Linux Based HD DDR used on Starship Troopers 2

Psinatmium writes "LinuxDevices is currently running a story about a Linux based, uncompressed high definition video DDR/Editor that I have been working on called RaveHD. The article also goes on to talk a little about how it was used at Tippett Studio in the upcoming feature "Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation"."

Comments

warm front?

[AsimovBesterClarke]

Nope, just the heat from Heinlein spinning in his grave again

Oh no, not a sequel!

[Dr. Manhattan]

Whether or not you liked the book, or agreed with its (ostensible) politics, it's clear the movie totally screwed it up.

Best example: In one scene, a trooper asks why they are training with knives when the military has nukes.

• In the book, the instructor explains that the "Mobile Infantry" is designed to apply force in a controlled manner, to 'spank' an opponent when feasible rather than 'cut their heads off'. (Whether or not the invasion of Iraq was a good idea, it would have been an even worse idea to nuke Bagdhad.)
• In the movie, the instructor throws a knife and pins the questioner's hand to a wall, and says, "Hard to push a nuke button now, eh?"

Please, spare us a sequel to that!

Re:Oh no, not a sequel!

[SlashDread]

Films do not respresent books fully. Shock. Horror.

The book was entertaining, but not convincing. For more convincing Heinlein, I suggest "Stranger in a strange land" or "The Moon is a harsh mistress" (They should film THAT one! Throwing rocks from the moon to Earth would be, well spectacular!) or "The number of the beast".

All three books more convincing about the social and technical issues Heinlein cares to write about, and all three far more entertaining.

The film was entertaining IMHO, and did not even TRY to convince anybody. Such films have their entertaining merit.

peace

"/Dread"

Re:Oh no, not a sequel!

[orthogonal]

Heinlein waxes enthusiastically about "earning citizenship" and everyone in the book has an unquestioning loyalty to the (slightly Fascist) cause.

A defining aspect of Fascism is the close cooperation between government and business that it engenders. The extreme example us Hitler supplying slave laborers to German industry, but it's also seen in Hitler's crackdown on the unions (ironically the day labor's traditional celebration, May Day, in 1934), and big business support of Nazism in the early thirties, through contacts of Goring and von Papen.

Heinlein, in the Starship Troopers novel, makes it clear that there's no real coordination between business and government: the main character, Juan Rico, comes from a wealthy, big-business owning family, which family, Juan's father makes clear has long prided itself on staying out of politics and the military. (Although after Juan Rico has joined the military and after losing his wife in an enemy attack, Juan's father will eventually join up too.)

If you must see the book as reflective of the times in which it was written, a better analogy is to America's fight against Japan in the Second World War. During the war, U.S. propaganda depicted the Japanese as an "insect-like" society with a rigid hierarchical system, with soldiers, like the Bug worker and soldier classes, who couldn't or wouldn't surrender. (and in fact, few Japanese soldiers did surrender -- and even Japanese civilians on Okinawa preferred suicide to surrender.)

The Mobile Infantry's landings and relatively brief firefights on various planets as they move steadily closer to Klendathu, the Bugs' home planet, is strongly reminiscent of the Marines' and Army's island and atoll-hopping campaign against the Japanese in that War.

Finally, the apathy shown about the military by Juan Rico's family reflects U.S. feeling about its all-volunteer army between the wars, an army that w, in the interwar years, considered essentially the preserve of people who couldn't succeed in the civilian world. (Read James Jones's From Here to Eternity for a good portrait of the U.S. Army immediately prior to WWII.)

The change in the Ricos', father and son, opinions is in accordance with the change in opinion in America as a result of the widespread American military servce required by the Second World War. With their service, americans had indeed earned their citizenship, had realized what "refresh[ing] the tree of liberty with the blood... of patriots" really is all about.

Heinlein, while respectful of the military, was consistently suspicious of government, so it's very difficult for me to see any Fascism in his works.

Re:Oh no, not a sequel!

[reverendG]

I have not read the book...

...My view of the book...

Spare us, please, until you have read the book. Heinlein had an extremely romanticized view of honor and obligation, and imagined a military where honor and obligation superceded the ideals of glory and profit. Typical Heinlein.

Minus the hot nubile incestuous women.

Re:Oh no, not a sequel!

[Banner]

Brillant Satire? Hardly, he obviously didn't understand the book, and just as obviously sees facism under his pillow.

Notice he made Rico a blond blue eyed WASP, instead of the Fillipino he was supposed to be. He made the soldiers out to be pretty much idiots, rather than highly trained specialists.

The only thing that came thru in this movie about the director is that he hates the military and spared no opportunity to ridicule it and its members.

Re:Oh no, not a sequel!

[Wes Janson]

While I found it an ironic caricature of the book, if you watch the DVD Verhoen flatly states he never read the book, and presumably had no idea he was making a satire of anything. Sadly, it simply wound up appearing that way. I enjoyed the movie for it's unintentional irony, but do not make the mistake of thinking there was purpose there.

Re:Oh no, not a sequel!

[Alaska Jack]

Doc -

I'm commenting on this topic late, so no one will ever read this except maybe you. But it is gratifying to know that at least one other person can look at the movie and say "Taken at face value, it sucks. Oh, it's satire, you say? Well as satire, it *also* sucks."

It has been noted many times that a work of satire cannot be too close to the thing it is satirizing, or it will simple *become* that thing. As far as I am concerned, Exhibit A would be this movie.

In fact, the last time I saw it, I remember thinking "I honestly cannot remember a movie that was more of a sneering insult from the director to his audience."

- Alaska Jack

i'm so confused

[XO]

I'm lost.

What does Dance Dance Revolution have to do with Starship Troopers 2?

Re: i'm so confused

[Black Parrot]

> What does Dance Dance Revolution have to do with Starship Troopers 2?

They decided that 2 hours of DDR webcam would be more interesting than the first movie, so that's what they're going to release as the sequel.

The most versatile OS in the world

[roystgnr]

Why, Linux can be used for everything from palmtops to pissing on Heinlein's grave!

Um, you mean the "movie"

[Rogerborg]

That's so bad that it's being given away with the animated series DVD? The one that blue screens a bunch of nobodies in front of footage from Starship Troopers?

"from time to time some poor guy the director might have picked up on the street waves a plastic-thingie shaped like a bug's limb from the side of the screen. (A friend of mine actually started calling it "Eddy" as it became his favorite character)."

"The plot: Well... there actually is one. ...features some slimy parasites that control humans by entering them through their mouth. (That's the only new cgi, by the way!)"

Stargate already did that one. Well, so did Alien, et al. More here.

FX

[telstar]

I worked on some of the special effects for Starhip Troopers. While I didn't particularly like the story or acting, my biased opinion is that the film broke new ground when it came to effects. Both the bug/swarm scenes and the outer-space sequences were incredibl well done. If only they'd had a storyline that didn't involve Doogie Howser M.D. to back them up. I tend to object to straight-to-video sequels ... but I guess the die-hard fans of the first one will probably like it ... and hey, they get to reuse our special effects. If only I received royalties!

Courtesy of IMDB.com

[His name cannot be s]

Some weeks ago a friend of mine brought along a movie which turned out to be the sequel to a piece of cinema I really like and have seen more than once: Starship Troopers. The moment he told me I was shaking with joy. Joy became terror, soon enough. Starship Troopers 2: "Hero of the Federation" suffers from a complete lack of quality concerning any aspect you could think of. Don't get me wrong... it's not just that I didn't *like* it. This movie truly is disgustingly bad. Where shall I start? The actors (well... the unlucky guys they paid for standing in front of the camera) move through an environment so badly done it literally screams for a budget above 5 dollars per room. Wherever you look your eyes are insulted by artificial plastic decoration in some of the most fake sets ever. Even the Power Rangers had better sets! Where Starship Troopers 1 had mindblowing special effects the sequel takes a very smart turn: In order to save money for something that must have been cut out of the final version the producers of Starship Troopers 2 just used the special effects of the first movie again. Yep, you're right. Same images. Most of fight scenes are created like this: It's dark night - Most of the time, people stand in front of a hill so you don't get to see the imaginary battlefield - In the background, some bug-attacks from the first movie are replayed while the actors run around in front of the blatantly overused bluescreen - from time to time some poor guy the director might have picked up on the street waves a plastic-thingie shaped like a bug's limb from the side of the screen. (A friend of mine actually started calling it "Eddy" as it became his favorite character). Anyway.. let's proceed to the dialog: Although I only watched the German Dub-version, I was revolted. Just to give you a picture of what I'm talking about: In one scene a soldier carries a blonde girl from the battlefield who had tragically found death between the mandibles of a bug. At the time he has reached the middle of the screen and therefor a maximum of attention he starts smiling with a grin of pure rapture and says something, that when translated to English would quite precisely read "Hey, she's indeed lighter than that dog of mine at my house!" You get the idea, I guess... The plot: Well... there actually is one. ...features some slimy parasites that control humans by entering them through their mouth. (That's the only new cgi, by the way!) The score's alright; at least it didn't disturb me.

I'm tired now of wasting my time writing a review on this truly ridiculous joke on celluloid. Worth a rent? No. Worth buying? For the love of god, NO! Worth seeing? Not at all. If you should somehow get hold of a copy in spite of my warnings, burn it while performing ritual dances or get stoned, watch it and laugh until you're out of breath. Rating: 1.5/10 (incl. 0.5 bonus points for Eddy)


Says enough?

Yikes

Re:Appearently....

[Destoo]

Hey! Modern Vampires was good!

Plus he gets to play with Udo Kier.
That's a plus.

I'm still shocked by the DDR thing.
"What? Dance Dance Revolution on Unix? Why would they play that in Starship Trooper 2?"

More widespread effects...

[TheOldBear]

Since R.A.H. was buried at sea, the results of him spinning in his grave effect the angular momentum of the Earth, and can be directly measured by changes in the length of the day and year. Since the original movie was perpetrated, the standards bodies have not needed to add any 'leap seconds' - indicating that the system has gained angular momentum from some external influence.

Freaking hilarious

[bonch]

This article breathlessly tries to hype the fact that Linux was used in an "upcomming feature."

Turns out that's a complete, absolute lie--it's not a feature, it's a shitty direct-to-video release that often blue-screens unknown actors in front of footage from the first film.

Not exactly something to be bragging about...