Given that they are one of the much more unusual parts of the mythos, I could see writers on bigger budget productions spending far more time trying to explain and detail how they work. The very subject of the bio-chips are dealt with neatly and clearly, without much fuss. Again it's the implication of larger events which works so well here. Most people won't notice them on the first viewing, but they're enough to give the impression that this is more than just a few actors engaging in gun battles. Mere background things most people will miss, like a dropship which flies past as the Norts inspect Helm's drop pod are small elements but essential ones. This initial act is used to get a multitude of essential points across in an extremely short amount of time, through Nort communications chatter, fleeting conversations and visual actions. As such, it instead cuts to the last of these, Helm, in his final moments with the others already dead. Originally in the comic, the entire battle was shown in flashbacks, cutting from one moment to the next as Rogue's squadmates are gunned down, but there's simply not enough time to do that in this short length while allowing each to have an impact. There's only so much that the film can show, after all, and it helps to convey a much greater sense of scale to the events.įurthermore, the film opts to get right into the action, quickly cutting to the latest possible opportunity to offer an introduction to this event. What I like about this is that it's brief, sticks to the bare essentials and does more than simply offer an opening crawl - using voice-overs and background footage to impart a greater sense of atmosphere. As such, the film utilises an opening crawl to quickly bring the audience up to speed on the essential details. While you can put some of it down to simply 'he's a super soldier' other parts do need to be explained.

There's a lot of baggage to get out of the way with Rogue Trooper, even more so than the others.

Rogue trooper lore