Making this thread because for some stupid reason the 'right wing' have decided to die on such a stupid hill.
In the film (the film, not the book, the FIRST MOVIE), the bugs did nothing wrong. And I am going to prove it, because its really grating on me.
1: Territory.
A common argument is that the bugs have a vast interstellar empire that is encroaching on humanity, and thus the bugs must be stopped before they get too numerous. A fair situation if this is true. But is it?
In the first film we get told of a Quarantine-Zone which is the entireity of bug-space. How many planets do we actually see in this 'massive zone'?
Three. We see three planets, one of which appears to be the Bug's home planet, so we can't even really include that one as it rightfully belongs to them.
Worse, all these planets ARE WITHIN THE SAME KLENDATHU STAR SYSTEM. These critters haven't even invented interSTELLAR travel yet! They're glorified mars colonists whereas humanity can go across the galaxy in a matter of DAYS! In regards to space colonization we have them beat by orders of magnitude!
So the bugs did nothing wrong in regards to empire-building, they're probably not even interested in building outside of their starsystem.
2: First strike part 1: Mormons
The film's overt claim is the bugs struck first, sending a meteor to blow up Buenos Aires. Except this has issues in and of itself. Humans entered bug territory and started colonizing it despite bugs being present, specifically space-mormons on a planet which appears to be outside of the Klendathu System. The mormons were allegedly warned by the Federation not to colonize the planet as it 'had bugs on it', despite this planet never being attacked by the federation in the film, even though it's a perfect target to sterilize.
But Zeno, didn't you just say they can't colonize outside their system? Well they've had millions of years to attempt colonizing at least one planet outside the system, but I don't believe this planet ever had bugs on it and I'll explain why.
The mormons were present on the planet for six months before the 'bugs' attacked, this is unlikely as the bugs are shown to be particularly hostile and animalistic, they would've all died in the first week, probably the first day really. And yet we're expected to believe they lasted six months when trained soldiers can barely survive a night on their planets? Something doesn't add up!
Now if only there was someone with FTL who can transport bugs around...Oh wait, the Federation does exactly that when it captures samples from planets! Not to mention the Federation didn't like the space-mormons anyways, they're a perfect group of people to murder and turn into propaganda. So no, the space-mormons, even if they were attacked by bugs in a very unlikely fashion, kinda had it coming to them.
3: First strike part 2: Bug Meteor
So apparently the intrusion into 'bug space' pissed off the entire species, something the bugs can't really do as they don't have interstellar communications, they don't even seem to have interPLANETARY communications for that matter. So in retaliation the bugs did something that is so outrageously beyond their capabilities it's basically the same as a human throwing a dart to mars while blindfolded.
They apparently used 'bug plasma', sub-light energy weapons that appear to be their method of interplanetary reproduction, to knock a bigass rock out from orbit of their system, sending it across the galaxy and specifically onto a highly populated human city.
They did this without knowing where Earth was, what was between Earth and their planets, and without anything even approaching let alone exceeding the speed of light.
If anyone can actually believe a species that has never invented shoes, the fork, or even the WHEEL can nail a city from across a galaxy, I have a very large bridge to sell you.
But Zeno, it's science fiction it's not super realistic, sci-fi writers don't really know numbers at all! You might say, but the film makes it clear that moving to the other side of the galaxy requires advanced starships with sci-fi engines and all that typical sci-fi stuff. You know what the bugs specifically lack, outright shown in the entire film? TYPICAL SCI-FI SHIT! They're so fucking slow, their strongest most advanced weapons are basically a bunch of bugs taking massive shits into orbit at fairly low speeds. It'd be like suggesting modern-day people could nail a planet on the other side of our galaxy because we invented the ICBM!
Even the meteor is suspicious. Firstly it appears right out of nowhere, seriously watch the film one second its empty clear space, the next second its taking up 20% of the window! Right after a suspicious screen depicts a massive gravity well similar to what a wormhole or FTL drive or sci-fi gizmo would create. And remind me who is the only people with that technology? The Federation. They need plausible deniability so they just launch it 'roughly' from the direction of the bug planets, which at galactic scale is basically 'anywhere THAT direction'.
And if the bugs really did launch it, why only one rock? Why a rock that would only do minimal damage? Why not send ten rocks? A hundred? A planetkiller rock? Why you may ask? Because they never SENT the rock, the rock did only as much damage as convenient to the war effort.
4: Second bug meteor
So after sending the first rock, they apparently send a second, except this time somehow the humans have an entire defense grid they build in no-time at all! Again more than suspicious as already made clear the bugs cannot launch rocks at Earth, so it's just a glorious work of propaganda.
The defence grid might not even exist, they wouldn't have a need for one as all they ever fight is space-bugs. And if the defence grid does exist, why didn't it shoot down the first meteor, that stuck at such a low velocity that it didn't do significant damage to the planet?
5: Bugs really never stood a chance
Oh right, did I mention how they've already crushed other species of space-bugs? The 'Arkellian' sand beetle is a relatively harmless dog-sized cockroach that are captured in great numbers for use in science classrooms, and some other unidentified species has damaged the countless veterans of previous wars. Science teacher has horrific acid burns on her face, many people missing limbs, one of the ways big-spacebugs would hurt you. Arachnids weren't the first to be crushed and they probably won't be the last.
The bugs are an exclusively terrestrial species with no spacecraft of any sort, they lack any heavy weapons aside from easily destroyed plasma bugs and generally aside from the invasion of Klendathu the bug extermination campaign is going swimmingly, even when absorbing the knowledge of federation soldiers and officers they only just manage to pose a threat to isolated groups of soldiers. They simply cannot counter the technological advantage of humans who can be airlifted to safety in a moment's notice.
Why would the bugs, if they're intelligent, provoke a war with a species so superior and dangerous than themselves? Which they have no capability to strike back at? It all doesn't add up, and is easy to explain.
The bugs did nothing wrong.
In the film (the film, not the book, the FIRST MOVIE), the bugs did nothing wrong. And I am going to prove it, because its really grating on me.
1: Territory.
A common argument is that the bugs have a vast interstellar empire that is encroaching on humanity, and thus the bugs must be stopped before they get too numerous. A fair situation if this is true. But is it?
In the first film we get told of a Quarantine-Zone which is the entireity of bug-space. How many planets do we actually see in this 'massive zone'?
Three. We see three planets, one of which appears to be the Bug's home planet, so we can't even really include that one as it rightfully belongs to them.
Worse, all these planets ARE WITHIN THE SAME KLENDATHU STAR SYSTEM. These critters haven't even invented interSTELLAR travel yet! They're glorified mars colonists whereas humanity can go across the galaxy in a matter of DAYS! In regards to space colonization we have them beat by orders of magnitude!
So the bugs did nothing wrong in regards to empire-building, they're probably not even interested in building outside of their starsystem.
2: First strike part 1: Mormons
The film's overt claim is the bugs struck first, sending a meteor to blow up Buenos Aires. Except this has issues in and of itself. Humans entered bug territory and started colonizing it despite bugs being present, specifically space-mormons on a planet which appears to be outside of the Klendathu System. The mormons were allegedly warned by the Federation not to colonize the planet as it 'had bugs on it', despite this planet never being attacked by the federation in the film, even though it's a perfect target to sterilize.
But Zeno, didn't you just say they can't colonize outside their system? Well they've had millions of years to attempt colonizing at least one planet outside the system, but I don't believe this planet ever had bugs on it and I'll explain why.
The mormons were present on the planet for six months before the 'bugs' attacked, this is unlikely as the bugs are shown to be particularly hostile and animalistic, they would've all died in the first week, probably the first day really. And yet we're expected to believe they lasted six months when trained soldiers can barely survive a night on their planets? Something doesn't add up!
Now if only there was someone with FTL who can transport bugs around...Oh wait, the Federation does exactly that when it captures samples from planets! Not to mention the Federation didn't like the space-mormons anyways, they're a perfect group of people to murder and turn into propaganda. So no, the space-mormons, even if they were attacked by bugs in a very unlikely fashion, kinda had it coming to them.
3: First strike part 2: Bug Meteor
So apparently the intrusion into 'bug space' pissed off the entire species, something the bugs can't really do as they don't have interstellar communications, they don't even seem to have interPLANETARY communications for that matter. So in retaliation the bugs did something that is so outrageously beyond their capabilities it's basically the same as a human throwing a dart to mars while blindfolded.
They apparently used 'bug plasma', sub-light energy weapons that appear to be their method of interplanetary reproduction, to knock a bigass rock out from orbit of their system, sending it across the galaxy and specifically onto a highly populated human city.
They did this without knowing where Earth was, what was between Earth and their planets, and without anything even approaching let alone exceeding the speed of light.
If anyone can actually believe a species that has never invented shoes, the fork, or even the WHEEL can nail a city from across a galaxy, I have a very large bridge to sell you.
But Zeno, it's science fiction it's not super realistic, sci-fi writers don't really know numbers at all! You might say, but the film makes it clear that moving to the other side of the galaxy requires advanced starships with sci-fi engines and all that typical sci-fi stuff. You know what the bugs specifically lack, outright shown in the entire film? TYPICAL SCI-FI SHIT! They're so fucking slow, their strongest most advanced weapons are basically a bunch of bugs taking massive shits into orbit at fairly low speeds. It'd be like suggesting modern-day people could nail a planet on the other side of our galaxy because we invented the ICBM!
Even the meteor is suspicious. Firstly it appears right out of nowhere, seriously watch the film one second its empty clear space, the next second its taking up 20% of the window! Right after a suspicious screen depicts a massive gravity well similar to what a wormhole or FTL drive or sci-fi gizmo would create. And remind me who is the only people with that technology? The Federation. They need plausible deniability so they just launch it 'roughly' from the direction of the bug planets, which at galactic scale is basically 'anywhere THAT direction'.
And if the bugs really did launch it, why only one rock? Why a rock that would only do minimal damage? Why not send ten rocks? A hundred? A planetkiller rock? Why you may ask? Because they never SENT the rock, the rock did only as much damage as convenient to the war effort.
4: Second bug meteor
So after sending the first rock, they apparently send a second, except this time somehow the humans have an entire defense grid they build in no-time at all! Again more than suspicious as already made clear the bugs cannot launch rocks at Earth, so it's just a glorious work of propaganda.
The defence grid might not even exist, they wouldn't have a need for one as all they ever fight is space-bugs. And if the defence grid does exist, why didn't it shoot down the first meteor, that stuck at such a low velocity that it didn't do significant damage to the planet?
5: Bugs really never stood a chance
Oh right, did I mention how they've already crushed other species of space-bugs? The 'Arkellian' sand beetle is a relatively harmless dog-sized cockroach that are captured in great numbers for use in science classrooms, and some other unidentified species has damaged the countless veterans of previous wars. Science teacher has horrific acid burns on her face, many people missing limbs, one of the ways big-spacebugs would hurt you. Arachnids weren't the first to be crushed and they probably won't be the last.
The bugs are an exclusively terrestrial species with no spacecraft of any sort, they lack any heavy weapons aside from easily destroyed plasma bugs and generally aside from the invasion of Klendathu the bug extermination campaign is going swimmingly, even when absorbing the knowledge of federation soldiers and officers they only just manage to pose a threat to isolated groups of soldiers. They simply cannot counter the technological advantage of humans who can be airlifted to safety in a moment's notice.
Why would the bugs, if they're intelligent, provoke a war with a species so superior and dangerous than themselves? Which they have no capability to strike back at? It all doesn't add up, and is easy to explain.
The bugs did nothing wrong.