| In the Book |
In the Movie |
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The Mobile Infantry is a part of the Terran Army with males soldiers equipped with powered armored suits that completely enclose their bodies giving them high strength, mobility and endurance. They are like walking tanks.
They are frequently dropped from orbit in capsules with parachutes and land on the surface ready to fight in their powered suits. At other times they arrive in drop ships.
The MI is male only. |
The Mobile Infantry soldiers have helmets and body armor, but is not much more advanced than that used in the 20th century.
They travel from orbit to the surface in drop ships.
Males and females serve together. |
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Juan Rico is the son of a wealthy Filipino business man who opposes his son's entry into Federal Service. |
John Rico is the son of a wealthy white family living in Buenos Aires.
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Juan follows Carl into the Service. Juan and Carmen are not a couple. |
John Rico follows Carmen into the Service. They are a couple. |
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Jean V. Dubois is the History and Moral Philosophy teacher in Rico's high school. |
Jean Rasczak is the high school teacher. He is also The Roughneck's platoon leader.
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Rico cheats during a training exercise at boot camp and is punished with five lashes |
Rico makes a mistake which results in the death of a fellow recruit and is punished with ten lashes. |
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Rico's mother dies while on vacation in Buenos Aires when the Bugs attack the city. |
Both of Rico's parents die when Buenos Aires is destroyed.
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The Mobile Infantry tries to retrieve their wounded and dead soldiers. |
The Mobile Infantry is shown killing severely wounded soldiers instead of taking them to safety. |
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Rico promoted to corporal after some time with the Roughnecks, then sergeant after going career. |
Rico is promoted to corporal and later on sergeant during a mission when another soldier is killed/wounded.
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After the defeat on Klendathu Rico's platoon, the Wildcats is dissolved. He is sent to the Roughnecks who are led by Sgt Jelal and Lt Rasczak. Flores and Ace are senior to Rico and arrived at the Roughnecks prior to Rico. |
After Rico's first battle he is sent along with privates Flores and Ace to the Roughnecks. Sgt Jelal is not in the movie. |
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Lt Rasczak dies while rescuing a soldier during a mission attacking the Skinnies. |
Lt Rasczak is killed by Rico after losing his legs to a underground Bug.
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The Skinnies are an alien race that sided at one time with the Bugs. |
The Skinnies are not in the movie. |
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The MI soldiers have sophisticated weapons controlled by their powered suits, including nukes, poison gas, bombs and flamethrowers. They are well trained to be deadly even when alone and unarmed. |
The soldiers are mostly armed with simple machine guns without sights. There are a few mounted guns, rocket launchers and grenades and a sniper rifle, but for the most part the soldiers "spray and pray"; not really effectively aiming their weapons.
They seem to be little more than cannon fodder.
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Carl dies when his outpost is attacked. He is a minor character who is hardly mentioned in the book after he enlists. |
Carl Jenkins eventually becomes a colonel in the Army. |
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Rico accepts an appointment to Officer Candidate School after he decides to make the military a career. |
Carl Jenkins promotes Rico to platoon leader after Rico kills Lt Rasczak.
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Carmen visits Rico while he is in Officer Training School. He gets a one day pass to take her out to dinner. Carmen has shaved her head while a trainee pilot. This is Carmen's only appearance in the book after Rico joins the military. |
Carmen interacts with Rico in battle while flying and in combat on the ground. Carmen fights and wounds a brain bug that is later captured. Carmen has long hair throughout the film. |
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When Rico nears completion of OCS he is promoted to 3rd Lt and sent on mission with Blackie's Blackguards. He is instrumental in the capture of a Brain Bug. He graduates and is promoted to 2nd Lt. |
Rico leads his platoon on a mission to capture a Brain Bug and also rescues Carmen after she crashes on the planet.
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This does not happen in the novel. |
Capt. Deladier dies when the Rodger Young is destroyed in orbit. |
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Sgt Zim serves as platoon Sgt under Capt Blackstone and 3rd Lt Rico during the raid to capture a brain bug. Zim is field promoted to captain for his actions while capturing a brain bug. |
Sgt Zim gets himself demoted to private so he can leave his position at boot camp and serve on the battle field where he captures the brain bug.
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When Juan Rico is reporting to Officer Candidate School, he meets his father who is reporting as a corporal to the Rodger Young. His father had turned his business over to a friend and enlisted. |
John Rico's father died during a Bug attack on Earth, he never served in the military. |
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Juan Rico is 18 when he enlists. |
The actor portraying Rico was 29 when the movie was produced.
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The Soldier Bugs have sophisticated weapons which can easily kill a armored soldier. They also have a fleet of ships and have colonized other planets. Worker Bugs, which far outnumber the Soldier Bugs are unarmed. |
The soldier Bugs only use their jaws and arms/legs as weapons. Other larger Bugs are shown ejecting some sort of energy projectile which is used against ships in orbit. No worker bugs are shown. |
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There is considerable back story on the failure of 20th century governments which lead to world wide "veterans only" voting and the right to hold political office. |
This is barely mentioned in the movie.
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The book ends with 1st LT Juan Rico leading the Roughnecks on the Roger Young replacing Lt Jalel after he lost his legs. His father is the platoon sergeant. The war is going badly for the Bugs; the human are attacking Klendathu to capture/kill the brain caste Bugs and rescue any human prisoners. After his father seals up his drop capsule, Rico finds he no longer gets the "shakes" while awaiting the drop out of orbit and down to the planet surface. |
The movie ends with a recruiting advertisement showing Carmen as Captain of a troop ship and Rico leading his soldiers onto a drop ship and into battle. |