Unclear and Present Danger15 Sep 2025

Starship Troopers

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched Paul Verhoeven’s 1997 science-fiction action thriller Starship Troopers, starring Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyers, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Michael Ironside and Clancy Brown. An adaptation of Robert Heinlein’s 1959 novel of the same title, Verhoeven’s film takes a satirical pass on the material, turning a fascistic coming-of-age tale into an unusual piece of meta-propaganda.

Starship Troopers takes place in a future, fascist society, where democracy and universal suffrage have been overthrown, and a military government leads humanity, with full citizenship reserved for those who serve in the armed services. Casper Van Dien plays Johnny Rico, an eager young recruit in the Mobile Infantry, who is sent to the frontlines of a war against the Arachnids, a supposedly hostile race of alien insectoids. The film tells the story of Rico’s training, his experience in battle, and his eventual rise to command.

It is the kind of triumphant narrative that the fascist government of the story would want to broadcast to a skeptical citizenry, which gets to what this movie is trying to do as a film. We talk about this and more, so tune in!

You can find a video version of this episode at Jamelle’s YouTube page.

Episodes come out roughly every two weeks, so join us then with an episode on The Jackal, a basically forgotten thriller starring Richard Gere and Bruce Willis.

Over at the Patreon, we discussed The Baader-Meinhof Complex. We’re also debuting a new weekly politics discussion show, only available for subscribers! Join at patreon.com/unclearpod.

Our producer is Connor Lynch and our artwork is by Rachel Eck.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(105)

Armageddon

On this week’s episode of the pod, Jamelle and John cover Michael Bay's 1998 asteroid movie Armageddon — the one where oil drillers, not astronauts, are sent to save the world. They discuss why it rea...

17 Juli 0s

Godzilla (1998)

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, we watched Roland Emmerich’s attempt to bring Godzilla to Hollywood in the appropriately titled Godzilla. Ostensibly a film about the dangers of n...

4 Juli 0s

Bulworth (feat. Vinson Cunningham)

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John are joined by Vinson Cunningham of the New Yorker to discuss Bulworth, the 1998 black comedy (no pun intended) written, directed ...

27 Maj 0s

Oklahoma City: A Survivor's Story

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch the 1998 Lifetime film Oklahoma City: A Survivor’s Story, starring Kathy Baker as Priscilla Salyers, a real-life U.S. Custo...

17 Apr 0s

Mercury Rising

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch the 1998 action thriller Mercury Rising, directed by Harold Becker and starring Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, and Miko Hughes...

26 Mars 0s

U.S. Marshals

On this week's episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch U.S. Marshals, the extremely lackluster sequel to The Fugitive which dispenses with a straightforward cat and mouse story i...

7 Mars 0s

GI Jane (feat. Hilary Matfess)

On this week's episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John were joined by Hilary Matfess of the University of Denver to discuss G.I. Jane, the 1997 military drama directed by Ridley Scott ...

19 Feb 0s

Unclear and Present Politics Episode 15 [PATREON BONUS]

The next episode of the podcast will be here soon, but while you wait, here is the most recent episode of our politics show on the Patreon. In it, we talk the most recent developments in the Trump adm...

12 Feb 0s