Customer Reviews

Roughnecks - The Starship Troopers Chronicles - The Hydora Campaign [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
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"Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles- the Hydora Campaign" continues the story of Razak's Roughnecks, an elite unit in the Mobile Infantry as they face the 'bugs', a terrifying alien race bent on the destruction of humankind.

After discovering the 'bugs' on Pluto, the Roughnecks follow the threat to Hydora, a world covered in water. Hoping to find the bug's home world, the squad discovers a planet that is one of the Arachnid's conquered worlds. On missions ranging from reconnaissance to search-and-destroy, our heroes face new perils with every new bug species. The Hydora campaign comes to a climax when the Roughnecks discover a brain bug, a massive swollen grub that acts as the unifying mind of the bug armies. Only Carl Jenkins, the squad's psychic has any hope of facing the bug and destroying it.

"Roughnecks" represents the best CGI animation that ever came to TV. Animated by Foundation Imaging (who also did digital effects for Babyon 5 and Star Trek: Voyager), the series has a sophistication and realism never before accomplished on the small screen. In Hydora, I was amazed by the superior water effects, atmospheric 'haze' and first rate character animation. What is equally remarkable is that the story and characters are sophisticated enough for even this adult to enjoy. If you've seen the earlier DVD's (Pluto campaign and Tesca campaign) you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen this series yet, you're in for a real treat! Any serious fan of science fiction, computer animation or good storytelling will love this series.

Campaign numero two. Hydora. A water planet. After pursuing the huge Transport Bug from Pluto, the SICOM MI troopers find themselves at a water planet where the Transport Bug lands to refuel itself.

In this campaign, the characters continue to grow and develop. Carl Jenkins develops his mental powers to a new height when he confronts the first appearance of a brain bug.

Hydora is a planet of apparently dense water that doesn't allow itself too much for boiyancy and swimming. So the troopers wear a inflatable life perserver in case they fall in. Which, unfortunately happens a lot. However there is land on this planet but it's mainly just like corral reef type stuff and caves. While being a water planet, we get to see a lot of new hardware. Water skiffs, jet ski type thingies and some weapons that go kablooey.

In this campaign we see basically one type of bug. The Ripplers, who this time are animated a bit better than they were in Pluto. The Ripplers' main weapon is a volley of sharp barbs that come from their mouths. This of course provides a new problem for our MI troopers. However we do see some regular warrior bugs, but being a water planet, the Ripplers are more suited for this planet.

Now the action once again is top-notch. We see a lot of nice explosions of bugs going kablooey. There's a really great scene at the end with lots of stuff going on. Be sure to check out the technical commentary during that section.

But all in all, this campaign is quite exciting, but a bit tedious at times due to the static environment they're in.

I found this to be the weakest of the Roughnecks DVDs. I missed the show when it was originally aired and saw only one or two episodes. It can really only be enjoyed if viewed in sequence. Nevertheless, I made a mistake when I found these at my local video store and did not know the order of the DVDs (it is not on the boxes) and I viewed The Hydora Campaign first.

My reaction was generally negative. The plot for this one was very thin. Usually for each campaign there is a clear beginning and ending, with the Mobile Infantry troopers learning several important things about the bugs during the campaign. But the Hydora Campaign was weak. They had very little story. There is one sequence during one of the later episodes on this DVD where the troopers are on a hovercraft and are chased by bugs across the water for around nine minutes. This got very tedious and it was clear that the writers did not have much story. It reminded me of the saying that it is boring to watch somebody else play a video game. Seeing people get chased for nine minutes is dull.

Another annoying feature of this disc, common to several of the others, is that a great deal of the dialogue consists of smart-aleck cliches tossed back and forth. Sometimes this is done cleverly, but after awhile one gets the impression that the writers simply looked up cliches in a book and dropped them into the script.

I am going to buy the entire set, but this is the one that I will probably rewatch the least. In fact, it can essentially be skipped for the next disk in the set.

The 2nd installment of the Roughneck series lives up to expectations. After the Pluto campaign, MI follows a bug transport to Hydora, a refueling planet populated with kamikaze flying bugs. THe battle is long and costly with MI outnumbered 75 to 1.
The 1st episode has MI landing for Recon and discovering the kamikaze bugs. Jenkins gets a meesage that the Bugs want nothing less than the eradication of humanity, to which Flores responds "Duh".
SICON wants to demy the planet to the Bugs and begins a campaign.The 2nd episode sees a meeting between Rico and Ibanez which doesn't turn out exactly like Rico wants. The 3rd episode has MI on an Egg Hunt, for the nest of the kamikaze bugs. The 4th is the most interesting. Jenkins must use his telepathic powers to probe an officer's mind to find a missing squad. What Jenkins finds is a Brain Bug that controls all other bugs. In the mental battle, Jenkins crushes, actually explodes, the Brain Bug and ends the Hydora campaign. But the war is far from over.
In the episodes, the characters mature and merge into a better fighting team. The episodes are coherent and fit together well. The narration is superb. The CGI is great, not superb. The action scenes are terrific and enjoyable.
The Series are not for just for teenagers.

This disc contains episodes 6 thru 10 of Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles (40 episodes altogether). These are the episodes that really got me hooked on this series. It was clear from the beginning that this show was going to set a new television standard for CGI, but the animators constantly tried to top themselves with each successive planetary campaign. Water is one of the most difficult things to simulate in CGI, and 91 percent of the planet Hydora's surface is water! The "rippler nest" episode (ep. 8) still stands out in my mind as one of the best animated episodes of the entire series. To gain insight into the particular obstacles the animators faced in producing the "waterworld" environment, this DVD contains an excellent Technical Commentary track in addition to the Filmmakers' Commentary which explores the challenges involved in scripting and voice-casting for the show.

These Roughnecks DVD's continue to improve with each release! The layout and design of the Conceptual Art Gallery is a substantial improvement over previous efforts, the color schemes for the interactive menus are a bit easier on the eyes. Video and sound are both digitally mastered, the sound has been completely remixed for Dolby Digital 5.1 surround-sound. Worth every penny! The only thing I can think to complain about is that the new Tesca Campaign trailer included on the disc is virtually indistinguishable from the old Pluto trailer. Oh well. Still no reason you shouldn't stop reading this review and go buy this DVD!

If you have never heard of the Roughneck Chronicles, but you enjoy superb special effects, non stop action, and a superbly written plot, buy this dvd. This dvd covers the second campaign of the humans stuggling to eradicate the bug army from invading
earth. However when the humans get an upper hand on this water world called Hydora, they find something so disturbing, they realize its not just a war of humans vs bugs, but a war of genocide.

Starship Troopers(Roughnecks)rocks! The stories are fantastic, and the CG animation is amazing! The character and 'Bug' artwork is phenominal, too! It is amazing how much work & detail went into this show. In my opinion, it's the best show on the air!
I want to say thanks to everyone who helped make this show possible!

The Hydora campaign takes the Roughnecks to an alien water planet. There they encounter more bugs and unravel more about the enemies and themselves.

Although the plot and characterization *could* be deeper, compared to most tv and almost all animation on USA TV, the quality is extremely high.

The animation, while a little rough in places, really starts to explore and expand the CGI medium.

Rounding out the DVD are two sets of commentaries, one by the filmmakers and one by the technical people. Talk about replay value! I think this is outstanding and raises the bar for DVD production of an animated series.

I also like how the series is arranged in 5 part story arcs (and all 5 parts per disc). Makes it great to watch! Highly recommended!

LISTEN UP APES!

Beware of the filmmaker's commentary track during the fourth episode. It contains a HUGE SPOILER about what happens in episode 35 out of 40, which I haven't seen. And I am furious! I admit, I should have seen it coming since it's in the book and the movie, but it was exciting not knowing how the show would follow (or not follow) the turning points in the book. If you're a newbie fan like me, I suggest you don't let this happen to you.

Hydora isn't horrible - a keeper, no doubt - but it definately lacks the emotional depth of Tesca and the thrilling excitement of Tophet. The animation is of the same quality as the others, but duplicating water on CGI is nearly impossible. And the whole planet is made up of... WATER. The animators bit off more than they could chew.

Buy this one for the last episode in which Carl's psychic powers are developed. The last few images are highly poignant.

For fans of Heinlein's book and Verhoeven's film, this animated series is a must see! Having only recently learned of its existence, imagine the excitement of finding out that there are the equivalent of another 6 - 8 90+ minute Starship Troopers movies out there. As I learned more about the saga of this CG animated TV program, the more I knew that I just had to see them all. Having never caught the show, I've been watching the DVDs in order: Pluto, Hydora, Tophet, and Tesca. Looking forward to Homefront ("Asteroid" in the series?) and Klendathu coming in May. DVD number 7 (Earth?) will almost certainly follow. Of course number 8 is the big question mark, as the last 3 of the 40 episodes were never completed. Hopefully the $$ from brisk sales for the rest of the series will convince Sony to finish them up.

For anyone intending to eventually purchase all of the disks, I feel strongly that your best bet is to watch them in order. Plotlines are developed that span the 5 episode story arcs that are combined into "campaigns" for these DVDs. You wouldn't start reading the book at page 100, would you?

For those who are unsure, or just want to buy a single disk to "check it out", the choice will be tougher. It's a tough call, but I'd probably recommend Tophet or Tesca. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed Hydora a great deal. I just think that the others have a bit more to offer visually, particularly with the equipment and vehicles that are featured. Animating the aquatic world of Hydora was bound to be tough. Creating realistic computer generated water, particularly water in motion, is terribly difficult. If for no other reason, this must have been the toughest arc for Foundation Imaging to make work. There are interesting environments, cool combat scenes, excellent voice acting, and an intelligent script. Hydora belongs in your collection.