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 Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2000 8:57 pm Post subject: |
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I'm interested in hearing what people who have read this book have to say to people like myself who've only seen the movie. Okay, the movie was bad, but then...why do I like it so much, cause believe me, I do. It's confounded. That brainless exercise in easyflowing action and "hotlookin'" actors who can't act diddley squat, and I like it! Blast! I certainly don't like Beverly Hills 9034757436, or whatever it's called. Not Melrose Place "goes to space" either. And I felt this movie was a pretty close sci-fi assimilation of said series. Still, I freely admit it. I've seen STARSHIP TROOPERS severeal times and I'll gladly see it more...for Denise Richards if for nothing else 
It's just that I can't imagine Robert A. Heinlein's novel as being a simplified commercial of war propaganda like the movie, or is it? I have no idea. People who have read this - speak up or die!
Submitted By: Fenriz |
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| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2000 2:08 am Post subject: |
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The only Heinlein book I've ever read was THE PUPPET MASTERS and I absolutely loved it. I don't know why I never read any of his other stuff (I sure do have a lot of his novels gathering up dust) but I read it a long long time ago and back then I did a lot of jumping around from author to author.
As for the movie version of STARSHIP TROOPERS...sure it's crap and silly and pretty stupid but like Fenriz here I love the film. For the same reasons I like all of Verhoven's films. Just like his most recent Hollow Man (which was so stupid but I still found it to be fun to watch), Starship Troopers is so over the top that you can't help but like it. Just my opinion.
Submitted By: Mr Self Affliction |
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| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2000 6:58 am Post subject: |
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> I'm interested in hearing what people who
> have read this book have to say to people
> like myself who've only seen the movie.
> It's just that I can't imagine Robert A.
> Heinlein's novel as being a simplified
> commercial of war propaganda like the movie,
> or is it? I have no idea. People who have
> read this - speak up
> or die!
The movie bore very little resemblance to the book that I remember reading so long ago. I read the book at least 25 years ago and I think its still lying (or is it laying?) around here somewhere. The one memory I have of it is that the troopers were being transported around the universe to fight the aliens at light speed, or something like that. Due to the effect of traveling at the speed of light, time was moving much faster for civilization on Earth than for the troopers on the ships. So society on Earth basically lost contact with the troopers and the war that they were fighting really meant nothing to the people back Home. I don't remember how this was resolved, or even if it was. If I can find it, I'll take a look.
Submitted By: Layback76 |
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| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2000 7:04 am Post subject: |
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> The only Heinlein book I've ever read was THE
> PUPPET MASTERS and I absolutely loved it. I
> don't know why I never read any of his other
> stuff (I sure do have a lot of his novels
> gathering up dust) but I read it a long long
> time ago and back then I did a lot of jumping
> around from author to author.
I read quite a few of his novels back in the early to mid-seventies when I was still a youngster (whoo, it's really weird using that word!). I always enjoyed them but I don't remember too much about them. But I do recommend that you read 'Stranger in a Strange Land', if you get a chance.
Submitted By: Layback76 |
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| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2000 4:09 pm Post subject: |
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I've been meaning to read Stranger in a Strange Land for years and years. I keep hearing such great things about it but for some reason other books keep getting in the way.
Submitted By: Mr Self Affliction |
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| Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2000 3:37 am Post subject: |
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Okay, first of all I have to admit that the movie is a guilty pleasure of mine too. As you and the others have said Fenny, it's definitely bad, but it has that allure of letting your mind take a break while you watch pure adrenaline ridden violence and gore on the screen. What I think it is is a simple adrenaline feast that a great many of us know we should look down our noses at but... damn, it tastes so good as long as you don't think about what you're consuming! So that's my take on that one.
Now on to the book, which I did read a few years ago after seeing the movie, knowing that if it was Heinlein, the book must have so much more substance, which is in some ways true. Comparing the book to the movie is much like comparing apples and oranges. The movie (as we've said) relied mostly on visuals of battles and violence and the overdramatized romantic lives of the young stars (ironic for me to say that, since most of them are a few years older than I am, but you know what I mean). The book on the other hand puts those things in the background and uses them more as devices to examine in greater detail the civilization and state of technology and warfare that earth has reached by that time as seen through the eyes of the recruit Johnny Rico. The book focuses on all the ins and outs of the civilization and what it means in the future time to be a soldier, rather than flashy battles and the actual military campaign of the time, these things are merely backdrops to examine one possible future of humanity and warfare. At least that's the best way I can put it based on my recollection and comparing the two.
Either way, it's a very good book, as is most of Heinlein's stuff that I've read. So far I've read Stranger in a Strange Land (which I am a HUGE fan of and believe that anyone with the slightest interest in sci-fi or general human nature should read at some point), Farnham's Freehold (which was pretty good, entertaining, and it does make you think a bit about possibilities of the future) and Starship Troopers. I also have several more in my bookshelf that I intend to read sometime soon, as I consider him one of the finest sci-fi authors around.
the Wolf
Submitted By: the Wolf |
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| Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2000 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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I'm about half way through it now and I enjoy it immensely. This is a rare case where I'm sort of glad to have seen the movie first. It makes me appreciate the intelligent and informed manner of the book to a higher degree. It's funny to see how they made a commercial action film with the typical Hollywood love elements in a movie that bears very little resemblance to the novel.
Back to reading.
Submitted By: Fenny |
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| Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2000 9:53 pm Post subject: |
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Finished this one. No need to elaborate since so many wise and ontarget observations have already been uttered. To say that the movie didn't even get half "the point" of the book is a mild understatement. The intelligence factor between movie and novel is like that of a cretin and genius.
I had several hardships with this book. Especially the lecture parts. Robert Heinlein obviously has a big social awareness and moral insight, and many of the points he worked to illustrate tended to get too deep for me. The "Bugs" that the movie went heels over head to make a showcase of actually wasn't a very big part of the book. It focused more on how these recruits of the future got indoctrinated into an army lifestyle and what morals and values that instilled in them. Sure I can understand this novel has attained much controversy. It's strikingly plausible and detailed in showing how citizenship has been radically altered with mankinds expansion and settlements on other planets, and is a dissection on the workings of why war is, and in turn, why it by sheer necessity, must be. At least in the universe Heinlein describes. Maybe that's the most provocative thing of all. A fascinating novel that should cause interesting debates among readers who "got" this novel a tad better than myself.
Submitted By: Fenny |
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