It's time to bite the bullet and watch the longest and most controversial movie in our queue: Heaven's Gate (1980), Michael Cimino's deeply troubled, sprawling western. At the time of release, Heaven's Gate's massive budget, troubled production and hasty after-release recut earned it the title of the worst movie ever made… but today opinions differ greatly, with many critics now seeing it as a true masterpiece. We will be watching the commonly available Director's Cut, which is extremely similar to the original version of the film that was withdrawn from theaters. Because Heaven's Gate is a very long movie, 218 minutes, we will be starting an hour early at 9 PM Eastern this week. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
Most Wing Commander fans will see the Heaven's Gate reference straight off: it's the name of Wing Commander II's fifth series' star system and the infamous captured starbase therein that Spirit kills herself destroying. (Although the notorious Heaven's Gate cult existed during the making of Wing Commander II, it was not widely known until 1994, three years later.)
Heaven's Gate also stars two of Privateer 2's leading men! Christopher Walken (Commander Hassan) plays Nate Champion and John Hurt (Joe the Bartender) is Billy Irvine.
Finally: the movie's director, Michael Cimino, gets a callout in the second of Wing Commander Prophecy's simulator missions. For our purposes, we'll count that separately like we do star systems named after directors and watch The Deer Hunter down the road!
Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?
Heaven's Gate is available to purchase on the standard streaming services. We will be watching the commonly available Director's Cut which is the version that is 218 minutes long. 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 9 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone! Note that this week's movie will start one hour earlier than the usual showing.
How can I help pick future movie club movies?
The movie club movies are voted on each week by the Wing Commander Discord. The poll is typically posted 24 hours before each week's screening and the next movie is announced at the end. The choices for the poll come from a master pool of Wing Commander-related movies. If you would like to suggest a film for inclusion in that pool you can post it to this thread.
No one wants it to be 2026 but the fact of the matter is that it is... and we're halfway through January! Which at least means we can get together for another Saturday morning cartoon marathon. Which, once again, will include no cartoons. We're watching two movies with big Wing Commander references in them, both of which seem to indicate that the characters would rather be playing Wing Commander. And the difference is the point here, we're going to be going from a poorly preserved 1990s Lifetime movie to a pixel perfect HD sci fi story about space Nazis. No, not Wing Commander IV. We're watching:
Children of the Sun (1994): The lineup starts up with a 1994 made-for-TV 'Lifetime' movie that's about the trials and tribulations of children born allergic to the sun. We haven't watched the full movie before but reviews online are almost exclusively from people who remember being absolutely terrified of it as children. Apparently it left a lot of kids anxious that THEY were going to die if exposed to sunlight. But whatever the case, it has a truly odd cameo from WING COMMANDER II. (Sadly, the only copy available is very low resolution... but being terrible has never stopped us from showing something at one of these!)
Iron Sky (2012): Iron Sky is a sci-fi comedy about a Nazi moon colony set up during World War II returning to conquer the Earth. It's a weird, clunky movie that's a mix of let's-put-on-a-show CG and edgy culture war jokes about a culture that doesn't really exist anymore. But one thing is certain: it has a pretty solid Wing Commander joke! And who could've known it was such an immediate prediction of our future?
So JOIN US on Saturday, January 17th at noon Eastern when we'll enjoy them all together! We recommend pajamas and cereal to accompany the chat.
We've also uploaded a zip of both together locally that you can grab in advance. You can get that here.
Children of the Dark is available in YouTube and Iron Sky is available for purchase or rent digitally. Children of the Dark has been released on VHS internationally and Iron Sky has been released on Blu-ray. Iron Sky is currently streaming on Pluto TV and Amazon Prime in the United States.
How do we watch the shows together?
It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Saturday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the shows in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should download their own copies from the CIC and we will count down to play them one at a time together starting with the short at noon EST on Saturday. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!
Will there be custom certificates made for the attendees this time?
Yes.
You still don't have ANY cartoons this time, why haven't you changed the name?
Shut up.
I love these events but want to do better long term planning. Do you have any others coming up?
We do but we're getting close to the end! Here's the upcoming schedule. And if you have any idea for a future lineup, please feel free to suggest it on the forums!
- Marathon 7 - The Worst Parts of a Lot of Things - February 14
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