Movie:
Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles is a CGI TV series that debuted in August of 1999. Based on the novel by Robert A. Heinlein that inspired the movie, Roughnecks adds more anti-bug campaigns than were featured in the movie, effectively filling in some gaps and adding some character development. Fans of the film will recognize Rico, Flores, Ibanez, Jenkins, and Razak. This DVD contains episodes 16-20 of the show, which is the entire five part Tesca Campaign. New to the Alpha Team is T'Phai, a member of the Skinnies. The Skinnies, an alien race, are now allied with the Roughnecks, and T'Phai joins them in their quest to destroy the bugs on Tesca Nemerosa, a lush jungle planet.

When it's discovered that Tesca Nemerosa is the source of the bug's food, the Roughnecks immediately head there to take the planet. Alpha Team is initially in charge of taking Zegema Beach, a task made harder by the inclusion of a new teammate and old enemy, T'Phai. Though T'Phai eventually gains the team's respect, Rico has a hard time trusting him, due to their history. On another mission to destroy a new batch of mutated and highly evolved bugs, a teammate is near-fatally wounded, resulting in their hospitalization. But when a monsoon suddenly arrives forcing most of the SICON forces off the planet, Alpha Team remains to protect their own…but will their efforts be in vain?

After seeing The Pluto Campaign earlier this year on DVD, I anxiously awaited the release of more of the series on the DVD format. Since The Tesca Campaign doesn't immediately follow The Pluto Campaign (there are two story arcs between them) and since I haven't seen the entire series, some of the arc was slightly confusing. However, for longtime fans of the show, this shouldn't be an issue. It was also recently announced that Sony would produce The Hydora Campaign and The Tophet Campaign, which are the two missing arcs between the Pluto and Tesca Campaigns, and to be honest, they can't come fast enough, as I've thoroughly enjoyed both the Pluto and Tesca Campaigns.

Picture:
Roughnecks is presented in 1.33:1 full frame, as it originally aired on TV. While the CGI is mostly exceptional, some of it is a tad jerky, and not all of it is of the same quality. For example, the flashback scenes during episode 19 are much more bland and stiff than in other episodes. There is also some slight grain in a few scenes, as well as some edge enhancement, though both are easily overlooked.

Sound:
Roughnecks is presented in Dolby Surround 2.0 in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. The surround track is amazing, especially when considering that this was originally a TV show. Throughout the series, the surrounds stay almost constantly active, both with the sounds of war and the series' music. Dialogue throughout the episodes is crisp and clean, with no distortion that I could detect. Subtitles are also available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai.

Extras:
The main extra on the disc is the screen-specific audio commentary with quite a few of the people involved in the series. There are four participants per episode, three of which are present in every episode. These three are: Audu Paden (producer), Jeff Kline (co-executive producer), and Greg Weisman (writer of episode 19). The others include: Alan Caldwell (director of and on episodes 16&18), Michael Chang (director of and on episode 17), Jay Oliva (director of and on episode 19), and Rino Romano (voice of Rico) for episode 20.

I really enjoyed the commentary, as its evident that all of the participants are having fun both talking about and watching Roughnecks. Especially on the first part of first episode, the participants tend to discuss the series more as a whole, rather than focusing on the episode, but this is mainly due to the fact that it's the first commentary track recorded for the series, despite it being episodes 16-20. Over the course of the commentary, the participants discuss the roots of the series, how the Roughnecks TV series is both similar and different from the movie and the novel, the pros and cons of CGI, the themes for the series, the inspiration for the episodes, and where The Tesca Campaign fits in the overall storyline. They also distinguish where one episode ends and the next begins, and provide both the episode title and number. Also, the participants like to reveal what happens both before and after The Tesca Campaign, so those who don't want the show's ending or the previous campaigns spoiled might want to sit this commentary out for the time being.

Of all the participants in the commentary, my favorite was Rino Romano, who shares stories from working with the other voice actors and on the project as a whole. Hopefully future Roughneck DVDs will feature commentaries, and if so, will include him.

Also rounding out the disc are about 80 concept and design sketches for the ships, characters, bases, and the planet featured in these five episodes, 6 pictures of the filmmakers, and trailers for The Pluto Campaign and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain.

Summary:
For fans of the series, this disc is a must-have, if for no other reason than the excellent commentary track. Newcomers will want to check out the previously released Pluto Campaign to get a feel for the series before giving this one a try. Highly Recommended!