Overthinking It Overthinks The WC3 Finale (February 21, 2015)

ChrisReid

Super Soaker Collector / Administrator
Overthinking It is a website dedicated to the contrived art of overanalyzing something on the internet. This month they've turned their sights on Wing Commander 3 and the moral implications of destroying Kilrah. The site actually goes after quite a range of modern pop culture, so the first part of the WC3 article attempts to lure in the casual reader based on the merits of the game. Some of the context is described and the obvious comparison to World War 2 is made. Reasons for not undertaking the Temblor assault are where the piece cracks a bit. The fact that the losing endgame results in Kilrathi paws crushing skulls on Earth while the winning ending ends in a peace treaty makes the "what if" scenarios kind of weak. But since you're on the internet, there's a chance this might be right up your alley! Check out the full article here.







I know what youa??re thinking: a??Here goes Lee again about that space combat simulator from the 90a??s that he was obsessed with as a kid and is playing again as an adult. Ia??ve never played any Wing Commander and I never will. Skipping this article.a??

WAIT. Keep reading. What if I were to tell you that one of the entries in the series was less a video game and more a movie starring Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, John Rhys-Davies, and Tom Wilsona??with a climax that involves the genocidal destruction of an alien racea??s homeworld?

This is Wing Commander III, and this act of genocide is something that Ia??ve wanted to have a serious adult conversation about for a long time. So even if you know nothing about Wing Commander, strap into the cockpit and come along with me for this ride. Ia??ve been through a long war. We have a lot to talk about.





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Original update published on February 21, 2015
 
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Mankind was on the edge. If they not destroy Kilrah, Humanity would be genocide. If the enemy want no peace then War is our only Option.

In Star Citizen we know Earth will be attacked by the Vanduul. Because of this Operation Pitchfork is started and hell, the Vanduul will pay a heavy Price - we get Orion back!
Whatever the costs!
 
I'll be participating in my self-styled Operation: Torch. What better to complement an angry mob of pitchforks?

What is it exactly? All the fresh salvage in the wake of all the impending destruction. :cool:
 
Reasons for not undertaking the Temblor assault are where the piece cracks a bit. The fact that the losing endgame results in Kilrathi paws crushing skulls on Earth while the winning ending ends in a peace treaty makes the "what if" scenarios kind of weak.

I can imagine a third-party observer (who would need Arisian-level powers of predicting all possible outcomes) concluding that the Kilrathi victory is less damaging because, while being enslaving mass murderers, they don't destroy two entire planets. The Kilrathi bombardment as described in the script may still leave the Earth's surface uninhabitable by carbon-based life, so possibly only the creatures that live around undersea vents might appreciate the distinction. And, while the WC3 ending leaves the Earth intact, both victories in Armada have the lone carrier somehow destroying the enemy homeworld.

(Other third-party observers might consider that killing is more honest - and fractionally more moral - than enslavement. In Earth's 21st century, we frequently label slavery as a unique evil.)

The continuing story in WC4 suggests that the attitudes that won the Kilrathi war were genuinely monstrous, and that some acts are too evil even in pursuit of victory. It gets a little fuzzy there, since we never learn if the Genetic Enhancement Program and Gen-Select Bioweapon were competent evil or just stupid evil - that is, were they even capable of helping the Confederation win future wars, as Tolwyn intended? (In our reality, the WC4 genetics would work like the Wing Commander spaceships - dismally.)



And yes, I'm guilty overthinking this too. WC3 is a space combat computer game, so it really needed to end with flying somewhere and blowing something up. It could end with a big conversation tree instead, but who would ever do that? The question is whether its characterization justifies blowing something up. This can be because the character you play is not actually a nice person, or because the thing you're blowing up is clearly not as nice as the character doing the blowing up. I have to agree with the linked post on this count - WC3 tries too hard to justify that your nice character is blowing up not-nice characters. Its cutscenes - including those of the Kilrathi seen from an omniscient viewpoint - feel more like propaganda than plausible, even within the pulpy Wing Commander Universe.
 
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The ending of WC3 feels very much like it copied from Star Wars. Planet-destroying raygun that is shown blowing up an "example" planet but itself is destroyed before it can destroy the enemy stronghold? Check. Mark Hamill flying through a trench as his wingmen are shot down, to deliver a torpedo to exactly the right spot in order to blow up the enemy? Check. All it needs is Paladin saying "Use The Force, Blair!"
 
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