Required to dissect a bug for Biology class, Johnny nonchalantly carves open and pulls out the creature's innards while Carmen vomits at the sight of the entrails and runs out. In a short scene where Johnny and Carmen have to dissect a bug as part of a Biology lesson, Johnny is also shown to have a strong stomach. Rico is shown to have high athletic ability, a very competitive nature, low math aptitude, great, but mostly unreturned, love for his girlfriend Carmen Ibanez ( Denise Richards), and much indecision about his future.

A blind, strutting biology teacher (Rue McClanahan) loudly corrects her students by pointing out the numerous daunting ways the Arachnids are superior to humans regarding competitive survival. Rasczak ( Michael Ironside) forcefully quizzes his students about the efficacy of 'naked force' in dispute resolution, and the need for civic responsibility. A one year flashback takes the scene to the posh Buenos Aires high school of a young man named John 'Johnny' Rico ( Casper Van Dien). The news is dominated by an ongoing war with the aliens, called Arachnids or Bugs due to their appearance. The film opens to a futuristic television viewing sequence. It focuses on the experiences of Johnny Rico ( Casper Van Dien), one of three friends who sign up to the military one year before Earth declares war on the Arachnids. Starship Troopers tells the story of an interplanetary war between Earth and colonies of large insect-like aliens in the twenty-third century.

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