oh good, by dint of presidential fiat my country's military is being gutted today

[atiff]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

That depends....are you sticking with the traditional Heinlein Starship Troops or are you going with the watered-down, touchy feel goody Hollywood version?

The book, which I admit to not having read; although I have read articles summarizing the book's details.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by atiff

The book, which I admit to not having read; although I have read articles summarizing the book's details.

Well, the Hollywood version? There's a reason I refer to it as "That movie which shall not be called Starship Troopers."

[Fusilier]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Well, the Hollywood version? There's a reason I refer to it as "That movie which shall not be called Starship Troopers."

I thought it was a pretty funny movie.

[B.T.]

Originally Posted by Fusilier

I thought it was a pretty funny movie.

Hm ... more or less. The novel by Henlein was a piece of serious utopian (or, if you like it better: dystopian) literature. The movie followed some elements of the story, but the sincere topics of the novel could not be transported into the movie. The movie was more a mix of WW II German uniforms and a lot of Games Workshop stuff.

The novel is worth reading, the movies is, from my personal point of view, nothing important.

[Fusilier]

I know, I read the book. Well most of it anyways. I just don't think the people who made the movie were trying to replicate the book too much. It was a just simple action/comedy flick.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Fusilier

I know, I read the book. Well most of it anyways. I just don't think the people who made the movie were trying to replicate the book too much. It was a just simple action/comedy flick.

I'd love to know what Heinlein's estate was thinking when they approved the use of his name...

[Fusilier]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

I'd love to know what Heinlein's estate was thinking when they approved the use of his name...

Free money probably.

It got me wondering though, so I followed the usual tradition that everyone's does and read wikipedia. I found this...

"...most of the writing team reportedly were unaware of the novel at the time [pre-production]. According to the DVD commentary, Paul Verhoeven never finished reading the novel, claiming he read through the first few chapters..."

So it never really was intended to be a close adaption of the novel in the first place. With enough deviation from the original, there was little Heinlein's estate could have done with creative licensing anyway.