Klendathu

Klendathu is the fictional homeworld of the extraterrestrial race known as the Bugs (or, sometimes, "Arachnids"), in the fictional universe of the Robert A. Heinlein novel Starship Troopers, and in the movie of the same name (and its first and second sequels, and spin-off television series).

Immediately following the Bugs' attack on Earth, leveling Buenos Aires, the Terran Federation attacks Klendathu. The attack is codenamed "Operation Bughouse". Heinlein makes clear in the novel that the attack on Klendathu is undertaken despite calls for additional defensive forces on the home world. "B.A. really stirred up the civilians and inspired loud screams to bring all our forces home, from everywhere—orbit them around the planet practically shoulder to shoulder and interdict the space Terra occupies," according to the novel version. In both the novel and the film, the attack on Klendathu is unsuccessful, leading Juan Rico to call it "Operation Madhouse". Casualties are high and the assault needs to be abandoned—after eighteen hours in the novel, and only three in the film.

While Klendathu's terrain is never described in the Robert A. Heinlein novel, the movie presents Klendathu (along with every other planet save Earth) as a desert world. In the film, Klendathu is shown as dark blue with two moons around it, with no structures visible (perhaps to add to the portrayal of the Bugs as mindless brain-eaters). The location chosen for Klendathu was Hell's Half Acre in central Wyoming. In the book, Heinlein depicts the important structures on Klendathu as subterranean, describes the tunnel interiors as glassy-smooth; and he makes it clear that there is a capital city somewhere under the surface of the planet. The Mobile Infantry never come close to securing either the topside or the underground tunnels of the planet. After the assault on Planet P in the novel, the final chapter recounts the drop room scene as Johnny Rico, having become a lieutenant, prepares his "Roughnecks" for the climactic assault on Klendathu. As Heinlein describes the scene: "Each year we gain a little. You have to keep a sense of proportion.... 'This time...we take it away from them'."

The "Netnews" reporter's quote from the film sums it up:


 * It's an ugly planet; a Bug planet. A planet hostile to life as we know it.

This statement is immediately supported after the reporter says it, due to a Bug attacking him and slicing him in two, all the while being filmed by the cameraman.