50 Fun Facts About Starship Troopers

Who directed the 1997 film Starship Troopers?

The Dutch director of RoboCop and Total Recall had just made Showgirls, the worst-reviewed film of his career.

Who wrote the 1959 novel the film is based on?

It won the 1960 Hugo Award and was the last of his juvenile novels after Scribner rejected it.

Which original cast member returned as Johnny Rico in the 2008 sequel Marauder?

Mark Wahlberg and Matt Damon also auditioned; Van Dien did five auditions and eight months of training.

What is the name of the alien species humanity is fighting?

The film calls them bugs; the novel's second alien race, the Skinnies, was cut as too confusing.

Which city is destroyed by an Arachnid asteroid, prompting Rico to re-enlist?

Rico's parents are among the millions killed; the film cast blond Argentinians as part of the joke.

What is the Arachnid home planet called?

The first invasion is a bloodbath because military intelligence underestimated the bugs.

What is the government of Earth called in the film?

Citizenship, including the vote and the right to have children, must be earned through federal service.

Which branch does Rico join to stay close to his girlfriend?

Carmen becomes a pilot in Fleet and Carl goes to Military Intelligence; Rico ends up carrying a rifle.

Who plays Carmen Ibanez?

She did five auditions and refused a separate nude scene, though she joined the infantry cast's military training anyway.

Which Doogie Howser star plays the psychic Carl Jenkins?

By the end he is a colonel in a very Gestapo-looking coat, sensing that the Brain Bug is afraid.

Who plays Dizzy Flores, who transfers to Rico's squad because she loves him?

Dizzy was a man in the novel; the film combined him with a female character Neumeier had written.

Who plays Sergeant Zim, the drill instructor?

Zim is the one who finally captures the Brain Bug at the end.

What was Lieutenant Rasczak's job before he led his elite unit?

Michael Ironside's one-armed Rasczak combines two characters from the novel, teacher Dubois and Lieutenant Rasczak.

What is Rasczak's elite unit called?

The 1999 animated series was titled Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles.

What kind of giant bug does Rico kill on Tango Urilla to earn a promotion to corporal?

He climbs on top and drops a grenade in; the planet's scenes were shot in the South Dakota Badlands.

What is the intelligent Arachnid that directs the others called?

It sucks out Zander's brain before Zim captures it; queen bugs were considered too expensive to film.

How does Sugar Watkins die?

Seth Gilliam plays him; the tunnels are where Carmen and Zander are captured.

What was the working title of Edward Neumeier's original script before it became a Heinlein adaptation?

He picked insects as the enemy because his wife was afraid of them.

Which earlier Verhoeven film reunited its producer, writer and effects artist for Starship Troopers?

Jon Davison, Edward Neumeier and Phil Tippett had all worked on it in 1987.

How did Verhoeven get on with the Heinlein novel?

He had Neumeier summarise it, then set out to satirise its militarism, drawing on his childhood in occupied Holland.

Whose propaganda films did Verhoeven cite as the look he wanted for his blond, blue-eyed cast?

He referenced Triumph of the Will and Olympia and looked to shows like 90210 and Melrose Place for photogenic unknowns.

Which Wyoming location stood in for the alien planets?

It sits outside Casper, was full of rattlesnakes, and the shoot began there in April 1996.

Roughly how much of the film's nine-figure budget went on visual effects?

Phil Tippett's studio hired nearly 100 extra staff to animate the bugs.

Which studio partnered with TriStar to split the film's cost, taking foreign distribution?

TriStar had baulked at a $90 million budget after Waterworld's failure got executives fired.

Who composed the score over six months, building it around a theme for the troop transport?

He also scored RoboCop and Conan the Barbarian.

For which Academy Award was Starship Troopers nominated?

Phil Tippett, Scott E. Anderson, Alec Gillis and John Richardson were the nominees.

How much did the film gross worldwide?

It opened well then fell away amid bad reviews and competition from Titanic, finishing 34th for 1997.

What did an editorial in The Washington Post accuse the film of being?

The film has since been re-evaluated as a satire of exactly the thing critics thought it endorsed.

Which two slogans from the FedNet segments entered the cultural lexicon?

The newsreel format lets viewers click for more, an illusion of choice Verhoeven wanted them to question.

How many cast members took part in the co-ed shower scene?

Verhoeven reportedly stripped off himself to put the actors at ease.

Which Golden Girls actress plays Rico's biology teacher?

She dissects an Arachnid for the class; Dean Norris and Amy Smart also have small roles.

How much did TriStar pay for the 1994 "Bug Test" that convinced executives the CGI worked?

Shot at Vasquez Rocks with gymnast Mitch Gaylord being eaten, it fooled executives into thinking the bugs were models.

In Heinlein's novel, what ancestry does Johnny Rico have?

The film moved him to Buenos Aires and cast a blond Floridian, which became part of the joke.

Which piece of sci-fi kit is the novel credited with popularising, and which the film left out?

The book's troopers also had jump-jet "Bounce" suits; the film's grunts got helmets and rifles.

Under what title was the novel first serialised in a magazine in 1959?

It ran in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction after Scribner turned the book down.

What did Heinlein say prompted him to write the novel in a few weeks?

The rejection came afterwards and ended his relationship with the publisher.

In the novel, what is the name of the second alien race, which switches sides to join the humans?

Verhoeven cut them from the film to avoid confusing audiences with two alien species.

What is the name of the ship Rico serves on in the novel, named after a Medal of Honor recipient?

The film kept the ship, and its theme became the basis of the whole score.

What is the name of Rico's school course whose flashbacks carry the novel's ideas about citizenship?

It is taught by Jean Dubois, whose letter persuades Rico not to quit boot camp.

Who directed the 2004 direct-to-video sequel Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation?

The effects wizard behind the bugs made his directorial debut; Neumeier directed part three.

Which original cast member returned as Johnny Rico in Starship Troopers 3: Marauder in 2008?

Rico is a colonel by then; the film features a singing Sky Marshal named Omar Anoke.

How many sequels to the 1997 film Starship Troopers had been released by 2020?

Two live-action and two CGI films, ending with Traitor of Mars in 2017.

In which US state was the actor who plays Rico born?

He comes from a family with a long military tradition, which suited the part.

In which country was the film's director born?

His childhood under German occupation shaped how he treated the film's fascist imagery.

How does Rico spare Rasczak on Planet P?

Rasczak had earlier done the same for a trooper being carried off by a Hopper.

Which two future stars auditioned for Johnny Rico but lost out to Casper Van Dien?

Van Dien auditioned five times and then trained for eight months, losing 3.5 inches from his waist.

Which 1990 Verhoeven film had earlier given Michael Ironside a central role?

Verhoeven had tried to cast Ironside in RoboCop too; his Rasczak combines two characters from the novel.

Where was the 1994 'Bug Test' footage filmed, with Olympic gymnast Mitch Gaylord as the doomed soldier?

Screenwriter Ed Neumeier cameoed as a dead soldier; studio executives did not realise the bugs were CGI.

Which South Dakota national park helped portray the planet Tango Urilla?

Its smooth, barely vegetated landscape contrasted with the rattlesnake-infested buttes of Wyoming used for Klendathu.

How much did Starship Troopers gross on its opening weekend, topping Bean at the box office?

It played in 2,971 theatres but stalled afterwards, finishing its run with about $121 million worldwide.