Director Paul Verhoeven's favorite movie of his own.

In a 2016 interview, Casper Van Dien revealed in an interview about an funny incident when he was picking up his two daughters from school, "I went by the line at school to pick up my kids. You know, you drive up to the school and when I get there and there are these six 10 and 8 year old boys hanging out with my daughters. I pull up in the line and the boys go 'Johnny Rico! Why didn't you tell us your dad was Johnny Rico?' And I said 'What are you boys doing watching STARSHIP TROOPERS?' And they said, 'Our dads made us watch it with them!' Then my daughters get in the car and my 10 year old says 'Dad, were you really naked in STARSHIP TROOPERS?' And I said 'Yeah,' and she said 'How could you do that to me?!' Then my 8 year old says 'Wait, like naked naked?' And I said "Yup," and she said 'Oh my God, my life is ruined!' That was the longest three minute ride home I have had in my life."

The year in the movie is 2197.

The cow that was killed by the Arachnid in the media break commercial was completely digital but was still censored. A bonus video feature from the DVD shows what occurred behind the censoring bar: an FX tech used a small hose to spray the walls with fake blood.

During filming Jake Busey (Ace) suffered heat stroke after working all day in 120 degrees desert sun, this stopped production for a week, when he recovered several large holes were cut into his uniform so he could cool off, many other cast members suits had this modification as well in order to prevent further cases on average there were 25 people per day being treated for heatstroke during filming.

To avoid an NC-17 rating, 4 seconds had to be trimmed from a decapitation during the last battle at the Whiskey Outpost base. However the four seconds can be seen in the version on the FX network.

Neil Patrick Harris was often called "Doogie Himmler" whenever he wore the military intelligence uniform as it bore a resemblance to SS uniforms.

Casper Van Dien (Johnny) broke a rib during a stunt involving jumping off a "tanker bug."

The view that people acquired citizenship and the right to vote through military service reflected the views of "Starship Troopers" author Robert Heinlein his views were influenced by his years in military service during World War II and what he saw as the supposed " laziness" of civilians.

Most of the arachnids appearing on film are CGI but a few life-sized, robotic models were built. However, during the battle scenes, the actors wound up looking at director Paul Verhoeven himself who would stand in front of them and jump and scream to elicit their reactions.

More ammunition was used in this film than in any previous movie.

Differences between the novel and the movie: In the novel: Dizzy (Dina Meyer) is a man. Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) is Filipino. Carl (Neil Patrick Harris) is killed in a bug raid on a research station. Jean Rasczak (Michael Ironside) is combination of two characters, Jean Dubois (a teacher) and Lieutenant Rasczak (leader of Roughnecks). After Rico is promoted to sergeant He is sent to O.C.S. At a transfer station he sees his father has joined the M.I. There is a brief reunion. They wore battlesuits in the novel. Each suit gave a soldier with incredible strength and tremendous firepower. Thus the name Mobile Infantry. Carmen Ibanez (Denise Richards) wasn't Johnny Rico's girlfriend. She was everyone's friend. After joining up they meet when he's a "third lieutenant" on a ship bound for combat. The Mobile Infantry were also fighting a war against the Skinnies- a tall, green, humanoid species who were allied with the Arachnids. Also, the Arachnids weren't mindless, savage creatures they were rather intelligent and had advanced technology somewhat on par with the humans such as H-Bombs (which they used to attack Buenos Aires) ray guns, missiles and space ships. While it's never explicitly stated in the novel in the film its strongly implied that Fleet and the Mobile Infantry have a rivalry as Dizzy says to Rico after he fights with Zander, "Mobile Infantry and Fleet don't mix". The destruction of Buenos Aires is only mentioned with little description. Rico can speak "Tagalog" at home and does not come from Buenos Aires. Ace (Jake Busey) is based on two characters from the novel, Ace and Pat Leivy while his question about knife throwing toward Zim (Clancy Brown) is a reference to Ted Hendrick in the novel

The use of Nazi imagery for the film's American Heroes occasioned comment at the time of the film's theatrical release, the filmmakers did not explain their reasons for this choice with the result that some viewer's interpreted it as satire,while other's read it as a celebration of Fascism.

In a 2014 interview on the Adam Carolla show, Michael Ironside (Jean Rasczak) who read the book as a youth, said he asked director Paul Verhoeven- who grew up in a Nazi-occupied Netherlands, "why are you doing a right-wing fascist movie"?, Verhoeven replied " if I tell the world that a right-wing fascist way of doing things doesn't work then no one will listen to me, so I'm going to make a perfect fascist world everyone is beautiful, everyone is shiny, everything has big guns and fancy ships but it's only good for killing Fucking bugs!"

The opening recruitment scene of the Mobile Infantry is modeled after the propaganda movie Triumph of the Will (1935).

Most of the adults in authority positions in the movie are scarred in some way: Rasczak (Michael Ironside) lacks an arm; the biology teacher has scars on her face, and is blind; and the recruiting sergeant has lost both his legs. Director Paul Verhoeven included them as a symbol of the belligerent history of the Federation.

Casper Van Dien says he was often asked why a blonde-haired, blue-eyed actor would play the Argentinian Juan Rico. He suggests that his character was the descendant of exiled Germans. Argentina was famously a hiding place of German war criminals after World War II.

Mark Wahlberg turned down the role of Johnny Rico.

The classroom walls display portraits of major philosophers; Aristotle, Baruch Spinoza, Friedrich Nietzsche and Hannah Arendt. All these thinkers are known for their influence on politics and political theory. Arendt notably worked on totalitarianism, an important theme of the movie.

The base that houses the Fleet Academy is named "Tereshkova" after Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space. There are many more examples in the movie of the future being gender-neutral (meaning there is no bigotry based on gender), such as the mixed-shower scene and the female captain.

In the novel, The Mobile Infantry were also fighting a war against the Skinnies- a tall, green, humanoid species who were allied with the Arachnids. Also, the Arachnids weren't mindless, savage creatures they were rather intelligent and had advanced technology somewhat on par with the humans such as H-Bombs (which they used to attack Buenos Aires) ray guns, missiles and space ships.

Body Count: (256).

The combat helmets were repainted again and used by the SWAT team at the end of the 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes.

17 gallons of fake blood were used throughout the movie.

Fednet was created to help establish the satire in a way similar to RoboCop (1987) another Paul Verhoeven film.

In the director commentary on the Blu-ray DVD Paul Verhoeven stated showing the mutilated bodies on FedNet was to encourage more people to join the Federation, the cow being censored was due to PETA animal supporters, and the experiments on the Brain Bug were censored as it was classified information.

The short-lived Australian political party, One Nation mimicked the use of the "would you like to know more?" advertisements in a 1998 campaign at recruiting youth to the party presumably unaware of the satirical nature of those ads especially given the party had a nationalistic far-right ideology.

In the DVD commentary, Director Paul Verhoeven states his intentions clearly the film's message is that "War makes fascists of us all." He evoked Nazi Germany's fashion, iconography and propaganda because he saw it as a natural evolution of the post-WWII United States: "I've heard this film nicknamed All quiet on the final frontier" he said. Screenwriter Edward Neumeier broadly concurs although he sees the film as a satire on human history rather than solely on the U.S.

In the 2011 first person shooter video game Duke Nukem Forever when Duke is fighting against the aliens he says "I'm from Las Vegas, and I say Kill 'em All!

Film composer Basil Poledouris daughter Zoë Poledouris makes a cameo in the prom dance scene. She's on stage wearing a sparkling blue dress, and sings "Into It" and a cover of David Bowie's "I have not been to Oxford Town" from the 1997 album "Outside" minor lyrical changes have been made, with the song changed to "I have not been to Paradise".

Lieutenant Willy is played by Steven Ford, the son of former President Gerald Ford.

In the movie Jonny Rico's and some of the other characters' nationalities have been significantly altered from the original novel. In Robert A. Heinlein's novel the story focuses on the first-person narrative of Juan "Jonnie" Rico, a son of a wealthy Filipino family who enlisted in to the Mobile Infantry--a highly futuristic military unit equipped with powered armor and an arsenal of advanced weaponry. In the movie, instead of an elite fighting force equipped with Powered Suits they are a conventional army armed with conventional weapons but apparently without armored vehicles, artillery, most heavy weapons and other vital equipment. The Powered Suits would not feature in the series until Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (2008).

The battle gear was later reused in Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy and the show Firefly in the episode The Train Job.

In the movie, the soldiers are occasionally referred to as "Cap Troopers". In the book, this referred to the capsules they dropped in, but in the film the nickname becomes orphaned.

In the novel Rico can speak "Tagalog" at home and does not come from Buenos Aires.

In 2012, Slant Magazine ranked the film #20 on its list of the 100 Best Films of the 1990s. However other critical reaction to the film has tended toward the negative.

In the commentary track on the DVD or Blu-ray release, Director Paul Verhoeven remarks that he had hoped to cast actors who's age closely matched that of the characters and indeed of real-world soldiers but the producers felt such actors would look too young, the teacher and the lieutenant of the Roughnecks in the novel are combined into one role played by Michael Ironside.

Director Paul Verhoeven say's his satirical use of irony and Hyperbole is "playing with fascism or fascist imagery to point out certain aspects of American society of course the movie is about lets all go war and let's all die".

The fort defense scene contains many references to Zulu (1964): "we're all gonna die," "fire at will" and "fall back into the compound," along with some similar camera angles.

The film won Saturn Awards for Best Costumes and Best Visual Effects at the 1998 Academy of Science Fiction, fantasy and horror films, USA Awards.

The band at the graduation party plays a David Bowie song called "I Have Not Been to Oxford Town." The lyrics are reworked a bit to refer to the 23rd century rather than the 21st.

James Cameron was attached to direct at one point.

Some of the walls were reused from Total Recall - Die totale Erinnerung (1990) (another film directed by Paul Verhoeven).

When Carmen Ibanez is taking the starship out of dock the first time, she flicks a switch to release the hoses attached to the docking platform. That switch is the power switch from a 1982 era IBM PC, the very first PC to see widespread use in home and office.

The Federal Service oath is as followed:

"I, being of legal age, of my own free will, after having been duly advised and warned of the meaning and consequences of this oath, enroll in the federal service for not less than 2 years and as much longer as may be required by the needs of the Federation."

Fort Ticonderoga is a real fort in upstate New York that was active during the 18th century. It was used by the British during the Seven Years War with the French and then again by American troops during the American Revolutionary War against the British.

The "Bug planet" scenes (Klendathu, Tango Urilla, Planet P) were filmed in the Badlands of Hell's Half Acre in Natrona county Wyoming. During filming in the park, it was nearly a 110 degrees which prompted the production crew to let the actors and extras to wear only their black t-shirts under the armor, because the neck wrap and the jacket is made out of thick rubber wetsuit /clothing which is very hot to wear.

Dialogue changes in German version: when Mr. Rasczak is talking about failure of democracy and how the veterans took control. Only citizens are allowed to vote, in the German version all this is changed about some talking about the war against the bugs,democracy is not mentioned. "Service guarantees citizenship" is changed to "Fight for the Future" * also during the classroom scene when Mr. Rasczak is talking about violence he says "I wonder what the city fathers of Hiroshima would say about that" and Carmen replies "They probably wouldn't say anything Hiroshima was destroyed" this scene was removed from the Japanese version. In the German version Mr. Rasczak says "I wonder what the citizens of Washington would say about that". And Carmen replies "They probably wouldn't say anything Washington was destroyed during the first Bug War".

Right before the battle of Klendathu, Lieutenant Willy (Stephen Ford) says to his troopers: "Remember your training and you will make it back alive.". Ironically, Lieutenant Willy is the first one to get killed during the battle by a warrior bug, showing he didn't remember his training.

Several scenes were modified to tone down the movie for showing on Russian television. Aside from cut down similar to the Australian version to tone down the violence, is a modification to the video feed scene (where Rico walks Carmen through his surroundings,camera in hand) when his squadmates take off their pants to moon the camera, static was added to cover the nudity up. also, the shower scene and the sex scene were slightly cut to remove frontal nudity.

When Rico's father says he would rather take ten lashes in public square than see him ruin his life, it foreshadows what happens to Rico after Breckenridge's (Eric Bruskotter) death; Rico himself receives ten lashes in a public square, and ruining Djana'D (Tami-Adrian George) (who killed Breckenridge) chances of becoming a citizen to go into politics.

While it's never explicitly stated in the novel in the film its strongly implied that Fleet and the Mobile Infantry have a rivalry as Dizzy says to Rico after he fights with Zander, "Mobile Infantry and Fleet don't mix".

The concept of the Plasma Bugs possibly originated from the Warriors in the original novel since they are capable of using energy weapons.

In an interview with ComingSoon, Casper Van Dien spilled the beans on how the newspaper helped underage audiences see a violent R rated movie. "The New York Times did a piece where they gave 1000 13 and 14-year-old boys tickets to Mr. Bean to see if they could sneak into Starship Troopers because people were doing that a lot at multiplexes then. After that they had to put the kibosh on it. They think we would have doubled our income so instead of 25 million it would have been 50 if it had been a PG 13 film."

The lime-green violin that Ace plays the tune "Las Golondrinas"-the Shallows, is a Tucker Barrett electric violin, Jake Busey actually learned to play the violin for this movie. The song, although instrumental in this film, has lyrics. Translated to English. they are:

• Listen to the swallows when I left was a simple consideration of the destiny uvo instants that better I wanted to crack to forgive him and

The Boot camp Arthur Currie was named for Sir Arthur William Currie of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Sir Arthur Currie had the unusual beginning of a pre-war militia gunner and eventually worked his way through the entire scale of ranks to eventually become Canada's first Four Star General. His nickname was "Guts and Gaitors". Coincidentially, written with an y, Arthur Curry is the name of Aquaman, a DCEU hero and part of the Justice League.

During the newsbreak which focused on the massacre of Port Joe Smith it shows a spire with the Statue of Angel Moroni on its top. According to religious custom with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the statue of Moroni is only used on the top of dedicated temples and is not found on any other structure regardless of its purpose.

Casper Van Dien (Rico), Dina Meyer (Flores), Denise Richards (Ibanez), and Denise Dowse (Sky Marshall Meru) all appeared in Beverly Hills 90210 (1990).

Before the battle of Klendathu, when Rico, Dizzy, Ace and Kitten are "Getting cut together", Kitten says: "We're going to fight and we're going to win" ironically durig the battle of Klendathu during the general retreat, Kitten gets killed by a warrior bug.

An actual Bug from the movie was exhibited in the entry of the main gallery at the 1997 World Science Fiction Convention held in San Antonio, TX over Labor Day Weekend.

Unlike other film characters originating from the novel, Lieutenant Willy's novel counterpart, Willie (also known as Captain James K. Will in the 1976 board game), is never directly mentioned throughout the book.

In the original novel, Rico's father originally gives him a ticket to Mars instead of Zegema Beach as in the film. This mirrors Total Recall - Die totale Erinnerung (1990), another Paul Verhoeven film.

The original text also included the Cap Troopers wearing Powered Armored The Mobile Infantry in the movie has nothing of the sort until Starship Troopers Marauder (2008) (even though they are experimental Mini-Mecha).

In the movie Dizzy's full name was Isabel Flores.

When Carmen meets Johnny at the Spaceport she tells him that "My dad had to help me pack. Suddenly he's afraid he's never going to see me again." This foreshadows the destruction of Buenos Aires which kills Johnny's parents and Carmen's father.

The reason Carmen's (Denise Richards) father detests Johnny is further elaborated in a deleted scene. Johnny parents aren't citizens; they have money. This is why Ace (Jake Busey) continuously says to Johnny "you got some guts for a rich kid" and during training "you rich kids are all the same". In fact, "Rico" is Spanish for "Rich".

Features two main villains from the "Highlander" movie franchise: Clancy Brown played the Kurgen in Highlander - Es kann nur einen geben (1986) and Michael Ironside played Kitana in Highlander II - Die Rückkehr (1991). Also, they did voice-overs for two villains in the DCAU. Clancy voiced as Lex Luthor. And Michael voiced as the Darkseid.

It is debatable by fans whether the Arachnids were even responsible for the attack on Buenos Aires, given that the bug meteor is asserted to have been launched from Klendathu, on the other side of the galaxy and therefore tens of thousands of light-years away (especially considering that the asteroids where shown moving slower then light and where allegedly able to cross 80,000 light years without hitting anything or being pulled off course, yet still hit Earth with pinpoint accuracy) this, combined with the informative nature of the film narrative as a recruitment advert, can be interpreted as a commentary on the propagandistic nature of contemporary media and its role often as a willing accomplice to militarism. However, given that in one scene the Rodger Young is shown to be on a collision course with one of these asteroids, and that they are able to take evasive action after Carmen and Zander sight the asteroid visually would seem to suggest that the simpler explanation is that Director Paul Verhoeven just ignored the physics of the situation for cinematic effect or simply because that is what the plot required.

The powered armor technology that is Central to the book is completely absent in the movie, according to Verhoeven this- and the fascist tone of the book reflected his own experience in Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II.

Although we don't see Katrina Mclntire (Blake Lindsley) get killed when she is dragged into a bug hole by a Warrior bug even though it is stated bugs don't capture enemies and Starship Troopers Dominant Species, original script and commentaries have mentioned that those who don't retreat from the Battle of Klendathu are killed.

The footage of the Port Joe Smith mutilation bodies was from the Whiskey Outpost.

In the 1988 OVA Starship Troopers,the boot camp Currie had instead of tents, the recruits lived in normal buildings. but in the movie the buildings are shaped like tents.

In Starship Troopers the miniature game, the Arachnids are referred as Arachnid Empire.

The Federation symbol is commonly mistaken as having being taken from Nazi Germany of the 20th century. Many of its symbols, such as the eagles on the Federal Armed Services uniforms, are actually based off of those used in 20th century American culture and military institutions. In any case, Paul Verhoeven admitted using the Nazi Orpo flag as an inspiration for the Ferderation flag design.

Casper Van Dien really punched Patrick Muldoon in the face giving him a bloody lip during the fight scene at Ticonderoga space station; Patrick Muldoon stated in an interview that Casper "hits hard".

The song, "I Have Not Been to Paradise," (a cover of the David Bowie song "I Have Not Been to Oxford Town") is sung by Zoë Poledouris, the eldest daughter of Basil Poledouris, the film's composer.

When Lt. Rasczak gets his legs bitten off by the tanker bug maybe a reference to what happened to Jehal the acting commander of the Roughnecks in the original novel

After Breckinridge is accidentally shot and killed during the live fire exercise, Rico is blamed for having ordered Breckinridge to remove his helmet. But when the scene is reviewed it's clear that Breckinridge was shot through his right eye. Since the helmet doesn't have goggles or a face shield, the removal or wearing of the helmet had no effect upon the fatality of the head wound, so Rico was not to blame for Breckinridge's death. But this is all speculation, as if he had not took of his helmet, he may have been or may have not been in the position he was, as the fatal shot was fired. Also maybe the whole situation wouldn't have take place, when or if or so.

The German dubbing of this film, although changing a lot of the political issues of the story, is partly regarded as cult especially due to lines like "Das ganze Gehirn weggelutscht" ("They sucked his brains out") as performed by Joachim Kerzel.

Some critics in The Netherlands, Paul Verhoeven's native country, jokingly referred to the movie as 'Soldier of Orange in Space', referring to Der Soldat von Oranien (1977), one of Verhoeven's earlier Dutch movies. Both movies are about a group of friends who each go their separate ways when war is declared. Some end up working together, while others find themselves at odds with each other.

In a propaganda scene near the start of the movie, mormon extremists are reported to have been massacred by bugs on another planet. Space faring mormons are also depicted in the sci-fi series "The Expanse" (2015). In the mormon compound in the movie, a golden statue with a trumpet can be seen. The same golden statue is the figurehead of the mormon ship the "Nauvoo" in "The Expanse".

In the back-story of Jean Rasczak (Michael Ironside): Rascazk lost his left arm which had been grabbed by a Warrior Bug which tried to drag him out of the shuttle during a mission to Klendathu, knowing he had no other option to save himself, Rasczak had the shuttle door closed, slicing off his arm, but allowing the shuttle to escape, he then retired from the Mobile Infantry and became a teacher of History and Moral Philosophy in Buenos Aires.

This movie, along with RoboCop (1987), Basic Instinct (1992), Showgirls (1995) and Hollow Man - Unsichtbare Gefahr (2000), is one of five separate movie franchises in which the first movie of their respective series (directed by Paul Verhoeven) were more successful than their respective sequels (not directed by Verhoeven); all the sequels either had low box office numbers or were released directly to DVD.

The rifles featured in the movie are based off the Ruger Mini-14 in a custom bullpup stock similar to those available for other rifles/shotguns in the 1980s.

Michael Ironside (Jean Rasczak) was considered for the part of Alex Murphy/RoboCop in Robocop (1987) another Paul Verhoeven movie

The Seattle indie rock band Minus the Bear used quotes from the film as song titles in their album Highly Refined Pirates including "you kill bugs good man" "Damn bugs wacked us Johnny" and "Your some kind of big fat smart bug aren't you?"

The name "Arachnid" derived from spider in Greek, apparently originated from "Pseudo-Arachnids", the giant spiders from the novel., none of the arachnid species resemble a spider by far however it's meant to be a racial slur against the enemy and it dosent have to be taxonomically correct.

The line "You want to live forever?" (as "You wanna live forever?") was also uttered in Paul Verhoeven's earlier movie _Robocop (1987)_ by the character Emil.

On the DVD commentary Paul Verhoeven stated about the Morita Assault Rifle being an excellent example of the films satire-"Intentional or not".

The Battle of Klendathu is highlighted as a demonstration of very poorly thought out tactics on the humans' part in both versions. Ships are parked in orbit right next to each other, so Bug anti-space weapons can take them out easily, hit after hit. Bonus points when this problem is mentioned by the humans as one of the reasons the attack failed, yet they did it again in the next big battle. The attack force is light infantry (not mechanized), with no armor, air support, or any kind of artillery between hand grenades and pocket nukes. While the lack of armor support is Hand Waved by statements that the terrain is unsuitable for tanks and the like, there is no justification for a lack of air support, either for bombing or rapid deployment of troops, especially when they're shown to have such capabilities (one wave of bombers is seen wiping out some bugs, but nothing more). Human infantry are squishy, heavily-outnumbered and armed with weak but massed ranged weapons. Rather than set up kill-zones and defensive feint traps and making use of explosives to counter their numbers, they simply send the troops rushing over to fight the bugs in a Zerg Rush. Not very good when the enemy is the actual Zerg. Poor morale and troop cohesion, with the whole assault turning into a panicked rout after only a few casualties.

In the credits, Amy Smart's character is identified as "Pilot Cadet.". However, the FedNet announcer refers to her as "Lt. Stack Lumbrezer." One of the movie's co-producers is Stacy Lumbrezer.

The sport Johnny plays, which is a combination of football and gymnastics, is called "jumpball." His team is "the Tigers" and Zanders' is "the Giants."

At 129 minutes this is the longest Starship Troopers movie.

Rico's service number is 0589 as revealed on his Death Certificate when he's mistakenly listed as K.I.A.

The design of the bugs are slightly edited revisions of an unused Shrieker design from "Tremors 2: Aftershocks". Both films special effects were supplied by 'Phil Tippett', who had been working on both films at the same time.

Because the movie originated from an unrelated script, with names and superficial details from the novel being added retroactively, there are many significant differences between the original book and the film. While the original novel has been accused of promoting militarism, fascism and military rule, the film is attributed to satirize these concepts by featuring grandiose displays of nationalism as well as news reports that are intensely fascist, xenophobic, and propagandistic.

In the German version the news commentator you hear all the time was dubbed by Egon Hoegen. This results in additional comic relief because he is the man who, with his rather dry and sarcastic voice, narrates every episode of Der 7. Sinn (1966) (a very well known traffic education show).

Cyrano, Carl's pet ferret, was originally scripted as being a frog.

When Carmen vomits during the dissection scene when Rico hands her all the bugs organs, Denise Richards was actually vomiting up mashed bananas.

The tune Ace plays during R&R time is "Dixie," known as the de facto national anthem of the Confederate States of America and still played often in the Southern US. This is a reference to Ace's Southern heritage.

During the scene at Whiskey Base where the general is discovered in a "closet," the prop used for the closet was actually an industrial refrigerator commonly found in the restaurant kitchens.

The heavy weapons mounted on towers featured in the bug assault on the base at Planet P were Browning M2 .50 cal machine guns mocked up to look like Degtyaryov-Shpagin Krupnokalibernyi DShK's ("Degtyaryov-Shpagin Large Caliber"), in a twin-gun arrangement on a gimbal mount. The DShK was designed in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and fires a 12.7x108mm cartridge, roughly the Soviet equivalent of the American .50-cal. BMG. At the time of filming, real DShK's - as well as blank ammunition for them - were all but impossible to obtain, so most appearances of them in film feature M2's with a mocked-up barrel.

The Federation's flag likely drew some inspiration from the flags of the Russia Coast Guard, Imperial Russian Regiments, Imperial German regiments, and the Confederate States of America.

Ace says "shoot a nuke down a bug hole, you got a lot of dead bugs," which is what Rico does later in the movie on Tango Urilla.

The bloodiest of all of Paul Verhoeven's movies.

Only theatrical movie of the Starship Troopers trilogy - the second two were were direct to video.

Josh Brolin auditioned for Johnny Rico, he ended up working with Paul Verhoeven on Hollow Man - Unsichtbare Gefahr (2000).

The scene were the children are stomping on the Madagascar hissing cockroaches, fake insects were used.

In an early Federation broadcast, there is a psychic who says, "If you think you're psychic, maybe you are." The psychic is played by Timothy Omundson, who stars in the TV series 'Psych'. In the series, he plays a police detective who is constantly at odds with 'psychic' Shawn Spencer and determined to prove him a fraud.

"Do you want to live forever?" is attributed to Marine Sargent Major Dan Daly in the WWI battle Bellau Wood. He is one of two Marines to have won the Medal of Honor twice.

The same walls were also used in Total Recall - Die totale Erinnerung (1990).

James Marsden was considered for the role of Johnny Rico.

In the beginning of the film, the high school in which the characters Rico, Carmen, Carl and Dizzy attend is actually a Kaiser Permanente hospital.

Michael Ironside, Marshall Bell, and Dean Norris all three appeared in Total Recall - Die totale Erinnerung (1990), also directed by Paul Verhoeven.

The Klendathu battle sequence was the hardest scene to be filmed as the armor all the actors and extras were all wearing was 32lbs and the morita assault rifles were 22Ibs but the rubber rifles were two to three pounds which is 40 extra pounds on them plus they were at 8,000 degree altitude which made the air alot thinner and they were filming at 2 to 3 a.m. running up the hill take after take.

The film was released into cinemas uncut in the UK with a '15' rating, but the BBFC (the British censors) felt they had been too lenient and the same version was upgraded to an '18' rating for video and DVD.

The screen of Rico's computer in the classroom shows the word "fedpaint" at the lower border.

After the movies release, fans went up to Casper Van Dien and handed him Death from Above tattoo hennas to give to his kids.

Casper Van Dien lost 15 pounds for the whipping scene.

The scene where Rico's inside the healing tank which Casper called "the Luke Skywalker tank" he couldn't really see Dina Meyers or Jake Busey but could only see the outlines of them, he kept a little but of bubbles in his nose due to his experience as a scuba diver even though he had a regulator inside the tank.

Tippett Studios' responsibilities didn't end with just the bugs and their animation. They also were tapped to create various particle effects, including the Tanker Bug's lethal spray, and the Plasma Bug's destructive plasma blasts. Weiss remarked, "In designing the look of the tanker spray, we looked at a lot of lava footage for reference. It wasn't supposed to be lava, but it was meant to have that kind of consistency. We played around with Dynamation for a long time to come up with the final look." The plasma blasts was a challenging task, especially since the data used to create the blasts was shared between Tippett and Sony Imageworks. "Tippett Studio designed the plasma blasts in Dynamation," Weiss said, "and then when Sony needed the blasts in their shots, we gave them all of our data so they could integrate the blasts into their shots. Walt Hyneman, who was co-CG supervisor at Sony for the show [along with senior CG supervisor Louis Cetorelli], was instrumental in translating our data. The plasma blasts that you see actually emerging from the rear ends of the Plasma bugs were completed at Tippett, while the ones that you see in the distance, or weaving in between spaceships were created by Sony using our Dymamation designs."

The film is dedicated to Gavin Gharrity and Tom O'Halloran, two camera operators who worked on Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls (1995).

Ibanez is the Spanish version of the surname "Evans."

Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You" plays during the fight between Zander (Patrick Muldoon) and Rico.

Tippett Studio has gone through some remarkable changes in the last couple of years, following the revolution from traditional optical effects to the digital realm. They've made the jump from creating effects for smaller pictures like THREE WISHES and TREMORS 2 to the visual effects gorilla of STARSHIP TROOPERS. Tippett explained, "The essence of putting together effects shots hasn't changed much, although the technology used to put the elements together has changed dramatically. Whether you're stop-motion animating against a rear screen projection, or if it's against a bluescreen to be composited later, or if you're using CG animation, the aesthetic issues still have to be addressed, no matter what techniques or technology you're using." Weiss commented that Tippett Studio is a different kind of effects house, due to the participation of the art department from conception throughout production. "It was their responsibility not only to design the models, but in painting and testing digital texture map designs--just like an art department would do in creature shop. They not only have to be great artists, but they also have to be somewhat technical, and be able to render out test frames and things like that. This allowed the lighting TDs and animators to concentrate on their lighting and animation duties." Tippett, the creative supervisor and founder of his own company, noted, "No matter what technology is used, our focus has always been geared toward making a compelling picture and designing compelling choreograph

In the timeout sequence during the jumpball game Dina Meyers actually smacked Casper Van Dien in the side of the head to get his attention and his response was genuine.

Casper Van Dien accidentally shot through a camera during the scene where Rico is wounded and fends off the two Warrior bugs with the Ithaca 37 shotgun under the Morita assault rifle even though they had plastic to protect the camera but he shot directly through it fortunately no more was behind the camera when he shot through it.

Teo (Corporal Bronski) didn't create a backstory for his character he stated in an interview "I didn't have too much backstory for Bronski. As I read the script, it was clear he was a physical guy so I took that approach instead and gained almost 30 pounds for him and grew my hair out".

Teo (Corporal Bronski) recalled an incident that he said was the funniest and simultaneously scariest day that he was involved in during the whipping scene of Casper Van Dien (Johnny Rico) for some reason he had a tendency to slowly and steadily creep forward with each power thrust with the whip he was using which of course was endangering Casper Van Dien who was in front of but (presumably) a safe distance away from him after several requests from Paul Verhoeven to stop moving forward which he seemed unable to control-the crew placed 25 lbs. sandbags on top of his feet to keep him in place and that's how they filmed most of the scene when they showed him from the waist up.

In the script, there was a scene during a FedNet broadcast showing the Mobile Infantry reclaiming Dantana, the planet where a Mormon colony was massacred, in the prelude to the Klendathu invasion.

For the fight scene between Casper Van Dien and Patrick Muldoon consisted of 40 takes to get right for the scene where Johnny punches Zander directly in the face/lip because as Casper states on the commentary that Patrick was simply "so tall".

During the last dance segment, when Johnny and Carmen are kissing when the screen pans out more Denise Richards is actually chewing bubble gum.

For Rasczak left arm stump the special effects team put a blue sleeve over Ironsides arm which was later digitally removed and controlled by a remote which was operated by Michael Ironside.

During the fight scene between Johnny and Zander for the scene where he flips Johnny over onto the table for the first take Patrick Muldoon ended up throwing Casper Van Dien on top of his head on the table to which he repeatedly apologized to him, for the second take he ended up landing on top of an apple box on top of the table.

The referee official during the jumpball game was actually a real referee Ronald L. Botchan.

The ariel front flip durig the Jumpball game performed by Johnny, Casper Van Dien was actually doubled by stuntman Joey Box doing a flip off a ladder which was later digitally removed from the final film.

Casper Van Dien accidentally chipped two of his teeth with the butt of the Morita Assault Rifle prop during the tanker bug sequence.

The tanker bug sequence was filmed in 3 days.

Edward Neumeier started writing an original script called "Bug Hunt at Outpost Nine". When similarities with the Robert A. Heinlein novel were pointed out, the novel was optioned and the name licensed.

Involved with the project since 1990, Phil Tippett witnessed the screenplay go through many changes. While the script was evolving, the world of visual effects evolved, too, as did the techniques planned to create the alien bugs. Tippett said, "The whole story was completely different in the early 90's... we started thinking about it back then, and mind you this was back in the pre-digital, pre-JURASSIC PARK days. We considered using traditional model photography, either stop motion or puppetry, and then of course everything changed in 1993 with JURASSIC PARK." It was directly after his involvement with JURASSIC PARK that Tippett Studio art director Craig Hayes, Verhoeven, Davidson, Neumeier and Tippett got together and started thinking about what the bugs would look like. "After JURASSIC, we generally decided that we could go digital with the bugs."

Craig Hayes was in charge of designing the look of the various alien species represented in TROOPERS. Tippett explained, "With the WWII themes presented by Paul, we wanted to continue that theme in the designs of the bugs, representing various generic elements of a war... the Warrior bug is a representation of mobile infantry, the Tanker bugs obviously are representational of WWII tanks, heavy artillery is represented in the plasma bugs and so on.

To allow seasoned stop-motion animators to be able to animate computer generated models for JURASSIC PARK, Hayes and Tippett developed the DID, a digital input device that allows an animator to have physical control over a CG model in real space. CG models can be animated via a scale model fitted with motion sensors, which correlate to certain points on a CG model. After using it on JURASSIC and TREMORS 2, Tippett Studio dove head first into the dozens upon dozens of shots to animate for TROOPERS. "We've refined the DID since JURASSIC PARK," Tippett said, "in the overall cleanup of the design. Craig made sure that the DID would be much more responsive to the animator's movements.

Phil Tippett added, "Much of the way the bugs moved was dictated by Craig's designs... we did a lot of animatics, and assigned the bugs weights and the extent of its movements to come up with an animation design, to see how realistically these beings could move and run and attack. We also did months and months of research, including watching lots of documentary books and videos on various insects and bugs."

Lighting the bugs was an interesting challenge, as well, due to the varying conditions in which the bugs were to exist--both in harsh daylight and simulated moonlight situations. Lead Technical Director Larry Weiss supervised the lighting designs, among other duties. "In lighting the bugs in the daylight shots, we tried to recreate the lighting that an actual sky would produce, using a combination of lights acting as aerials, and a group of lights aiming up from the ground, in addition to the key (the sun), whose position was based on positioning data from the set." Using reference footage taken on location, including photographing a grey sphere and scale maquettes of the bugs, "we determined the color and intensity of each of those lights. It was a very accurate way of making the bugs appear as if they actually exist in the background plate."

For sequences where literally hundreds of Warrior bugs populate the screen, various time and processor saving tricks had to be performed. "Some shots were so complicated that they were taking up to 32 hours per frame to render. In order to simplify things, Darby Johnston developed a system that would streamline renders of background bugs that were not the focus of the shot," Weiss remarked. "We used a 'sprite' technique, where we would render out frames of a complete camera rotation around a single bug, and put those frames in a library." Weiss said that Johnston then wrote an algorithm that would determine which one of those frames to access, in relation to the bug's motion path and the camera's position. "This simplified things, and it helped in the render times, too, in that some of the final swarm shots only took 18 hours per frame to render," Weiss noted.

Dale Dye was the movies Military Adviser, reportedly putting the main actors through a one week long intense boot camp, just like all of his other films.

To get Cyrano the ferret to go to his marks from A to B down a table, across the floor and up the stairs. Trainer #1 placed the ferret on his mark and trainer #2 cued him with a buzzer to his next mark.

At the beginning of the battle, the Commanding Officer stands and says "follow me." That is the motto of the U.S. Army Infantry. His pose mimics the statue at Ft Benning, GA.

For the fight scene between Dizzy and Sergeant Zim when Zim has her pinned under his leg, director Paul Verhoeven told Dina Meyers to roll her eyes in the back of her head to make it look like she couldn't breathe.

Macaulay Culkin favorite film.

Dina Meyer accidentally shot near Jake Busey blowing his ear drums out but luckily he was wearing ear protection so he didn't receive the full brunt of it but he forgave her.

On the commentary track, Neil Patrick Harris and Casper Van Dien jokingly called the ferret Cyrano the "ferret from hell".

In the script Sugar Watkins was described as 6'4 280Ibs with big bulging muscles.

The Whiskey Outpost was filmed in 3 weeks.

Although their characters have a rivalry, Casper Van Dien and Patrick Muldoon are friends in real life.

Michael Ironside, Clancy Brown, Dina Meyer, and Brenda Strong were in DC comics based animated and live-action series. Michael was the voice of the evil tyrant Darkseid on Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League/Justice League: Unlimited, Dark Knight Returns Batman in one episode of The Superman/Batman Adventures. He also played as General Sam Lane in Smallville. And, he played the father of the villain Leonard Snart/Captain Cold in The Flash. Clancy was the voice of Lex Luthor in Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League/Justice League Unlimited. Also, played as General Wade Eiling in The Flash. Dina played the Batgirl/Oracle in the series Birds of Prey. And, Brenda Strong plays as the mother of the villain Lex Luthor Lillian in Supergirl (2015).

There were reports at the time of its release that multitudes of 13 and 14-year-old kids were buying tickets to G, PG, and PG-13-rated movies and sneak into the R-rated "Starship Troopers" unaccompanied.

The United Kingdom Laserdisc was £34.99.

Dina Meyers said she was jacked up for this movie.

Dina Meyers jokingly referred to Seth Gilliam as a green M&M with eyes during the scene where Sugar Watkins kills the warrior bug by shooting its eye out and gets covered in it's green blood.

Was released two days after Seth Gilliam's (Sugar Watins) 29th birthday.

Bobby Cannavale auditioned for a part.

Didn't fare very well in the United States. Budget, $105 million. Box office, $54,814,377 (domestic), $121,214,377 (worldwide).

Neil Patrick Harris and Denise Richards not first time working together as they appeared on Neil Patrick Harris's TV show doogie howser MD

Keanu Reeves was considered for the part of ,Johnny Rico and Zander but turned it down to do the Devils Advocate (1997).

Neve Campbell was considered for the part of Carmen Ibanez, but was busy doing Scream 2 (1997),she worked with Denise Richards a year later on Wild Things (1998).

Michael Douglas was considered for the part of Mr. Rasczak, having worked with Paul Verhoeven on Basic Instinct (1992).

Rebecca Gayheart was considered for the part of Carmen, but was busy doing Scream 2 (1997).

On Reddit, user TanookiDooki had a theory to the effect that Verhoevens earlier movie RoboCop is the predecessor to this film, and laid the argument out concisely. Connecting on several fundamental levels, from cultural norms to political commonalities to design, it not hard to buy that these universes could be connected. Let's start with the with the most obvious factor that could potentially unite the two: politics. In the RoboCop universe, after a series of events precipitated by a deal with the overtaxed Detroit Police Department, the corporation Omni Consumer Products basically becomes the government of Detroit, Michigan. By RoboCop 2, the city in such debt to OCP that the Chairman of the company decides to essentially foreclose on all property in the city, in order to create a gentrified "utopia" called Delta City. He is nearly capable of enacting this plan due to the power of OCP, despite not being an elected official; in order to exercise your full rights as a citizen, you need company stock. Old political institutions are looked on as symbols of decay and corruption. While the world of Starship Troopers has transferred this power over to military might instead of corporate oversight, the ideology behind both societies are very similar. As Tanooki puts it: In Starship Troopers, this mentality is expressed in what seems like a society that took it to full fruition. Their government is based around CITIZENS who are all subservient to the central military authority. Citizens are required to serve if they want to gain full rights within their society which means they've essentially scrapped democracy as a concept. So both societies showcase what happens if democracy fails and is usurped by a terrible, more centralized power structure. While it's probably unlikely that OCP's power in and of itself led to the military might of Starship Troopers, the same strain of thinking that got Detroit where it was could have very easily led to the "veterans taking control" that creates the future of Starship Troopers. Tanooki continues: "This is what I believe went down in the Robocop universe. I believe that OCP and the Urban Rehabilitators were a proto-form of the Terran Federation which ended up taking over. While it can be debated whether OCP is the precursor to Terran Fed or if the Terran gov. is a similar entity with the same idea, the reality is they likely exist in the same universe. OCP was unsuccessful in the films, the power vacuum that was left in society called for a new centralized force to maintain order and security at a time when neither were guaranteed."

The DVD audio commentary by director Paul Verhoeven was one of the first to be accompanied by a disclaimer stating that the opinions in the commentary belong to the speaker and not necessarily reflect the opinion of the movie studio. Such disclaimers became commonplace in the following years.

Jason Priestley was considered, for the part of Johnny Rico.

When D'jana accidentally kills Breckenridge by blowing off half the top of his head it's similar to an insect society when a female praying mantis kills the male by decapitating it after mating.

Two stars from this movie appear in Monk (2002), and they were born only four days apart: Casper Van Dien appears in Monk: Mr. Monk Is Underwater (2008), Monk: Mr. Monk and the End: Part 1 (2009), & Monk: Mr. Monk and the End: Part 2 (2009). Dina Meyer appears in Monk: Mr. Monk Gets Hypnotized (2008).

Carmens math score is 97% a reference to when the movie was released in the year 1997.

Jake Busey (Ace) and Neil Patrick Harris (Carl) were both born on June 15, in 1971 and 1973 respectively.

During the dissection scene at the beginning of the film, Carmen, in order to establish that humans are the more superior race, she states that humans "created arts, mathematics and interstellar travel." This is a common type of phrase in films set in the future. It often deals with two truths and a theoretical possibility. Most noteworthy films that have used this particular technique are the Star Trek movies as it is set around the 23rd century, making their claims as well theoretically possible.

Edward Neumeier: The screenwriter appears as the criminal sentenced to death during one media break.

Jon Davison: the producer, during a media break commercial owner of the dead dog says "the only good bug is a dead bug".

Stacy Lumbrezer: Director Paul Verhoevens assistant and co-producer as woman taking Federal studies during a FEDNET media break commercial.

Dale Dye: as a high-ranking officer at the capture of the brain bug, asking Carl what its thinking.

Parry Shen: as a student.

A miniature Millenium Falcon can be seen on the backside of one of the starships' bridges.

Director Paul Verhoeven and stars Dina Meyer and Casper Van Dien confirmed that Verhoeven and cinematographer Jost Vacano shot the co-ed shower scene in the nude themselves, on a dare from Meyer. On the day of the shoot, Verhoeven had asked the cast to do a little "fashion show without fashion" so that they could get comfortable being naked. When the cast was reluctant to disrobe, Verhoeven asked them what the big deal was, to which Meyer responded "Paul, if it's no big deal, why don't you do it?" Quite unexpectedly, Verhoeven undressed, as well as Vacano (who had been raised in a nudity camp). After an initial shock (van Diem reportedly yelled "Oh God! Dina! Why!?") and a good laugh from the cast, the scene was filmed without problems.

The scenes involving explosions and fire after the destruction of Buenos Aires were actually videos taken from the Oakland Hills fire in October of 1991.

When Rico, Carmen and Carl meet with the recruiting officer after pledging, and the officer shakes hand with Rico, it is revealed that he has lost both his legs. This is not done with any means of special effect or other trickery, as Robert David Hall--the actor who plays the officer--had both legs amputated after an accident in 1978.

Director Paul Verhoeven admits to never finishing the novel, claiming he read through the first few chapters and became both bored and depressed and told screenwriter Edward Neumeier to tell him the rest "It's a very right-wing book". Verhoeven told Empire magazine.

During the scene where Michael Ironside's character falls into the hole and gets his legs bitten off, Dina Meyer hit her head, was knocked unconscious, and suffered a concussion.

Several references are made to WWII Medal of Honor recipient Rodger Wilton Young. During WWII as a small arms instructor, Sgt. Young was denied the opportunity to deploy with his unit when Japan entered the war. He requested that he be voluntarily demoted to private in order to see combat. His wish was granted. Career Sgt. Zim makes a similar request when Buenos Aires is destroyed. His wish is also granted. Also, during WWII, Young gave his life in combat by single-handedly bombarding a Japanese machine gun position with rifle fire and grenades during an ambush, allowing his platoon to escape. While rescuing Carmen from the Brain-bug, Sugar Watkins gives his life in an almost identical fashion by laying down rifle fire and detonating the Nuke so his friends can escape; The starship that Carmen is assigned is also named the Rodger Young.

Nearly every military uniform has WW2 German military and SS paramilitary uniform references. The flag of the Federation has a symbol which closely resembles the Imperial Eagle from WWII Germany.

In the shower scene, Shujimi (Anthony Ruivivar ) says that he joined the Mobile Infantry so that the federation would pay for his studies, which would otherwise have cost him "an arm and a leg." Shujimi later has his limbs ripped off by the bugs.

Besides Rico, Ace is the only one of Rico's squadmates from boot camp to survive the entire movie from Klendathu to Planet P.

Test audience reactions led to several minor changes before the film was released. Originally, it was clear that Carmen was torn between Rico and Zander. Test audiences, regardless of gender, strongly felt that a woman could not love two men at once, so scenes which portrayed this were cut. These audiences also felt it was immoral for Carmen to choose a career ahead of being loyal to Rico, to the extent that many commented that, in so doing, Carmen should have been the one to die instead of Dizzy. While admitting it may have been a bad commercial decision not to change the film to accommodate this, the directors did cut a scene from after Zander's death where Carmen and Rico kiss, which the audience believed made the previous betrayal even more immoral.

Several scenes were filmed following Carmen (Denise Richards) coming to grips with the supposed death of Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien), while starting a relationship with Zander (Patrick Muldoon). However, test audiences started to hate her character for hooking up with another man so soon after the death of her former lover, and were very vocal about it. The scenes were subsequently deleted, although a relationship between Carmen and Zander is still implied in the rest of the movie.

In the film, during live training, Djana'D (Tami Adrian George) shoots and kills Breckinridge accidentally, resulting in Rico's flogging. In real life, the two actors are together and have a child. They met on this film.

For the scene where Dizzy gets killed by a warrior bug, Dina Meyers argued with director Paul Verhoeven on her character screaming after getting stabbed and when Rico pulls out the arachnids claw from her chest as there was no air in her chest for her to emit such a scream as she wanted it to be authentic but Paul's only response to her was simply to "just scream".

In the original script, Capt. Deladier was supposed to have her brains sucked out instead of Zander Barcalow.

Rico's career in the mobile infantry looks something like this: Cadet, Cadet - squad leader, wash out, Cadet, Private, Corporal, acting Seargent, Corporal, Lieutenant.

In the scene where Carl influences his ferret Cyrano to go "bug" his mom; Rico tells Carl not to do anything like that to him. This foreshadows a scene near the end, wherein Rico saves Carmen as Carl psychically guides him though. Carl later says it's "classified."

Michael Ironside's character is missing and arm and later has both legs bitten off by a tanker bug. During a fight with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall - Die totale Erinnerung (1990) (also directed by Paul Verhoeven) Ironside's character has both arms severed.

The tune Ace plays while Johnny Rico is dancing with Diz is the Mexican song "Las Golondrinas" (The Swallows). Since this melody is mostly played in farewells and closures as a way to say 'good-bye' to someone, it foreshadows the fate of Diz.

The recruiting sergeant says to Carl, who was chosen for military intelligence, "next time we meet, I'll probably be saluting you." Ironically, near the end, Sergeant Zim (who busted himself to Private to get combat) salutes Johnny Rico, who is now a lieutenant.

When Sergeant Zim is roughing up the recruits, he hits Shujumi in the right leg with his baton. This is interesting as Shujumi later gets his right leg cut off by an Arachnid during the battle of Klendathu.

Although the plot of the film is almost completely unrelated to the novel, the names of characters who die in the novel are given to characters who die in the film. "Dizzy Flores" (a man in the book, a woman in the film) dies in the first chapter. One exception to this is Rico's friend Carl, who dies in the book, but not the film.