the shiny veneer, humanity is ultimately losing the Guilt-Free Extermination War against the Bugs, and badly at that. All the main characters end up in command positions with the deaths of every senior officer despite barely being out of training, suggesting nobody better for the role was available. The deranged general in the outpost trap is hysterically screaming "We're ALL going to DIE!" because he is high up enough to know the real strategic situation. Finally, at the end of the film, Rico's fresh troops are clearly Child Soldiers. The sequels make this more explicitly the case. | |
Starship Troopers / int_91c651a1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_91c651a1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_91c651a1 | |
Starship Troopers / int_928e13b9 | type |
He's Dead, Jim | |
Starship Troopers / int_928e13b9 | comment |
He's Dead, Jim: Zander diagnoses his captain dead without checking any vital signs. Justified since they had to Abandon Ship quickly and she was crushed by a blast door. | |
Starship Troopers / int_928e13b9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_928e13b9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_928e13b9 | |
Starship Troopers / int_92e5b254 | type |
Communications Officer | |
Starship Troopers / int_92e5b254 | comment |
Communications Officer: A series of (usually short-lived) characters fulfill this role throughout the film, including Dizzy and Ace towards the end. | |
Starship Troopers / int_92e5b254 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_92e5b254 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_92e5b254 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9333df94 | type |
Kidnapping Bird of Prey | |
Starship Troopers / int_9333df94 | comment |
Kidnapping Bird of Prey: One of the soldiers is snatched by a flying Arachnid and has to be mercy-killed by Rasczak. | |
Starship Troopers / int_9333df94 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9333df94 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9333df94 | |
Starship Troopers / int_934c7e38 | type |
Paper Tiger | |
Starship Troopers / int_934c7e38 | comment |
Paper Tiger: The Mobile Infantry are brutally xenophobic and gung-ho in a way only a Space Marine can be, but they're also spectacularly incompetent. The Klendathu invasion force descends into a panicked rout after only a few casualties. | |
Starship Troopers / int_934c7e38 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_934c7e38 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_934c7e38 | |
Starship Troopers / int_93c04c8a | type |
Future Food Is Artificial | |
Starship Troopers / int_93c04c8a | comment |
Future Food Is Artificial: M.I. Rations consists of a bubblegum-pink, foamy substance (think Strawberry Mousse). | |
Starship Troopers / int_93c04c8a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_93c04c8a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_93c04c8a | |
Starship Troopers / int_94e4b975 | type |
Vomit Indiscretion Shot | |
Starship Troopers / int_94e4b975 | comment |
Vomit Indiscretion Shot: As Carmen is dissecting a Bug in one of her first scenes. Given the film's subversiveness, this was probably done to turn the audience off to her and onto Dizzy, though. | |
Starship Troopers / int_94e4b975 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_94e4b975 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_94e4b975 | |
Starship Troopers / int_94e4c8ab | type |
Betty and Veronica | |
Starship Troopers / int_94e4c8ab | comment |
Betty and Veronica: Carmen and Dizzy for Rico. Interestingly, he essentially winds up with neither as Dizzy dies and Ibanez ends their relationship to concentrate on being a career pilot. | |
Starship Troopers / int_94e4c8ab | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_94e4c8ab | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_94e4c8ab | |
Starship Troopers / int_95265081 | type |
Leeroy Jenkins | |
Starship Troopers / int_95265081 | comment |
Several happen in rapid succession during the invasion of Klendathu, starting with the MI's reactions to a Leeroy Jenkins getting ripped apart, then another from a girl that falls into a Bug hole does one right before she gets dragged into one, then from the rest of the MI when they see the Bugs swarming out towards them, then another from the Roughnecks on Planet P when they see the giant army of Bugs coming at them, and finally Carmen when she sees that she and Zander are surrounded by Bugs. Her reaction is probably the most telling. | |
Starship Troopers / int_95265081 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_95265081 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_95265081 | |
Starship Troopers / int_95bac90d | type |
Subspace Ansible | |
Starship Troopers / int_95bac90d | comment |
Subspace Ansible: The video calls from outer space to Earth take place in real-time with no noticeable delay. | |
Starship Troopers / int_95bac90d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_95bac90d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_95bac90d | |
Starship Troopers / int_95f972d2 | type |
Nitro Boost | |
Starship Troopers / int_95f972d2 | comment |
Nitro Boost: Carmen uses the Rodger Young's emergency thrusters to boost out of the way of an oncoming Bug meteor. | |
Starship Troopers / int_95f972d2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_95f972d2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_95f972d2 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9600368d | type |
Behind the Black | |
Starship Troopers / int_9600368d | comment |
Behind the Black: Carmen and Zander notice a gravity field affecting the ship, and all its advanced sensors indicate that it's probably an asteroid. The question is why they need the sensors to tell them about it when the giant asteroid about to hit them is clearly visible out the front window. | |
Starship Troopers / int_9600368d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9600368d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9600368d | |
Starship Troopers / int_966da803 | type |
Defiant to the End | |
Starship Troopers / int_966da803 | comment |
Defiant to the End: Zander, moments before he gets a Brain Bug spine to the head. He tried, at least. One day, someone like me is gonna kill you, and your whole fucking race. (Cue Spiteful Spit) | |
Starship Troopers / int_966da803 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_966da803 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_966da803 | |
Starship Troopers / int_96cc4848 | type |
"Dear John" Letter | |
Starship Troopers / int_96cc4848 | comment |
"Dear John" Letter: While in MI boot camp, Johnny Rico gets a literal Dear John video from his girlfriend Carmen Ibanez, who's in training to join the Fleet (space navy), which of course he is watching on a big-screen TV in the barracks with his entire squad watching and making commentary... Until they realize what the message is about and make themselves scarce. | |
Starship Troopers / int_96cc4848 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_96cc4848 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_96cc4848 | |
Starship Troopers / int_96ecc67e | type |
Shotguns Are Just Better | |
Starship Troopers / int_96ecc67e | comment |
Shotguns Are Just Better: When Rico is pinned down by a Bug and about to get eaten, he switches to an underslung shotgun. He still empties his magazine to kill a single Bug, but the stopping power saves his life. | |
Starship Troopers / int_96ecc67e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_96ecc67e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_96ecc67e | |
Starship Troopers / int_977ab629 | type |
Let's Just Be Friends | |
Starship Troopers / int_977ab629 | comment |
Let's Just Be Friends: Rico suggests this to Dizzy at the school dance. Carmem says this to Rico when she breaks up with him via video message. | |
Starship Troopers / int_977ab629 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_977ab629 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_977ab629 | |
Starship Troopers / int_978355c | type |
Orchestral Bombing | |
Starship Troopers / int_978355c | comment |
Orchestral Bombing: Several examples, most notably Klendathu Drop, from the scene where the Fleet and the Mobile Infantry launch their first assault on Klendathu. | |
Starship Troopers / int_978355c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_978355c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_978355c | |
Starship Troopers / int_9788e2b1 | type |
Black Dude Dies First | |
Starship Troopers / int_9788e2b1 | comment |
Black Dude Dies First: Inverted, where the black dude dies last holding the line for his comrades to escape, with a ticking tactical nuke in one hand. | |
Starship Troopers / int_9788e2b1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9788e2b1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9788e2b1 | |
Starship Troopers / int_97b5e1f9 | type |
Bug War | |
Starship Troopers / int_97b5e1f9 | comment |
Bug War: The war is against the giant Klendathu Arachnids. | |
Starship Troopers / int_97b5e1f9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_97b5e1f9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_97b5e1f9 | |
Starship Troopers / int_97d97c28 | type |
Revenge Before Reason | |
Starship Troopers / int_97d97c28 | comment |
Revenge Before Reason: After the destruction of one of their cities, humanity declares a total war against the Bugs. When some suggested the option of retreating from the systems where Bugs lived and thus leaving them alone, the soldiers reject it immediately. Their thirst for revenge led to hundreds of thousands of deaths just in the first battle. | |
Starship Troopers / int_97d97c28 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_97d97c28 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_97d97c28 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9ace8917 | type |
HandWaved | |
Starship Troopers / int_9ace8917 | comment |
The attack force is light infantry (not mechanized), with no armor, air support, or any kind of artillery between hand grenades and pocket nukes. While the lack of armor support is Hand Waved by statements that the terrain is unsuitable for tanks and the like, there is no justification for a lack of air support, either for bombing or rapid deployment of troops, especially when they're shown to have such capabilities (one wave of bombers is seen wiping out some Bugs, but nothing more). | |
Starship Troopers / int_9ace8917 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9ace8917 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9ace8917 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9b2923bc | type |
Mooning | |
Starship Troopers / int_9b2923bc | comment |
Mooning: One of Rico's fellow recruits is talked into mooning Rico's camera when he's composing a message for Carmen. | |
Starship Troopers / int_9b2923bc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9b2923bc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9b2923bc | |
Starship Troopers / int_9b6e33f3 | type |
Death by Cameo | |
Starship Troopers / int_9b6e33f3 | comment |
Death by Cameo: In the first movie scriptwriter Edward Neumeier briefly appears as a murderer who is arrested in the morning, tried that day, found guilty and sentenced to to be executed that evening. Swift justice indeed. | |
Starship Troopers / int_9b6e33f3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9b6e33f3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9b6e33f3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9d12bbc1 | type |
Foreshadowing | |
Starship Troopers / int_9d12bbc1 | comment |
Foreshadowing: When Carmen shows up at the spaceport and tells Rico why she's late, she says her dad "helped" her pack and told her he was afraid he'd never see her again. Sure enough, he's right, except HE'S the one who dies thanks to the meteor that lands on Buenos Aires. When Mr. Rico is told Johnny plans to enlist in the Federal Service, he retorts that he'd rather take ten lashes in public than let that happen. Johnny is the one to receive those lashes after he gets a man killed in a live-fire training exercise and succeeds in convincing the recruit who shot that man to resign and forgo her political goals. | |
Starship Troopers / int_9d12bbc1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9d12bbc1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9d12bbc1 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9dd2329c | type |
Camera Abuse | |
Starship Troopers / int_9dd2329c | comment |
Camera Abuse: During the Bug assault on the Federation outpost on Planet P, one of the Bugs gets shot in a way that its blood splatters the camera for a split second. | |
Starship Troopers / int_9dd2329c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9dd2329c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9dd2329c | |
Starship Troopers / int_9ebee577 | type |
Anaphora | |
Starship Troopers / int_9ebee577 | comment |
Anaphora: "Here's the": | |
Starship Troopers / int_9ebee577 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9ebee577 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9ebee577 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9f81bd21 | type |
Stealth Parody | |
Starship Troopers / int_9f81bd21 | comment |
Stealth Parody: This version of Starship Troopers was a satirical take both on the Robert A. Heinlein novel and jingoistic war movies in general. Not everybody got this when the film was released. | |
Starship Troopers / int_9f81bd21 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_9f81bd21 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_9f81bd21 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a08b0736 | type |
Nuclear Option | |
Starship Troopers / int_a08b0736 | comment |
Nuclear Option: Lt. Racdzac sees a bug hole, and tells one of his troopers, "Rico! Nuke 'em!" Rico loads a nuclear-tipped rocket in a launcher, and fires it into the hole, vaporizing everything (bugs) near the hole. A trooper is too injured to move, so he asks Rico to give him a nuke so he can vaporize the bugs before they can eat him. Carmen and Rico run in an attempt to Outrun the Fireball. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a08b0736 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a08b0736 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a08b0736 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a33ff511 | type |
Indirect Kiss | |
Starship Troopers / int_a33ff511 | comment |
Indirect Kiss: When Ace and Dizzy visit Johnny Rico in the hospital where his wounds from the battle with the giant Bugs are being healed with a laser while he's in a rejuvenation tank, before she leaves Dizzy kisses the glass near his face. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a33ff511 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a33ff511 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a33ff511 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a4070b5e | type |
Stripped to the Bone | |
Starship Troopers / int_a4070b5e | comment |
Stripped to the Bone: The Tanker bugs are giant 30-foot-long beetles, spew burning corrosive fluid from their foreheads. In their first appearance, a trooper takes a hit on her arm, and the flesh quickly disentegrates, revealing glowing orange bones, before they crumble into orange goo. When the protagonists get evacuated from an outpost after being ambushed and overrun, two troopers get coverd head to toe with the fluid, and after their flesh burns off, their skeletons remain intact for a few seconds before collapsing into a puddle of burning orange liquid. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a4070b5e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a4070b5e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a4070b5e | |
Starship Troopers / int_a5cfe2ac | type |
And There Was Much Rejoicing | |
Starship Troopers / int_a5cfe2ac | comment |
And There Was Much Rejoicing: The cowardly General Owen is treated with utter contempt by the Mobile Infantry troopers who find him hiding in a supply closet. So when he gets smeared across the ground by the shot-down corpse of a flying bug landing on top of him, the response is whoops and cheers from the nearby soldiers. "It's afraid. IT'S AFRAID!" (the gathered soldiers cheer triumphantly) | |
Starship Troopers / int_a5cfe2ac | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a5cfe2ac | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a5cfe2ac | |
Starship Troopers / int_a5f0752f | type |
Rule of Drama | |
Starship Troopers / int_a5f0752f | comment |
Rule of Drama: A starship's emergency thruster control (presumably some sort of overclocking feature... we hope) is placed under a glass cover that must be smashed before use. Or waiting until the last second instead of firing it immediately, but that's a failure of another kind. The scene implies that they've got to get the ship rotated before firing the emergency thruster, thus the delay, which would be more forgivable. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a5f0752f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a5f0752f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a5f0752f | |
Starship Troopers / int_a627a930 | type |
Gender Is No Object | |
Starship Troopers / int_a627a930 | comment |
Gender Is No Object: Men and women serve together in all parts of the Federation military (and even shower together). In the book the Mobile Infantry is strictly male, and women do serve, but they are almost universally in the Space Navy since they make better pilots. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a627a930 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a627a930 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a627a930 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a65288e2 | type |
Ascended Extra | |
Starship Troopers / int_a65288e2 | comment |
Ascended Extra: Dizzy (who lest we forget was male) was nothing more than a Sacrificial Lamb for the first scene of the novel; Carl was killed off-screen — er, off-page. Both have more important roles in the movie. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a65288e2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a65288e2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a65288e2 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a6b14ee1 | type |
Hollywood Tactics | |
Starship Troopers / int_a6b14ee1 | comment |
The Hollywood Tactics employed by the human forces don't work at all well. The very basic tactics used by the Bugs completely massacre them. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a6b14ee1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a6b14ee1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a6b14ee1 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a6bd0685 | type |
Died in Your Arms Tonight | |
Starship Troopers / int_a6bd0685 | comment |
Died in Your Arms Tonight: Dizzy, in Rico's arms. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a6bd0685 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a6bd0685 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a6bd0685 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a796d2a6 | type |
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy | |
Starship Troopers / int_a796d2a6 | comment |
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Double subverted. The Bugs are so big that even hip-firing rookies can score hits. The hard part is scoring meaningful hits, as the Arachnids will keep coming even as their limbs are blown off one after another. As Carl shows during a newsreel, if you aim carefully at a nerve cluster, you can put a Bug out of action as easily as a man - and this happens at the end when 3-4 Moritas are mowing down dozens of Bugs, if in a confined space. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a796d2a6 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a796d2a6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a796d2a6 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a7ae597a | type |
No New Fashions in the Future | |
Starship Troopers / int_a7ae597a | comment |
No New Fashions in the Future: People in the future wear clothing which isn't much different from that current in the late '90s, when the film was produced. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a7ae597a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a7ae597a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a7ae597a | |
Starship Troopers / int_a8559a9f | type |
RealLife | |
Starship Troopers / int_a8559a9f | comment |
Rasczak's (and later Rico's) battle cry, "C'mon, you apes, do you wanna live forever?" is a shout-out to Real Life U.S. Marine Sgt. Maj. Dan Daly, a two-time Medal of Honor recipient who yelled, “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?� as he led Marines into the fight at Belleau Wood during World War I. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a8559a9f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a8559a9f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a8559a9f | |
Starship Troopers / int_a9fa639a | type |
Interstellar Weapon | |
Starship Troopers / int_a9fa639a | comment |
Interstellar Weapon: The movie sees intelligent insects launch an asteroid through interstellar space to take out Buenos Aires. Hitting Buenos Aires with an asteroid from a planet light-years away is the equivalent of hitting someone on the other side of the planet with a pebble. | |
Starship Troopers / int_a9fa639a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_a9fa639a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_a9fa639a | |
Starship Troopers / int_aa8fa208 | type |
Well-Trained, but Inexperienced | |
Starship Troopers / int_aa8fa208 | comment |
Well-Trained, but Inexperienced: When the protagonists are sent out to attack the Bugs for the first time after scene after scene of professional training and pure, patriotic passion, they all immediately freeze up when faced with the overwhelming horde of bug drones. The exciting action music cuts off, some of the troopers flee and even a few are ripped apart screaming. | |
Starship Troopers / int_aa8fa208 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_aa8fa208 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_aa8fa208 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ab3c178e | type |
Never Give the Captain a Straight Answer | |
Starship Troopers / int_ab3c178e | comment |
Never Give the Captain a Straight Answer: When searching the Mormon base, Dizzy notifies Rasczak this way when she found the soldier with his brains sucked out. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ab3c178e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ab3c178e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ab3c178e | |
Starship Troopers / int_ac320c0e | type |
Nuke 'em | |
Starship Troopers / int_ac320c0e | comment |
Nuke 'em: The MI seem to have only a handful of weapons — assault rifles, shotguns, grenades, and rocket launchers that shoot miniature tactical nukes. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ac320c0e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ac320c0e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ac320c0e | |
Starship Troopers / int_accd97de | type |
Actionized Adaptation | |
Starship Troopers / int_accd97de | comment |
Actionized Adaptation: Despite its war theme, the original Starship Troopers novel doesn't actually contain many action scenes. The novel is more of a philosophical or political thought experiment that explores the moral foundations of a hypothetical future government in which people must earn their citizenship and voting rights by serving their society, following those characters who opted for the military. The Bugs are merely a backdrop in the story. The film abandoned much of the novel's social commentary in favor of offering a different kind of commentary by essentially making an action-oriented propaganda film such a society would make. | |
Starship Troopers / int_accd97de | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_accd97de | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_accd97de | |
Starship Troopers / int_acecb17d | type |
Chekhov's Skill | |
Starship Troopers / int_acecb17d | comment |
Chekhov's Skill: Rico's and Dizzy's football chops from their school days serve them well during boot camp, and again on Planet P in their respective fights against Tanker Bugs. After Rico sees how Carl can control his pet ferret’s mind, he tells Carl not to do that to him. Carl reassures him cannot control humans … yet. By the end of the movie, Carl is able to send Rico telepathic messages telling him where Carmen is. (Or maybe he did. It’s classified.) | |
Starship Troopers / int_acecb17d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_acecb17d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_acecb17d | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad1db87c | type |
Oh, Crap! | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad1db87c | comment |
Oh, Crap!: Several happen in rapid succession during the invasion of Klendathu, starting with the MI's reactions to a Leeroy Jenkins getting ripped apart, then another from a girl that falls into a Bug hole does one right before she gets dragged into one, then from the rest of the MI when they see the Bugs swarming out towards them, then another from the Roughnecks on Planet P when they see the giant army of Bugs coming at them, and finally Carmen when she sees that she and Zander are surrounded by Bugs. Her reaction is probably the most telling. Probably the best one was early in the Klendathu raid, when a Fleet ship damaged by the Bug plasma (which was, contrary to expectations, neither random nor light) plows into another ship in orbit, directly in the Rodger Young's path. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad1db87c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad1db87c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ad1db87c | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad94c7a0 | type |
Scars Are Forever | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad94c7a0 | comment |
Scars Are Forever: With some exceptions, most adults in the movie have lost one or more limbs, become blind due to burn wounds, or gained some other type of permanent scarring due to their military service. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad94c7a0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ad94c7a0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ad94c7a0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_aff29d6f | type |
Beauty, Brains and Brawn | |
Starship Troopers / int_aff29d6f | comment |
Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Carmen, Carl and Johnny. | |
Starship Troopers / int_aff29d6f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_aff29d6f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_aff29d6f | |
Starship Troopers / int_b14ce563 | type |
Pinned to the Wall | |
Starship Troopers / int_b14ce563 | comment |
Pinned to the Wall: | |
Starship Troopers / int_b14ce563 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b14ce563 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b14ce563 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1bf5c9b | type |
Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1bf5c9b | comment |
Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: Except it's nowhere near the thing's head. One propaganda video shows that a Warrior Bug can fight even if one of its limbs have been shot off; shooting the "primary nerve cluster", however, kills it instantly. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1bf5c9b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1bf5c9b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b1bf5c9b | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1dde8fd | type |
Loophole Abuse | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1dde8fd | comment |
Loophole Abuse: After Rico turns in his papers to resign out of the Mobile Infantry, his call to his parents at home is suddenly cut short. He then finds out that Buenos Aires was hit by an asteroid lobbed by the Bugs, and asks the commanding officer to withdraw his resignation papers. When the commander refuses, Rico states that his entire family was in Buenos Aires, causing Drill Sergeant Zim to ask Rico if the signature on the papers were his. Rico states that it is, and Zim looks at the commander, who just turns away. He then rips up the paperwork, claiming the signature doesn't look like his, and orders him back into the unit.This was an invocation, as well - Zim was gunning for a demotion so he could go back into the field, and Rico wanted back into the MI. It was a win-win that pleased all three parties, as the commander wouldn't have to listen to Zim's complaints anymore. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1dde8fd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1dde8fd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b1dde8fd | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1ed0e0c | type |
Rank Up | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1ed0e0c | comment |
Rank Up: Rico goes from Private to Lieutenant in the space of about two or three days. In fact, he's only a Sergeant for about five minutes before he's promoted to Lieutenant in order to take command of the Roughnecks. Other characters have fairly meteoric rises through the ranks. Zander is Carmen's flight instructor despite the fact that he seems to have enrolled in the academy mere days before her. Carmen herself is commissioned quite quickly, somewhere around about the time Rico finishes basic training. By the film's end, she's been promoted to (Navy) Captain and has been given her own command. Carl is a Colonel within that timeframe as well, though this seems to be down to both his psychic abilities and the job he was trained for. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1ed0e0c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b1ed0e0c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b1ed0e0c | |
Starship Troopers / int_b2cdd776 | type |
Bottomless Magazines | |
Starship Troopers / int_b2cdd776 | comment |
Bottomless Magazines In spite of the massive amount of ammo expended, you can count on one hand the number of times anyone reloads on-screen. Averted during the battle at the outpost on Planet P in the first movie. One of the MI says he's low on ammunition and another says they're out of ammo. Which for Dizzy is kind of weird for her to run out, as she spent the better part of the assault trying to call for retrieval. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b2cdd776 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b2cdd776 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b2cdd776 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b3eecaae | type |
Colony Drop | |
Starship Troopers / int_b3eecaae | comment |
Colony Drop: Precisely-aimed meteors were the Weapon of Mass Destruction of the "bugs" in the movie. Although it's ridiculously implausible that the bugs could hurl rocks over light-years of distance on a sane timescale and with any sort of accuracy, an apparently disposable bit of background chatter suggests the rocks were coming from much closer to home. It may have been a natural disaster that the space Nazis used to justify a war against the bugs (or they could have been dropping the rocks themselves). | |
Starship Troopers / int_b3eecaae | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b3eecaae | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b3eecaae | |
Starship Troopers / int_b434558 | type |
Video Phone | |
Starship Troopers / int_b434558 | comment |
Video Phone: Johnny Rico is talking to his parents in Buenos Aires when the Bug asteroid hits the city. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b434558 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b434558 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b434558 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b475abfb | type |
Gut Feeling | |
Starship Troopers / int_b475abfb | comment |
Gut Feeling: When searching for Carmen and Zander inside the cave, Rico tells his comrades that he knows that she is still alive. He cannot explain how he knows though. It's suggested Carl psychically influenced him, which Carl is coy about when called on. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b475abfb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b475abfb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b475abfb | |
Starship Troopers / int_b578811d | type |
Scary Dogmatic Aliens | |
Starship Troopers / int_b578811d | comment |
Scary Dogmatic Aliens: Both the Bugs and the Humans. The former are a Hive Mind horde of giant Insectoid Aliens, the latter are a prideful militaristic People's Republic of Tyranny. The sides are clearly an analogy for communists vs. fascists In Space! | |
Starship Troopers / int_b578811d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b578811d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b578811d | |
Starship Troopers / int_b58b4e3c | type |
Too Dumb to Live | |
Starship Troopers / int_b58b4e3c | comment |
Too Dumb to Live: Shujumi runs straight into the middle of the Arachnids, making it really easy for the Warrior Bugs to tear him to pieces while obstructing the line of fire for his comrades. Katrina panics and breaks formation after two causalities. Predictably, she gets cornered and dragged off by a Bug in a few seconds. The war reporter and his camera crew who decide to stand still to report the evacuation, even as a massive horde of Bugs is tearing their way through the soldiers. Dizzy's death could've easily been avoided if she hadn't stopped to do a celebratory dance in the middle of an evacuation from a Zerg Rush. Or, failing that, if she had run to the Drop Ship instead of happily skipping to it like a schoolgirl. Or even failing that, if she'd kept moving when Rico yelled out her name instead of stopping, turning around, and staring at the Bug. Or if Rico, like an idiot, hadn't torn the jagged Bug arm from her abdomen, or maybe just yelled something helpful like "Drop, so I can shoot the Bug behind you" instead of "Diiiiiiiiizzzzyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy". Humanity in general has elements of this. In the first movie, the Bugs (supposedly) attack Earth by using plasma to send an asteroid from Klendathu all the way to Earth, across three quarters of the galaxy. Something like that would take genius surpassing anything humanity is capable of without a couple trillion dollars worth of supercomputers backing them up. And the Bugs (or at least their leaders) can do those kinds of calculations in their heads. The humans assume that the Bugs are unintelligent, and that their plasma attacks when they try to land will be "random and light". They're neither. Even after the horrible slaughter at Klandathu, there are more than a few humans who insist that the Bugs can't be intelligent. In the words of one pundit, "Frankly, I find the idea of a bug that thinks offensive!" One wonders, do the Bugs find the idea of intelligent monkeys offensive as well? While she doesn't die, Corporal Birdie continues to stop and look back and the emerging Tanker Bug instead of running and gets her arm burnt off by its acidic napalm for her trouble. A very good example of this trope is towards the start, when a news correspondent (embedded with the MI) stops to give an on-camera summary of the action during the attack on Klendathu, only to be slaughtered by a Bug partway through. We later find out that this summary is being given in the middle of a mass retreat. Later on, after seeing what happens to the reporter, his cameraman dies in the exact same way while filming his reporter being cut in half and ignoring Rico's order to leave. General Owen is crushed by a dead flying Bug because, in the time he could have simply moved out of the way of the falling Bug’s way, he instead stands still screaming his head off. Everyone is flabbergasted at this, and Ace is clearly trying very hard not to laugh at this idiotic death. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b58b4e3c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b58b4e3c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b58b4e3c | |
Starship Troopers / int_b72938ce | type |
Eleventy Zillion | |
Starship Troopers / int_b72938ce | comment |
Eleventy Zillion: When a trooper fails to count how many Bugs are approaching: | |
Starship Troopers / int_b72938ce | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b72938ce | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b72938ce | |
Starship Troopers / int_b731fa6e | type |
I Cannot Self-Terminate | |
Starship Troopers / int_b731fa6e | comment |
I Cannot Self-Terminate: Rasczak's death. He gets pulled into a pit by a Bug and Rico manages to pull him out, or at least his upper body. Knowing he is a goner, he tosses his rifle to Rico and screams for him to "Do it!", prompting a hesitant Rico to put him out of his misery. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b731fa6e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b731fa6e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b731fa6e | |
Starship Troopers / int_b7c53a22 | type |
Blood Knight | |
Starship Troopers / int_b7c53a22 | comment |
Blood Knight: Watkins empties roughly a hundred rounds into a Bug, even after it's clearly obvious it's dead. Instant Section Eight. Shujumi tries to be one in the Klendathu battle by charging into the middle of the Arachnid horde, but ends up quickly torn to pieces. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b7c53a22 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b7c53a22 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b7c53a22 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b7c85c86 | type |
Free-Love Future | |
Starship Troopers / int_b7c85c86 | comment |
Free-Love Future: Probably the case in the film, given how everyone regarded the unisex, communal showers as no big deal. In the shower scene it was mentioned that you need a license to reproduce, so perhaps they have mandatory use of contraception. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b7c85c86 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b7c85c86 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b7c85c86 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b8dbe475 | type |
Blood from the Mouth | |
Starship Troopers / int_b8dbe475 | comment |
Blood from the Mouth: Dizzy, after she gets Impaled with Extreme Prejudice. It's justified, as at least one of the Arachnid's talons clearly goes through a lung. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b8dbe475 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b8dbe475 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b8dbe475 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b9f472b | type |
Storming the Castle | |
Starship Troopers / int_b9f472b | comment |
Storming the Castle: The Arachnids' Zerg Rush assault on the Mormon base. | |
Starship Troopers / int_b9f472b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_b9f472b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_b9f472b | |
Starship Troopers / int_ba44639 | type |
Killed Offscreen | |
Starship Troopers / int_ba44639 | comment |
When Carmen shows up at the spaceport and tells Rico why she's late, she says her dad "helped" her pack and told her he was afraid he'd never see her again. Sure enough, he's right, except HE'S the one who dies thanks to the meteor that lands on Buenos Aires. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ba44639 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ba44639 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ba44639 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bb76c854 | type |
Classified Information | |
Starship Troopers / int_bb76c854 | comment |
After Rico sees how Carl can control his pet ferret’s mind, he tells Carl not to do that to him. Carl reassures him cannot control humans … yet. By the end of the movie, Carl is able to send Rico telepathic messages telling him where Carmen is. (Or maybe he did. It’s classified.) | |
Starship Troopers / int_bb76c854 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bb76c854 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_bb76c854 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bba7a | type |
CrapSaccharineWorld | |
Starship Troopers / int_bba7a | comment |
Crapsaccharine World: The United Citizens’ Federation is a military-led society in which only veterans are citizens, you need an official license to have children, and you can be tried, found guilty, and executed all in one day (on live TV), and that is fighting an endless colonial war across space against an implacable enemy with superior numbers. Yet, this is all presented in a bright, sunny, matter-of-fact way. In the original novel, veterans are veterans of any public service, but the film highly implies that it is only military service that counts. | |
Starship Troopers / int_bba7a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bba7a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_bba7a | |
Starship Troopers / int_bc9ddc86 | type |
Fictional Flag | |
Starship Troopers / int_bc9ddc86 | comment |
Fictional Flag: The United Citizens Federation uses a blue and green flag with a stylized eagle in the middle drawn to resemble a military aircraft. This is a very subversive way of Putting on the Reich, since green and blue are often seen as calming, heroic colors, in contrast to Red and Black Totalitarianism. Eagles have also been used in the heraldry of many empires, from the Romans to the Nazis to the Americans. | |
Starship Troopers / int_bc9ddc86 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bc9ddc86 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_bc9ddc86 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bcba27a1 | type |
Putting on the Reich | |
Starship Troopers / int_bcba27a1 | comment |
Putting on the Reich: Taken to extremes. Nearly every military uniform has World War II German military and SS paramilitary uniform references. The flag of the Federation has a symbol that closely resembles the Imperial Eagle from WWII Germany. Given the film's send up of militarism and the fact that Verhoeven grew up in the Netherlands during World War II, it's not exacting surprising. But note how they are never portrayed as anything but good, even while saying and doing horrible things — thus reinforcing the film's take on propaganda. Carl's uniform is the worst offender: the peaked cap and black longcoat haven't been seen on an officer since 1945. | |
Starship Troopers / int_bcba27a1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bcba27a1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_bcba27a1 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bd5ddcc4 | type |
Banister Slide | |
Starship Troopers / int_bd5ddcc4 | comment |
Banister Slide: Carmen does one while running to a shuttle. | |
Starship Troopers / int_bd5ddcc4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bd5ddcc4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_bd5ddcc4 | |
Starship Troopers / int_be009bbc | type |
Alliterative Name | |
Starship Troopers / int_be009bbc | comment |
Alliterative Name: Rico's assigned unit for the second half of the movie is Rasczak's Roughnecks. In a Meaningful Echo, this becomes Rico's Roughnecks. | |
Starship Troopers / int_be009bbc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_be009bbc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_be009bbc | |
Starship Troopers / int_be0ad6b7 | type |
Used to Be a Sweet Kid | |
Starship Troopers / int_be0ad6b7 | comment |
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Over the course of the film Rico goes from a young man on the fence about the morals of his society to a hardened soldier who vehemently supports genocide against the Arachnids. | |
Starship Troopers / int_be0ad6b7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_be0ad6b7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_be0ad6b7 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf298865 | type |
Alien Autopsy | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf298865 | comment |
Alien Autopsy: Early on, we're treated to a biology lesson where Rico, Carmen and the rest of the students dissect and disembowel some Arkellian Sand Beetles. | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf298865 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf298865 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_bf298865 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf609406 | type |
New Meat | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf609406 | comment |
New Meat: A common phrase used to refer to new recruits is "fresh meat for the grinder". Quite funny, in a horrible sort of way. In the end, Rico's decimated unit receives reinforcements, all of which are teens fresh out of boot camp (eerily reminiscent of World War II footage of the Germans throwing in Child Soldiers by the end of the war). Rico quips that he and his second-in-command Ace (20-year old soldiers) are the "old men" now before proceeding to give the arrivals the exact same speech that the unit commander whom Rico replaced gave when he, Ace, and Dizzy joined the unit. | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf609406 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf609406 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_bf609406 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf72d5e8 | type |
The Spartan Way | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf72d5e8 | comment |
The Spartan Way: Mobile Infantry training, where the Drill Sergeant Nasty breaks a recruit's arm and stabs another one through the hand just to make a point. | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf72d5e8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_bf72d5e8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_bf72d5e8 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c12f0c4 | type |
Outrun the Fireball | |
Starship Troopers / int_c12f0c4 | comment |
Outrun the Fireball: The three main characters outrun the fireball of a tactical nuke which was only detonated a few seconds before they left the cave full of Bugs. Earlier, Carmen and Zander outfly a fireball with their Escape Pod when their ship falls apart. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c12f0c4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c12f0c4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c12f0c4 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c1d58ab0 | type |
Drop Ship | |
Starship Troopers / int_c1d58ab0 | comment |
Drop Ship: Appear to basically be shuttles carrying shipping containers for the troops to ride in. A smaller version is used to recover Rico's Roughnecks from the outpost in the first movie. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c1d58ab0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c1d58ab0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c1d58ab0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c2288824 | type |
A Nazi by Any Other Name | |
Starship Troopers / int_c2288824 | comment |
A Nazi by Any Other Name: Since the movie is a satire of the gung-ho jingoism of the novel, they use the Nazi-like symbolism to portray the humans as an evil invading race by Putting on the Reich, and occasionally showing a propaganda commercial. This is capped by Neil Patrick Harris (at the time, best known for Doogie Howser, M.D.) as a Dr. Mengele Expy. One fan theory is that the humans faked the asteroid attack to justify the invasion. Either that, or used the opportunity provided by the otherwise natural asteroid strike to start a war. Just like the Nazis, the Federation is forced to have child soldiers as well. As the RiffTrax guys put it: "In case you're not getting it yet, all the rest of his lines will be in German." The blending of American stereotypes, Shout Outs, and general tropes with the Nazi symbolism is also meant to convey to the viewer that the filmmakers believe the real-world United States government is exactly this, as confirmed from the DVD commentaries. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c2288824 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c2288824 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c2288824 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c2393191 | type |
Show Within a Show | |
Starship Troopers / int_c2393191 | comment |
Show Within a Show: All three live-action films. The first and third even have commercial breaks. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c2393191 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c2393191 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c2393191 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c2f7db18 | type |
Alien Blood | |
Starship Troopers / int_c2f7db18 | comment |
Alien Blood: All the Bugs have green blood except for the Tankers, which bleed orange. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c2f7db18 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c2f7db18 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c2f7db18 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c3585f4a | type |
Boom, Headshot! | |
Starship Troopers / int_c3585f4a | comment |
Boom, Headshot!: How Breckinridge dies during the live firing exercise. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c3585f4a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c3585f4a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c3585f4a | |
Starship Troopers / int_c4302351 | type |
Drop Pod | |
Starship Troopers / int_c4302351 | comment |
A more minor example that is easy to miss: In the movie, the soldiers are occasionally referred to as "Cap Troopers". In the book, this referred to the capsules they dropped in, but in the film the nickname becomes orphaned. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c4302351 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c4302351 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c4302351 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c4e519dd | type |
Little Hero, Big War | |
Starship Troopers / int_c4e519dd | comment |
Little Hero, Big War: Very little. It's questionable whether anything Rico did impacted the overall war effort at all. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c4e519dd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c4e519dd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c4e519dd | |
Starship Troopers / int_c5b47b36 | type |
Offscreen Moment of Awesome | |
Starship Troopers / int_c5b47b36 | comment |
Offscreen Moment of Awesome How did Zim manage to capture the Brain Bug all on his own? We are never told. Izzy and Ace saving Rico on Klendathu when everyone was already retreating from swarms of Arachnids. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c5b47b36 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c5b47b36 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c5b47b36 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c6339c44 | type |
Famous, Famous, Fictional | |
Starship Troopers / int_c6339c44 | comment |
Famous, Famous, Fictional: When the film was released, the accompanying website which contained a lot of character bios and historical information listed the Mobile Infantry alongside historically prestigious military units such as The Knights Templar, the Winged Hussars and the Navy SEALs. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c6339c44 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c6339c44 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c6339c44 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c65ba3a0 | type |
Chastity Dagger | |
Starship Troopers / int_c65ba3a0 | comment |
Chastity Dagger: Of a sort. Zander passes Carmen a knife right before the Brain Bug penetrates him through the skull and sucks his brains out. Carmen uses the knife to stop the Brain Bug from doing the same thing to her. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c65ba3a0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c65ba3a0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c65ba3a0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c75df49a | type |
Shout-Out | |
Starship Troopers / int_c75df49a | comment |
Shout-Out: Rasczak's (and later Rico's) battle cry, "C'mon, you apes, do you wanna live forever?" is a shout-out to Real Life U.S. Marine Sgt. Maj. Dan Daly, a two-time Medal of Honor recipient who yelled, “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?� as he led Marines into the fight at Belleau Wood during World War I. The boot camp sequence is reminiscent of that in Full Metal Jacket, and borrows some of Sgt. Hartman's Drill Sergeant Nasty insults almost word for word: Another Stanley Kubrick homage is the moonbase "Tereshkova" resembling Clavius Base. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c75df49a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c75df49a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c75df49a | |
Starship Troopers / int_c7b5445c | type |
Cool Starship | |
Starship Troopers / int_c7b5445c | comment |
Probably the best one was early in the Klendathu raid, when a Fleet ship damaged by the Bug plasma (which was, contrary to expectations, neither random nor light) plows into another ship in orbit, directly in the Rodger Young's path. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c7b5445c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c7b5445c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c7b5445c | |
Starship Troopers / int_c852ac43 | type |
Mars and Venus Gender Contrast | |
Starship Troopers / int_c852ac43 | comment |
Mars and Venus Gender Contrast: Mostly averted throughout the movie, as women and men train together, fight together, and play sports together. The one time it is hinted at is when Sky Marshall Dienes, who gives a very militaristic speech before the Battle of Klendathu, is replaced by Sky Marshall Meru, who after the defeat at Klendathu says, “In order to defeat the Bug, we must understand the Bug.� In the next scene, two pundits debate whether Bugs can be intelligent, with the woman open to the idea and the man completely rejecting it. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c852ac43 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c852ac43 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c852ac43 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c87660d5 | type |
Get a Hold of Yourself, Man! | |
Starship Troopers / int_c87660d5 | comment |
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Rasczak punches General Owen in the face hoping to snap him out of his despair mode. When that doesn’t work, he tries to shoot him. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c87660d5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c87660d5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c87660d5 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c93a6560 | type |
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice | |
Starship Troopers / int_c93a6560 | comment |
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Practically every battle-scene. Rico's leg gets pinned, but he survives. Dizzy isn't as fortunate. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c93a6560 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c93a6560 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c93a6560 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c95d04f2 | type |
It Can Think | |
Starship Troopers / int_c95d04f2 | comment |
Consistently averted by the Bugs, who use combined arms tactics, stage ambushes, and effectively use expendable drones to soak up fire. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c95d04f2 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c95d04f2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c95d04f2 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c9869c78 | type |
I Know Madden Kombat | |
Starship Troopers / int_c9869c78 | comment |
I Know Madden Kombat: The movie has the "flip-6-3-hole" play imported from some kind of shiny football. It was not in the original story. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c9869c78 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c9869c78 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c9869c78 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c9954979 | type |
Crippling the Competition | |
Starship Troopers / int_c9954979 | comment |
Crippling the Competition: Though the movie isn't a Western, the same philosophy is shown . | |
Starship Troopers / int_c9954979 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c9954979 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c9954979 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c9c756a8 | type |
Child Soldiers | |
Starship Troopers / int_c9c756a8 | comment |
Child Soldiers: In a blink-and-you-miss-it scene, we're shown Rico's New Meat. They're all teenagers, some of them look as young as 14 years old. They're not shown again for the rest of the movie, presumably because showing the inevitable outcome wouldn't be acceptable. | |
Starship Troopers / int_c9c756a8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_c9c756a8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_c9c756a8 | |
Starship Troopers / int_caf89e54 | type |
Taking You with Me | |
Starship Troopers / int_caf89e54 | comment |
Taking You with Me: Watkins does this with a tactical grenade/nuke after getting severely injured, to buy time for the remaining survivors to escape and kill as many Bugs as he possibly can. | |
Starship Troopers / int_caf89e54 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_caf89e54 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_caf89e54 | |
Starship Troopers / int_cb1f5db5 | type |
Feed It a Bomb | |
Starship Troopers / int_cb1f5db5 | comment |
Feed It a Bomb: Dizzy makes a Tanker Bug swallow a grenade. | |
Starship Troopers / int_cb1f5db5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_cb1f5db5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_cb1f5db5 | |
Starship Troopers / int_cb6178fc | type |
Rule #1 | |
Starship Troopers / int_cb6178fc | comment |
Rule #1: "This is for all you new people: I only have one rule. Everyone fights. No one quits. You don't do your job, I'll shoot you myself. You get me?" | |
Starship Troopers / int_cb6178fc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_cb6178fc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_cb6178fc | |
Starship Troopers / int_ccab244d | type |
Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better | |
Starship Troopers / int_ccab244d | comment |
Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: Zig-zagged. Early on the rifles used by the Mobile Infantry are only marginally effective against the Bugs, though this is less because the guns are underpowered and more because the Arachnid soldiers Feel No Pain and will keep coming even as their limbs are being shot off. Later it is shown that the same Arachnid soldier Bugs can be put down with a single shot aimed at a specific nerve cluster. The bio-plasma used by the Bugs against the ships orbiting Klendathu is much more destructive. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ccab244d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ccab244d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ccab244d | |
Starship Troopers / int_ccf46587 | type |
Redshirt Army | |
Starship Troopers / int_ccf46587 | comment |
Red Shirt Army: The Mobile Infantry in general. Named characters generally only have slightly more Plot Armor than the typical grunt, but it can get ripped to shreds by the Bugs if needed for the drama points. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ccf46587 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ccf46587 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ccf46587 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ce2969d8 | type |
Spiritual Antithesis | |
Starship Troopers / int_ce2969d8 | comment |
Spiritual Antithesis: The original film, to its own source material. Mike Stoklasa called it the "anti-Star Trek", in that it offers a much more cynical and fascist view of what the Federation would be like. He specifically compares it to "Arena", the episode where Kirk faces off against a Gorn captain, an enemy who initially seems evil and monstrous, but ultimately shows signs of being a sapient being who just wants to defend his people, causing Kirk to spare his life—Stoklasa argues that the film shows a version of events where Kirk ignores those signs and murders the Gorn anyway. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ce2969d8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ce2969d8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ce2969d8 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d028e0da | type |
An Arm and a Leg | |
Starship Troopers / int_d028e0da | comment |
An Arm and a Leg: The recruitment officer, lots and lots of MI troops. Rasczak in spades. It's a hint that the armed forces are pretty ineffective. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d028e0da | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d028e0da | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d028e0da | |
Starship Troopers / int_d332bf54 | type |
Lampshaded | |
Starship Troopers / int_d332bf54 | comment |
The Mobile Infantry operating without armor or artillery support was actually lampshaded and justified in the novel because the MI-powered armor suits let them provide their own support (making aircraft, tanks, and artillery useless). When the movie eliminated the powered armor, it failed to account for this, making the MI's tactics look very silly. Lampshaded: After the initial attack on Klendathu failed miserably, everyone acknowledged that the MI's tactics were moronic. In later operations they're seen operating with heavy air support. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d332bf54 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d332bf54 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d332bf54 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d525f857 | type |
Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale | |
Starship Troopers / int_d525f857 | comment |
Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Starships flying together in orbit so closely that they can run into each other (even if all the landing ships were heading for the same spot, there's still no reason for the starships to be closer than several miles). The asteroid fired by the Bugs at Buenos Aires grazes Carmen's ship. Given the sizes and scales involved, this is so incredibly unlikely that it defies all attempts at reason. An asteroid near Jupiter reaches and hits the Earth only hours later, a trip that should have taken years. Whatever the Arachnids did to crash the asteroid into Earth, judging by the distance in the galaxy of both solar systems, it would physically be impossible for the effect to take place less than 70,000 years later (and that's assuming the attack moved at light speed, which is orders of magnitude from what we see of the Bugs' capabilities). If the Arachnids are responsible for the attack, it was conducted tens of thousands of years before the first human civilizations — which leads more plausibility to the fan theory that this was not an actual attack. If the attack "only" moved at a sizable fraction of the light speed, which in itself would be an incredible achievement, it would need to be set up literally millions of years in advance. And if the Bugs did launch an asteroid at speeds fast enough to reach Earth in a timely manner, unless someone put retrorockets on the rock, it would still be going FTL when it hit the planet. We'd have much bigger things to worry about than a Buenos Aires-sized crater at that point if that happened. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d525f857 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d525f857 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d525f857 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d53fa71 | type |
Mess on a Plate | |
Starship Troopers / int_d53fa71 | comment |
Mess on a Plate: M.I. rations are quite literally slop. Except for one foodstuff that looks to be strawberry mousse, the rest is lumpy, brown sludge. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d53fa71 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d53fa71 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d53fa71 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d54b9eb3 | type |
Inter-Service Rivalry | |
Starship Troopers / int_d54b9eb3 | comment |
Interservice Rivalry: The Mobile Infantry and the Federation Navy apparently don't get along. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d54b9eb3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d54b9eb3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d54b9eb3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d5a84e45 | type |
Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit" | |
Starship Troopers / int_d5a84e45 | comment |
Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": Other than being simply labeled "Bugs" as a Fantastic Slur towards the chitinous alien invaders and their various castes, their official label is "Arachnid". This is confusing as it is never shown if they have any sort of relation to Earth's arthropods despite the superficial resemblance. And even then, they look more like beetles than spiders, especially the Warriors and the Tankers. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d5a84e45 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d5a84e45 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d5a84e45 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d6268c2e | type |
Shoot Everything That Moves | |
Starship Troopers / int_d6268c2e | comment |
Shoot Everything That Moves: There are a lot of fights like this. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d6268c2e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d6268c2e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d6268c2e | |
Starship Troopers / int_d6743235 | type |
Pheromones | |
Starship Troopers / int_d6743235 | comment |
Pheromones: When the replacement soldiers arrive at the outpost, they find everyone dead, the corpses ripped to shreds. The commanding officer, however, is intact except for a hole in his skull where his brains were sucked out. One soldier remarks about the dead officer's odor, and is told that the enemy "bugs" use that scent to mark the man as "important", so that the mooks don't destroy useful intelligence. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d6743235 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d6743235 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d6743235 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d7c3ba61 | type |
Race Lift | |
Starship Troopers / int_d7c3ba61 | comment |
Race Lift: Rico was Filipino in the book; now he's white. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d7c3ba61 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d7c3ba61 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d7c3ba61 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d7d6ed9a | type |
Fictional Sport | |
Starship Troopers / int_d7d6ed9a | comment |
Fictional Sport: The indoors-on-hardwood-with-gymnastics football game. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d7d6ed9a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d7d6ed9a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d7d6ed9a | |
Starship Troopers / int_d8068af5 | type |
Ring World Planet | |
Starship Troopers / int_d8068af5 | comment |
Ring World Planet: In a change from the novel, the film has a spaceship docking ring surrounding the entire Earth linked to the surface by space elevators. | |
Starship Troopers / int_d8068af5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_d8068af5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_d8068af5 | |
Starship Troopers / int_da3a90a | type |
Acid Attack | |
Starship Troopers / int_da3a90a | comment |
Acid Attack: The Tanker Bugs, which take the place of human mechanized armor in the Arachnids' Hive Caste System, are able to secrete a highly corrosive acid from their mouths that melts enemies within seconds. | |
Starship Troopers / int_da3a90a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_da3a90a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_da3a90a | |
Starship Troopers / int_db8b1727 | type |
Window Love | |
Starship Troopers / int_db8b1727 | comment |
Window Love: Dizzy planting a kiss against the glass of Rico's medical tank. | |
Starship Troopers / int_db8b1727 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_db8b1727 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_db8b1727 | |
Starship Troopers / int_db911ee | type |
Field Promotion | |
Starship Troopers / int_db911ee | comment |
Rico goes from Private to Lieutenant in the space of about two or three days. In fact, he's only a Sergeant for about five minutes before he's promoted to Lieutenant in order to take command of the Roughnecks. | |
Starship Troopers / int_db911ee | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_db911ee | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_db911ee | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc0ca62a | type |
Public Execution | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc0ca62a | comment |
Public Execution: The regime immediately sentences murderers to death and broadcasts their executions on live television on every channel. | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc0ca62a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc0ca62a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_dc0ca62a | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc3df63a | type |
Death Notification | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc3df63a | comment |
Death Notification: Rico is initially reported KIA during the disastrous landing on Klendathu, but was actually rescued and brought back to Ticonderoga Station. Played both for drama and laughs when Carmen learns that Rico has died, only for a Gilligan Cut to reveal Dizzy and Ace showing Rico his death certificate and having a good laugh over the typical failings of military bureaucracy. | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc3df63a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc3df63a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_dc3df63a | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc3e1299 | type |
Argentina Is Nazi-Land | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc3e1299 | comment |
Argentina Is Nazi-Land: Note the protagonists' homeland, if the movie's other subtle hints towards the true nature of the Federation weren't enough. Verhoeven deliberately sought to imply that a form of ethnic cleansing had occurred there - the town of Buenos Aires sure seems awfully blonde and white. | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc3e1299 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc3e1299 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_dc3e1299 | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc664499 | type |
Gracefully Demoted | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc664499 | comment |
Gracefully Demoted: Sergeant Zim is shown wanting to fight the Bugs rather than train cadets. There's a minor background moment where his commanding officer tells him there's no way he's fighting the Bugs unless he busts his ass down to private. This turns out to be a Brick Joke, as said character wound up doing just that, and winds up capturing the Brain Bug and possibly turning the tide of the war. | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc664499 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_dc664499 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_dc664499 | |
Starship Troopers / int_dcd29760 | type |
They Would Cut You Up | |
Starship Troopers / int_dcd29760 | comment |
They Would Cut You Up: Arachnid dissection and vivisection occur, particularly pay attention to the captured Brain Bug in the epilogue. | |
Starship Troopers / int_dcd29760 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_dcd29760 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_dcd29760 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ddcc22c3 | type |
Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age | |
Starship Troopers / int_ddcc22c3 | comment |
Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: In boot camp, Ace complains to Sergeant Zim about having to learn to throw knives when the Federation military has starships armed with nukes. Instead of the detailed lecture on controlled force that Zim gave in the book, here he has Ace put his hand on the knife target and promptly inflicts an Impaled Palm. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ddcc22c3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ddcc22c3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_ddcc22c3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_de306ba6 | type |
Worst Aid | |
Starship Troopers / int_de306ba6 | comment |
Worst Aid: Rico ripping the huge spike out of Dizzy's chest after she has been Impaled with Extreme Prejudice. | |
Starship Troopers / int_de306ba6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_de306ba6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_de306ba6 | |
Starship Troopers / int_dea5fe1 | type |
Kubrick Stare | |
Starship Troopers / int_dea5fe1 | comment |
Kubrick Stare: Jake Busey is as good as always with this, giving an oddly disturbing one while attempting to play a romantic tune for Rico and Diz. | |
Starship Troopers / int_dea5fe1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_dea5fe1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_dea5fe1 | |
Starship Troopers / int_df3b0af7 | type |
Short-Range Long-Range Weapon | |
Starship Troopers / int_df3b0af7 | comment |
Short-Range Long-Range Weapon: The MI's weapons are so ridiculously overpowered that the recoil makes them practically impossible to aim (possibly justified in that it still takes a full magazine to kill one Bug). | |
Starship Troopers / int_df3b0af7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_df3b0af7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_df3b0af7 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e061d153 | type |
Sergeant Rock | |
Starship Troopers / int_e061d153 | comment |
Sergeant Rock: Lieutenant Willy in command of the heroes unit during the Battle of Klendathu, who gives a badass Rousing Speech and then gets unceremoniously killed by the first Bug they encounter. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e061d153 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e061d153 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e061d153 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e099f0de | type |
I Will Only Slow You Down | |
Starship Troopers / int_e099f0de | comment |
I Will Only Slow You Down: During the underground battle between the MI and the Bugs Watkins is injured. He asks the others to give him a nuclear RPG round and leave him behind so he can do a You Shall Not Pass! to the Bugs. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e099f0de | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e099f0de | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e099f0de | |
Starship Troopers / int_e2023325 | type |
StrawmanPolitical | |
Starship Troopers / int_e2023325 | comment |
Strawman Political: Verhoeven intended to express his beliefs about America through this film, as he revealed in the DVD commentaries—thus combining this with Writer on Board below. In said commentaries, Verhoeven equates the U.S. to Nazi Germany and doesn't even blink. It audibly takes his fellow commentator Edward Neumeier off guard. Verhoeven made it clear that the film was based on what he and Neumeier were observing in American politics at the time. (In particular, they were inspired by the climate in Texas during the 1990’s under then-Governor George W. Bush.) | |
Starship Troopers / int_e2023325 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e2023325 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e2023325 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e22dae0a | type |
Pretext for War | |
Starship Troopers / int_e22dae0a | comment |
Pretext for War: The meteor strike that the Federation blames on the bugs is incredibly suspect; there's no stated evidence for it and propelling an asteroid across many light-years at apparently sublight speed makes absolutely no sense. Given the personality of the Federation, it's much more likely that the impact was either a natural disaster or even orchestrated by them, and then credited to the bugs. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e22dae0a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e22dae0a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e22dae0a | |
Starship Troopers / int_e234ddbf | type |
Escape Pod | |
Starship Troopers / int_e234ddbf | comment |
Earlier, Carmen and Zander outfly a fireball with their Escape Pod when their ship falls apart. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e234ddbf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e234ddbf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e234ddbf | |
Starship Troopers / int_e34541d | type |
One World Order | |
Starship Troopers / int_e34541d | comment |
One World Order: The movie's universe has one government controlling Earth and all colonies. There was a massive war between China and Russia/Europe/America and, after 90 years, a wave of revolts in Europe overthrew the current governments and formed the United Citizens' Federation, then the Americas did the same. Finally, they decided to go to war with China (and anybody who was left) to create the peaceful loving government we know. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e34541d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e34541d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e34541d | |
Starship Troopers / int_e3a5d345 | type |
Fartillery | |
Starship Troopers / int_e3a5d345 | comment |
Fartillery: The alien army has literal fartillery, capable of taking down a large spaceship. It's less farting and more projectile... gobbets of bio-plasma. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e3a5d345 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e3a5d345 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e3a5d345 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e460b44e | type |
The Radio Dies First | |
Starship Troopers / int_e460b44e | comment |
The Radio Dies First: Due to its communication tower being ripped off by a glancing hit, the Rodger Young is unable to warn Fleet of the Bug meteor hurtling towards Earth. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e460b44e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e460b44e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e460b44e | |
Starship Troopers / int_e4965307 | type |
Composite Character | |
Starship Troopers / int_e4965307 | comment |
Composite Character: In the novel, Carl is Rico's childhood friend who dies off-screen, the only psychic is an unnamed "sensitive" who makes one brief appearance (and Rico suspects his talent is really just very good hearing), and Jenkins is one of Rico's later squadmates. Also in the novel, Colonel DuBois, Rico's teacher, and Lt. Rasczak are separate characters, but Michael Ironside pulls double duty when the two are combined. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e4965307 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e4965307 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e4965307 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e4d5e4c0 | type |
Five Rounds Rapid | |
Starship Troopers / int_e4d5e4c0 | comment |
Five Rounds Rapid: The Mobile Infantry seems to have forgotten everything we've learned about combined arms warfare. The MI's only tactic is to attack in massed numbers using small arms and the occasional nuke. At no point in the movie is there any evidence of artillery or close air support, tanks or armored personnel carriers, special weapons squads with mortars or heavy machine guns. Nor do the ships seem to possess the capability of the orbital equivalent of shore bombardment, despite the fact that one scene has several bombers do a strafing run on the surface (which it's implied they could do at will if they weren't Jerk Asses). We get the barest of a glimpse of such things in a flashforward near the end, where a trooper has what is functionally a grenade launcher. They do use a rocket launcher against two gigantic plasma bugs in the first major battle and later on a 'mini-nuke' against a swarm of Arachnid soldiers emerging from a cave... then never use either weapon again, even when faced with thousands of the things attacking at once. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e4d5e4c0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e4d5e4c0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e4d5e4c0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e542d889 | type |
Gorn | |
Starship Troopers / int_e542d889 | comment |
Gorn: The film is regularly horrifically violent and gruesome, as (yet another) a way of hammering home the fact that War Is Hell, no matter what the characters try and make you believe. The Klendathu Drop Site Massacre is probably the most horrifying scene as the Mobile Infantry are set upon by a horde of Bugs and graphically dismembered en-masse. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e542d889 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e542d889 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e542d889 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e57965c6 | type |
Covered in Mud | |
Starship Troopers / int_e57965c6 | comment |
Covered in Mud: At the boot camp's obstacle course, Rico and Ace make a big splash into a pool of mud after Dizzy knocks them off a platform while going down a zip line. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e57965c6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e57965c6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e57965c6 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e6558beb | type |
Artistic License – Space | |
Starship Troopers / int_e6558beb | comment |
When hit with missiles, orbiting space ships do not fall perpendicular to the planet and they especially do not fall down RELATIVE TO THE CAMERA. The third film appeared to get this right with the disabled troop ship following an unpowered decaying orbit rather than dropping like a brick. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e6558beb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e6558beb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e6558beb | |
Starship Troopers / int_e663d3ef | type |
Only a Flesh Wound | |
Starship Troopers / int_e663d3ef | comment |
Only a Flesh Wound: Carmen gets impaled through the shoulder by a Bug talon the diameter of a soda can, picked up and thrown around by it, and yet minutes later is firing a high caliber machinegun, outruns a nuke, and then throws her arms around her friends and skips away smiling. What brave new world is this, that has such painkillers in it?note Painkillers, nothing - that kind of wound would have severed muscles and broken bones. No matter how much pain you don't feel, you can't make a muscle that isn't attached anymore lift your arm. Averted with Rico, who is impaled through the thigh during the initial battle and is out of commission for several days while the Auto Doc patches him up, erroneously reported KIA in the ensuing chaos. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e663d3ef | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e663d3ef | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e663d3ef | |
Starship Troopers / int_e71ef25c | type |
Let's Get Out of Here | |
Starship Troopers / int_e71ef25c | comment |
Let's Get Out of Here: Line said by a female soldier during the nocturnal fight on the alien planet. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e71ef25c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e71ef25c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e71ef25c | |
Starship Troopers / int_e7c671f3 | type |
Mildly Military | |
Starship Troopers / int_e7c671f3 | comment |
Mildly Military: It's strangely played both ways. Setting aside Hollywood Tactics, on the one hand the Federal Military is extremely strict with almost Spartan-level brutality in boot camp and summary execution by a field officer is threatened for desertion, and the chain of command is absolute. On the other hand the soldiers are severely undisciplined; the first attack dissolves into a confused retreat with only a few casualties, fraternization is encouraged by superiors, they throw a frat party in the middle of enemy territory seemingly without setting up a defense perimeter, and a rookie flight officer isn't even remotely disciplined for almost crashing an interstellar starship into the spaceport because of her arrogant recklessness on her first field mission. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e7c671f3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e7c671f3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e7c671f3 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e877695 | type |
Unprocessed Resignation | |
Starship Troopers / int_e877695 | comment |
Unprocessed Resignation: While still in boot camp, Johnny Rico resigns from the Mobile Infantry. As he's leaving the camp, the Arachnids drop an asteroid on Buenos Aires. Johnny tries to cancel his resignation, but the commanding officer says that Johhny has already signed the form and it wouldn't be legal. Johnny tells him that his entire family was in Buenos Aires when it was destroyed. Drill Sergeant Zim (with the commanding officer's implicit consent) says that Rico's signature on the resignation papers doesn't look like his and tears up the papers, allowing Johnny to stay in boot camp. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e877695 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e877695 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e877695 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e88e8a8f | type |
Writer on Board | |
Starship Troopers / int_e88e8a8f | comment |
Writer on Board: In the opposite direction from the source material. In addition to this, Verhoeven used the film to express opinions about the United States political climate whereas the novel did not. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e88e8a8f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e88e8a8f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e88e8a8f | |
Starship Troopers / int_e993a60f | type |
Defensive Feint Trap | |
Starship Troopers / int_e993a60f | comment |
Human infantry is squishy, heavily-outnumbered and armed with weak but massed ranged weapons. Rather than set up kill-zones and defensive feint traps and making use of explosives to counter their numbers, they simply send the troops rushing over to fight the Bugs in a Zerg Rush. Not very good when the enemy is the actual Zerg. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e993a60f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e993a60f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e993a60f | |
Starship Troopers / int_e993da98 | type |
Equal-Opportunity Evil | |
Starship Troopers / int_e993da98 | comment |
Equal-Opportunity Evil: Questionably white Buenos Aires aside, the Federation is remarkably egalitarian for a fascist army of space Nazis, one of the only ways that its policies were changed to be less right-wing than the book. Men and women of all races in the Mobile Infantry sign up together, train together, fight together, die together, and, most infamously, shower together. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e993da98 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e993da98 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e993da98 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e9f79e23 | type |
Screw the War, We're Partying | |
Starship Troopers / int_e9f79e23 | comment |
Screw the War, We're Partying: Lt. Jean Rasczak brings out a whole set of party favors, including kegs, footballs, and musical instruments, for his soldiers after they run a successful mission, specifically so that they can have some fun. Unfortunately, the festivities have to be cut a little short when they're ordered to move out for another mission. | |
Starship Troopers / int_e9f79e23 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_e9f79e23 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
Starship Troopers / int_e9f79e23 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ea8c9e21 | type |
You Will Know What to Do | |
Starship Troopers / int_ea8c9e21 | comment |
You Will Know What to Do: A literal Chekhov's Gun is handed out when Rasczak shoots and kills a communication officer that has been captured by a flying bug and then exclaims, "I expect any one of you to do the same for me." Later, Rasczak's legs are torn off by a tunneling bug, and he looks at Rico and says, "Rico... you know what to do!" Rico replies, "Yes sir!", and after a moment's hesitation, shoots him. | |
Starship Troopers / int_ea8c9e21 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Starship Troopers / int_ea8c9e21 | featureConfidence |
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Starship Troopers | hasFeature |
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National Geographic Nudity | |
Starship Troopers / int_eaaf461f | comment |
National Geographic Nudity: The co-ed shower scene is treated this way. The Federation apparently has no nudity taboo. | |
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Fascist, but Inefficient | |
Starship Troopers / int_eb04f8d5 | comment |
Fascist, but Inefficient: Many (very valid) points are made about how idiotically the human race makes war in the film. However, this may very well be the point, given that in Real Life, fascist regimes actually do tend to make war with awesome incompetence due in no small part to seeing their enemy as inherently inferior. That phenomenal arrogance and ignorance, and the consequences of these attitudes on the battlefield, are on full display in the first battle of Klendathu. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_eb4086e3 | type |
Big Creepy-Crawlies | |
Starship Troopers / int_eb4086e3 | comment |
Big Creepy-Crawlies: The insectile aliens (the Bugs) the humans are fighting against. They're also strong and ruthless. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_ec1ec2dc | type |
Non-Protagonist Resolver | |
Starship Troopers / int_ec1ec2dc | comment |
Non-Protagonist Resolver: The Brain Bug plot seems set to be resolved by Rico, but after he is distracted by his desire to save Carmen, the Bug is eventually captured by a minor character whose entire arc occurs mostly under the radar. | |
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Cult Colony | |
Starship Troopers / int_ec2d62b9 | comment |
Cult Colony: Port Joe Smith is a colony founded by "Mormon Extremists" just inside the Arachnid Quarantine Zone. Bugs apparently found them quite tasty. | |
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Licensed Pinball Tables | |
Starship Troopers / int_ecc22051 | comment |
Licensed Pinball Tables: Released by Sega Pinball in 1997. Click here for tropes. | |
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You Are in Command Now | |
Starship Troopers / int_ed2bbf8a | comment |
You Are in Command Now: Rico's rise through the ranks stems entirely from field promotions to take the place of superiors who had been killed in a previous engagement. It hints at how badly the humans are doing in the war that the main characters all end up filling command positions despite only being barely out of training. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_ed7f9671 | type |
Adaptational Self-Defense | |
Starship Troopers / int_ed7f9671 | comment |
Adaptational Self-Defense: In the book, the attack on Buenos Aires is an unprovoked escalation of a series of border skirmishes. In the film, it's unclear why the Bugs did it (or if they did it at all), but shortly after the city is destroyed, we're shown a massive military starbase that the Federation had built deep inside their territory, and a Federation propaganda video acknowledges the theory that they were provoked by human incursions into their 'natural habitat'. | |
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People's Republic of Tyranny | |
Starship Troopers / int_eef85d73 | comment |
People's Republic of Tyranny: The United Citizen Federation, where civil rights are plenty (unless you want to have kids) but political freedoms are virtually nonexistent, murderers are arrested, tried and executed the same day, and the media is a fully interactive Propaganda Machine. It could be said that the United Citizen Federation is de jure a democratic federation, but de facto a stratocratic aristocracy - a nation run by a small handful of military veterans with very few checks and balances on their power, as they have already proven through their service that they can handle power responsibly, or that is the theory anyway. | |
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Never a Self-Made Woman | |
Starship Troopers / int_efc1d647 | comment |
Never a Self-Made Woman: Zigzagged; Dizzy joins the infantry just to be close to Johnny, but Carmen's desire to become a Fleet pilot is entirely her own and motivates Johnny to join the military. | |
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Pompous Political Pundit | |
Starship Troopers / int_f065f2bd | comment |
Pompous Political Pundit: The so-called 'Expert' who during one of the propaganda segments shouts down an scientist's claims about Brain Bugs existing. | |
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Do Unto Others Before They Do Unto Us | |
Starship Troopers / int_f0b516b | comment |
Do Unto Others Before They Do Unto Us: Both sides see the other as a hideous horde of insane vermin, who hate everything their very genes stand for (humans represent arrogance and infighting, bugs represent obedience and gluttony) and will do anything they can to wipe the other side out. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_f0e85546 | type |
Unbuilt Trope | |
Starship Troopers / int_f0e85546 | comment |
Unbuilt Trope: This cracked article makes an interesting case that Starship Troopers, viewed today without context, could easily be mistaken for a satire on the War on Terror. A militaristic right-wing government, complacent in its own superiority, suffers a devastating disaster that destroys a major population center. They blame a race of far-off aliens on an isolated desert planet that couldn't possibly be responsible, and go to war, egged on by media-saturated with propaganda. They quickly get bogged down in a quagmire. After capturing the leader, and torturing it horribly, they declare victory. Except it was made in 1997. | |
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War Is Hell | |
Starship Troopers / int_f1d6144a | comment |
War Is Hell: The ACTUAL point of the film, even though some audiences, and even a majority of the humans in the film itself, didn't get that. | |
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Mercy Kill | |
Starship Troopers / int_f3626b09 | comment |
Mercy Kill: Lt. Rasczak snipes one of his own men who has been carried to a distant ridge by a flying Bug and tells his troops, "I'd expect any of you to do the same for me." And of course, Rico has to do so later. | |
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Deadline News | |
Starship Troopers / int_f4d00fb0 | comment |
Deadline News: The film opens with the reporter and his cameraman dying by Bug. Not at the same time, either; the cameraman was just that stupid. | |
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Alien Invasion | |
Starship Troopers / int_f56aeb67 | comment |
Alien Invasion: Inverted. After a series of repulsed colonisation attempts and a direct retaliatory attack on Buenos Aires on Earth, humanity declares all-out war and invades the Bug worlds. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_f6c3d469 | type |
Fanservice Extra | |
Starship Troopers / int_f6c3d469 | comment |
Fanservice Extra: There's a scene portraying a mixed-sex showering at boot camp. All of the minor boot camp trainees are shown half naked in the shower scene, along with the main ones. | |
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Last Stand | |
Starship Troopers / int_f7cee9b | comment |
Last Stand: The Roughnecks defense of Whisky Outpost quickly becomes one, pushed back into the compound and running low on ammo against an overwhelming swarm of Bugs. Only to be rescued last minute by Carmen and Zander in a dropship. | |
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You Know What to Do | |
Starship Troopers / int_f7cff22f | comment |
You Know What to Do: Rico's sargeant utters this but the movie makes it pretty clear what that means. | |
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Running Gag | |
Starship Troopers / int_f9f2c33 | comment |
Running Gag: A subtle one. Rico surges through the ranks, but this isn't because he's especially good, it's because the people above him keep dying. "Come on, do you wanna live forever?" | |
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You Killed My Father | |
Starship Troopers / int_fb6b207f | comment |
You Killed My Father: Rico is about to resign from the Mobile Infantry (in fact, he's got his bags packed and is just on his way out) when news hits that Buenos Aires, where his parents lived, has been destroyed by a meteorite sent by the Bugs. He immediately joins back up so he can get revenge. | |
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Artistic License – Physics | |
Starship Troopers / int_fc225bec | comment |
Artistic License – Physics: When hit with missiles, orbiting space ships do not fall perpendicular to the planet and they especially do not fall down RELATIVE TO THE CAMERA. The third film appeared to get this right with the disabled troop ship following an unpowered decaying orbit rather than dropping like a brick. The asteroid Carmen almost misses, unless it was dense as hell, should in no way have enough mass to create such a significant gravitational field, especially enough to counter the ship's own artificial gravity field. | |
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Gallows Humor | |
Starship Troopers / int_fcd9b657 | comment |
Gallows Humor: When Rico is revealed to be alive and recovering in a medical ward after the Battle of Klendathu, he shares a laugh with Ace and Dizzy over his Death Certificate, which was issued prematurely in the confusion after the disastrous rout the humans suffered. | |
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Starship Troopers / int_fe0330fb | type |
Brick Joke | |
Starship Troopers / int_fe0330fb | comment |
Brick Joke: At the end of the Boot Camp portion of the film, Zim is told that due to his value as a Veteran Instructor, the only way he'll see combat is if he busts himself down to private. Cue the film's climax, where it is revealed that Zim in fact got himself busted down to private and captured the Brain Bug. It may have even been because he decided to rip apart Rico's resignation form in front of everybody else in the office so he could get back to the Infantry. | |
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Beauty Is Never Tarnished | |
Starship Troopers / int_fe614133 | comment |
Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Rico's hair is always perfect. Always. Even when he just took off his helmet after marching around a hot desert planet. Carmen sustains a massive explosion to the face when the bridge takes a hit over Klendathu. While Rico's recovering in the bacta tank, Carmen has a tiny cut through her eyebrow which actually serves to enhance her looks. | |
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Happy Ending | |
Starship Troopers / int_fec2b522 | comment |
Happy Ending: Parodied. By the end, Rico has gone from mildly questioning the morals of the society he lives in to believing in the Federation ideology of going all-in on genocidal warfare against the Arachnids, which gives him a really bad case of Genre Blindness. His parents, his mentor figure, and a woman who truly loved him, are all dead. Of his two surviving friends, he will never see either of them the same way again. Despite the new knowledge and technology granted by the capture of the Brain Bug, it is implied that the Federation is still ultimately going to lose the war because it simply lacks the manpower to replace its losses (hence the teenage soldiers seen in Rico's Roughnecks and the persistent call for more people to join up). Despite all this, as the final propaganda reel ends with triumphant music after showing a montage of post-climax developments, "THEY'LL KEEP FIGHTING AND THEY'LL WIN!". | |
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