Wing Commander Movie Night: Arcadia of My Youth

It's a Wonderful Life remains a classic, though I'm not sure many members of the Wing Commander movie club are feeling all too festive this year. So, ultimately a good reminder that better days are ahead. Now we've decided to end the year with an animated film that a lot of our audience has never seen: Arcadia of My Youth, the 1982 origin story of the fearsome space pirate Captain Harlock. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Wing Commander Academy character-and-storyboard artist Tim Eldred was (and remains!) an enormous anime fan and his work on the show was greatly influenced by classic shows like Captain Harlock. Mr. Eldred even slipped a Harlock skull tattoo onto one of the background techs he concepted for the Tiger's Claw… and if you look carefully you can actually see it appear in the final show! This capture is from The Most Delicate Instrument, which makes heavy use of the 'Claw's ground crews.

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

Unfortunately, Arcadia of my Youth is not currently available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. A high quality subbed version is available on the Internet Archive as is a dubbed version preserved from a VHS tape. Feel free to pick whichever you prefer, but make sure you go with one that has a 2h10m run time. 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!

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.