Few properties have had a history as odd as that of Starship Troopers. The novel by Robert A. Heinlein was published in 1959. It won awards and critical praise, but also drew controversy over some of its perceived political ideas. The book became very popular amongst fans of science-fiction literature. In 1997, a feature film was released, but Starship Troopers failed to click with audiences and didn't turn a profit at the box office. However, a cult following of the film began almost immediately and in 1999 an animated television series entitled Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles. 2004 saw the release of Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, a direct-to-video movie. A second straight-to-DVD release appeared in 2008 called Starship Troopers 3: Marauder. The public's appetite for the characters in the stories still exist today, as we are now presented with the CG-animation film, Starship Troopers: Invasion.

Starship Troopers: Invasion begins in deep space, where a group of mobile infantry soldiers are investigating a "bug" infestation at Fort Casey, a military outpost. Sure enough, the place is crawling with Arachnid monsters and the soldiers battle them. Gaining the upper hand, they return to Alesia, the spaceship which brought them there. Meanwhile, military intelligence officer Carl Jenkins (voiced by Justin Doran) commandeers the starship John A. Warden, claiming that he needs it for a mission, much to the chagrin of Carmen Ibanez (voiced by Luci Christian), the ship's captain. Ibanez is relegated to the Alesia, while the "roughnecks" look forward to some rest. However, they soon receive word that the John A. Warden has stopped responding. Ibanez and the soldiers use the Alesia to find the John A. Warden, having no idea that they are entering a insidious trap set by the "bugs".

If you haven't seen Starship Troopers, then A) shame on you, and B) the movie is a bit difficult to describe. It's a rousing science-fiction epic while at the same time being a bizarrely dark satire of the military and politics. Few movies have exhibited the mixture of cerebral and silly that Paul Verhoeven's film did -- perhaps this is why it didn't initially catch on with audiences. The subsequent Starship Troopers projects haven't really attempted to reproduce the feel of the first film, aiming more towards the action end of the spectrum, although all of them contain some kernel of story which implies that authority can't be trusted.

Starship Troopers: Invasion follows this trend by being a straight-ahead sci-fi/action movie. The script by video game veteran Flint Dille brings back the three main characters from Starship Troopers while introducing a whole new group of "roughnecks", each of whom has their distinct personality trait. Unfortunately, these fall into a very stereotypical realm, as we get the religious guy, the pretty but tough girl, the romantic, etc. Early on we get the feel that most of these characters are being introduced solely to be bug-bait. Having said that, Dille clearly has affection for not just the original movie, but the source novel as well. He takes dialogue and ideas directly from both, leaving little tidbits for fans of both.

Overall, my reaction to Starship Troopers: Invasion was mixed. The story doesn't contain plot twists per se, but there are enough new ideas every few minutes to keep the viewer interested. Again, the plot uses some elements which we've seen before, but there also some new wrinkles here involving the humans new tactics in attempting to win the war. If you like action, there's plenty to like here, as the movie opens with the soldiers battling the bugs and it rarely slows down from there. We also get to see a new kind of weapon which was very prominent in the novel, but not utilized in the movies. However, Starship Troopers: Invasion felt very cold and unemotional at the same time. The CG animation looks fantastic, but let's face it, no matter how far it advances, these aren't real people and this can make it difficult for the viewer to be pulled into the story. The movie is also hampered by the earlier point that we know that many of the soldiers are going to die, although a few of the deaths are surprising. So, this was an odd experience -- I liked the story, I liked seeing Carmen and Johnny Rico again (although, please note, the voices are not provided by the original actors), but the minute it was over I felt nothing. The Japanese team behind the movie clearly put a lot of work into it and it's a worthy entry into the Starship Troopers canon, but it does not capture the unique feel of the 1997 film.

Starship Troopers: Invasion still can't get laser rifles to the soldiers on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 25 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing on grain or defects from the source materials. I can only assume that this is a digital-to-digital transfer, as it looks perfect. The colors look great and the image is never overly dark or bright. The picture shows a nice amount of depth and the image is nicely detailed. There is no stuttering of the animation and the image is rarely soft. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 2.5 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The surround sound effects really shine through on this track, as we feel as if we are surrounded by the bugs in the action scenes. Subwoofer effects offer deep bass which emphasize the explosions and gunfire. The stereo effects are nicely done and show good separation.

The Starship Troopers: Invasion Blu-ray Disc contains several extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Director Shinji Aramaki and Tony lshizuka of Sony Pictures Worldwide. The commentary is in Japanese with English subtitles. "The Making of Starship Troopers: Invasion" (80 minutes) is an 11-part documentary which explores many facets of the project such character design, motion capture, animation, backgrounds, and music. Each segment contains comments from those involved with the film like Aramaki, Ishizuka, Writer Flint Dille, Producers Caspar Van Dien and Ed Neumeier, as well as concept drawings and models. The most interesting part is footage of the filmmakers visiting the Sony archives to see all of the elements from Starship Troopers which had been preserved. "Conceptual Art Gallery" can be viewed picture-by-picture or as a slideshow. The Disc contains two DELETED SCENES which run about 96 seconds. The final extra is a 3 minute GAG REEL which offers weird audio bloopers.