Re: Starship Troopers

At 11:26 PM 11/8/96 GMT, David Brewer wrote:
>In message <Pine.OSF.3.91.961108112413.21153C@alpha1.csd.uwm.edu> "
writes:
>
>I have recently read ST, for no better reason than the film was
>being discussed on the 'net.
>
>It isn't very good, although I do realise that I'm above the age
>group that it is aimed at. I thoroughly recommend not reading it.

THANK YOU! With all the praises it was getting on the list, I thought it
was
just me that didn't much like it. I read it AFTER I got the board game
and
immediately after reading Haldeman's _The Forever War_ as I'd heard that
ST
was an inspiration for Haldeman's book. 

Sure the combat scenes (and there are precious few considering the
book's
title) were enjoyable, but there was a lot of muck that you had to wade
through. I was supremely disappointed by the end of the book as I was
expecting a climactic combat scene. Heinlein should have just written a
political essay and been done with it. _The Forever War_ was a much
better
novel.

>Mr. Verhoeven, being, I think, a Dutchman, may a have a somewhat
>different viewpoint to Mr. Heinlein. Heinlein had a jolly good
>WWII, being an American invalided out of Annapolis. Holland had
>a pretty poor WWII, what with all those enemy soldiers swanning
>about with all their character-building martial values.

Well put. While I think Verhoeven's dropping the power armour will
probably
leave me as cold as the stillsuits with no hood in the Dune movie, there
is
no way that a fully faithful adaptation of Heinlein's book would make it
to
the theatres.

Allan Goodall:	agoodall@sympatico.ca 
"You'll want to hear about my new obsession.
 I'm riding high upon a deep depression. 
 I'm only happy when it rains."    - Garbage