STARSHIP TROOPERS: Traitor of Mars Brings the Bug Gang Back Together!

Jeri Jacquin

Celebrating the 20^th Anniversary of the original STARSHIP TROOPERS, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment along directors Shinji Aramaki and Masaru Matsumoto bring us back to fighting bugs with STARSHIP TROOPERS: Traitor of Mars on Bluray and DVD.

Twenty years after Johnny Rico (voiced once again by Casper Van Dien) and friends gave the bugs a good what-for, he finds himself on Mars with a band of new recruits. Carl (Justin Doran) is now a General who is trying to stay one step ahead of Sky Marshall Amy Snapp (Emily Neves). Carmen Ibanez (Luci Christian) is commanding her own ship as well.

Training his Martian troops, the one thing Rico doesn’t expect is an attack by the bugs. The Federation can’t send help soon enough but then again Carl suspects that there is something bigger at play here. Reaching out to Carmen, he tells her that Rico needs her help.

Once the major attack begins, Rico acts like a commander making sure his soldiers escape. Left on Mars surface, he is visited by the familiar face of Dizz (Dina Meyer) who helps him figure out a way to stop the bugs before they completely take over Mars.

Sky Marshall Snapp goes before the citizens sending fear about what the bugs have planned next. Not listening to Carl’s advice, saving Mars is in the hands of Rico and the troops who know that everybody fights and nobody quits!

There is no one else I’d accept as the voice of Johnny Rico. Van Dien returns, vocally at least, to bring Johnny Rico back to us. It has been some time and the battles have had an affect on him not just physically. A little older but absolutely wiser, he is still haunted by the death of Dizz and remembers a simpler time with Carmen and Carl. That’s what makes STARSHIP TROOPERS: Traitor of Mars awesome – it’s a trip down memory lane but doesn’t take away from the battle that is still happening with the bugs.

Also returning is Dina Meyer as the voice of Dizz as she straightens out Johnny a bit. It is awesome that she returns and without giving anything away, fans will be thrilled. Doran as Carl is a little unnerving vocally but he hasn’t changed when it comes to being evasive about what is going on around them all. Christian as Carmen listens when Carl says Rico needs help. Neves as Sky Marshall Snapp has a plan of her own and like Carl, is playing it close to the vest.

Other cast include DeRay Davis as One-Oh-One, Scott Gibbs as Baba and Juliet Simmons as Camacho.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment brings amazing quality motion picture and television productions. Such films as BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, UNDERWORLD BLOOD WARS and PASSENGERS also available for your home entertainment library – there is so much more. To see more of what they have to offer please visit www.sonypictures.com.

Celebrated anime filmmaker Shinji Aramaki of APPLESEED ALPHA and APPLESEED EX MACHINA along with sci-fi master Ed Neumeier return us to the 1997 iconic STARSHIP TROOPERS film. A sci-fi classic (and I can’t be friends with you if the film isn’t on your guilty pleasure list), STARSHIP TROOPERS: Traitor of Mars brings this animated gang back for more bug battles and a storyline that twists and turns.

The Bluray includes Traitors of Mars: A Look Inside Bugs and Powered Suits, Traitor of Mars: A Look Inside Story and Characters, Expanding the Universe – 20 Years and Counting, Continuing the Universe and Traitor of Mars, Deleted Scenes, and Photo Gallery. The DVD includes A Look Inside: Motion Capture and A Look Inside: Music. 

STARSHIP TROOPERS: Traitor of Mars is available on Digital August 22, on 4K Ultra HD/Bluray Combo Pack and DVD this week and STARSHIP TROOPERS 20^th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD Edition September 19^th.

This animated film is a blast from the past while giving us more story with a new crew of soldiers who could only be trained by Rico. There are iconic phrases that could only be uttered by Rico melding the iconic 1997 film with 2017 animation. There is action, fun, memories and bugs who need taking care of so On the Bounce, Troopers!

In the end – Johnny Rico is back!