Juan Rico
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| John Rico | |
|---|---|
| Starship Troopers character | |
| Created by | Robert A. Heinlein |
| Portrayed by | Casper Van Dien (movies, VG) Rino Romano (voice, Roughnecks') David Matranga (voice, Invasion) |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Soldier |
| Nationality | Filipino Argentines (In movies, series and OVAS) |
John or "Johnny" Rico is a fictional character and the protagonist of Robert A. Heinlein's 1959 military science fiction novel Starship Troopers. Rico is a space marine in the fictional "Mobile Infantry", an army group which is airdropped into combat by "dropships". He also appears in the 1988 Starship Troopers OVA series, the 1997, 2008 and 2012 installments of the film series, and the 1999 television series Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles.
Names
The character is also referred to by the nickname "Johnnie" or, in letters from his Filipino mother, as "Juan".
Biography
In Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Rico is the son of a wealthy Filipino family who joins the Terran Mobile Infantry almost on impulse and over his parents' objections. He is sent to Camp Arthur Currie on the Canadian prairie for basic training and graduates as one of 187 remaining recruits, from an original class of over 2000 enlistees. He is assigned as a private in "Willie's Wildcats" (Company K, Third Regiment, First Mobile Infantry Division), aboard the transport Valley Forge.
Rico's first exposure to battle comes during the disastrous "Operation Bughouse", where 80% of the Wildcats are killed, most of them during the collision of the Valley Forge with another ship during the combat drop. He is subsequently transferred to "Rasczak's Roughnecks" (2d Platoon, Company G, Third Regiment, First Mobile Infantry Division) aboard the corvette transport Rodger Young, where he is promoted to corporal and survives several successful battles. He later enters Officer Candidate School (OCS) at the encouragement of his friend Ace, eventually being commissioned as a second lieutenant after successfully commanding a platoon as a temporary third lieutenant in "Operation Royalty". At the end of the novel Rico is commanding his own platoon ("Rico's Roughnecks") back on the Rodger Young, with his father, Emilio Rico, as his platoon sergeant.
Adaptations
In the 1988 OVA Starship Troopers, Rico was voiced by Yasunori Matsumoto and is depicted as a blond White Argentine instead of Filipino like in the novel.
In the films Starship Troopers (1997) and Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (2008), 'John D. "Johnny" Rico is played by Casper Van Dien and his place of birth is changed: he's now Argentinian and hails from Buenos Aires. The destruction of the city during the first film plays a pivotal role in Rico's will to remain with the Mobile Infantry. In Starship Troopers 3, which takes place eleven years after the first film, Rico is a colonel and no longer commands the Roughnecks but rather a military post on the frontier planet Roku San. At the end of the film, Rico is offered a promotion to general and command of the Marauder Program by the new Sky Marshal. In the fourth film Starship Troopers: Invasion, Rico is a general and the commander of the L6 Earth-orbit Station.
In the 1999 TV series, Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles, Rico is voiced by Rino Romano, and serves as one of the protagonists. Utilizing elements from the movie, Rico is also from Buenos Aires, has a love triangle with Carmen Ibanez and Dizzy Flores, and is eventually promoted as Lieutenant of the Roughnecks before the cancellation of the series.
In the 2005 computer game Starship Troopers, which takes place eight years after the first film, Rico is a general.