| Many of you know I throughly enjoyed the show Beast
Wars and its run on the FOX network. One of the big gripes I had about
it though was that the producers never let the writers make it a truly-mature
show and forced them to insert slapstick comedy and other stupid things into
it to appeal to kids (which the show never did anyways in the longrun, but
adults stuck with it).
So along comes a little show based on a Robert Heinlen book "Starship
Troopers". The book was good, but unfortunately Heinlen blew a
great opportunity by ranting about too many political things in the book
and didn't deal enough with the war itself. The movie had some
good special effects, but... wasn't so hot.
Roughnecks: Starship
Trooper Chronicles hit the airwaves sometime last season without
the benefit of any promotion, advertising, or public awareness. And
now BKN (Bohbot Kids Network) is letting the show slowly drop from stations
around the country. It's like Space: Above and Beyond all over again...
Roughnecks is a computer-animated series. EVERYTHING is done in computer
animation (ala Max Steele, except that Roughnecks doesn't suck).
Foundation Imaging, responsible for the computerized special effects
in Babylon 5, is responsible for the stunning visuals on the show.
The most powerful part of the show though is the writing and quality
of voice-acting (superb voice-acting, to be honest). The show borrows
heavily from the Heinlen book, except for in most regards it does things
better.
And unlike in other kids shows, there are casualties. People die.
People are impaled by bugs. People have their spines snapped
in half and are left as paraplegics for the rest of their lives. Entire squads
are wiped out in unpleasant ways. Cities get carpet-bombed. People
deal with decidedly-adult issues, including xenophobia, bigotry, love, death,
and how much the civilian population should truly know about the war.
It truly *is* war too, and quite frankly even though the final episodes
haven't aired it's clear that humanity pretty much loses the war in the end,
whether they kill all the Bugs or not -- the Bugs have done too
much damage. I can't help but think that the issues the show deals
with would make Heinlen proud. The character development is excellent,
and the plotline both complicated and realistic.
Naturally, adults who love good sci-fi, or just love good writing, love the
show, and have given it what fanatical support they can. Even a lot
of women who are not normally into such "guy" shows are in love with the
show because in a way it's like a sci-fi soap opera (that and some women
just have a taste for good sci-fi). It seems if you're over the age
of 13 and aren't braindead, you'll probably fall in love with the complexities
of this show. Several people I've introduced to the show come back
to me with "They air this show during kiddie TV?!". Kiddie TV
it ain't.
Rougnecks is dropping from station's schedules at a depressing rate though,
because nobody still knows about this excellent show. The few episodes
I have managed to tape, I have watched at least 5 times a piece, and still
am left wanting more.
Keep Roughnecks on the air, somewhere, anywhere... There is a petition
available at
http://www.roughneckchronicles.com/petition.mv
. If you've seen the show and believe in the show like a lot of people
do, sign it. almost 5,000 loyal fans already have. If you've never
seen the show, many WB network affiliates are airing Roughnecks as part of
the BKN package either in the morning or afternoon. Locally here for
me, WBL 30 Lansing, MI airs it at 2pm weekdays. Check your local listings
hard to see if a WB network station is carrying the BKN lineup, and Roughnecks.
Then, tape them. Every episode. There's no telling how
much longer it'll be on the air.
There are plans to release the first 5 episodes (the Pluto campaign) onto
DVD, but don't be satisfied with that. It'd be cool if they released
each campaign (Pluto, Ice Bug, Klendathu, etc) onto a separate DVD, until
the whole series was available on DVD. If we ever get to see the finals
3 episodes ("Gates of Hell", "Circle of the Damned", and "Final Inferno")
it may be only on DVD, because just by their titles I'd be shocked if BKN
aired them during the BKN Kid's lineup, even though they never show the
show titles during the show.
This show is a rare breed folks -- a show that is good in just about every
way imaginable, that pulls no punches, and is real. Do your part.
Live forever apes... *salute* |
