I often get a lot of flack when my sci-fi friends find out that I didn’t care for the original 1997 ‘Starship Troopers’ movie. In fact, I’ve never actually be able to sit through the whole thing, but I’ve probably seen 90% of it in bits and pieces and out of order.

That said, the first ‘Starship Troopers’ film, based on the book by Robert A. Heinlein, does have quite a hardcore fanbase. I’m friends with quite a few of them and, from talking with them, I know that the direct-to-DVD sequels left a sour taste in many fans’ mouths.

Now Sony Pictures is bringing the Troopers back to the screen with a CGI sequel titled ‘Starship Troopers: Invasion’ and, courtesy of Blastr, we have our first look at the Japanese trailer for the film.

Japanese Trailer for ‘Starship Troopers: Invasion’:

According to the synopsis on the official ‘Starship Troopers: Invasion’ site, the film will follow the characters of Rico, Carmen, and Carl, which should please many fans. Here’s the full synopsis of the film:

Carmen Ibanez, who flew the Rodger Young in the first movie, is now captain of the John A. Warden (the battleship I introduced in previous blogs). Carl Jenkins, now Minister of Paranormal Warfare, takes over the John A. Warden for a deep space experiment – leaving Carmen livid and ship-less. Carl brushes off her vehement objections and disappears with the ship off into the vast nebula. When Carl and the ship go radio-silent, guess who orders a rescue mission? Yep…it’s big-time general/war-hero Johnny Rico.

As our film is set almost 10 years after the first movie, the big 3 are now in their mid-30’s and have somehow kept their relationships intact despite deployments millions of miles apart. You will see their fragile yet strangely resilient relationship evolve in this movie, especially with Rico still a little soft on Carmen…and a familiar uncertainty about whether Carmen still reciprocates those feelings. We definitely paid homage to the original movie (in all sorts of ways), so we can’t wait to see how fans of the original respond to an awesome mix of nostalgia and “franchise update.”

For more info on the film, check out the official site. The site has a virtual ton of concept art, screenshots, news, and another teaser trailer. It seems like a lot of work has gone into this sequel. Hopefully it’ll give fans a sequel worthy of the love that they’ve invested in the original.