I'm new to the forum here and I'm sure it's been discussed before, but I've had this question on my brain since I first saw the movie...what happened to the Raptors? Not to mention the other ships! The WC game series had such a great lot of ships that were cool and believable, why did they make the movie ships so ugly and far off from even WC1? Is there something I'm missing here?
Wing Commander: The Movie- What Happened?
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MamiyaOtaru
Spaceman
And that's what the edit button is for 
The Rapiers were apparently a different model ship that shared the same name as the one from the game. Why it looked the way it did, well I can't say. Opinions certainly vary on how good or bad it was though.
The Rapiers were apparently a different model ship that shared the same name as the one from the game. Why it looked the way it did, well I can't say. Opinions certainly vary on how good or bad it was though.
Shaggy
Vice Admiral
One word: Money
It was probably cheaper to just build full size models of just the Rapiers than to build the full complement of fighters shown in the game.
You'll notice that the Broadswords are not shown on the flight deck at all, and the only Kilrathi fighters shown are the Dralthi though the Krant and Salthi are listed in the Confederation handbook, which follows the movie.
The Rapiers were built from cut down English Electric\BAC Lightning fighters that the production purchased from a mothballed inventory in Luxembourg.
It was probably cheaper to just build full size models of just the Rapiers than to build the full complement of fighters shown in the game.
You'll notice that the Broadswords are not shown on the flight deck at all, and the only Kilrathi fighters shown are the Dralthi though the Krant and Salthi are listed in the Confederation handbook, which follows the movie.
The Rapiers were built from cut down English Electric\BAC Lightning fighters that the production purchased from a mothballed inventory in Luxembourg.
I just went into the movie hoping to see my WC memories brought to life, but of course Hollywood took its toll...
Even the weapons didn't hold true to the game. I liked the movie for what it was, but part of the draw to everything WC for me is believability. I'm sorry if anyone's offended, but I thought there were some beautiful fighters in WC and it sucks that they weren't able to weave them in. Call me crazy, but I think it would've been great to see a wing of Scimitars swooping in on some Dralthi or a group of Raptors taking out a Ralari! It'll never happen, I know, but it would be awesome if they did a new movie that stuck to the original story and ships. With CG being what it is now, it would be feasible, though of course it's not going to ever be resurrected by Hollywood...
*sobs*
Even the weapons didn't hold true to the game. I liked the movie for what it was, but part of the draw to everything WC for me is believability. I'm sorry if anyone's offended, but I thought there were some beautiful fighters in WC and it sucks that they weren't able to weave them in. Call me crazy, but I think it would've been great to see a wing of Scimitars swooping in on some Dralthi or a group of Raptors taking out a Ralari! It'll never happen, I know, but it would be awesome if they did a new movie that stuck to the original story and ships. With CG being what it is now, it would be feasible, though of course it's not going to ever be resurrected by Hollywood...
*sobs*
Maj.Striker
Swabbie
Banned
Then, they should have not hacked it down, they could have just put the entire lightning in the movie...would have looked better.
Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
I hope LOAF doesn't have to post to this thread.
ZFGokuSSJ1
Rear Admiral
I hope LOAF doesn't have to post to this thread.
Plywood Fiend
Rear Admiral
A reviewer whose name i've forgotten once said that they liked the film because it was 'unpretentious', imho that's the nicest thing you can say about it.
I think they should have left out the skipper missile personally.
They could have at least given the Rapier more then one gun. I mean imagine flying that thing against the Kilrathi starbase in Venice. By the time you blew it up the sun would be a red dwarf.
I think they should have left out the skipper missile personally.
They could have at least given the Rapier more then one gun. I mean imagine flying that thing against the Kilrathi starbase in Venice. By the time you blew it up the sun would be a red dwarf.
pygmypiranha
Vice Admiral
Bandit LOAF said:
ZFGokuSSJ1 said:
huh?
Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
Complain about the movie, complain about Privateer 2, complain about Prophecy, complain about Wing Commander III -- but do so intelligently, or I'll kick your ass. That 'Heart of the Tiger novel' thread was an intelligent debate about the novel. Edx pointed out things he didn't like, other people replied, etc. A bunch of idiots guffawing over really obvious jokes about the movie is not worth our bandwidth.
Right, Cadet?
Right, Cadet?
FlashFire82
Spaceman
Hm... I've always wondered why people are so offended by this topic....
I don't think it's that anyone's offended at the topic. The point was merely made to not just bash it unless you have some pertinent thing to say.
I've only seen the Wing Commander movie once. It just didn't have that rewatchable quality to it. My expectations were way too high for it. I just kept saying to myself, "Why didn't they just do it like the games?"
I've only seen the Wing Commander movie once. It just didn't have that rewatchable quality to it. My expectations were way too high for it. I just kept saying to myself, "Why didn't they just do it like the games?"
Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
That's a tough question to handle, but I'll give it a shot.
I believe there are several reasons, all of which play into eachother.
I've always believed in a certain sort of Wing Commander fan exceptionalism -- we're intelligent, we're well spoken, we have strong beliefs about our universe, we do excellent fan projects and so forth. We've built a very professional community, all of us. Taking cheap shots at any one product is really, really easy... and it's a lot of fun. I could make fun of elements of any Wing Commander game very easily - I'm a big sarcastic jerk.
Doing so to ourselves, though, reflects very poorly to the observer. I know we're just playing idiot when we make fun of Freddie Prinze Jr. or how the Rapiers look. Average Joe Internet, however, doesn't -- and he goes off to his terrible acronym based universe and spreads our hilarious sarcasm as though it were some kind of gospel... and then we get a new wave of cadets who are sure without even looking that there's nothing valuable in the movie, in Privateer, in Wing Commander Prophecy. And so instead of spreading this mesage of how great Wing Commander is, we get a bunch of people who only know it as "LOL hate movie OMFG".
Look at the Wing Commander livejournal community - http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=wingcommander . Their 'description': "THis is a community fans for all things Wing Commander. Except the movie which should be stricken from the records of Wing Commander fandom as an insult to our intelligence and faith." I mean, what the hell is that? The fact that the movie is disliked (or loved) is *not* the defining factor of the Wing Commander universe. I'm damned proud of how well done my livejournal is and I can't even join the Wing community because of how insultingly stupid it treats the topic.
I also think it's very important to work towards finding the good in elements of Wing Commander. In 1997, the community acted like Privateer 2 was an offensive blight upon the series -- now, we treat it as a fun reference to the 'end' of the timeline... and we respect its really unique, stylistic film shoot. Is the gameplay still horribly unbalanced? You betcha -- but in the greater scheme of things that doesn't matter. We made it ours. The same goes for Wing Commander Academy -- people were just as vehement about the fact that it referred to stealth fighters and it implied that Blair and Maniac went to school together and so forth in 1996... now it's one of our crown jewels. We've learned to respect the little references, the parts of the timeline it fills out and its original-game-referential style.
How will we treat the Wing Commander movie five years from now? "LOK OMG PALADIN SHUD BE SCOTTTISH!!!!"? Not if I have anything to say about it. The movie may be completely dramatically unsound, but it has all sorts of unique things it added to the Wing Commander universe. The Handbook tells us about the early days of the Kilrathi War -- do we throw that out because we can't handle the fact that the Tiger's Claw looks different? Of course not. Do we have to hate the 'Pilgrim' thing? It gives us a fake religion -- and they even fleshed it out for no reason in a really amazing sourcebook. So many Sci Fi universes would *kill* for something like that. We need to learn to appreciate the long term effect of the movie on our universe rather than let it define us as some kind of self hating community.
If you hate the movie, it's three days in March out of a forty year war. If you love it... what's wrong with you? See, there I go. It builds a lot of history that truly doesn't hurt us.
I believe there are several reasons, all of which play into eachother.
I've always believed in a certain sort of Wing Commander fan exceptionalism -- we're intelligent, we're well spoken, we have strong beliefs about our universe, we do excellent fan projects and so forth. We've built a very professional community, all of us. Taking cheap shots at any one product is really, really easy... and it's a lot of fun. I could make fun of elements of any Wing Commander game very easily - I'm a big sarcastic jerk.
Doing so to ourselves, though, reflects very poorly to the observer. I know we're just playing idiot when we make fun of Freddie Prinze Jr. or how the Rapiers look. Average Joe Internet, however, doesn't -- and he goes off to his terrible acronym based universe and spreads our hilarious sarcasm as though it were some kind of gospel... and then we get a new wave of cadets who are sure without even looking that there's nothing valuable in the movie, in Privateer, in Wing Commander Prophecy. And so instead of spreading this mesage of how great Wing Commander is, we get a bunch of people who only know it as "LOL hate movie OMFG".
Look at the Wing Commander livejournal community - http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=wingcommander . Their 'description': "THis is a community fans for all things Wing Commander. Except the movie which should be stricken from the records of Wing Commander fandom as an insult to our intelligence and faith." I mean, what the hell is that? The fact that the movie is disliked (or loved) is *not* the defining factor of the Wing Commander universe. I'm damned proud of how well done my livejournal is and I can't even join the Wing community because of how insultingly stupid it treats the topic.
I also think it's very important to work towards finding the good in elements of Wing Commander. In 1997, the community acted like Privateer 2 was an offensive blight upon the series -- now, we treat it as a fun reference to the 'end' of the timeline... and we respect its really unique, stylistic film shoot. Is the gameplay still horribly unbalanced? You betcha -- but in the greater scheme of things that doesn't matter. We made it ours. The same goes for Wing Commander Academy -- people were just as vehement about the fact that it referred to stealth fighters and it implied that Blair and Maniac went to school together and so forth in 1996... now it's one of our crown jewels. We've learned to respect the little references, the parts of the timeline it fills out and its original-game-referential style.
How will we treat the Wing Commander movie five years from now? "LOK OMG PALADIN SHUD BE SCOTTTISH!!!!"? Not if I have anything to say about it. The movie may be completely dramatically unsound, but it has all sorts of unique things it added to the Wing Commander universe. The Handbook tells us about the early days of the Kilrathi War -- do we throw that out because we can't handle the fact that the Tiger's Claw looks different? Of course not. Do we have to hate the 'Pilgrim' thing? It gives us a fake religion -- and they even fleshed it out for no reason in a really amazing sourcebook. So many Sci Fi universes would *kill* for something like that. We need to learn to appreciate the long term effect of the movie on our universe rather than let it define us as some kind of self hating community.
If you hate the movie, it's three days in March out of a forty year war. If you love it... what's wrong with you? See, there I go. It builds a lot of history that truly doesn't hurt us.