Can someone tell me why, someone would release volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 of a series and not volume 5?
So, here’s the predicament. I’m watching the Roughnecks Chronicles which is based on Robert Heinlein’s novel, “Starship Troopers.” The novel was essentially an essay about citizenship, democracy, and sociology that happened to have powered armor and “bugs.” It’s an interesting read, and good science fiction intermingled with a philosophical slant. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the main character was Filipino. Which was nice, because, well it made absolutely no difference. It was a hero that just happened to be of Filipino ancestry. Race just wasn’t an issue whatsoever.
The television series actually captures the gritty feeling of the novel much more accurately than the live action movie, which I thought was complete trash with occasional flashes of cool computer generated effects. Of course, I still enjoyed it.
In comparison to the movie, the series is completely computer generated, well written, and amazingly enough, well acted. It has the feel of a World War II movie, except uh, with power armor and giant insects. It was broadcast on television for a while until the toy manufacturers and Sony realized that it was perhaps too violent to be a children’s show. (Ed. Note: Ya think?!) As a result, funding was pulled and the series was cut. However, they did complete the series as best they could.
When I saw that they released the DVDs, I was quite happy. I could finally watch the series in its entirety.
Except for the fact that they didn’t release five episodes. These five episodes would have made up volume 5 of the DVD series.
So now, I own the DVDs, with a big missing chunk in the middle. The missing episodes are readily apparent as when I go from volume 4 to volume 6, as the first episode of volume 6 resolves some sort of cliffhanger. As I watched the first episode of volume 6, I thought, “Just what in the hell is going on?”
After some research, I’m currently in the process of tracking down and bootlegging the missing episodes, which are:
- 121 Ice Asteroid: Day 1 Feb 08/00 Ice-Olation
- 122 Ice Asteroid: Day 2 Feb 15/00 Mixed Signals
- 123 Ice Asteroid: Day 3 Nov 25/99 Hot Ice
- 124 Ice Asteroid: Day 4 Jan 17/00 The Inside Story
- 125 Ice Asteroid: Day 5 Mar 09/00 The Ice Men Goeth
If anyone happens to have these in a handy format, let me know.
In addition to not releasing these five episodes, the final three episodes of the series were never produced.
These final episodes were to culminate in a final, apocalyptic battle deep within the earth that involved no less than 150 robotic battle suits that were designed to fight in lava. The descent to fight the bug queen was going to resemble Dante’s Inferno, with levels loosely based on the “circles of hell.”
I know what you’re thinking–how could they not produce these episodes?
They just sound too good.
Note: Yes, I know, this post has nothing to do with race or terrorists or shuttles exploding or current events. I have a DVD set that is incomplete, and probably will never be complete.
And yet, somehow, life goes on.