Glen here...
...with a follow-up to Coaxial's previous report regarding a proposed all-CGI series based on Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers.
My previous post contained vast amounts of story & concept information about this limited-run series (40 episodes with an arcing storyline) - too much to repeat herein. Since my initial report, I have been able to ascertain that all the conceptual / structural information previously conveyed was accurate save one element - my statement that Netter Digital Entertainment (NDE) would be responsible for animating the series was erroneous.
NDE will not be animating the CGI Starship Troopers series for Sony. As had been rumored across the Internet for the last few weeks, Foundation Imaging (who brought us the FX for the first three seasons of Babylon 5, is currently working on Star Trek: Voyager, whose dark comedy The Universe & Harry Morgann has been previously referenced on Coaxial) will be animating the CGI Troopers series.
To accomplish the monumental task which lies before them, Foundation has partnered with Flat Earth, the effects house bringing us the whizbangery of the current Hercules and Xena television series.
The Executive Producer of Starship Troopers is Richard Raynis (Dilbert, King of the Hill, The Simpsons, The Critic). Raynis is said to be asking for an amazing level of "detail and complexity". Despite Raynis' comedic background, the storytelling on Starship Troopers will often be skewed towards adult action, with some of the series' humor being described as "very adult".
Foundation Imaging will be animating 25 of the SI episodes, the remaining 15 falling to Flat Earth. The only design being kept from the Verhoven film of the same concept & name is a Warrior Bug, and even its appearance will be slightly altered. Other than that? Suits, armor, vehicles, ships, and new kinds of bugs will all be rendered from new designs by Foundation / Flat Earth.
The series is described as being action intensive, with lots and lots of bug squashing. To get a sense of what Starship Troopers will actually look like, CLICK HERE to jump to the Foundation Imaging web site, where you can see images from another Foundation project called Vortex - which will serve as something of a template for the design of the Starship Troopers CGI series.
