Director: Alan Caldwell

Summary: Johnny Rico and the crew are given the task of getting rid of an infestation of aliens on Zegema Beach. But the task proves very tricky and in order to succeed the group need to team up with T'Phai...

Johnny Rico and his crew are angry that they've been teamed with the suspicious T'Phai to fight an infestation of alien bugs on Zegema Beach. When the bugs show the soldiers what they are capable of, resulting in a close call for Rico, the men realize that they are going to have to work together if they want to survive. Based on the book that inspired the film, ROUGHNECKS is a feast for fans of both sci-fi and beautiful computer-generated visuals.

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In Volume 2 of Roughnecks--Starship Troopers Chronicles, Johnny Rico, Lieutenant Razak and their computer-animated squad embark on the Tesca campaign, once again fighting the bugs in all their myriad forms, shooting anything that moves and generally causing chaos and mayhem. Inspired by Robert Heinlein's sci-fi classic and executive-produced by Paul Verhoeven, who made the big-screen version, Roughnecks is cutting-edge TV animation that's more for grown-ups than kids. The neat equipment, combat suits and weapons are as deadly as they are cool, and even though the extreme gore and violence of the movie has been toned down the endless threat from all manner of nasty bugs is still pretty terrifying (the Giant Spider Bug, for example, really is the stuff of nightmares). As with Volume 1, the five 20-minute episodes are here spliced together into a movie-length feature, which makes for a satisfyingly lengthy story arc instead of the more usual self-contained individual episodes. The show's structure also allows for plenty of character development: this time the squad are joined by an alien "skinny" called T'Phai who, as might be expected, has to work hard to bond with the rest of the team and earn their respect. Like all good war stories, at its heart Roughnecks celebrates that "Band of Brothers"-style bonding in extreme circumstances which we viewers can only experience vicariously.

On the DVD: The 4:3 picture is good, although it's better to watch with the lights off to see all the detail in the moody (i.e., "dark") CG animation. The 5.1 sound shows off explosions and gunfire, but also the almost incessant techno soundtrack. There's a good commentary from cast and crew members, who talk about their various movie inspirations (from the D-Day landing sequence of Saving Private Ryan to, of course, Aliens) and their desire to parallel real war situations. There's also a photo gallery of the human actors and a trailer. This is a stylish show, and a good DVD.--Mark Walker

Aspect Ratio:	4:3 Full Frame
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Commentary By Cast And Crew, Photo Gallery, Trailer
Subtitles:	Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Year:	1999
Release Date:	January 21, 2002
Runtime:	96 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	C D R P 954
Keywords:	Animated, General, Series, Fiction, Starship, Chronicles, Science, Roughnecks, Volume, Troopers, Campaign, Animation, Horror, Vol, Sci, Fi, Tesca
Genre:	Science Fiction