Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles - The Pluto Campaign
Paul Verhoeven's dark, satirical adaptation of Robert Heinlein'sStarship Troopersseriously strayed from the novel. This  Verhoeven-produced TV series--part sequel, part remake, all CGI animated--hews  closer to the spirit of the novel, a space-age twist on a World War II battle adventure.Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles--The Pluto Campaignis a  mini-platoon epic comprised of the initial five episodes of the series, essentially  a series of skirmishes and assignments leading up to the climactic confrontation  at Bug City. The episodic nature works perfectly within this framework, and the  mix of Marine grit ("No retreat, no surrender!"), military jargon, and understated  melodrama give a feel somewhere between the steely seriousness of an old-fashioned  war comic book and the spectacle and romance of a Japanese anime space opera. The  excellent voice cast includes the inimitable E.G. Daly (who also contributes toRugratsandPowerpuff Girls) as the gung-ho Private "Dizzy" Flores.The CGI animation is less ambitious than in such feature films asToy Story,  but it's one of the most impressive examples of the animation made for TV. The  detailed designs, rich textures, 3-D modeling, and awesome sense of scale (not  to mention the pumped-up action and whiplash speed of the bug army) give it the  look of an impossibly sophisticated video game, with the rat-a-tat editing and  soaring camerawork of a Hollywood movie. The budgetary shortcuts are evident in  moments of blurring and jerking, but overall it's startlingly effective. The  PG-level violence (no humans are killed, only demonic-looking bugs) may not be  appropriate for younger viewers, but it's aimed at an older crowd and has won a  loyal adult following.--Sean Axmaker