Starship Troopers

Stupidity: When the invasion of planet P begins, we see the Rodger Young get hit. In the explosion sequence, we are treated to people sitting around tables in what can only be described as a mess hall exploding. In a military environment, this would be a time where everyone would be at their "battle stations". Nobody would be having chow or off-time when the ship is expecting combat. In this case, it was a planned troop landing.

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Suggested correction: Yes, it was stupidity, but it was an intentional depiction that supports the plot. During the landing, the Captain is completely surprised by the bombardment and says something like, "This isn't light uncoordinated resistance." The fleet's lack of preparedness at Planet P is a major plot point that later results in the replacement of the Air Marshal in command.

No, you are talking about a different sequence. When they are unprepared, they are doing an invasion of Klendathu, the Bug's home planet. This is earlier in the movie and the Rodger Young was only slightly damaged in that. The stupidity is about the invasion of Planet P at the end of the movie, where the Rodger Young is cut in half.

lionhead

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Mistakes

Continuity mistake: Toward the end, Carmen Ibanez gets stabbed through the shoulder when she is brought before the big master alien thing. If you were to sustain such an injury, there would be so much swelling, not to mention just destroyed tissue, that you wouldn't be able to move that arm for weeks. Yet a few minutes later, she is seen hefting around a very large assault rifle, and seems to have no difficulty. I guess it's a pretty standard action movie "heroes can temporarily ignore injury in order to save the day" kind of oversight, but it just seems exaggerated in this case, considering how severe the shoulder trauma looked. (01:48:15 - 01:53:40)

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Quotes

Ace Levy: Don't worry, you still got me to kick around.

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Trivia

Trivia: In the scene where the infantry first descend on Klandathu, the shot of all the small ships flying down amongst blue bolts of plasma is almost identical to the opening sequence of Quake 2.

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Questions

Question: Is there any reason the humans can't simply use nukes, chemical weapons, fuel-air bombs, or bioweapons,, any kind of especially powerful, destructive bomb, shot from long distance, dropped from a plane, or better still, orbit, to fight the bugs? Yes, of course there are big downsides to any such action, but this does not strike me as a society restrained, patient, enlightened or with sufficient foresight to care about those.

dizzyd

Chosen answer: They do use nukes (to clear out bug caves) and fuel-air bombs (like they do before landing troops). It's possible biological and chemical weapons don't work on the bugs because of their physiology. Only nukes and Thermobaric weapons work.

lionhead

Answer: Nukes, chemical, and bio weapons would render the planets uninhabitable. Not a goal when they want to colonize.

MasterOfAll

I have already stated these people are not that far-thinking.

dizzyd

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