The Starship Troopers Cartoon Whose Cliffhanger DEVASTATED Fans
Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles turned an R-rated sci-fi war movie into a before-school cartoon, and left fans waiting for a final battle that never came.
In 1999, this ambitious CGI series sent Rico, Dizzy, Lieutenant Razak, and the Roughnecks into a war that stretched across alien worlds and eventually reached Earth. Characters changed, losses mattered, and the story kept building toward its conclusion. Then it stopped, three episodes short of finishing the war.
What happened?
In this episode of Dial-Up Dayz, we revisit the forgotten Starship Troopers cartoon and explore the production problems behind its unfinished story. From demanding animation and missed deadlines to studio handoffs and a shrinking budget, Roughnecks was fighting a battle behind the scenes while its soldiers fought the bugs on screen.
We’re looking back at:
• How Starship Troopers became a weekday-morning kids’ show
• Why its ambitious CGI production struggled to keep up
• The surprisingly emotional stories that made the squad unforgettable
• The missing episodes and the finale that never reached television
• The unusual way a version of that ending was performed for fans
Along the way, we revisit the show’s connections to the original movie, Robert A. Heinlein’s novel, and Gargoyles co-creator Greg Weisman—and why its missing ending still stings.
Did you watch Roughnecks before school? Which character or moment stuck with you? And if those final three episodes were finished today, would you come back to see how the war ends? Let us know in the comments!
Special thanks to zeze5616 for suggesting this nostalgia rabbit hole. Keep your requests coming!
Subscribe to Dial-Up Days for more stories behind the shows, movies, and pop culture we grew up with.
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@Richard_Cannon
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
No way they'd make a good movie with the current state of hollywoood
@ladyzeon7747
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
So… when can we get an episode on Voltron: The Third Dimension?
@mikeg2099
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
Then beast wars come on after it msis those days
@SesionHawke
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
why the superman & batman figure's at 11:02–11:03 ? is that your signature thing during Videos?
@nicknlina
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Such a good episode! Completely true about Weisman with all his tv projects (it's a curse lol). Roughnecks had so much loss that was written to the point no fairy tale endings. Still adore what this show did. Make you love characters and just rip them away from normalcy.
@LuminusObscurum
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
I have one for you. Voltron
@GhostofaGoat
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
bro I'm done with the internet I just talked about this show when I was taking a shit like 3 days ago and now so book report about it.
@madmouthmarv
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
I used to wake up early in the morning and take our little black and white TV into my room to watch this. Didn’t actually see what it looked like in color until I was an adult. 😂
@eddiejoewalt7746
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
speaking of others shows that ending in Cliffhangers
SPIDER MAN UNLIMITED/SILVER SURFER/AVENGERS UNITED WE STAND
@joshuabrandoncox
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
TOXIC CRUSADERS/TOXIC AVENGER PLEASE!
@SmokinTengu
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
Do War Planets!
@ryansokolosky2680
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
I'd like a Mummies Alive ep. I love that show and have all the toys except the micros.
@Gamer8585
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
I remember watching this as a kid before school. I loved it, but the constant reruns, and some episodes being out of order really hurt it. I also remember being excited for the battles on Earth, but when they just kept rerunning older episodes I though it was because they were saving that for a Season 2. If there are a lot of production assets intact then Sony should probably try to stitch them together and create a full movie from the final episodes. Pack that in as an exclusive with a box set of the series and watch fans throw money and free advertising at it. Sure they will probably need to do some work to generate a few more assets and polish everything, but I think the revenue would far exceed the cost.
@nerdherda2782
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
Man, I really enjoyed this show. It blended the book and movie materials so well. T'' Phi and the sergeants friendship development was so interesting to watch it grow to such a strong bond.
@Garethsmod
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
I really gotta wonder if this helped inspire the CGI clone wars series. Although Clone Wars purposely kept it out of order I think to avoid some of the problems this had.
@ItsDanielPika
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
Alot of this story and release and the final episodes not being aired reminds me of Kamen Rider Dragon Knight.
You should do that next!
@SST1447
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
Ok you say I need to comment… so here it goes. I need an episode of the rise and fall of the Tremors TV series that only got 1 season on sci-fi network in the early 2000s and how a pilot for a new series in 2018 was shot WITH Kevin Bacon but nothing has come of that.
@Powherkrangunch
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
I love Starship Troopers! I had no idea that this cartoon existed, though! I l will have to look it up sometime! Too bad it was canceled. It looks awesome! I really hope you guys will cover Monster Rancher, Exo-squad, and the canceled Action Man series in the future! These cartoons all deserve their own time in the spotlight. Biker Mice from Mars would also be a treat!
@SNistuk
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
You missed the actual 2 first person shooter starship troopers game, along with the RTS and they are still getting content.
@SNistuk
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
I loved this show. Along with exo squad.
@Renkencen
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
I remember watching most of the episodes back in the day.
I know I never finished watching the arc where they crashed onto an asteroid and my friend told me it was reveal the asteroid was a giant bug. Wasn't too surprised cos it was suss that they were those other bugs that attack the main bugs.
Same can be said for the last Earth arc aswell as I only recalled bits of it.
@ChaosTicket
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
I saw it on the Sci-Fi Channel and it was great for the time.
@obscuramask7435
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
Love this show. Why bring up the knockoff that is Helljumpers? Starship troopers extermination exists, came out before helljumpers too.
@sariosez
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
11:02 has me confused. What's with the random lightsaber, and the batman and superman figs standing on a speaker? 😂
@Mithrablank
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
Speaking of gloomy high concept military sci-fi that had toys and we maybe didn't process the subtext and serialization was unusual. Anybody remember Exosquad back from like '93 or '94?
Far as the neil blomkamp movie..temper your hopes cause that Alien movie that was gonna pick up after 2 never went anywhere. It'll probably be like that.
@AaronLevine-t3j
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
Considering the live action movie ended up getting a sequel in full CGI called invasion; the cartoon should have had at least a short movie to cap off the series.
Also, Starship Troopers has its own share of videogames.
@shadow177a17
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
“Would you like to know more?” I use to watch this show back in the day and didn’t care if it was a rerun or not. It gave me more time to spend with these bad ass heroes taking the fight to those bugs. It is a very fond memory that will live in my memory forever.
@ggbetz
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
I remember watching this at someones house waiting for a ride to school and being so confused. Ive never seen the movie, I just knew I didnt like it.
@dapperbardgames1041
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
I had no idea this existed and now I want to watch it.
@Mirandaeagreen
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
Your consistency is killing it!!
@prodigal_rebel_2062
November 4, 2026 at 6:56 am
I remember seeing the opening credits of this show back then but unfortunately I didn’t get to watch it because I had to go to school before an episode reached the halfway point, then one morning it was never seen again on tv.