Customer Reviews

Roughnecks - The Starship Troopers Chronicles - The Klendathu Campaign

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Thanks to BKN, I've been privy to see these episodes beforehand and I have to commend their creators. Without trying to be vague and still ease people's apprehension (I was allowed to see the episodes in order and hate spoilers, so forgive my vagueness), this series, while showing us the flaws in the bipedal killing machine, works on a few levels. It doesn't simply give the viewer an army of bugs as they are overrun, but instead continues with the progression of the characters and their unfortunate plight. Thusfar, we, the viewers, have watched our beloved Roughnecks turn from rookies into hardened veterans as they've faced down adversity and droves of bugs. Still, the series outdoes itself in this set of episodes, leading us even further down paths that weren't so easily predicted. They manage, in the battle for the bugs home planet, to pull out all the stops and show us a battle worthy of our attention. Certainly, we all knew that this was coming, but what we didn't know was the wonderful surprise that leads our Roughnecks, like cattle, into the next, and final, installation of the series. Personally, I think this was the second best piece of the Starship Troopers Campaign, and was the best to come along thusfar. Still, what else would you expect from bugs defending their homes?
I highly recommend the whole series, but I recommend this DVD and the next as two that are definitely worth purchasing. (Thank you, BKN!!!)

The Roughnecks bring the war to the bugs in "The Klendathu Campaign", the latest DVD release from the Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles series. The story opens with the Valley Forge being hijacked by an intruder with intimate knowlege of the ship. (Unfortunately the identity and origin of this intruder is explained in the previous 'Ice Asteroid Campaign' which is not yet released)The Roughnecks pursue the intruder forcing him to escape in a rescue pod, but not before he pilots the ship to Klendathu, the bug's home world. This marks the beginning of SICON's massive attack on the bug home. The Roughnecks participate in a massive 'D-Day' style invasion of Klendathu, confront an old friend now turned enemy and face a last stand against bug hoards in an abandoned trench. In the dramatic conclusion to the campaign Razak's squad is reunited with a long lost comrade to participate in a commando raid to destroy the arachnid queen and bring the war to a swift end.
The Klendathu Campaign is a thrilling continuation of the Roughnecks saga. The CGI by Foundation Imaging just continues to grow more subtle and sophisticated. The staging area, Klendathu is a fetid fog covered world swarming with seas of bugs. Battles range from massive invasions to search and destroy missions and even commando raids deep within enemy territory. The stories remain remarkably subtle and complex for American animation. The characters continue to grow and change; another Roughneck is lost to a crippling injury, an old squadmate returns but has changed in frightening ways, gung-ho Dizzy experiences self-doubt, while Rico begins to show leadership mettle. The series even pauses from endless battles to let the Roughnecks compose heartfelt messages home from battle (in 'Letters Home') This DVD is a must for any serious fan of animation and first rate story-telling.

Second to last in the series, this group of five episodes is extremely fast-paced and nicely plotted.
Best of all, in spite of this being "juvenile" action (as Heinlein originally planned to market his novel), the Klendathu Campaign has more depth of character, gung-ho humor and just plain good old-fashioned story-telling charm than anyone would ever expect from a CGI "cartoon".

As I have said previously, the creators of Roughnecks deserve at
least one Hugo award for their efforts. Granted, the graphics and movement are not up to the Spirits Within level. But for all the reasons that really matter - the heart and soul of a story well told with characters that have some resonance - Roughnecks Chronicles has all the spirit that counts.
Let's hope the creators of this thing get to finish it someday. And go on to give us more quality science fiction CGI.
Live Forever, you apes!

Great dvd, however we are missing a story arc. I have loosely named it the Frozen (or Lost) Asteroid Campaign and it directly precedes the Klendathu Campaign.

The missing episodes are 121 - Ice-Olation", 122 "Mixed Signals", 123 "Hot Ice", 124 "The Inside Story", and 125 "The Ice Men Goeth".

Without revealing content, this arc introduces a new bug (Fireflies) and answers the question, what happened to Zander. We still have one more dvd to wait for...and that's a good thing.

This disc contains episodes 26 thru 30 of Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles (40 episodes altogether). This campaign has it all - a full scale D-Day invasion of the Bug's homeworld (Klendathu), a very changed Zander Barcalow trying to create a very crude Human-Arachnid hybrid, troopers sending video-taped "letters home" to loved ones during the lulls of trench warfare, tactical nuclear strikes, acid spitting Bugs, and the return of an old friend to help hunt down a new foe. This is Roughnecks near its peak performance, some of the best episodes of the whole series!

Be sure to check out the Filmmakers' and Technical commentaries, they definitely make the disk worthy of repeat viewing. There is no picture gallery on this DVD, but the galleries on the Hydora and Tophet DVDs are so extensive that additional galleries at this point would probably be redundant. Oh yeah, and there is FINALLY a decent trailer for the rest of the Roughnecks series included on this disc. If you're a die-hard Roughnecks fan (like myself), this is a great disc to show your friends and family in order to hook them on the series!

I enjoyed this campaign a lot because it started out onboard the USS Valley Forge, the starship carrier that houses the Razak's Roughnecks.

It is clear from watching these disks that the writers and animators borrowed a lot of ideas from other movies and television shows. Here one of the obvious influences is Aliens. There are several episodes where the troopers are running around darkened starship corridors searching for the bugs that borrow the atmosphere and look of that movie.

[SPOILER]

If I have any complaint, it is that occasionally the show delved into comic-book-like stories and I think this is the worst example, when one of the human characters turns into a bug but still taunts the troopers with quips and snide wordplay. It is too much like a Spiderman comic book.

[MAJOR SPOILERS]

There is also a choice that Rico makes late in the episode that is not really touched on later in the series that I found troubling: at one point he has the opportunity to kill the alien queen but does not do so in order to save the life of one of his friends. The problem is that the queen then makes it to earth, leading to massive warfare and presumably the deaths of millions of people. But they never again revisit Rico's bad decision.

I loved the original book (I have a first edition hardcover!); I thought the movie strayed too far from the original material, but the bugs were cool; and the TV series combined the best of both for a truely remarkable achievement. I have purchased all six available DVD's through Amazon, and fans of the series will not be disappointed in the episodes provided, but what happened to the Ice Asteroid episodes, and what happened to episode 131, "Trackers", where they pursue the Queen Bug escaping Klendathu? It's missing from both the Klendathu campaign and the Homefront campaign DVD's. What's up?

Roughnecks is in many ways the best animated military series ever to grace the small screen. In every way that mattered the it is true to Heinlein's vision of the future conflict and the militaristic effect war has on a society. It is a fantastic DVD worth owning.All of this said, there is one horrific flaw involved in this DVD, the back cover summary of the DVD is completely inaccurate. I wonder if this individual ever even watched the show or did he just fast-forward through it. To begin with if the summary writer had, he would know Lt. Zander is just one of the pilots who occasionally ferry the Roughnecks. Zander is not their leader and never was their leader, Lt. Razak is the leader. The fact that the unit is called Razak's Roughnecks is where the series gets its name.It's odd to me that a series which paid such excellent attention to detail is scared with a back cover summary that is so misinformed.

Being a huge fan of the Roughneck Chronicles series I found that this campaign offers extreme detail to every aspect of each episode. The way the roughnecks react with one another,the plot and how the animation for each different campaign got extremely better; a testament to the hard working animators from Sony, Flat Earth, Foundation Imaging and Hyper Image.
If you enjoy [rear] kickin animation in a way that you have never seen made for TV, order this dvd. I highly reccomend it.In this campaign, the roughneck come accross every type of bugg imaginable. From huge,giant fire breathing buggs to control buggs to even the queen bug herself!. And Carl Jenkins returns to the Roughnecks with a new bad-to-the-bone attitude.In all this roughneck campaign rocks!

The Best Anime I have seen. Wonder why they stopped making anymore series. I hope they make these more.