BTW, why is "todd" so terrible in that WC4.1823771 parody?
Hehe -- it's just sort of a silly name... the sort of thing a little kid in one of those circa 1950 'learn to read' books.
Todd found a duck! Go, Todd, go!
(Not sure what the problem with Carl is, though.)
I see... And I get it. But this is all some kind of retcon... even though they're already on the TC when WC1 starts, when the game was made it was probably meant to be their first moments. I'm not argueing, because one way or another the 3 sources mentioned are canon. So everything that happend in the game, the cartoon and the movie officially happened in the WCU. Nevertheless, the not-so-smooth fit of the 3 works is sometimes annoying and confusing.
I'm not really sure it's a retcon (in the negative sense of the word). The original Wing Commander starts in the Tiger's Claw's lounge... the intent was either to imply that Blair was born in the lounge and has just now achieved consciousness
or that he must have arrived there from somewhere else.
Now, they probably didn't intend for the story of his arrival on the 'Claw to involve Qusars and Snakeirs... but everyone who played the original Wing Commander must have known through implication that Blair must have gotten to the ship somehow.
But tell me one thing. They are cadets on the Tiger's Claw in academy... they aren't full pilots yet, and they are students under the tutorship (for lack of a better word) of Commodore Tolwyn... then they go back somewhere and return to the Claw in the movie to start their active duty? And then when the game begins, they're there already, continuing thei tour of duty that started in the movie?
It's sort of confusing. According to the press release, 'Wing Commander Academy' is the proper noun - it's a special command school for promising young officers. It's *not* the same as the TCSF on Hilthros. Blair/Maniac/etc. have already graduated from 'the Academy' in the traditional sense, and the series opens at Flight School on Sirius. Then the show, which takes place a bit later in 2654 (after the movie, after part of the original game) is about learning the responsibility of command and such.
Some questions: Where were the veteran full pilots during the Claw's school tour? they're there? Did the claw actually get detached for school duty or the cadets were along the "regular" operations?
I think the implication is that there aren't really any onboard until later in the series -- after 'Chain of Command' (timeline order), the survivors from the Trafalgar transfer onboard and occasionally show up as 'veteran' pilots. (They talk about them specifically during the briefing in 'Recreation' -- the 'veterans' are happy about going to Oasis. They refuse to fly with Maniac in 'Invisible Enemy'... and then one of them dies on Blair's wing in 'Price of Victory'.)
Isn't the Rapier Mk. I the one from WC1 and the Mk. II from WC2?
The roman numeral designates a whole new design -- the letter after the designation is what specifies a new model. The ship in the original game is the F-44A Rapier II, the one in Wing Commander 2 is the F-44G Rapier II (We also see the F-44C model in End Run).
A good modern equivalent is the A-10. It's the "A-10 Thunderbolt II" -- the original Thunderbolt was a World War II fighter (the P-47).
I assume this is in reference to my original post. I wasn't offended by the Rapiers and I didn't hate the movie. I enjoyed it, I just was confused about why they deviated so far from the original ships in the game. I wasn't trying to bash the movie or anything. Just looking for some clarification from a WC fan's standpoint is all.
Sorry, didn't mean to refer to your post specifically -- it's just a common sentiment. I wasn't actually thinking about how this thread began.