Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles Season 1, Episode 20: Propaganda Machine

Freefall

Rookie troopers Rico, Flores and Jenkins journey to Pluto as part of Alpha Team "Razak's Roughnecks" on what is supposed to be a simple mop-up operation, but find a major threat to the research stations from plasma-shooting alien Bugs.

21 min

Plasma Bugs of Navarone

When the Roughnecks pick up a distress call from pilots Ibanez and Barcalow, who are under attack at a research outpost, Rico risks the safety of his own squad to save Carmen.

21 min

Handle with Care

The squad is assigned to assist intelligence officer Earle Walker in capturing a live Plasma Bug and bringing it back through enemy territory.

Stranded

As the war moves to the planet Tophet, the Roughnecks go after Razak and Higgins, who are trapped behind enemy lines and about to be blown up by their own air strike.

Basic Training

Rico has to train Higgins the reporter to defend himself in combat, as the Roughnecks try to defend themselves from new flying Bugs that seem impervious to laser fire.

Of Flesh and Steel

On a mission to capture an important mountain pass, Rico has trouble trusting the squad's newest member, a cyborg.

Pluto and Beyond

Higgins summarizes the current state of the war on Pluto and Tophet in clips from previous episodes.

Deep Trouble

When the Roughnecks go beneath the surface of Pluto to locate the Bug army's incubation center, Flores suffers from disabling claustrophobia.

21 min

Swarm

The battle against the Bugs moves to the watery planet Hydora, where Rico and the Roughnecks again come to Carmen's rescue when she is stranded while evacuating wounded.

Water, Water Everywhere

The "Transport" Bug that was found bringing reinforcements and eggs to Pluto is followed back to the watery planet Hydora, where it releases barb-shooting flying bugs of a previously unknown type. Is this the bug home world?

Search & Destroy

Searching for the Rippler nest on Hydora, the Roughnecks come under heavy fire and Jenkins is severely wounded by an acid-tipped barb. Can Jenkins survive his wound and can they find the nest?

Sole Survivor

While trying to find out what happened to Lt. Ross, who was found wandering on Hydora with his memory gone and his entire squad missing, the Roughnecks are captured by the Bugs.

Missing in Action

Trying to locate two missing squads that seem to have vanished into thin air, the Roughnecks find themselves battling giant amphibious beetles.

No Substitute

The Skinnies, formerly working for the Bugs, have changed sides but one of them meets considerable resistance when he joins the squad for its assault on Zegema Beach.

Hot Ice

Having crashed on a barren asteroid, the Roughnecks try to make their way to a crashed science vessel for help.

Marauder

As the squad tries to locate a brain bug on Tesca Nemerosa from underwater, Rico is trapped when his Marauder suit runs out of power.

...And Then There Were Two

Rico still doesn't trust T'Phai, but In the jungle on Tesca Nemerosa, they are forced to work together when the other squad members start disappearing.

Liquid Dreams

While a monsoon hits the Zegema Base hard, Rico floats unconscious in a regeneration tank, fighting his subconscious to stay alive.

Heart

Still in the tank, Rico grows increasingly angry and frustarted that no one is taking his claims that the bugs are coming seriously. Meanwhile, the squad is out to charting bug tunnels near the base.

The Inside Story

The Zephyr is still stuck on the ice asteroid. The Roughnecks are running low on ammunition and the Fireflies keep attacking. Gossard suggests they use the Toxin they've collected to set up a poison gas perimeter. To give him time T'Phai, Flores and Rico lead the Fireflies off as human bait. Things go wrong though and they are trapped with no apparent way out. Suddenly Zander appears and does a Pied Piper act with the Bugs - they all seem to fall into a giant crater. The team return to the ship and their report convinces every one Sander has bought the farm - but he suddenly reappears even crazier then before. Razak boots Rico up to a Corporal during the next battle session during which an tremor send the Zephyr into another crater. The ship eventually lands in a lake of corrosive liquid and is running low on air. Doc and Brutto go looking for an oxygen supply. T hey manage to find one but barely make it back to the ship. Doc though has other news! He is

Captured

The Roughnecks are captured by the skinnies, and held for interrogation.

Ice-Olation

Returning from a combat mission in a retrieval ship, the Zephyr, the Roughnecks are re-routed to an asteroid to join scientists from another ship, the Sequoia, in a quest for a bio-weapon against the bugs. Just as they are coming in for a landing, tiny flame-breathing bugs, Firefries, hatch from Zander's skin. The ship crashes, badly damaged, but there are no serious injuries. Teams are sent out to locate the Sequoia. One team, Razak and Doc, falls into a subterranean network where they are attacked by marshmallow-like Leeches. Another team, Brutto and T'Phai, find themselves in a battle with adult, human-sized Firefries. Razak and Doc, joined by Dizzy and Gossard from the ship, join in this battle. Meanwhile, the third team, Carmen and Rico, is buried by an avalanche, and beneath the snow they share some intimate moments. Dizzy saves them. All return to the Zephyr, where Higgins awaits with the recovering Zander. They finally realize that they're on the wrong asteroid; the Sequoia awa

Mixed Signals

The Zephyr remains crash-landed on a frozen asteroid. A team is sent out to collect Toxin B-3, a potent bio-weapon that they've found here, while Gossard and others remain at the ship to try to get the communications system working to send an SOS... and to protect the ship from Firefries.

The Face of Truth

The capture of the "skinny" Colonel T'Phai reveals that the entire race are being mentally controlled by the bugs and that they are using the planet for fuel and plan to blow it up after they are done. Can the Roughnecks stop the bugs in time?

Betrayal

Arriving on the planet of Tophet, the Roughnecks are surprised to meet an advanced indigenous species. They claim the bugs came, but couldn't adapt to their climate and died... But where are all the corpses then?

D-Day

S.I.C.O.N. prepares for the D-Day invasion of the bug home planet of Klendathu. During the build-up Flores gets an M.I.A. notice from telling her. that her brother, Eddie is MIA - presumed dead in a retrieval ship crash. She is badly shaken by this bombshell and her performance as a trooper is severely affected. The Roughnecks land in an area deemed uninhabited by Intel, as usual Intel get it wrong and the meet stiff opposition. Flores hesitates in the DZ and Rico who's been kicked up to Sergeant to replace Brutto is worried as Lt Razak has left it to him to decide whether she is now a liability. Rico is torn and leaves Flores in charge of a group of wounded troopers from other squads whilst the Roughnecks carry on the fight. As they get bogged down in the fighting Flores is brought back to reality by the will to fight of an injured trooper from another squad. She is able to surprise the Bugs from behind and save the Roughnecks. Later she meets another trooper who

Metamorphosis

The Valley Forge is enroute to their next campaign, a long trip. The Roughnecks drew the watch as most of the ship's crew is in stasis. Doc is suddenly attacked by Zander who has mutated into a new form of Bug. Zander escapes and runs amok in the ship, letting samples of other Bug types free to keep the Roughnecks busy whilst it heads for the bridge. There it captures Carmen and the Commander and, to stop the Roughnecks from interfering, kills power to the stasis tubes. Gossard manages to restore power to the tubes whilst Rico and Brutto go outside the Valley Forge to the emergency air lock on the bridge. As they enter the Sander Bug notices them and closes the door trapping Brutto in the process and damaging his legs. The rest of the team arrive and Zander escapes in a life-pod to the planet he was trying to crash the Valley Forge onto. Carmen manages to avoid the crash causing the Commander to withdraw earlier comments about automated pilots. The planet is t

Letters Home

The Roughnecks are dug in on Klendathu and are facing an inevitable Bug attack. High Command order them to hold the position at all costs. Higgins finds an unfinished letter home an anonymous trooper had begun but not finished. This gives him the idea of taping a series of ""Goodbyes"" from the rest of the squad to the folks back home - just in case. Through out the night the troopers individually record messages to their families on Earth. At day break the Bugs attack but the Troopers manage to hold them off just long enough for a major air strike to hit the Bugs. As they prepare for retrieval Higgins asks Lt Razak if he wants to tape a message to his family - Razak points him at the squad and tells him that these are his family.

Marooned

Rico is left floating in space after his pod malfunctions during a drop.

The Mission

Higgins is on guard duty at a camp on Klendathu. Whilst in front of the gates he sees a trooper staggering along. As he talks to the trooper a new type of Bug, hence known as an Impostor Bug, bursts out of the suit. The Impostor is a Bug that approximates the size and shape of a human and is able to fit inside stolen power suits. As such they present a major threat to the security of S.I.C.O.N. forces. The troopers manage to kill the bug but not before it manages to drop Lt Razak and knock his helmet off. After the attack, the Roughnecks are ordered to rescue the crew of a downed transport ship. When they get to the crashed ships location they discover that the crew have been captured by Bugs. As the squad track them Bugs back to their nest Lt Razak collapses - it seems he has been infected by spores carried by the Impostor Bug. Doc and Flores go to find the fungus responsible so Doc can synthesise an antidote whilst the rest of the squad keep tracking the Bugs.

Among Us

All S.I.C.O.N. forces revert to peace status after the Bug Queen has apparently been destroyed. Carl, though, keeps insisting the Queen is still very much alive and on the earth - somewhere. After another argument General Redwing sends him on leave to cool down. Meanwhile the roughnecks are reassigned - to the moons of Jupiter to repair the radio telescopes. Rico believes Carl is right and manages to convince Lt Razak too. Razak cuts through the red tape and gets Gossard to review satellite imagery of the earth before and after the Queens assumed arrival. Gossard finds an new, unexplained, hot spot near to Little Butte, North Dakota. The roughnecks divert their shuttle there without formal authorization but the town seems to be normal - until they realize the towns- people all look alike and sound alike. A s soon as they realize this they are attacked by the residents. The Roughnecks manage to capture a resident and get back to the ship. As they take off the r

Checkmate

Lt Razak is called to a mission briefing to find it being given by Sky Marshall Sanchez himself. The Sky Marshall tells the assembled officers about the of the Bug Queen. He then assigns Alpha and Echo squads the mission of locating and destroying the Queen. One bit of seemingly good news is the return of Carl to the squad. But the Roughnecks are dismayed to find an apparent change in his personality. Carl guides the roughnecks to the queens lair but is captured by Bugs enroute losing his helmet in the process. The Roughnecks find the Queen but she is holding Carl as a shield and Rico is unable to pull the trigger on his friend. In the fire fight the Queen drops Carl and Rico returns his helmet. The squad give chase to the Queen but are unable to stop her escaping on a Transport Bug - enroute to Earth!!!!

The Ice Men Goeth

The Zephyr is trapped inside a giant Bug. Razak sends out a team to try and retrieve oxygen from the location found by Doc and Brutto.

Requiem

S.I.C.O.N has discovered that there is a vast network of Bug tunnels and colonies beneath the city of San Francisco. S.I.C.O.N. decides the only way to ensure victory is to hit the whole city with nukes the city thus destroying everything above and below ground.

Funeral for a Friend

General Redwing has ordered the Roughnecks to be split up as she does not have a spare Lt to assign to them. They are given time, though, to time to honour Lt Razak's Last Will so they got to spread his ashes over Luna Lake in Colorado. They are joined by General Redwing and by Sgt. Brutto who is now in a wheel-chair and who doubts his own worth. The squad come across a Bug operation and try to withdraw but General Redwing and Higgins are captured. They are threatened by a Brain Bug and Rico knows he ought to order General Redwing's death. However, by using the spare fuel cells from Sgt Brutto's wheel chair Gossard and Doc blow the mountain according to Rico's plan. Sgt Brutto uses his wheel chair to swoop in and save the hostages whilst the bugs are distracted. Afterwards General Redwing tells Rico he should have had her killed. Rico tells her that was plan ""B"". General Redwing realizes the squad is too valuable to split up so she offers Rico a battlefield prom

Spirits of the Departed

As Rico Struggles with his promotion to Lt. as leader of the Roughnecks, after Razacks death, They are assigned to defend S.I.C.O.N. high Command in Honolulu. In Route to Honolulu they pick up Sgt. Brutto's son, Max, who has been assigned to the Roughnecks as per an arrangement made by Sgt. Brutto himself. The Roughnecks come under heavy attack by the bugs and are joined by Sgt. Zimm then forced into an outpost waiting for a pickup. During there struggle Rico looks to Zimm for intructions on what to do, as he is not sure of his command abilities, and assigns Zimm leader of the squad while Rico puts himself on gaurd duty. While on Gaurd Duty, Sgt. Zimm tells Rico the reason he was assigned to him back in Basic Training then to the Roughnecks is because Lt. Razak and Zimm were good friends and they knew Rico was born to be a leader so they made a deal. This gives Rico the confidence he needs and he again assumes command, ordering the Roughnecks to blow up the outposts generator,they hid

Hide n' Seek

A massive bug mound has appeared outside of Buenos Aires. S.I.C.O.N. thinks the Bugs are going to assault the city again so they try to bomb the mound from the air. Plasma Tanker Bugs shot the planes down though and, because they keep changing location the air attacks are unable to neutralize them. So the Roughnecks are sent in with four other squads to locate and destroy the Tanker Bugs so the mound can be bombed to destruction. The squads dig in and hide whilst s decoy force lures the Warrior Bugs defending the Tankers away. Rico's group is almost detected by a Bug but Carl is able to mentally change its view and thus save the group. As the squads move in at night the game is given away by a trooper from another squad who launches a grenade at some Bugs. However this turns out to have a positive effect as all the Tanker Bugs start to fire all at once believing it's another aerial attack thus revealing all their positions simultaneously. The squads launch a missi

Trackers

The S.I.C.O.N. Fleet is hunting for the Bug Queen, after she escaped in a Transport Bug from Klendathu.

Court-Martial of Lt. Razak

The Roughnecks are about to be dropped on Klendathu into a hot LZ. Lt Razak tells Carmen to clear the LZ as he thinks it's too dangerous for the squad to land. Carman tells him INTEL in the form of Lt Walker ordered no weapons to be used, stealth drop only. Lt Razak overrides her and the LZ is cleared by bombs. As soon as Lt Walker finds out he tells Lt Razak that 6 squads were in that area under General Redwing but they'd lost radio contact. Lt Razak asks why he wasn't told and Walker tells him it was a covert op. on a need to know basis - and Razak didn't need to know. Back at the base Lt Razak faces a court of inquiry with Walker as prosecutor. Lt Walker charges Razak with endangering the squad and wrecking S.I.C.O.N. equipment needlessly, using troopers evidence and flash backs as proof. As the hearing goes on a swarm of bugs attacks the base prompting Lt Walker to exclaim there was a traitor in their midst feeding information to the Bugs and he points at LT Razak