Another cranky blogger who likes Heinlein
2nd September 2006
The Cranky Insomniac says he’s a:
US Army veteran, libertarian hawk, musician, gun rights advocate, PR consultant and NASCAR fan who worked for NBC News in Washington for three years, in Hollywood for ten years and has a BA in political science from Columbia University.
OK …he passes.
But his email to me includes some interesting questions:
PS: I’d be forever grateful if you could explain to me how The Moon is a Harsh Mistress didn’t make that list of 100 SF books you have to read…
PPS: Am I the only hardcore Heinlein fan who thinks Starship Troopers was a really good film, as long as you forget that it’s based on the book?
The first question is easy: You are I are biased. Were we creating this list, we would gleafully and unashamedly fill it with Heinlein works, and fill whatever open spots remain with Heinlein’s Children.
Still, it’s hard to believe that JUST THREE of the Master’s works made the cut.
As to the other question, I agree that the movie Starship Troopers SHOULD have been promoted as an original work and not an adaptation of a novel, since there were so many departures in plot and characters from Heinlein’s classic.
Let’s say, for a moment, the movie had a different title and the characters had different names. It’s entirely possible that this movie would have been able to run WITHOUT traggering a copyright infringement suit from the Heinlein Estate. The departures were that significant. The bugs shooting plasma out of their asses and starships flying around in defiance of the laws of motion were enough, IMHO.
But would it have been a good movie? Granted, I might have cringed a little but less. But the over-the-top acting and the Nazi imagery would still have put me off.
No. It was NOT a good film. Even the shower scene — normally something that perks me right up — left me feeling exploited and sorry for the actresses who had to film it.
[tags]Cranky Insomniac,Starship Troopers[/tags]
September 5th, 2006 at 7:34 am
I maintain that if you look at the film as a satire of the kind of propaganda films put out by Hollywood during WWII (not to mention the work of Leni Riefenstahl) it borders on the brilliant. But that could just be the years without sleep talking.
PS - I’m now writing this blog. It’s, er, um, a little different than what I was doing…
November 12th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
duy8f1v32um7okzr