Sony Puts 'Starship Troopers 3' Panel on BD Live Network

30 Jul, 2008 By: Billy Gil

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder

SAN DIEGO — Sony Pictures Home Entertainment held a panel July 26 at San Diego Comic-Con International 2008 for the Aug. 5 release of Starship Troopers 3: Marauder on Blu-ray Disc — that panel will be included as a feature on Sony's BD Live network, downloadable with the disc.

“You're being taped for a BD Live presentation …” said Fritz Friedman, SVP of worldwide publicity at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Friedman introduced the panel, which included star Casper Van Dien (returning as Johnny Rico after appearing in the first “Starship Troopers” installment, but not the second) as well as writer/director Edward Neumeier and co-star Jolene Blalock (“Star Trek: Enterprise”).

“He's talking about the issues we're dealing with today,” Blalock said of the influence of politics and religion on the script by Neumeier, who wrote the first film as well as the direct-to-video release Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation. Although he has written a number of films (namely Robocop), Marauder is his first film as director.

A clip of the action-packed film showed the inclusion of mechanical Marauder powersuits, much to the audible delight of fans.

“I read the book (Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein) when I was 12 … it was the powersuits that made the book,” Van Dien said.

The BD Live-only panel is just one of many advanced features on the release, including the ability for an owner of the title to take his or her picture, upload it to Sony's BD Live site and insert it into key scenes in the film. That feature also is available in the upcoming Blu-ray Disc of the original Starship Troopers.

“The interactivity's going to be majestic,” Friedman said.