The movie GI Joe Rise of the Cobra due for release in most places this week looks a pretty interesting goodies-vs-baddies movie, not least for the metal-attacking green phage (farewell Eiffel Tower) and the Delta 6 Accelerator Suits, intro’d in the video clip above.
Ah, the suits! Shades of the James Bond gadget department here, and of course they hark back to what Starcruzer reckons is the first use of such devices in fiction - and that’s the powered suits worn by the Mobile Infantry in Robert Heinlein’s classic military yarn Starship Troopers, published in 1959. The book made a strong argument for the benefits of public service, both military and civil, and there have been many clashes over Heinlein’s apparent milito-fascistic view of society - but what interested this reviewer on first reading, and ever since, were Heinlein's oh-so-desirable powered suits.
Heinlein was prescient in his view of future-tech, though it’s mostly arrived far quicker than he might have imagined. His suit helmets were packed with heads-up displays, weapons were aimed just by looking at the target, there were built-in medical facilities. But best of all, troopers could JUMP in them - they were seven-league boots for real. Talk about a wish-fulfillment fantasy!
Since Heinlein wrote the book (a UK paperback edition is shown above) many of his predicted technologies have been developed and installed in leading-edge weapon systems, though we’re still waiting for the jump facility. The book is really worth a read, to see the ‘dean of science fiction’ working at the height of his powers.
We haven’t mentioned the Starship Troopers movies here. They’re OK in their way, if somewhat simplified conceptually, but the movie suits are a tragic missed opportunity - they’re little more than standard combat gear, and... they don't jump!
Visit the GI Joe website here.
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