Science officer Aurora Finley, now a roaming musician?

Anyone else ever noticed this site?

http://www.mindysmusic.com/

Looks like Mindy Hester (who played Finley in WCP) has a new professional talent away from acting. Interesting really, I thought she was one of the best perfomers in the entire cast, obviously acting in video games just wasn't for her.

That's actually nice.

I never got her character, however. Wasn't Stilleto supposed to be Casey's romantic interest? What was the purpose of Lt. Finley on the story? Was she to be another female friend, alongside Rachel? Why did Casey end up seeming more interested in Blair?

Apparently a comprehensive analysis of the WCP plot is long overdue.

Well, she is non-military personell, and has a different vieuw on handling the situation, stilletto is someone who flies beside him, and sees thesame as him, she's probably more interesting to talk and exchange ideas with(that's part of their first conversation as she explains why she is in "pilotcountry".

I doubt he had the hots for Blair, BUT there were only two pilots left who actually flew active duty with his father(with hawk coming in as a suprise, which is strange because his character resembles iceman's in many ways), and Maniac does not make much of a father figure, Heroic and respected Blair is the logical choice to go and hang out with.

Not really.

Casey: "So, what's a lieutenant commander doing all the way down here in pilot country?" (or quote to that effect)

It's been a while for the direct quote, but the rank is definite. That'd make her Confed Navy.

Yeah, but the way the sience personnel enters service maybe different, and they can still offer a different perspective. My mother new this woman, She was a Civilian Worker in A military unit, and a skilled cryptographer/matematian. When they wanted to keep hert in the millitary, they just sent her to a two-months training, and when she passed (with good performance) all the Physicall test, they made her a Captain (land forces, wich is IIRC an lieutenant commander equivalent) at once.

Don't worry, I'm getting there.

The point is that in the military, you'll need some sort rank(especially in wartime), unless you are a unit on your own, I'm sure Rachel(WC3/WCP) has a rank other then "Chief tech" also, as do Sparks(WC2) an Maya(WCA), and pliers was an exception, but he came through, and was never in the mess-hall but probably eating his lunch looking over circuit board designs.

Let's retcon my comment into "non-combatant" then?

The mechanics were all non-commissoned officers in the Confederation Navy. The manual for Prophecy says that Rachel is a Master Chief Petty Officer, Pliers would most likely have been that rank as well (given his age) and Sparks was a Chief Petty Officer (it said so in the dialogue). Chief Technician was probably a position rather than a rank, like Commander Air Group or Wing Commander although that's taken from an actual officer rank in the Royal Air Force. As a matter of matter Chief Technician is also an RAF NCO rank, equivalent to Staff Sergeant in the British Army. But the RAF/Royal Navy equivalent of a US Navy Master Chief is Warrant Officer.

Everyone on the ships in the Wing Commander games was a member of the military, just like with warships in real life I believe. The only exception seemed to be Shotglass in Wing Commander 1.

While on the subject of ranks in Wing Commander, I think various characters in the games had the wrong rank. In Prophecy Hawk was a Colonel but didn't seem to be in charge of anyone, whereas the CAG was in charge of all the pilots and she was a Navy Commander (which is below Colonel). Also in WC4 Panther was far too young to be a Colonel and exactly seem to have the job of one either. I don't think full Colonels (or Captains) actually fly in real life, they're too high up. And Vagabond was one of the oldest pilots but he was only a Lieutenant. Lieutenant is not a rank officers tend to spend very long in. In WC3 I think at least Vagabond, Flint and Flash (way too young to be a Major) should have been Captains, but then I suppose they thought people would get confused and think they were on the same level as Eisen. In fact why was there a Space Force and a Navy when the pilots all flew off the ships, which makes them more like Naval Aviators. I suppose they rectified this in the film, pile of crap though it was.

I was going to make a response relating to the ranks discussion, but after those last few words - as well as the attitude in other threads - I don't think it's worth the effort.

With Panther and Flash I was really going by the actors ages, the actress who played Panther looked about 30 and Josh Lucas was about 23 when he did WC3. But yes Flash was supposed to be this real hotshot. I suppose you're right about rapid wartime promotion (although maybe Blair got a bit overpromoted in WC1). Guy Gibson, of Dambusters fame, was a Wing Commander (RAF equivalent of Lt Colonel) at the incredibly young age of 23, wouldn't happen today of course since we're not in that kind of situation.

Hawk was the right age for a full Colonel, it just struck me as a bit funny that he outranked the CAG. But I think it was just a simple case of them wanting to bring the character back and that's the rank he was in the previous game.

In my previous comment, I was talking about full Colonels (full bird Colonels as they say in the US) which is what Blair, Hawk and Panther were. And I meant Navy Captains (or maybe you got that anyway). I'm not in the military, but I think people move up in rank so they can hold certain command positions, the higher up you go the further you move away from "the shit". The games sort of give the impression (with some characters) that promotion is often more of an honour to reflect how good a pilot they are rather than being put in charge of squadrons/wings/groups. I admit this is only nitpicking it doesn't spoil anything.

One final thing, in WC3 & 4, you might expect Blair to have a lot more medals (and where's Maniac's medals in WC4?) but this was probably a costume department decision and no more than that.

Look I'm not really a rude person who doesn't care what they say to people on the internet. Forgive me for being a little outspoken and not changing my opinions on things like Prophecy wingman voices so easily. If you think I'm rude you should see that Australian bloke who (with his mate) did an amateur Mystery Science Theatre 3000-style commentary with Wing Commander 4's cutscenes on Youtube. He basically slagged off the whole thing, its fans and anyone who didn't praise his efforts (although he was getting sick of people expecting to watch the whole thing unaltered, "Buy the game, you cheap c**t" he'd say).

Hi, It's me. Really...Mindy Hester

You guys here on WCNEWS rock. Thanks for showing the world what I'm up to. Music is great, but I am still a gamer. Find me on XBox Live.playing Halo anytime. Let's play. My Gamertag is Lil Strummer. Se you LIVE.

At least the WCP guide states that Hawk is the commander of the Black Widow squadron. It always puzzeled me why they took command of that squadron from him and gabe it to Maniac. Probably just to put the joke Hawk makes in...

I don't mean to seem rude, but... is there anyone who can confirm this? I don't have an XBox, myself. Past experience on the Internet makes one very cynical very quickly, sadly.

Well, either way, we love keeping informed of the various projects WC actors and actress have moved on to.

Edit: It seems my caution is unwarranted in this case. Thank you for posting and sharing a little of yourself with us.

Confirmation.

Yes, it is I, me, Mindy Hester who played Finley. I am no celebrity. Just an actress turned musician/ who has ALWAYS been a gamer. Hey, Bandit Loaf! Nice seeing you when I'm on XBOX Live. I wish I was as much a WC gfan as you guys are. I've got some great behind the scene photos and video....if anyone cares to see? It was a really fun shoot.

Mindy
Finley