Wing Commander Movie Night: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

What can we say about Blade Runner? No matter how they end it, it's a great movie and it gets the Wing Commander movie club seal of approval (which is technically a sea lion). Now we've got an unusual one this week, the 1992 comedy Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy seemed like a fun-but-light treat at the time but in the ensuing decades it has developed into quite a popular franchise with multiple tv shows (and a reboot in the works now). You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

But how does a comedy movie about fighting vampires from 1992 impact Wing Commander? Wing Commander does have (F-109) Vampires… but that's not it. This is a convoluted one. Manual readers may recall that Wing Commander Privateer has a very elaborate backstory published as a short prose story, "The Frontiersman: Interview with a Privateer". It details the man character's past including a battle with the Retros and his inheriting his grandpa's Tarsus. None of this is actually referenced in the final game but it's a beloved part of the story to anyone who took the time to read the piece. But none of what you read in the final version involves Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Rather, development documents have revealed a much earlier version which was intended to kick off the game's main story. In this iteration, there's a section after the destruction of Shoel where Brownhair (then called Aaron Burton) is betrayed by a fellow crewman named Jake Rubio. Jake is completely cut from the final version (unless he's one of the renamed Scarab crewmen) but he was part of the plan long enough to be included in the (ultimately unused) manual artwork commissioned from Greg Follender. Here's the art description that Follender received:

Pilot of the Bella Dona on which Aaron Burton obtains passage to Gemini. Jake is a nobody with big ears and an even bigger mouth when it comes to rumors. He is a merchant / smuggler who thinks shipping a gram of brilliance is high risk. He wants to be thought of as a respected street-smart insider but is basically a coward who thinks too small to ever be a threat to anyone.

Appearance: Paul Reubens (the way he looked when taken in for exposure or in Buffy the Vampire Slayer). He tries to dress tough but just looks cheap and kind of skanky. He's a Han Solo wannabe without the requisite ambition or guts. Stutters when you call his bluff, which happens often enough that it's easy to make him lose his composure.

You can read all about this cut content here. But as you can see, this character that doesn't actually appear in the game is based on Paul Reubens' Buffy character… so let's watch the movie and compare them! Here's the artwork that includes Jake that we never saw in the manual:

And here's the infamous "taken in for exposure" mug shots referenced in the art description:

There are some funny six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon connections here, too. Buffy would famously go on to spin off a TV show with actress Sarah Michelle Gellar in the title role. Gellar would go on to marry Freddie Prnze Jr., Blair from the Wing Commander movie (but despite the IMDb's claim, the 'Saranya Carr' poster in his quarters in the film is not her). And hey, it also stars Luke Perry… who voiced Sub Zero on the Mortal Kombat Annihilation show that crossed over with Wing Commander Academy.

Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on BluRay in 2017 and remains in print around the world. If you are not able to locate a copy please stop by the Discord and ping a CIC staff member before Friday's showing.

How do we watch the movie together?

It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Friday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the film in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should bring their own copy and we will count down to play them together at 10 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!

Wild Lines, I Think I Love You

We've got a fascinating piece of Wing Commander archaeology today: the script for Wing Commander III's "wild lines". What's a wild line? Have you ever noticed distant talking in the background during cutscenes and gameflow aboard the Victory? These not-quite-audible-on-their-own PA announcements play to add a sense of texture to the world, making the carrier feel like it's a living, breathing place. And Origin's audio group too the challenge of recording them very seriously... they aren't nonsense lines but a set of 63 intentionally scripted possibilities.

Actually getting to read these lines gets you an interesting sense of life aboard the TCS Victory, with passengers and cargo coming and going and all sorts of shipboard events. Some of them are even specific to missions in the game, like one announcing Hobbes' escape. Most of the names are in jokes, referencing members of the development team like Adam Foshko, Chris Douglas, Chris Roberts and many more. And there are some pretty obscure references to other media in there; who remembers Buck Godot?

1) Chief Foshko please report to Admiral Tolwyn's quarters.
2) Engineers Perez and Leitch are needed in reactor bay seven. Bring CQ60 meson generator packs.
3) Medics required in Chief Potter's laboratory, deck three.
4) Project status meeting in four minutes. Officers Roberts and Savage report to Hollow Deck immediately.
5) Repair crews to flight deck in five minutes. Returning fighters inbound.
6) Chief engineer Daniel to the keel mount control deck immediately.
7) Flight Deck ready for arrivals.
8) Unauthorized fighter departure - bearing 3-22-8 at maximum speed. Sensors indicate Captain Hobbes in the ship.
9) Matter shield lowering.
10) Officer Douglas report to the bridge.
11) Officer Todd report to deck four galley.
12) Technicians Halverson and Downing required in forward gunnery two.
13) Ordnance officer McCall required in Captain Eisen's office.
14) Patrol launch at 1400 hours. All crews report to flight deck.
15) Fighter maintenance crews report to flight control.
16) Excalibur tech briefing at 1200 hours. Engineers Roan and Oljay report to mission room seven.
17) Weapon status report to Captain Eisen's office immediately.
18) Incoming cargo freighter, docking bay ninety-four.
19) Patrol debriefing at 1600 hours. All returning pilots report to mission room two.
20) Commanders Lee and Lee are needed on the bridge.
21) Professor Yenawine's lab is in need of a clean-up. Cleaning crew four report as soon as possible.
22) Security guards Chemla and Shelton needed in the Rec Room immediately.
23) Doctor Steed to excercise room six, we have a possible cardiac arrest.
24) Captain Eisen requests engine maintenance schedules by 2200 hours. Engineer McLean to make the report.
25) Commander Krishnan, flight deck reports your special order XP-38 has just arrived. Please report to docking bay four to take delivery.
26) Officer Day to Commander Vearrier's quarters.
27) Engineers Galway and Shelus to reactor bay twenty-one. Staff report possible flux inversion and your assistance is needed immediately.
28) Deck officer Krishnan please finish your lunch and get to flight control! That's straight from Commander Williams.
29) Chief Technician Ray requires a clean-up crew in his quarters immediately.
30) Warrant Officer Morone to the bridge.
31) All pilots to debriefing, mission room four.
32) Passenger Chow-Yun-Fa, please report to customs.
33) Security Team Kilroy to docking ring nine, terminal zero. Situation Code: Azure. Repeat, Situation Code Azure.
34) All passengers must be briefed on emergency procedures, Class One thru Class Two, before boarding. Please report to the nearest service representative if you have not been briefed.
35) Transport shuttle Jade Grey will be arriving twenty-seven minutes late. Please check any public information terminal for revised docking location.
36) Golden Princess Lines cruiser Shwee Ka has docked at ring three, terminal four. Passengers will be debarking in five minutes.
37) Decompression drill in service area seventeen will be commencing in thirty seconds. This area is declared off-limits to all unauthorized personnel.
38) Emergency exits are located on both wings of main concourse.
39) Will a representative from Diplomatic Contact Services please meet the arriving contingent of Hoffmanites from Foglio's World at Customs?
40) Red areas are for loading and unloading only.
41) Good morning, good morning. Feel free to have another pleasant day.
42) Will passenger Vax, passenger Vax, please report to the nearest paging terminal.?
43) Passenger Paul Headrick or passenger Vincent Lin, please contact the nearest service representative.
44) Priority request for loading transports to containment areas five and six.
45) Code 234K. Code 234U. Received and logged.
46) Last boarding call for Seraphim, docking ring five.
47) Seargeants Amos and Neapolitano, your presence is required at security checkpoint nine Alpha.
48) Security team order five--cancelled. Repeat, security order five has been cancelled.
49) Medical alert. Medical alert. Teams RX-87 and RX-88 please report to the main concourse, walkway nine, immediately.
50) An exhibition of Edo period artifacts from Japan, Earth, will be on display in the main concourse through the end of the month for your enjoyment.
51) Pilots Su Tuin and Wade Walker, briefing in conference room five dash five will begin in twenty minutes.
52) Attention. As required by Confederation law, notification of the inherent risks of traveling during periods of potential conflict must be acknowledged by all passengers.
53) Funeral services for pilots Penya, Rice, and Lackey, will be held in the Universal Chapel at 2400 hours.
54) Repair teams Roth and Whittaker, please report to deck ten.
55) Emergencies may happen at any time. All personnel are required to remain on alert.
56) Off-duty rotations will proceed according to schedules B-9 and R-17 until further notice.
57) Medical alert, medical alert. Medical team TP-6 to main flight deck, bay four.
58) Techs McManus and Hempel, please report to your Duty Officer.
59) Power coupling tests will begin in one minute. All non-critical areas should remain on stand-by.
60) Weapons dry loading runs have been rescheduled. Repeat, weapons dry loading runs have been rescheduled.
61) Transports Carerra and Javidovich will be docking in twenty minutes.
62) Unloading of polydichloroeuthamol lots fifty-seven and fifty-eight will be completed on schedule.
63) Special Envoy Nordquist, your presence is requested in Special Operations, deck five.

Computer Games Strategy Plus Previews Prophecy

Here's a blast from the past: a preview of Wing Commander Prophecy from the October 1997 issue of Computer Games Strategy Plus. This one really brought back memories for me; there's something very special about the dedication you can see behind the Wing Commander Prophecy team... and it's pretty neat that this article was willing to spend so much time introducing so many of the developers involved. This preview was conducted while multiplayer was still planned for the game and it's full of interesting, half-forgotten facts... like the mention that the Vision Engine was rescued from a cancelled game! There are also some stunning rendered screenshots that should all be familiar to anyone that drooled over every piece of promotional material released during Prophecy's press junket...

Reminder: #Wingnut Movie Night Tonight!

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Blade Runner and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here (in a word, New Detroit!). The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

After Action Report: Firefox

Greetings WingNuts,

The Wing Commander movie club has screened Firefox and what we found was a big surprise: a very, very dour and serious movie about a man charged with stealing a mind controlled airplane. Firefox seems to be a conservative reaction to James Bond's late 1970s outing, offering in its first half an alternative version that completely lacks any sort of levity (or women!). It's clearly deliberate and deserves some credit for that but it's quite a slow walk to the Firefox factory. The second half of the movie, which stretches an expertly-constructed airplane chase to forty plus minutes, is better but never quite reaches the promise of the concept. Firefox's plot also reminded us a great deal of Strike Commander, which climaxes with a behind the lines operation to steal a pair of prototype jets which must then battle it out in an epic finale.

Firefox's major inspiration for Wing Commander was, of course, the fact that the original game… borrowed!... the design of the MiG-31 Firefox plane for the Rapier medium fighter. In recognition of that, here's a little gallery of Firefox frames showing the airplane in plenty of detail. They constructed both a full scale prop plane for ground scenes and a stunning model (whose maker would go on to build the Enterprise D for Star Trek The Next Generation!) for the air combat.

Airborne

On the Ground

Closeups

Cockpit

The Wing Commander I Rapier worked the same way: there was a 3D version designed by Glen Johnson and rendered by Mary Bellis for the flight sections and then a more detailed one by Denis Loubet for the 'ground' takeoff and landing scenes.

Vera reminds us that the ever-taciturn Michael "Iceman" Casey was based on Clint Eastwood himself. Iceman is certainly a lot like Firefox's Grant–they're both top ace fighter pilots secretly haunted by their wars–but this probably wasn't the specific inspiration. You probably have to go back to the Man with No Name or Dirty Harry (listed as one of Chris Roberts' favorite movies in a 1991 Point of Origin) to get the full picture.

Another thing we learned is that Firefox had a video game! In 1984 there was a Firefox arcade machine from Atari. It was a light gun-style shooter game that played over actual footage of aircraft and environments… how's that for an interactive movie? It's pretty funny watching Rapiers flying around!

We Used to be Cool

A rumor recently circulated that mostly-dormant and totally disgraced movie news site Ain't It Cool News was set to shut down and delete forever their two plus decade archive of movie reporting and reviews. For those too young to remember the 90s, Ain't It Cool News was a massively popular movie news site that proliferated during the early days of the web. They defined a sort of quasi-gonzo entertainment reporting whose long tail still defines how movies are reported on today. They were proudly unprofessional enfants terrible, printing rumor, fact and outrageous opinion as if all were one and the same. In the process, they became the darlings of the new digital Hollywood and by the late 90s had direct and personal access to filmmakers that skipped the traditional boundaries of PR. The result was a crude mess of a website with a lot of screaming... but one which tied itself to the history of the medium. With the threat that their archive would be taken offline, I thought it would be a good time to preserve their coverage of the Wing Commander movie 'as it happened'. I remember being particularly jealous of the fact that they could go to Digital Anvil to check out the SFX work months before the movie came out. Enjoy!

Wing Commander Coolness (Original URL)

Published at: Jan. 28, 1998, midnight CST by staff

Wing Commander Movie Story Boards!!! Cooooooool!! Well, I figured when I got that news above about Lost In Space, I figured it would be cool to pair them up. So enjoy.

Here are some Wing Commander storyboards I was able to come by, which I found in the January '98 edition of 'Ultimate PC' (a british mag).'wing1' depicts a simple explosion. 'wing2' depicts an interesting Kilrathi Ship (I don't recognize the make of the ship). 'wing4' depicts Christopher Blair in the cockpit of a fighter. Hope they are of some interest to you...

Wing Commander rockets from your PC to the big screen (original URL)

Published at: Aug. 13, 1998, 9:30 a.m. CST by staff

Father Geek reporting in with a story of cool coolness from downtown Austin, Texas. About 3pm last Thursday, August 6th, the phone here at Geek Headquarters conveyed us an interesting message from none other than Chris Roberts of Digital Anvil. "Would we like a peek at some out takes and the trailer for their new wide screen feature film, "Wing Commander"?" We leaped into the "Tick" (that's our big, blood-sucking blue van), and headed downtown. Now the appointment was for 5pm and it takes us only about 15 minutes to reach the State Capitol that rests in the shadow of the historic old building that is Digital Anvil so we hit a local salad & potato bar to fortify our bodies for what lay ahead.

We enter the lobby of antique brick and raw metal (copper, zinc, & tin) at exactly the appointed time, and the babe behind the counter informs us that Chris is out, somewhere along 5th street. We're near 4th and Congress, so we hang out, checking out the framed stills from the film hanging on these great aged brick walls. Outstanding one of a Kilrathi, and there's Maniac, cooool, and Paladin all rigged up for some sort of weightlessness shoot, and that must be Blair & Deveraux....."Hey, guys!" brings us back to Earth. We turn and there's Chris (shorts, black t-shirt and black ball cap on backwards), looks like he been biking. We ask about the Paladin shot on the wall behind us and he explains that an airlock has been blasted open and he's about to be sucked into space, buuuut......

The tour begins. We trek by a mountain of mountain bikes at the base of the stairway. AAAAAAAAhhhh, I love these new age businesses and businessmen. Chris shows us an eight foot crate of newly arrived computer hardware, mumbles something about gigawatts, and introduces us to dozens of techs, execs, and artists. It's after 5 and he's still got these guys chained to their keyboards, why? The Wing Commander feature is do out this fall, and digital artists are busy twiking the mucho mucho effects shots this galactic war epic requires. We see techs adding lights to the windows of one warship, and another artist is busy removing headlights from another ship. A group of 3 are huddled around another monitor attempting to arrive at just the right lighting for an interior, previous shot live action scene. Everywhere are models of the great warships & fighters used in the film. These are fantastic toys ranging a few inches in length to a few feet, and are they detailed, too cool. We see a wall of production art, ink and watercolors of super cool costumes and makeup. Chris informs us that the're using the same designer who created those great spacesuits for "Armageddon", outstanding. Then we turn a corner and notice that the "Dust til Dawn" and "Desperado" framed pieces have been removed from their niches in the long hallway and in their places dozens and dozens of "Wing Commander" storyboards have been erected, dogfights in space, sneak attacks, and cosmic explosions greet our geek's eyes. Our brains are in sensory overload and we haven't even seen what we came he to see yet.

Finially we arrive at the bare metal of the steel entry door to the screening & conference room, we've been here before, months ago, too see some of the early, raw effects footage from this computer game to the big screen pathfinding effort. Now we would be privy to the finished, yet to be released, trailer and a reel of nearly complete effects footage. The lights dim around the conference table electronic desk (reminds me of David Warner's in "Tron") Harry and I have chosen to sit at for this presentation of state-of-the-art digital artistry. A couple of techs sneak into the shadows. Someone in their group shouts, "turn it up loud!"

The ultra wide screen is bathed in incredible star field light, astounding nebulae spin with color, and the drums are ripped from our ears as rockets blast from behind us to tear onto the peaceful beauty of the scene before us. What "Saving Private Ryan" does for World War II imagery this does for the visuals of war in 2654 AD. Ships twist & turn, racing across a screen filled with depth and color, rockets track & seekout their prey vaporizing them above planets that mere words cannot describe. A huge asteroid slowly cruises into frame. As we drift closer we can see that this "rock" is covered with a lattice work of towers, gun emplacements, antennae and docks...huge battleships sit idle in their berths. Two monstrously large ion engines are imbedded in the "rear" of this mobile naval base. This is Vega sector fleet headquarters - Terran Confederation - Asteroid world Pegasus. From above, we see what must be the shadows of a hundred Kilrathi bombers pass over the surface of this rock, followed by the scream of strange, alien engines.The talon shaped craft dive into frame and begin their bombing run. This is what will be the opening 60 seconds of the film whose goal is to redefine space warfare in the motion pictures. The footage shown to Harry and I is nothing short of fantastic, and Chris Roberts says these scenes aren't finished, they're still fine tuning them. Whoa, I can't wait. Chris says,"reel it up again!" Yeah, thats more like it, let's make a loop and watch it all night. Fellow Geeks, I can't speak of the drama or acting in this film, we haven't seen any of it, but one thing is for sure, this ain't just a computer game any more. It's a big spralling motion picture of worlds, creatures, and war at the edge of the universe that will blast you in your seat. Like I said earlier, this is one old sci-fi geek that can't wait for November to get here.

Some pics from WING COMMANDER: The Movie (original URL)

Published at: Dec. 6, 1998, 9:49 p.m. CST by staff

Hey folks, Harry here. Well, does anyone know when WING COMMANDER THE MOVIE is gonna come out? I'm curious because... well... I'm dying to see the thing. I went on a tour of DIGITAL ANVIL where they are doing the special effects quite some time ago, and saw tons of very cool things. Mainly some of the space footage which was very very pretty. It looked alot like the sorts of ships they have in the WING COMMANDER games, but much better renderings, gorgeous textures, and the space scenery itself was very... 'Hubble-y'!!! I met with Chris Roberts about the film, and he seemed very excited about the project. I can't wait to see more from it of course, and I imagine the film isn't too far from being released, as they were on a schedule to deliver the film to FOX right around now, which would probably mean a release sometime in the first quarter of next year. Let's see. For now, here are some cool pics...

NEWLY UPDATED: Review of (and sound clip from) the "Wing Commander" movie score ((now with MP3!!!)) (Original URL)

Published at: Feb. 24, 1999, 9:19 a.m. CST by staff

Glen here...
...for those of you coming in from "Coolnews", and usually don't visit Coaxial, go away! Just kidding. Welcome!!! You're now in the COAXIAL section of Aint It Cool News.

Weird stuff goes on here all the time.

Coax is an eclectic assortment of news & rumors, something of a hodge-podge governed by my own personal tastes, and the availability of interesting stuff to post at any given time. If you've already had enough - or when you're done with the Wing Commander stuff - you can CLICK HERE to exit to the AICN main page!

For those who may not know, I sometimes review CDs. Today, I'm reviewing a forthcoming release from Sonic Images. Specifically, David Arnold & Kevin Kiner's soaring score for Fox's Wing Commander movie (due in theaters March 12, with a brand-new Star Wars Prequel trailer attached for good measure).

Wing Commander is, simply, a score which is likely to go on long after the movie itself has faded into oblivion. It's not a tremendous score, but it is huge, energized and propulsive - drawing on many of the sensibilities which make its two composers so good to begin with.

The Wing Commander score is richly textured and incredibly layered, various melody lines dodging in and out of (and running beneath) action motifs create a sense of both consistent style within the score, and an ever changing tapestry in it's presentation. It's got a specific sound, but it's varied enough so it doesn't become boring.

Wing Commander's theme was composed by David Arnold (who, I am told, also served as something of a "supervisor" for the rest of the score). One may remember Arnold's work from Stargate, Independence Day, and the amazingly suave and cool score for Tomorrow Never Dies. In fact, Wing Commander's score manifests many of Tomorrow Never Dies' better sensibilities - if you dug Arnold's work in TND, you'll probably get a kick out of WC.

Arnold associate Kevin Kiner is credited with composing the WC score itself. Kiner has scored the Emmerich and Devlin series The Visitor (for which Arnold wrote the theme show's music and score for the first episode) and Stargate SG-1 (Arnold's theme is cannibalized and used throughout the series). In other words, Kiner knows how to work with Arnold as a guideline, and how to integrate his own "sound" with Arnolds' unique style. The result is a nice mix between the two composers, as Kiner's work is not entirely imitative, but recognizable enough as not to clash with with the efforts of the composer he is trying to complement.

Richly textured and densely layered, Arnold and Kiner's Wing Commander score should hit stores on March 9. Having not seen the film, I can not vouch for how well this score will work with the imagery it's meant to accompany. But on its own, this is a fun and exhilarating listen which may well become a cult favorite in the not too distant future.


_________________________________

NEWLY UPDATED !!!

Due to the unbelievable coolness of a few kind Coaxial readers, I am now able to provide the much-requested MP3 clips of the theme to the Wing Commander movie!

Very cool of you folks - this is appreciated by many people, including myself...


CLICK HERE to access an 111KB MP3 sampling of the Wing Commander movie theme !!!((Thank You, JURGEN!!!))

CLICK HERE to access a 454KB MP3 sampling of the Wing Commander movie theme !!!((Thank You, DINO!!!))

CLICK HERE to download from a site which has converted & uploaded the Wing Commander theme in MP3 ((Thank You, ERIC!!!))

CLICK HERE to jump to a site where you can get playes such as Winmap or the new Windows Media Player which will enable you to listen to MP3 files !!!

CLICK HERE to access a 911KB sampling of the Wing Commander movie theme !!!((Okay sound))

CLICK HERE to download a .wav file of the Wing Commander movie theme music ((approx 28 seconds worth of music)) TREMENDOUS sound, large download @ approx 4.5meg!!!

_________________________________

CLICK HERE to jump to the Sonic Images web site!!! The score will be available for purchase there shortly, if it isn't already.

"Wing Commander" movie score web site now open ((includes order form)) (Original URL)

Published at: March 2, 1999, 10:26 a.m. CST by staff

Glen here...
With a quick follow-up to the Wing Commander movie score review I posted last week.

Sonic Images, my gracious and benevolent benefactors (who are also releasing the score for the film) just opened a web page for the score, including more sound samplings from the film's music, and the capacity to order the score directly from Sonic.

This page can be accessed at:

sonicimages.com/soundtracks/wingcommander/

STAR WARS EPISODE ONE Trailer Two will be with WING COMMANDER (Original URL)

Published at: March 4, 1999, 5:23 a.m. CST by staff

Alrighty folks, I finally heard from my bug on the bottom of Bill Mechanic's desk, and heard that on the weekend of the 12, 13 and 14... that the guaranteed place to see the 2nd trailer for STAR WARS EPISODE ONE... well... It'll be attached to WING COMMANDER the movie. After that weekend it's likely to be distributed to all types of films, and as far as I know it won't be with CORRUPTOR... unless the theater cuts it off the print of WING COMMANDER and sticks it on CORRUPTOR. According to my little electronic monitoring device tuned into Mr Mechanic... if you wanna see it... go see WING COMMANDER. I guess we can expect a firm announcement from the STARWARS.COM site any day now as... well... it's getting close to the wire.

In addition on the 10th at SHOWEST, there will be a HUMONGOUS Star Wars presentation (I've heard) and if not for a prior commitment to deliver a talk at the Winnipeg Film Festival... I'd be there to cover it for ya. I had a press pass lined up, but due to my own bungling... well, I discovered too late the problem... soooooo, I'm honoring my prior commitment... argh... You know, being an adult sucks. Me wanna go see STAR WARS STUFF, and EYES WIDE SHUT STUFF... Waaaaaaaahhhhhhh... Who knows, perhaps, if I ask the tooth fairy, I'll get a tape of the ShoWest reels.... "When you wish upon a star..."

Yeah... I know you folks in TALK BACK are saying "oooooooollld neeewwws" but this is no longer speculation, but straight from the top. I wasn't posting this bit until I had it absolutely confirmed, as I am sick and tired of speculation as to when the various trailers will hit. It was something like 6 different films the first time... But this is one for the bank...

WING COMMANDER sneaks in Tulsa! (Original URL)

Published at: March 10, 1999, 10:48 a.m. CST by staff
Father Geek here at Geek Headquarters with a brief look at the sneak preview of WING COMMANDER held up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I've seen this film and really enjoyed it, though I felt it would have been for better with the orginal gaming cast. I simply don't understand the change. Oh,well, here's an Okie's point of view...

Well I just got home from a sneak preview here in Tulsa. I think it;s the first review so I'm not typing much! It's "original but disappointing." But not soo-bad that you should avoid it, and nobody walked out.. There was no SW trailer. I have played the games and they tied a lot fo stuff in there, but I was surprised how much they tried to fit in. When you hear all the familiar names with an audience who doesn't know any of it (I assume) you realize there is too much. Anyhow the effects were good, colorful anyway, and it definitely has a war style all of its own, I didn't think it was ripping off anything particular. The story is a bit kiddie-like. I have to go see it again to absorb it all. They did change quite a bit of stuff from the games, but I don';t have a problem with that unlike some of my friends.

Marc

El Cosmico looks at WING COMMANDER (Original URL)

Published at: March 12, 1999, 6:40 a.m. CST by staff

Seldom does this happen, but I have to say this... This review says nearly everything I feel about this movie. I bought my first computer to play WING COMMANDER III, then upgraded for IV. When I went to see the movie, I pretended in my mind that I was there to see a movie along the lines of THE LAST STARFIGHTER or BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS. And for a bit, I thought that's what I had received. But then... reality came creeping in, and the thought hit me... Where the hell was Mark Hamill, John Rhys Davies, Malcolm McDowell, Ginger Lynn and Biff from BACK TO THE FUTURE? I mean you are making a science fiction movie knowing that it will be coming out the same year as STAR WARS EPISODE ONE. Your movie is based on a video game starring LUKE SKYWALKER as your main character. But instead you go with Freddie Prinze Jr. I don't understand. The film's effects were very nice and I liked the film more than the recent installment of Star Trek, but... it was riddled with porblems. And for now, I'll let El Cosmico tell you about them. On Tuesday I have a q&A that I'm doing with Chris Roberts at SXSW and I hope to have a very frank discussion about the difficulties of making the move from Video Games to Feature Films as well as what he learned from this project. I consider the film to be a Saturday Matinee film. And for now... here's El Cosmico....

Good day, Harry.

I have been instructed to send you a review. There were many emotions expressed by the others I joined at the premiere which somehow have, in their confluence, brought this task to me. I probably do not need to elaborate on such matters. This being said, I give you my review, to do with as you wish. You may choose to not publish it, and I will understand. If you wish to credit me, please use the name El Cosmico.-

First, I should say that this film demonstrates some very competent special effects work, and in doing so, improves Austin's general ability to produce quality films independently of more traditional means. This is a fine accomplishment, and Digital Anvil should be commended for it. Second, a consideration in judging the film is that it was created in a fairly short span of time, on a very limited budget. For the latter reason alone, this film will likely be quite profitable, which is not at all an undesirable thing. Also, the director seems like a nice fellow, and it's his first film. However...

The reality we inhabit for most of our lives is a confusing one, full of things which cannot be known. Human culture attempts to make sense of things, and for a time, many of us can imagine that there is sensibility in the world we encounter. Human culture, however, also has the ability to confound.

I experienced such a confusion during most of my viewing of Wing Commander: The Movie. It reminded me of journeys into alternate perceptions of realities that I have had. During such adventures, amidst the great confusion, there is often a clarity to be distilled from the senseless.

The after-party, with its yummy finger foods, free liquid, and delightfully formed waitresses almost disarmed me. My frustration arose again when I realized that the femme I was visualizing pleasure with was probably on the south side of legal. Perhaps she would lie to me about her age, I thought. Then again, sometimes one must act against legal concerns when issues of justice are concerned. After all, can one legislate love? I think not. The matter left me when I was distracted by the barmaid's bosom. This led me to miss out on a free refill of my beverage. More frustration.

I left and drove home listening to Santana-You Just Don't Care. Thinking about the responsibility of telling the truth, and wavering, I felt like I was being accused of kindness and understanding. As Soul Sacrifice began, I pictured a ghostly bracelet around my wrist, with the glowing words, "What Would El Cosmico Do?"

I would warn the world of an industry which seeks to extract around seven dollars from innocents...in exchange for something of less value. If I could bargain with the ticket counter, like a market vendor in Marrakesh, I think I would try to take the fellow down to a couple of bucks and a beer on this one. Perhaps I would simply walk away.

I kept asking myself if this film intended all of the great number of cliches I perceived, or some of them, or perhaps even none. I came away without clarity on this matter. I am sure, for instance, that the Das Boot reference, complete with Jurgen Prochnow, was intended. I don't think, however, that it was meant to be quite as ridiculous as it was, or as lacking in continuity and quality as it was.

From this entire experience, I am able to recollect the following disturbing puzzles:

Aren't the Kilrathi supposed to be cat-people? If so, who were the stiff and ugly rubber people who kept hanging around and fucking shit up? Why did the stand-up model in the lobby look better than the ones on screen? Why must people keep casting the fellow who played "Maniac" in films that I see? Can Freddie Prinze Jr. spend more than a few moments without his mouth hanging open? I mean, can he? Surely one Keanu Reeves is enough for the world. This is not a niche which needs expansion. Please let The Matrix be a cool movie...oh please. How could the makers of Eaters of The Dead change the name? That has to be the coolest name ever and you people are changing it? Are you on crack?

Okay, back to this particular pelicula. More questions. So we've got this precious AI navigation unit which must be safeguarded at all costs from capture. Its self-destruct mechanism malfunctions after someone sneezes or something, just when the rubber people are about to enter the room and take it. Of course, it is housed in an impenetrable chamber, so it cannot be destroyed. Then, the rubber people steal it from the impenetrable chamber. After they are in possession of it and are going to use it to invade Earth, the humans attack the rubber people ship which houses it, and have the option of taking it home, but they leave it. If there was a word which illustrated the concept of a question mark better than "huh?" I would use it.

There is also a morality system in which pilots deny the existence of fellow pilots who have met their doom in combat, because it is apparently too painful to deal with. Again, I say "Huh?" Who are these wimp-asses? Are these people soldiers or not? Do we want people with such repression piloting our spacecraft? Even more puzzling, how is it that Freddie manages to convince these people to abandon this system of repression that they have apparently maintained for quite a long time with just a few short words? I was so unconvinced by his speech on the matter that I almost decided that from then on, I should repress all of my own emotions. This feeling soon lapsed as I wondered why the Kilrathi command ships looked exactly like the human command ships...even the bridges looked the same. Did they both hire the same production designer? There were also some problems with the motion effects on the Rapier fighters, which just looked dingy and not-quite-right.

I must also wonder how Jurgen Prochnow was convinced to utter invectives against "Pilgrims" on so many occasions while keeping a straight face. Surely, at some point while reading the script, the fellow must have mentioned to someone, "Look, I think they get the damn point. Pilgrims suck." We're never quite sure why people hate the Pilgrims so much, and when an attempt at explaining the issue comes up, I repeated the mantra of the evening, "What the hell? Is this supposed to be over-the-top stupid funny, or is it just really bad?" I think it was probably pretty bad. Keanu, I mean Freddie, also seems to have trouble dealing with the issue, as well as every other issue. This is merely a symptom of a greater problem with the film, which is the effort to cram a great deal of background information into a very short amount of time, through the use of bad writing. Imagine trying to explain Kabuki in 30 seconds while you are drunk off your ass. The listener's reaction would be similar in both cases.

There are more things I could complain about, but it's all the same sort of stuff, and I'm sleepy. I don't like saying bad things about something that people have worked hard on, but this movie just wasn't good, and that's all there is to it. I think teenage girls who dig Freddie will probably like this movie. I'm sure it will make plenty of money. I think that if there's a sequel, it will probably be better. If it's any indication, I overheard some people who work for either Digital Anvil or Origin (the company that made the video game series) express anguish at watching this film, feeling that it was bad, and not even faithful to the original story line.

I too felt anguish. I don't care if it followed the original story line or not. All I know is that the acting wasn't there, the dialogue wasn't there, there was no plot exposition, no continuity, and, well, most of the effects were pretty good. It was sort of fun at moments, but mostly not. That's about all I have to say about that. I wish the filmmakers good luck at the box office, and hope their next projects improve upon this one.

A year later, they happened to conduct a very comprehensive interview with Wing Commander III and Prophecy star Ginger Lynn Allen. We've pulled out the Wing Commander-related answers for history!

Tom Joad interviews Ginger Lynn Allen about THE INDEPENDENT! (Original URL)

Published at: April 3, 2000, 9:26 a.m. CST by staff

JOAD: How did you land the INDEPENDENT? Did you meet with the director beforehand?

GINGER: Nicole and Joy, the casting directors who brought me in for this also brought me in for 'Wing Commander' both for 'Prophecy' and 'Heart of the Tiger'. They also brought me in for "Casino". I had three call-backs and a screen test, I was up for the Sharon Stone part. But the name of the character when I read for the part was not originally Ginger, as it was in the film. For a month my parents were sending me the little cards with the cat, you know, hanging there - because it was down to one other person, and me but they wouldn't tell me who it was. Sharon Stone obviously did the role… so Nicole and Joy brought me in for "The Independent" and Steve auditioned me for one of the… do you remember the two girls with the great big breasts that do the same movie over and over and over again? He brought me in to audition for one of those roles and said, 'Oh you're wonderful, you're hired and I'll call you.' And like a year went by and he never did and I thought like, 'Thanks, nice to meet you…' and he called back and said we want you to play the role of the mayor. Nice little role.

Tom Joad Presses For More Info From GINGER LYNN and THE INDEPENDENT (Original URL)

Published at: April 13, 2000, 6:09 a.m. CST by staff

JOAD: How was your experience getting the gig for WING COMMANDER w/Chris Roberts?

GINGER: Nicole and Joy - the same two casting agents who brought me in to audition for "The Independent" - brought me in to read for "Wing Commander - Heart Of the Tiger". Whether or not they knew of my adult film past or not, I don't know. I do know that when Chris Roberts initially saw me on my first call back, he did not know of my adult career, and cast me on my acting abilities. Principal filming took place in the Los Angeles area with most of the shoot shot on green screen. My grandmother came to the set one day wearing lime green pants. It was pretty comical to see the top half of my Gram floating across the monitor when she walked out onto the sound stage. Wing Commander was one of the first, if not the first big productions to combine true interactive with film. The script was near 300 pages long. Each scene was shot in three to five different ways so that depending on the choices you made while playing the game the outcome would take the right direction. Preparation was a nightmare, but the game turned out to be fantastic. For the most part it was a wonderful project to work on. The only unpleasant part of the shoot took place the day that Mark Hamil and I were scheduled to have our "big kiss". The day started off with Mark's representative requesting that I provide an AIDS test before Mark and I kissed. According to SAG rules and regulations this request was a violation of SAG policies. I wanted to go ahead and provide my most recent test results (I test every six months and have for the past 17 years) and my agent wanted to bring in SAG officials and shut down the production until things were settled. The final decision was that I would gladly provide my test results if Mark were to do the same. I had my test results faxed to the set, but Mark's never came through. I didn't show him mine, and he didn't show me his. We shot, we kissed and that was the end of it. "Heart Of The Tiger" was the third in the "Wing Commander" series, and was, I believe the most successful. I played Rachel Coriolis, the ships chief mechanic and weapons loadout technician. Rachel for some reason was not brought back for part four. From what I understand many fans of "Heart Of the Tiger" were disappointed that Rachael 's character was not brought back. The director and producer of part 5 "Prophecy" decided it would be a good idea to include her in this episode. Rumor has it that when the next two episodes are shot I will be in them. But this is Hollywood so God only knows. I'd love to be in them, but I'm not holding my breath.

Hungarian Folklore

Here's a strange treasure! AD was looking through back issues of Hungarian gaming magazine 576 Kbyte when he found that they once held a contest to write a Wing Commander story! Celebrating the then-imminent release of Wing Commander IV, 576 Kbyte offered readers a variety of prizes supplied by Electronic Arts in exchange for Wing Commander-related stories or artwork…

... and then they published the winning story across three issues! Google's translate feature seems to suggest it's a sequel to Wing Commander III that involves multiple Behemoths and some kind of Kilrathi outlaw. We aren't totally sure what the contest refers to as a 'handbook'; did they mean an article printed in their periodical, a Hungarian-language hint book or was this also printed in the localized manual for the game? We'd love to know more!

And for good measure, here's the March 1996 Wing Commander IV cover story that was printed alongside part two of the 'novella'. 94%? Sounds like a pretty good game!

Stream Some Wing Commander Music

Wing Commander Playlist

This is the 'master' playlist for each service that includes all of the Wing Commander music we've been able to find. Let us know if you come across anything that should be added!

• Apple Music
• Spotify
• Amazon
• Deezer
• iHeart

Wing Commander Movie Soundtrack

This is the Wing Commander movie soundtrack plus the diagetic music and alternate recordings of the overture.

• Apple Music
• Spotify
• Amazon
• Deezer
• iHeart

Wing Commander Prophecy Soundtrack

• Apple Music
• Spotify
• Amazon
• Deezer
• iHeart

Music Referenced in Wing Commander

This final experimental list is just getting started and I'm keeping it on Apple Music only for now... but we want to collect music referenced in Wing Commander here. So far that include the movie's diegetic tracks, Veruca Salt Seether's (check out the WC4 PSX manual!, Black Sabbath's War Pigs (Arena) and A Long Way to Tipperary (which Hunter sings in Freedom Flight). Please let us know on the forums if you can think of anything to add!

• Apple Music

Wing Commander Movie Night: Blade Runner

The Wing Commander Movie club is back from our secret mission to find the Firefox and it was… surprisingly dull! More on that in the after action report Friday. This week, however, will be different as we're screening a true classic: the original Blade Runner (1982). It's Harrison Ford versus replicants in a perfectly realized dystopian vision of near future Los Angeles. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Blade Runner should be best known to Wing Commander fans because the Privateer team borrowed its future (well, now past) Los Angeles for the design of industrial planet New Detroit. Here's the original concept from a March 1992 art list (then called New Chicago):

New Chicago is the industrial center for the Tolnidian [Gemini] sector. The planet itself is almost permanently cloaked in clouds and rain produced by the heavy industry located here. The cities are very reminiscent of Blade Runner type cityscapes.

1) Hangar. The landing berth for the player is located on top of a landing platform which is supported high above the city on a very slender pole. There is a large repair and refueling facility on the edge of the platform, and an elevator attached to the side, but not much else. From here the player can go to the Main Street.

2) Main Street. The main street of New Chicago is a dark, wet, rainy place full of neon signs, traffic (in the air and on the ground) and so on. Blade Runner rip off in the worst way. The player can go to: Weapons dealer, Bar, both guilds, the commodities exchange, the mission computer, and the ship dealer.

3) Weapons dealer. This screen will operate in exactly the same way as the weapon dealer on New Constantinople, but requires new art.

4) The Bar. The bar should be based on the bar in Black Rain: dark and neon lit, but with a sort of modem look to it. Very crowded.

5) The ship dealer. The ship dealer will function the same as anywhere else. The room should be designed to look like it is a giant mall, with glass surrounding it on three sides and only display models available for looking at.

New Detroit has three different designs for flying cars which drive around both the landing pad and the street level options screen. Here's a look at the original 3D models for them:

Another big (and directly related) connection is that Privateer was once again stealing from someone who Origin would go on to employ. Blade Runner's spectacular future was the work of Syd Mead who would go on to reprise his "visual futurist" role for Wing Commander Prophecy's alien menace. As strange as it seems, you can really see the spinner design in his pitch for the Nephilim fighter!

There's one more small connection we're aware of: Wing Commander Prophecy was once sold alongside Westwood's 1997 Blade Runner adventure game in a package from Electronic Arts called "Ultimate Sci Fi Series". The third game in the set? Dune 2000!

Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?

Please note we will be watching the original theatrical cut of the movie and not the recent "Final Cut". Both are generally available separately so if you are renting or buying a copy please make sure you have the right one!

Blade Runner is available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on BluRay in 2007 and remains in print around the world. If you are not able to locate a copy please stop by the Discord and ping a CIC staff member before Friday's showing.

How do we watch the movie together?

It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Friday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the film in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should bring their own copy and we will count down to play them together at 10 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!

The Lost Ships of Wing Commander II

While researching the uniquely named Clydesdale and Free Trader-class transports in Wing Commander II, I happened to make another set of discoveries that I thought I should preserve with an update: no less than thirteen unique ships that are mentioned in Wing Commander II missions but which do not appear in the final game! The majority of these are likely ships that were at one time intended for missions but which, for whatever reason, ended up being cut… though several of them may have been the victim of a bug in Special Operations 1!

Every Wing Commander II mission has a 'cast' which defines which ships can be used in that scenario. Often, mission designers would remove ships from the mission itself but not drop them from the cast. This leaves behind a trace that can tell us the name of the cut ship, who was intended to pilot it and where it was originally to have been used! As with the transports, we'll look at them one at a time…

Wing Commander II

Agamemnon
Class: Unknown
Comm: Male Comm Officer
Missions: Novaya Kiev C
Notes: Referenced in the mission where you escort the thematically-connected TCS Hector to attack Kilrathi capital ships; the fact that it's a comm officer rather than a freighter pilot implies it might have been a ship of the line

Belox
Class: Sabre
Comm: Male Pilot
Missions: Novaya Kiev L C
Notes: Potentially intended to be a named CAP pilot

Chepstow
Class: Human Star Base
Comm: Male Comm Officer
Missions: Ghorah Khar L A & B
Notes: Chepstow is a castle in Wales, much like Caernarvon; this suggests the Ghorah Khar (L) missions were originally going to occur in a different star system that would've had this base instead of Olympus

Cobra 1 & 2
Class: Ferrets
Comm: Female Pilot (Coba 1), Male Pilot (Cobra 2)
Missions: Ghorah Khar L A
Notes: Potentially intended as named CAP for Chepstow Star Base; a similar duo, Viper 1 and 2, do appear in some missions of Wing Commander II flying Ferrets or Rapiers

Dorkith D'Krah
Class: Kilrathi Supply Depot
Comm: Kilrathi Comm Officer
Missions: Heaven's Gate D
Notes: May have been an earlier take on the Heaven's Gate starbase before it was changed to a captured human one

Go For Broke
Class: Free Trader
Comm: Male Freighter Pilot
Missions: Tesla L A & D
Notes: May have been an earlier name for the Bonnie Heather

Yankee Pride
Class: Unknown
Comm: Female Freighter Pilot
Missions: Tesla A

Special Operations 1

Avatar
Class: Sabre
Missions: Second Chance C
Notes: Intended to appear as one of your wingmen. Avatar is called by the mission and it isn't clear why they don't appear. This would've been another interesting Ultima cameo!

Crossboy
Class: Crossbow
Missions: Ghorah Khar 1 B & 2 B
Notes: Intended to appear as one of your wingmen. Crossbow is called by the missions and it isn't clear why they don't appear.

Unidentified 7
Class: Crossbow
Comm: Pirate
Missions: Second Chance B
Notes: Unknown is the normal title for the Gettysburg pilots; this may have been intended to represent the Crossbow that escapes with essential characters

Zoe
Class: Sabre
Comm: Female Pilot
Missions: Second Chance A
Notes: Intended to appear as one of your wingmen. Zoe is called by the mission and it isn't clear why they don't appear. There is an NPC wingman named Zoea in another mission.

Special Operations 1

Daystar
Class: Unknown
Comm: Drakhai
Missions: Canewdon 2 A
Notes: Appears as a blank dummy several other times; may not have been intended to be an actual encounter

The Great Wing Commander Article Hunt, Part One

One activity I love to do to wind down after a long day is to search the Internet Archive for historical articles about Wing Commander. Preservationists around the world have scanned thousands upon thousands of old magazines and they're full of gems that tell the story of our favorite series (and just about anything else you can imagine). Here's the result of a recent night's search!

First up, we've got a short article from an English magazine called Raze (December 1990). It's a preview of the original Wing Commander that correctly identifies it as "a candidate for game of the year". It's always interesting to see what early players of the game thought would be the most important aspects…

German magazine Power Play (May 1991) offers us up a fascinating early interview with Chris Roberts! This was conducted white Wing Commander II was still early in development so there's some fascinating information about the initial concept… including mention of Maniac's intended role as a TV star (and the fact that they were aiming to ship on FOUR disks!). He also talks all about the making of the original game and the then-current plans to port it to the Amiga at Origin.

We have featured this fascinating issue of Amiga magazine "The One" (July 1992) before but we missed the index page which has an uncovered Drakhri render that must've been provided by Origin at the time! It's not the one that appears on the cover of the game. But the article itself is fascinating, all about Nick Pelling's work to port the original Wing Commander to the Amiga.

Spanish magazine "MicroMania" (October 1995) gives us a lengthy, early preview of Wing Commander IV which includes great sidebar interviews with Chris Roberts, Mark Hamill and Tom Wilson. There are also lots of great set photos, including good looks at the fully realized shuttle set.

And here's another brief preview from Computer Gaming World (November 1995). Great behind-the-scenes photo of the Lexington bar! The claim that all of the original cast is returning "except for a few of the female characters" probably wouldn't be great PR today.

Reminder: #Wingnut Movie Night Tonight!

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Firefox which was the origin of the original design for Wing Commander's Rapier fighter. You can find details on that as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

Goodbye Steve Sanders

We are sad today to report the passing of a man whose connection to Wing Commander we didn't know until it appeared in his obituary. Steve Sanders was a Austin-based voice actor who appeared in numerous Origin games starting with 1995's BioForge who died earlier this month. You can read his obituary here in the Port Aransas South Jetty; it's particularly well written and gets across that he was a good person.

Mr. Sanders is credited with three 'name' roles in Origin games. He played the main villains in both BioForge (1995) and Cybermage: Darklight Awakening (1996), the Mengele-esque Doctor Mastaba and the cyberpunk supervillain NeCrom respectively. He did double duty in BioForge as Dane, a cyborg at the emotional heart of the game. He was also credited with performing additional voices in Ultima IX, the credit given to most of the game's cast.

What we did not know is that he also acted in Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (1995) and at least one of the Crusader games. That's not an indication that he wasn't important; Origin did not always credit their voice actors on projects like the full motion video games that had to adhere to specific SGA-related rules. His work in Wing Commander IV could've included anything from background talk to the comm lines for any of the game's distinctive redshirt wingmen.

We'd love to know more about Mr. Sanders' work in our favorite games and it's so sad to think that we can't get those stories from him. Our thoughts are with his friends and family; from his online presence it certainly seems like he was both loved and kind. We're including YouTube clips of his BioForge and Cybermage characters below; if you have a better ear for human voices than we do, please let us know if you can figure out who he played in Wing Commander IV!

Dr. Mastaba

Dane

NeCrom

(Thank you to OpenBioForge for passing along this news.)

Hot Wing Commander Summer

Xeen Music Goes to Mars

Earlier this year, Xeen Music published an incredible Wing Commander II and Academy archival soundtrack. Now they're back with a similar release for the wonderful-but-oft-forgotten Words of Ultima: Martian Dreams. Like Wing Commander, Martian Dreams used the OriginFX graphics engine and was produced by the great Warren Spector (who also appears as a character!). Martian Dreams' composers include Wing Commander veterans George "The Fatman" Sanger and Dana Glover. The album is a comprehensive 57-track collection which is available for purchase on Bandcamp or through the Xeen Music patreon. Like the Wing Commander album, this release is fully licensed from Electronic Arts and picking it up is a great way to show there's interest in Origin's classics!

Wing Commander Movie Night: Firefox

The official Wing Commander movie club is BACK!... and for the record, we did find Showgirls pretty fascinating. But now we're back to movies that have been credited with inspiring Wing Commander and this week's film is a big one, at least visually: it's Firefox (1982). The legendary Clint Eastwood directs and stars in a high tech thriller from the height of the cold war. It's Eastwood vs. the Soviet Union in a race to capture a high tech airplane that should look pretty familiar to veterans of the Vega Campaign. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Firefox's influence on Wing Commander isn't a mystery… it's right there in the name! Firefox's titular MiG-31 Firefox super-jet is the very clear inspiration for Wing Commander's own F-44 Rapier II design. The Rapier becomes 'less' Firefox in each iteration but you can still see the inspiration all the way through some of the early concepts for the movie. Here's a quick visual history of the Rapier:

Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?

Firefox is available to download on the Internet Archive. It is available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on BluRay in 2011 and remains in print around the world. If you are not able to locate a copy please stop by the Discord and ping a CIC staff member before Friday's showing.

How do we watch the movie together?

It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Friday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the film in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should bring their own copy and we will count down to play them together at 10 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!

The Real Transports of Wing Commander II

What's in a name? One of the great, small innovations in Wing Commander II is that any ship can be assigned a custom name. The game's mission designers took great advantage of this, naming all sorts of background spacecraft… including 23 different human transports across the three campaigns! WC2 did an excellent job of coming up with 'unusual' names for its ships; while many future settings simply put classic warships into space, WC2 found more unique choices… especially for the Clydesdales and Free Traders.

I recently made a surprise discovery while playing Special Operations 2: a Clydesdale which we had always listed as the "Coatmain" was actually the "Cootmain". Which obviously got me thinking: what the heck is a Cootmain? I wasn't able to find the term anywhere, not on Google, not in old Usenet posts and not even in the sum total of human knowledge stored at the Internet Archive! From there I decided to look at all of the freighters in the game and the results of that research are below!

Before we look at the individual ships, let's examine the classes themselves. The publishing bible actually establishes a pretty interesting naming system for both the Clydesdale and the Free Trader:

FREE TRADER
Other Names In This Class: Named informally by crews. Officially, use only callsigns, e.g. TC-9122.
In Service: WC2
Class: Merchant Marine Transport (true civilian transports are unarmed)
Length: 83 meters
Maximum Velocity: 150 kps
Cruise Velocity: 100 kps
Acceleration: Poor
Max. Yaw, Pitch, Roll: 2 dps
Mass: 2,000 tonnes
Ship’s Weapons: Flak Cannon (1)
Ship’s Armor
Fore and Aft Shield: 10 cm equivalent each
Front and Rear: 9 cm each
Right and Left: 7 cm each

CLYDESDALE
Other Names In This Class: Named informally by crews. Officially, use only callsigns, e.g. TM-24772.
In Service: WC2
Class: Military Transport
Length: 73 meters
Maximum Velocity: 150 kps
Cruise Velocity: 100 kps
Acceleration: Bad
Max. Yaw, Pitch, Roll: 2 dps
Mass: 4,000 tonnes
Ship’s Weapons: Flak Cannon (2)
Ship’s Armor
Fore and Aft Shield: 25 cm equivalent each
Front and Rear: 12 cm each
Right and Left: 11 cm each

Presumably M is for military and C is for civilian. This isn't actually referenced in the game and (where noted below) sometimes freighters are explicitly given the 'TCS' designation. We've also noted where each ship appears and where, which of Wing Commander II's NPCs are used on each ship and where a specific role for the transport is mentioned in a cutscene (like minesweeper or tanker). And where do the class names come from? Wing Commander II director Siobhan Beeman was kind enough to comment on the origins of the class names on BlueSky: "Free Trader is named for the classic Traveller PC ship category. Clydesdale is named for the horses, just because they’re big and beautiful. :)" There are still several that are totally unaccounted for… so join the conversation and get to thinking what a Bhomis is or who Wilie C. was!

Wing Commander II

Bhomis
Class: Free Trader
Comms: Female Freighter Pilot
Missions: Niven C; part of a convoy carrying medical supplies to Argarrio Two
Name Origin: Unknown
Notes: Explicitly TCS Bhomis, per cutscene

Bonnie H.
Class: Free Trader
Variant: Freighter
Comms: Paladin
Missions: Ghorah Khar B, Tesla A-C, Tesla (L) A & C; Paladin's top secret spy ship which visits the Concordia twice during the story
Name Origin: A term of endearment used in the 1986 film Highlander
Notes: H. stands for Heather; Angel notes that the ship is "not an ordinary freighter"

Dhalma
Class: Clydesdale
Comms: Male Freighter Pilot
Missions: Heaven's Gate B; part of a convoy that Blair and Spirit escort across Heaven's Gate
Name Origin: "I think Dhalma is an Arabic girl’s name meaning 'darkness'." - Siobhan Beeman

Excalibur
Class: Free Trader
Comms: Male Freighter Pilot
Missions: Niven C; part of a convoy carrying medical supplies to Argarrio Two
Name Origin: King Arthur's sword
Notes: Explicitly TCS Excalibur, per cutscene

Gunga Din
Class: Clydesdale
Variant: Minesweeper
Comms: Male Freighter Pilot
Missions: Ghorah Khar C; Blair and Hobbes relieve the Gunga Din's Broadsword escorts for a strike mission against a Kamekh
Name Origin: Either the Rudyard Kipling poem or the said poem's title character ("You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din")

Mama's Boy
Class: Clydesdale
Variant: Freighter
Comms: Male Freighter Pilot
Missions: Heaven's Gate C; freighter which transports missiles to the Concordia in advance of the assault on Heaven's Gate
Name Origin: Self-explanatory

Palomino
Class: Clydesdale
Comms: Female Freighter Pilot
Missions: Heaven's Gate B; part of a convoy that Blair and Spirit escort across Heaven's Gate
Name Origin: "Palomino is again because of horses (Austin is the middle of Texas ranch country)." - Siobhan Beeman; also a spaceship from the movie Black Hole

Sable Star
Class: Free Trader
Variant: Transport Carrier
Comms: Male Freighter Pilot
Missions: Ghorah Khar (L) B
Name Origin: May refer to the Texas Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA)'s Order of the Centurions of the Sable Star or famed 1970s groupie Sable Starr
Notes: The debriefing makes it seem like the Sable Star is somewhat 'famous'; Angel knows the ship by name even though she doesn't expect it to be nearby

Valdez
Class: Clydesdale
Variant: Tanker
Comms: Female Freighter Pilot
Missions: Novaya Kiev A; tanker you refuel at during a strike on a Kilrathi base
Name Origin: From the Exxon Valdez freighter which ran aground and caused a horrible oil spill in 1989

Willie C.
Class: Free Trader
Variant: Freighter
Comms: Male Freighter Pilot
Missions: Gwynedd D; freighter whose departure clearance prevents Blair and Shadow from landing on Caernarvon
Name Origin: Unknown; the only celebrity listed in the Wikipedia that fits is musician and activist Willie Colón

Unnamed
Class: Free Trader
Variant: Courier
Comms: Female Comm Officer
Missions: Novaya Kiev D; courier ship in the Talbot system which ejects a comm package for you to pick up before it is destroyed
Notes: Does not appear in flight; destroyed in a cutscene

Special Operations 1

Bonnie H.
Missions: Ghorah Khar 1 A, Ghorah Khar 2 B & C
Notes: The same Bonnie Heather which appears in Wing Commander II, see previous listing for details. The Bonnie Heather acts as your home ship for several missions in the second half of Special Operations 1 and several scenes are set aboard her.

Tinderbox
Class: Clydesdale
Variant: Tanker
Comms: Female Freighter Pilot
Missions: Ghorah Khar 1 B; tanker you escort to jump to N'Tanya
Name Origin: Container that stores fuel for a fireplace
Notes: Explicitly called a tanker but also said to be "running guns and supplies"

The Doric
Class: Clydesdale
Variant: Tanker
Comms: Male Freighter Pilot (Rigel D), Female Freighter Pilot (Second Chance B)
Missions: Rigel D & Second Chance B; one of the tankers heading to the Rigel depot without knowing it has been taken over by pirates
Name Origin: Relating to ancient Greece
Notes: Pilot gender varies based on mission

The Pathos
Class: Clydesdale
Variant: Tanker
Comms: Female Freighter Pilot (Rigel D), Male Freighter Pilot (Second Chance B)
Missions: Rigel D & Second Chance B; one of the tankers heading to the Rigel depot without knowing it has been taken over by pirates
Name Origin: The quality of sadness
Notes: Pilot gender varies based on mission

Special Operations 2

Camelopard
Class: Clydesdale
Comms: Male Freighter Pilot
Missions: Canewdon 1 A; one of the ships the Kilrathi attack to cover Jazz's escape
Name Origin: Archaic term for giraffe.

Bastille
Class: Clydesdale
Variant: Prison Ship
Comms: Female Freighter Pilot
Missions: Canewdon 1 A; the transport which is hijacked while moving Jazz to the TCS Alcatraz
Name Origin: Prison famously stormed during the 1789 French Revolution
Notes: The Bastille's captain is Male Comm Officer, per cutscene

Delphinium
Class: Clydesdale
Variant: Freighter
Comms: Male Freighter Pilot
Missions: Canewdon 1 A; one of the ships the Kilrathi attack to cover Jazz's escape
Name Origin: Type of flower
Notes: Explicitly a "TCS freighter", per cutscene; the SOS is sent by a female comm officer who is either aboard the Delphinium or the Xebec

The Polemic
Class: Clydesdale
Comms: Female Freighter Pilot
Missions: Canewdon 1 A; one of the ships the Kilrathi attack to cover Jazz's escape
Name Origin: A speech or presentation which is specifically critical

The Xebec
Class: Clydesdale
Variant: Freighter
Comms: Female Freighter Pilot
Missions: Canewdon 1 A; one of the ships the Kilrathi attack to cover Jazz's escape
Name Origin: A type of ancient sailing ship
Notes: Explicitly a "TCS freighter", per cutscene; the SOS is sent by a female comm officer who is either aboard the Delphinium or the Xebec

Cootmain
Class: Clydesdale
Comms: Male Freighter Pilot
Missions: Canewdon 3 A; the ship carrying Mandarin prisoners for the exchange
Name Origin: Unknown; essentially a googlenope

Iguana
Class: Clydesdale
Comms: Female Freighter Pilot
Missions: Canewdon 3 A; the ship carrying Confederation prisoners home from the exchange
Name Origin: A type of lizard
Notes: Blair refers to the Iguana as an "unarmed ship"

Exeter Stage Left

Here's a case of escort duty you DO want to pull: AEdwardBaker is back with another fantastic piece of Wing Commander art! This one is called Exeter Escort and it shows a mighty Exeter battleship escorting the famed Tiger's Claw. Maybe it's the Formidable! You can find the original on DeiantArt and more of their fantastic work here.

Exeter class destroyer escouting the carrier Tiger's Claw. Ships from Wing Commander.

Done in Blender.

Reminder: #Wingnut Movie Night Tonight!

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way… except this week in which the movie did not inspire Wing Commander in any way. Tonight's film is Showgirls and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

After Action Report: Hell in the Pacific

Greetings WingNuts,

The Wing Commander movie club is back from Hell in the Pacific and we were surprised by how interesting this movie we had never heard of before was! Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune are the only actors in the film, enemies unable to communicate abandoned on an island in the pacific during World War II. They must go from deadly foes to reluctant friends in a compelling anti-war story with great acting and very meaningful cinematography. The end result is more like an overly-lush stage play than any of the epic war films we've seen in previous weeks… totally unexpected, to say the least!

While Hell in the Pacific was absolutely the prototype for Enemy Mine and at least three Star Trek episodes we could not find the Wing Commander connection. We're going to make the extremely rare claim that there isn't an apparent one. Chris Brown, VFX director on the Wing Commander movie, cited Hell in the Pacific as an influence for the look of Wing Commander, mentioning specifically "tracer fire, millies and dogfight sequences." Hell in the Pacific includes none of these. We suspect he was either falling victim to Chris Roberts' penchant for defining things by movies without actually knowing them or he simply got the title wrong.

In the latter case, it's possible he was referring to the short propaganda film Fury in the Pacific. Fury in the Pacific was released in 1945 during the actual war and it does include real footage of all the things Brown mentions in his magazine quite. You can watch it here:

One Wing Commander story is clearly based on the story started in Hell in the Pacific: Academy's Word of Honor, which strands Blair, Grunt and a Kilrathi pilot on an island on the planet Pisces. And, unlike the versions adapted by Star Trek and similar, Academy retains the dark ending!

Mac Goes to Hellcat and Back

BREAKING NEWS: Wing Commander Speed Fix Released

The cat is out of the bag… the WCAT, that is! AllTinker has released the first public beta of his monumental Wing Commander AllTinker overhaul mod! This is a patch for the original DOS version of Wing Commander that adds the speed limiter it has been missing all these years. This is a big, big deal. The patch works on both actual hardware and in DOSBox which means that anyone, anywhere can finally play the original Wing Commander the way it was meant to be played. The project also adds a host of bug and even content fixes (no more Dart and Joker!) and adds support for 4-axis, 4-button joysticks... which means Wing Commander should play great with a controller! AllTinker writes:

The most critical thing it does is introduce game-wide sync-to-blank-based speed limiting. To do this properly required a huge number of code changes as many "scenes" in the game are coded slightly differently, requiring different approaches - and the effects of running on a fast machine varied widely. For instance, I've had to correct several hardcoded cutscenes, since their timing was obviously set up without ever having seen them running at full speed.

Here's a playthrough of the first mission, using a 360 controller in 4-axis/4-button mode, on the rough equivalent of a Pentium 90:

And there's more! Here are the features and fixes from the release notes:

BUG FIXES​

Known code bugs have been fixed:

The 5-sortie ribbon, which was awarded after the first sortie.

The half-defeated copy protection in SM2 (e.g. GOG/EA release).

Losing a wingman should now be unnecessary for a perfect medal sweep.

The Adlib hanging-note bug (hopefully reduced, if not eliminated).

The series overflow bug caused by the original transfer programs.

I've also completely rewritten the joystick routines, which were only set up for proper operation on a mid-tier 386. This also means that the game now supports up to 4-axis, 4-button joystick setups.

CONTENT FIXES​

Several art & other asset issues have been fixed:

Missing pips on Halcyon's shoulders during award ceremony.

Incorrect helmet names for Hunter ("Dart") and Maniac ("Joker").

Rogue pixels in Iceman and Angel's portraits.

Visual error in barracks bucket splash animation.

Fixed broken Rostov loss cutscene (broken in v3.5).

Fixed broken loss cutscene for SM1 (no longer pans off screen).

Corrected some script typos and mistakes.

Completely redone lipsync; corrects Vega script, adds it to SM1/2.

NEW LAUNCHER​

The new DOS-based launcher handles the following:

Calibration for the new joystick routines.

Adjusting settings for the game; including new and old features.

Save game management beyond the game's 8 slots (beds).

Simple save game editing & creation.

Transferring between Vega, SM1 and SM2 campaigns.

Free of series overflow bug, and even sets proper starting dates!

NEW GAME OPTIONS​

New game options include:

Reduced asteroid field difficulty.

The original logic for asteroid fields was deliberately malicious, based on your speed. The new fields are still dangerous, but much more fair.

Keyboard "smooth auto-centre" mode. Wing Commander simulates a virtual joystick via the arrow keys/numpad; this includes not recentring while firing your weapons, and an instant stop when keys are released. This new mode instead smoothly re-centres when no directional keys are pressed, regardless if fire is held or not.

Configuring joysticks, up to 4-axes & 4-buttons. There are several modes which hopefully cover any kind of (analogue gameport) setup you might want to throw at it.

In theory, joysticks should only need to be calibrated once, or at least only every so often - they previously needed to be calibrated every game boot.

FUTURE PLANS​

The current release is a "beta" / "in development" primarily because I can't test it thoroughly enough to call it a completed release.

Besides further polishing the existing features, I have plans & ideas for some future additions to this overhaul mod; primarily new gameplay & difficulty options.

I also have plans to perform a similar overhaul on Wing Commander II; it has very half-baked speed limiting, and it would be nice to bring as many of these new features across as possible.

Here's hoping that Wing Commander II version works out... that one desperately needs its cutscenes corrected! You can read the complete release post here.

You can download the project from itch.io. You can also use the site to tip AllTinker; if you have the means, we strongly encourage that… this is a LOT of work that's going to make things better for all of us!

Crazy Cockpits Compressed

I also made some new notes about differences between the two platforms:

• The SNES version does not have damage states; your cockpit never sparks or scars, there are no exposed wire or scorched panel graphics.
• The hit indicators and the fuel warning lights are either non functional or removed entirely in the SNES version.
• The 'sides' of the Hornet cockpit aren't actually clear; you can't see the skybox through them.
• The afterburner speeds are significantly reduced for the SNES version and the ships can't display values higher than three digits. Hornet 1240 kps to 970 kps, Scimitar 1120 kps to 975 kps, 1200 kps to 975 kps and Rapier 1300 kps to 969 kps (nice).

The SNES port does not have bespoke rear or side views for any of the ships. When you eject or are killed, the ensuing cutscene always uses a Hornet rear view (extended upward in the case of the eject cutscene because the following first person shot is cut).

The nav map is also redrawn for the different screen area required by the console:

Another discovery I made while putting these new reference cockpits together was that the SNES version 'fixes' the Hornet cockpit seen in the takeoff and landing cutscenes. The original Hornet art was made significantly before the other ships (for the rolling demo which announced the game) and featured a 'frosted' cockpit instead of a clear one you could see the pilot through. The SNES updates the Hornet so it matches the other ships!

Wing Commander Movie Night: Showgirls

Back in February when we watched Battle of Britain, people jokingly complained that they would rather watch Paul Verhoeven's disasterpiece Showgirls instead of another war movie. I responded that if we watched all four remaining war movies in the series then we could take a break from Wing Commander-related movies and watch it. Well, last week's screening of Hell in the Pacific made that a reality so this Friday we'll be watching Showgirls!

Showgirls is a 1995 erotic drama which famously bombed at the box office. But it was also the film Paul Verhoeven's similarly underappreciated Starship Troopers, a favorite of movie club. Could it also be underrated? Or at least maybe ridiculously fun? We'll find out this week! Please note that this is not part of the official movie series; there will be no after action report for Showgirls! But it should be a good time, regardless. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along. Please note that Showgirls is rated NC-17.

We searched and searched and searched for something that would tie Showgirls to Wing Commander and we came up empty… until we did a comparison search on the IMDb! It turns out there is exactly one shared crew member between the two films. His name is Mark Berrow and he is a violinist with the London Studio Orchestra, an outfit which records the actual scores for a great number of films. As a result he has endless credits… but he played the violin in both Wing Commander and Showgirls! Here's Angel's Story from the Wing Commander movie score; you can hear violin distinctly at around the one minute mark.

Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?

Showgirls is currently available to stream for free on Tubi and PlutoTV. It is not currently available for rent or purchase on any of the standard services. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on BluRay in 2011 and remains in print around the world. If you are not able to locate a copy please stop by the Discord and ping a CIC staff member before Friday's showing.

How do we watch the movie together?

It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Friday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the film in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should bring their own copy and we will count down to play them together at 10 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!

Hornets Sting Back!

What's the buzz? More Hornets! An artist named ulimann644 has built a new CG model of the Hornet and posted some wondeful compositions on DeviantArt. You can find a wonderful gallery of their other work here... and we can't wait to see what the next Wing Commander ship will be!

F-36 Hornet (DeviantArt)

This is my first WING COMMANDER mesh - a few others will follow this year.

I've started with the F-36 HORNET from the first WC-PC-Game. I made some modifications in the hope that the fighter will look better than in the templates.

Hope you like it.

Software:
- Lightwave 2024
- Photoshop

Combat Space Patrol (DeviantArt)

This is my first WING COMMANDER Wallpaper with my F-36 HORNET mesh.

KILLER BEE 701, flown from Lieutenant-Colonel Deion "COOL TOUCH" Grafton, and KILLER BEE 707, flown from 2nd-Lieutenant Carrie "SILVER" Langdon, are on patrol.

Hope you like it.

Software:
- Lightwave 2024
- Photoshop
- ImageFX

The Stuff They Use to Make the Games

Today we're looking at a pair of 'trade ads'. These are magazine advertisements that mention Wing Commander because they're promoting different pieces of middleware that were used in the creation of the series. The first is from the July 1995 issue of Next Generation magazine which promotes Wing Commander III's use of Silicon Graphics' graphics computer to generate its CG sequences:

Here's an excerpt from Origin's Official Guide to Wing Commander III where Chris Douglas talks about the team's then-intense SGI requirements:

CD: Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. The first and greatest surprise for the artists was that we had about two years worth of stuff to do, but only one year of time to do it. The second surprise was the hardware. We needed high-tech computers. We needed lots of them. At first we thought that one Indigo II, and three Blue Indy computers would do the trick. Then we realized that we couldn’t use the Indies, and had to replace them with Indigo ll’s — then we needed another Indigo II.

But then even that wasn't enough. We had to have an Onyx — which is a super high-end multi-processor system. Then we needed a vault for the Onyx to hold enough drives to supply all the data storage. That’s not even mentioning the software. Wing III needed to be designed in Alias — it creates graphics superior to 3D Studio’s artwork. It provides a higher quality for shading, lighting and texture because it is a ray-tracing program. All in all, the hardware and software costs mushroomed to a lot more than anyone expected.

Reminder: #Wingnut Movie Night Tonight!

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Hell in the Pacific which inspired the look and feel of the Wing Commander movie. You can find details on that as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

After Action Report: Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Greetings WingNuts,

It's no secret that most of us love Star Trek and we generally felt that The Motion Picture is a film that becomes more and more compelling the older it gets. What was once decried as slow and moody now feels impressive and relevant. And it's really the only of the Star Trek movies that directly follows the characters as they were in the original TV show.

The Wing Commander connection this time around was that Chris Roberts asked Wing Commander composer George "The Fatman" Sanger to pattern the original game's music after Jerry Goldsmith's spectacular Star Trek The Motion Picture score. I have a tin ear, but others in our party did claim they could hear the inspiration! Here are the main themes for both if you'd like to compare them yourself.

Another connection between ST:TMP and Wing Commander is that the film was Syd Mead's first project as a concept artist for film. He was brought in to design the enemy V'Ger spacecraft... the same role he would play decades later on Wing Commander Prophecy where he designed the look of the Nephilim enemy!

A Big Damn Misteak!

Typos! Don't you hate them? Well, I don't… because they've added at least two Kilrathi fighters to the Wing Commander canon! It may come as a surprise to many but the people involved in writing a Wing Commander tie-in weren't always players of the games they were adapting. Writers and editors often relied on the series bible produced by Origin's creative services group to get the nuts and bolts of the universe correct. As a result, it was easy for small errors to make it to press… especially when they involved words that weren't "real" like Kilrathi ship types. Here are two times when letting the wrong name go to print added a little bit of mystery to our world… and one where it didn't!

Our first example is the Grakhi, a ship type mentioned one time in End Run. From the text, reprinted below, it's pretty clear that Dr. Forstchen had intended to use 'Grikath' for the ship – they're described as heavy fighters firing torpedoes at the Tarawa. But because Grakhi survived to print it's another type of Kilrathi fighter… and because the name is so close to what was intended, it fits perfectly alongside others: Grikath, Gothri, Goran, Gamora and so on!

Half a dozen Grakhi bore straight in and slowed.
“Torpedo attack imminent.”
A spread of torpedoes dropped out from each of the Kilrathi fighters.
Jason turned and looked over at Merritt. “Still got any mines on board?”
Merritt nodded. “A couple in each of the landing craft.”
“Set a landing craft on autopilot, and once we’ve recovered our last ship I want the mine activated and the landing ship out the airlock door on automatic pilot.”
“Got you,” and Merritt dashed out of the room.
On the downward-looking screen Jason watched as the boiling upper atmosphere of the gas giant raced by, not ten kilometers below. The magnetic distortion created by the atmosphere made communication almost impossible with his escorts and he watched as they attempted to cover his stern.
The six Kilrathi heavy fighters pulled up and away, their spread of torpedoes closing in. Jason heard the high-pitched ping of a solid guidance lock.

And we might even know what the Grakhi looks like! Thanks to the fact that David Mattingly's cover art adapts this specific scene and it includes a trio of unique Kilrathi ships attacking the Tarawa. These were intended to be a loose combination of the familiar Dralthi on the original Wing Commander's box and the Drakhri on the Wing Commander II box… and maybe history will remember them as a Grakhi heavy fighter!

Our second example is exactly the same situation but in the adaptation of Wing Commander IV. Here, Ben Ohlander tries to include a reference to Wing Commander's signature Kilrathi ship, the Dralthi… but it accidentally became "Draltha" and that was what wound up in the book! Unlike the Grakhi, we don't have a picture… but from the name and the description below you can imagine a tough but fast medium fighter.

He flipped through his book again. A Hellcat modified to carry a torpedo? Or perhaps a Draltha? Either would explain the speed, but the configuration would test the frame's limits. He recalled how his experimental Excalibur had handled when he'd carried the Temblor Bomb. The weapon had reduced the nimble fighter to a space-going pig. He rubbed the Hellcat's page between two fingers. A torpedo-carrying Hellcat was possible, but it just didn't feel right.

Of course, sometimes this backfires. In False Colors, author Andrew Keith attempted to name a type of Kilrathi shuttle something which the editors caught and renamed 'Gratha' based on the series bible. This is likely a case of his choosing a name close to Gratha and then having an editor attempt to 'fix' it. Unlike many writers, Andrew Keith is on record as having played the games before writing the book. It's also clear that he intentionally references material from Claw Marks rather than just the series bible throughout the novel. Luckily, continuity still works in favor of a bigger universe: now there's simply two different types of Kilrathi ship named Gratha! Now let's check out one of what is otherwise one of the coolest descriptions of anything ever written, False Colors' very detailed introduction to Kilrathi shuttle variants.

Shuttles, various types, roughly four squadrons. The Kilrathi design philosophy emphasized dispersal and duplication of valuable assets to allow a force to suffer losses and still win a battle. They had adapted one basic shuttlecraft design for a number of different purposes. The Naktarg was the original version, an assault shuttle large enough to hold troops and small vehicles and armed with gatling lasers and anti-armor ground-support missiles. A Search and Rescue variant, the Rogharth, was not unlike the Type-R ConFleet shuttle that had carried the castaway party back to Karga, devoting space to a medical bay and extra sensors. Another intriguing type, as far as Tolwyn was concerned, was the Gratha, which was fitted for command and control duties. It carried a crew of six as well as room for a strike commander and his staff, and duplicated the tracking, communications, and tactical computer functions housed within a carrier's Primary Flight Control center. They effectively increased the carrier's ability to control flight operations over long distances.

Finally, there was the Kofar shuttle variant, a flying munitions and fuel dump that could dock with a Kilrathi fighter in space and transfer fuel and missiles. Tolwyn had long argued that the Confederation fleet could have used a similar platform. Carriers, after all, were at their most vulnerable when they were in the process of rearming and refueling fighters in the middle of combat operations. Terran carriers could launch small tankers, but there was no provision for restocking a fighter's missiles without having it return to the flight deck. The Kofar extended Kilrathi planes' flight times dramatically.

That's the Ticket!

Here's an interesting little eBay pickup: a free pass to see a preview of the Wing Commander movie! The screening took place on a Tuesday, March 9th 1999, in Fresno California. This was just a couple days before the movie released which means it was for a press screening where various outlets were allowed to preview the movie to prepare their reviews for the following Friday. These passes would've been distributed to the public to allow people to fill out the rest of the theater… and hopefully those people would pass along good word of mouth to their friends. Here's a nice high quality scan of the ticket:

Viking/Victoria

Wing Commander Academy viewers often come away from the experience with one enduring question: what was the deal with Viking? Viking (or Victoria as she prefers to be known on her own time) is a human pilot who appears only in Wing Commander Academy's first episode. She is part of Blair and Maniac's class at the flight school. She is part of the training mission that opens the episode, she flirts with Blair afterwards and then during the simulated dogfight she is the one that accidentally shoots down Jazzman.

At the end of the episode she appears in civilian clothes on the tarmac and informs Bair that the experience has taught her she can't be responsible for killing anyone. Instead, she is leaving the military and offers him the opportunity to come too. He refuses and the episode ends with her walking away sadly as his Scimitar blasts off into space. It's a poignant moment, especially when informed by knowledge of Blair's future!

But then she is never mentioned again! What happened? She wasn't a special guest star like Damon Karnes or Admiral Bergstrom: Viking was voice acted by Lauri Hendler, who was part of Wing Commander Academy's regular cast (she's best known for voicing Payback and Maya McEaddens.) She was also clearly designed as a first tier character; not only does she have a detailed face and animations but she appears in three different outfits across the episode, one of which (the pink civilian dress) was designed just for her! She even has two distinct props, a turquoise barrette and a purse. All of these took specific concept work to include.

The answer is that she was a setup for the second season. The broad concept for Wing Commander Academy's second season was that it would expand what was shown of the war. The plan was patterned after the creative team's previous project, ExoSquad, and would've moved the show's story from just showing the cadets aboard the Tiger's Claw to including the homefronts: political intrigue with the Emperor in the Kilrathi court and then a broader view of the war from the Confederation's viewpoint on Earth.

The imagined storyline for the Earth portion of the story was that it would follow the anti-war movement with hawkish politicians facing off against protesters who believe humans and Kilrathi can live in peace. Viking would've returned as a sort of viewpoint character who becomes involved in the peace movement to carry the audience into the situation. The other connection to the previous story would've been Blair's family: Blair's father was to be head of the protest movement, a sort of Ron Kovic character who had returned from his own military service deeply affected and motivated to fight for peace. Blair's grandmother was to represent the other side as an important pro-war politician.

The Wing Commander Academy press kit contains some references to this plan. The biography of Blair talks about his parents and then the list of terminology includes the orbital city where this was all to occur!

Pedigree: Since the time of the American Civil War, the Blair family has maintained a tradition of wealth and influence combined with public service. Maverick's grandmother is a member of the Confederation Council, while his father is the chairman of StarPeace, an organization dedicated to promoting understanding among the inhabited worlds of the galaxy.

Terra Station, n. -- a city-sized space station/capital to orbit around Earth where the Terran Confederation Congress meets

Wing Commander Movie Night: Hell in the Pacific

There's great news coming out of the Wing Commander movie club's watch of Star Trek: The Motion Picture: it turns out the human adventure is only beginning! This week, we're going back to World War II for another sort of human adventure: Hell in the Pacific (1968) is less of another epic war story and more of a psychological duel. It has only two characters and very little dialogue; more Enemy Mine than Return of the Jedi! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Hell in the Pacific is included in our series because of a quote from the Wing Commander movie's visual effects supervisor Chris Brown which was included in an August 1998 preview of the film in SFX magazine. Wing Commander certainly has gun-with-engine Rapiers and tracer bullets in space… but it's not totally clear from what I've read that those are specific to Hell in the Pacific. I guess we'll find out!

The classic war movie ambiance is something director Chris Roberts has stuck to from the beginning. It even influenced his casting choices, with Jurgen Prochnow selected after his stunning performance in The Boat [Das Boot]. Chris Brown compares the movie with Hell In The Pacific: "We've followed along those lines - the Rapiers are basically a gun with an engine. We used the traditional look of tracer fire, millies and dogfight sequences."

Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?

Hell in the Pacific is available to stream on YouTube. It is also available to download from the Internet Archive. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on DVD in 2004 and remains in print around the world. Note that it is not available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. If you are not able to locate a copy please stop by the Discord and ping a CIC staff member before Friday's showing.

How do we watch the movie together?

It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Friday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the film in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should bring their own copy and we will count down to play them together at 10 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!

CountvonSchnaps Arms the Vega Campaign

CountvonSchnaps has a whole fleet for you! They've continued their wonderful redesigns of classic Wing Commander ships with a trio of designs from the original game, the Scimitar, Hornet and the Tiger's Claw herself! These are so well done... a true artist's work! You can find more of their redesigns here.

CF-105 Scimitar (DeviantArt)

The second redesign of a Wing Commander II fighter; the CF105 Scimitar medium fighter a commission for Shoguneagle

Again great fun to redesign it making it feel, in my opinion, more modern.

The Scimitar medium fighter was manufactured by Origin Aerospace and is a successful design that was in service with various factions during the span of 140 years.

Armed with dual mass drivers and up to 5 missiles the ship packed a powerful punch when used by a capable pilot.

F-36 Hornet (DeviantArt)

A commission for Shoguneagle showcasing the Hornet light fighter. Small and nimble the Hornet is an ideal interceptor and CAP unit used by the Confederation Space Forces during the war against the Kilrathi.

Bengal-class TCS Tiger's Claw (DeviantArt)

The winner from the last poll was a Bengal Class Strike Carrier. The TCS Tiger's Claw which was the players base ship in the early Wing Commander series.

Hope you all like how she turned out. Will also add a new poll since this one was quite fun.