Amazon.com video review:
After chasing the bugs out of the solar system in "The Pluto Campaign,"
S.I.C.O.N. tracks the enemy's retreat in hopes of finding the invaders'
homeworld. Razak's Roughnecks are in the first wave of humans to hit
water-dominated Hydora, a refueling planet infested with deadly new armies of alien
insects. This second campaign in Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers
Chronicles is packed with whiplash action scenes, but it also ups the ante
in a startling manner. Psychic soldier Jenkins gets a shock to the system after
a meeting of minds with the Brain Bug: the bugs' final solution is the complete
extermination of the human race. As hatched by the show's animators, the fierce
dart-spewing ripplers and amphibious water tigers are marvelously
sinister-looking things, more "realistic" than the humans. That's a fair tradeoff. The
stylized 3-D computer animation makes this look unlike any other high-tech
sci-fi TV adventure. --Sean Axmaker
Amazon.com video review:
The Roughnecks take a breather from combat (or so they think) to scout
the desert planet Tophet for a possible base, and meet a race of tall,
lizardlike, apparently friendly aliens they dub "skinnies." But nothing is as it
seems in this intergalactic war, not even the double-crossing skinnies, who have
laid a deadly trap for the humans. The truth behind their collaboration hides an
even more disturbing twist in the bug infestation of the universe. Dry,
desolate, and full of wide-open spaces, "The Tophet Campaign" is a sci-fi take
on a World War II platoon drama in the African desert. It lacks the visual
spectacle of other adventures but makes up for it with heavy artillery
(including an experimental cyborg soldier loaded with firepower) and more
complicated character dynamics. The eerie mental breakdown of telepath Jenkins
gives the Roughnecks their first casualty of the war. --Sean Axmaker
Amazon.com video review:
Paul Verhoeven's dark, satirical adaptation of Robert Heinlein's
Starship Troopers seriously strayed from the novel. This
Verhoeven-produced TV series--part sequel, part remake, all CGI animated--hews
closer to the spirit of the novel, a space-age twist on a World War II battle adventure.
Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles--The Pluto Campaign is a
mini-platoon epic comprised of the initial five episodes of the series, essentially
a series of skirmishes and assignments leading up to the climactic confrontation
at Bug City. The episodic nature works perfectly within this framework, and the
mix of Marine grit ("No retreat, no surrender!"), military jargon, and understated
melodrama give a feel somewhere between the steely seriousness of an old-fashioned
war comic book and the spectacle and romance of a Japanese anime space opera. The
excellent voice cast includes the inimitable E.G. Daly (who also contributes to
Rugrats and Powerpuff Girls) as the gung-ho Private "Dizzy" Flores.
The CGI animation is less ambitious than in such feature films as Toy Story,
but it's one of the most impressive examples of the animation made for TV. The
detailed designs, rich textures, 3-D modeling, and awesome sense of scale (not
to mention the pumped-up action and whiplash speed of the bug army) give it the
look of an impossibly sophisticated video game, with the rat-a-tat editing and
soaring camerawork of a Hollywood movie. The budgetary shortcuts are evident in
moments of blurring and jerking, but overall it's startlingly effective. The
PG-level violence (no humans are killed, only demonic-looking bugs) may not be
appropriate for younger viewers, but it's aimed at an older crowd and has won a
loyal adult following. --Sean Axmaker
Amazon.com video review:
Razak's Roughnecks, the toughest marines to spatter a space bug across the interstellar landscape, return in the second feature-length collection from the cult TV series, a completely computer-animated space-age epic based on Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers. On the jungle planet Tesca, the Roughnecks confront a whole new array of bug soldiers, including web-spewing spiders and sea-based water tigers, as well as their own prejudices. Their newest squadmate is an alien and a former enemy, and a marine is not quick to forgive. Played out as a single movie, The Tesca Campaign has the feeling of a World War II platoon drama crossed with a Japanese space opera. The stylized CGI animation forgoes realism for dynamic direction, energetic action, and stylized designs, making for an impressive world of mechanical creations and insectoid creatures. The PG-level violence (there's a big bug body count) isn't appropriate for young children. --Sean Axmaker
