There is a time and a place for everything. Paul Verhoeven’s 1997 sci-fi cult classic Starship Troopers came out too early for audiences to genuinely appreciate it. Only now, nearly twenty-five years and several geopolitical events later, are people able to recognize and enjoy the movie for what it was always meant to be. With the rise in new technology, like those super-cool, circular LED screens used in The Mandalorian, and with the intensifying desire for cinematic universes, it is no surprise that Sony Pictures is aiming to revive the Starship Troopers cinematic franchise. Is now the time for such a revival? Will fans accept a new take? Or are they simply doomed if they choose to set sail, regardless of the direction?
Starship Troopers was originally a military science fiction novel by Robert Heinlein released at the end of the 1950s. It won a Hugo Award in 1960 for Best Novel and became his best-known story (his body of work is wide and varied and there is certainly much to be enjoyed). Though his novel was a financial and literary success, even influencing science fiction literature to this day, in its time it was met with criticism and controversy over the glorification of the military and Heinlein’s staunch political views.
Cut to thirty-eight years later when Ed Neumeier adapts that novel into the bombastic explosive picture fans all know and love. Contrary to Heinlein’s major thrust, Verhoeven and Neumeier come at the material from the opposite viewpoint. Instead of celebrating the army or a centralist government (quasi-fascist?) they cleverly mock it and satirize its ideals. Jump once again twenty-five years later to Sony Pictures hiring Neil Moritz and co. to make something of that legacy. Almost immediately, one can see the quandary the new crew has put themselves in.
Adaptation of a 50’s Novel
Sony Pictures wants to use Starship Troopers to launch a new cinematic universe. Sounds like an awesome idea. However, if they go back to the source of the concept, the 1959 Heinlein novel, they are drawing from material that may not be suitable for the modern zeitgeist.
Heinlein’s novel is primarily about the indoctrination of a young man into a disciplined, military conscious, citizen. That young man is Juan Rico from Buenos Aires. Rico rises in the ranks from cadet to Second Lieutenant, going through training and facing different experiences of combat. Heinlein uses his journey to take the audience deep into political philosophy. Their world has the trappings of a fascist state, though it is never expressly called that.
The Terran Federation (a global government run by the military elite) is at war with two alien civilizations. The major war is against the Arachnids (famously known as “The Bugs”) and another culture only ever referred to by the slur “Skinnies.” Much of this works in the novel because the audience can see and feel the thoughts of the main character in relation to the action. Heinlein can communicate his views through Rico, and the reader is able to interpret it one way or the other on their own. If the reader is pro-armed conflict, they will cheer. If they are against violence and military action, they will wag their fingers but at least be able to follow the plot from that position.
It is a vastly different story bringing that kind of heavy mind-weight onto the big screen. There simply is not enough time to offer the audience a choice in the matter. Viewers simply know what they see, and the mood is decided for them.
Remake of a 90s Cult Classic
Hence part of the reason why Neumeier and Verhoeven took Starship Troopers in the direction they did, turning it into a sly comedy, a knock against every single pillar Heinlein was espousing. The feeling they were trying to impress upon the audience was that hyper-militarization and anthropocentric superiority are bad – bad for culture, bad for youth, bad for society, and bad for the planet.
All of that is evident in their movie. Viewers have the option to cheer for the action and the gory violence, but if they see beneath that veneer, they should recognize it for what it is: a political satire and a lampooning of Heinlein. That is why all the actors are so pretty. That is why the world-building is done through propaganda. That is why things are juxtaposed so sharply, like the brain bug debate. Paul Verhoeven himself would never make a faithful adaptation of Heinlein’s novel; he survived the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. It is 100% against his nature to support or celebrate any of that.
The Train Has Already Left The Station
No fan could tolerate a remake of Verhoeven’s classic version of Starship Troopers. There is no way Sony Pictures could capture the spirit or passion that the team put into the 1997 release. Neither could any conscientious viewer tolerate a direct adaptation of Heinlein’s novel.
The world has become very much aware of what they are being fed, both visually and intellectually. Now is not the time to promote colonial conquest or the negative racialization of alien species or to encourage young people to join the military and “get-gud.” That would be a truly ironic project, considering the misunderstood backlash to 1997’s Starship Troopers.
Therefore, Sony Pictures could either water down the material from the novel and turn it into a generic empty vehicle, akin to another misfire like the “Dark Universe,” which would be a waste of the property. Or they could try to do something totally new and original, which, considering the constant comparisons they will get with Verhoeven’s movie, is also likely an impossible task.
Now, consider the money train, Sony Pictures is going to make a new Starship Troopers movie. It will do all it can to distance itself from 1997. It will draw generic elements from the novel, create a template or a formula, and then it will apply that stencil to some sort of dense CGI-festival five-film saga starring a forgettable cast save for one notable name (probably Jack Black). The best anyone can really hope for is that the first one flops and they halt the breaks. Then another twenty years can go by until society figures out how to handle controversial material safely, and entertainingly.