Wing Commander Movie Night: It's a Wonderful Life
It's fair to say that everyone already loved Back to the Future, so it's no surprise that… everyone loved Back to the Future. It's an effortlessly entertaining movie that grabs your attention and keeps you entertained. It turns out that no amount of time as an unfortunate king of geek chic pop culture can dull its clean! Next week, we're having the first ever Wing Commander movie club holiday party and we're going to be playing a classic Christmas movie that happens to be referenced pretty directly in a Wing Commander novel. That's right, it's Frank Capra's classic about suicidal ideation, It's a Wonderful Life (1946)! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
COMBAT ALERT FOR MOVIE CLUB MEMBERS: Since this is our holiday party, please bring the name of a movie you particularly love for our first ever Secret Santa movie exchange. We'll collect all the suggestions and then randomly swap them out for another one… so everyone will get one movie recommendation to report back on! It can be any movie you love (or theoretically hate).
It's a Wonderful Life famously takes place in the fictional city of Bedford Falls, New York, whose fate is tied directly to the existence of the film's protagonist. The first Wing Commander movie continuity novel, Pilgrim Stars, references a Confederation Capital ship named the TCS Bedford Falls! Wing Commander might share its continuity with the film! In the book, the Kilrathi have deployed three battle groups to menace the Confederation as it deals with the mutiny on the Olympus. Tolwyn dispatches battle groups to counter them and we later hear that one of them is seemingly led by the Bedford Falls.
Commodore Richard Bellegarde bit his lower lip as he watched four squadrons of the Concordia’s fighters and a squadron of Broadsword bombers soar away from the ship, vectoring toward the Sivar-class dreadnought and three Fralthi-class cruisers at coordinates just two kilometers ahead. The Concordia had jumped into the Ymir system forty minutes ago to assist the CS Beacontree , a Bengal-class strike carrier that had been closest to the trouble zone. Tolwyn had sent the Beacontree to Ymir with orders to simply stall the Kilrathi until the Concordia and her battle group jumped in. Odd thing was, the Beacontree had arrived nearly twenty-four hours ago, and the Kilrathi had yet to make a move. They hovered between the third and fourth planets of the system, on the periphery of an asteroid belt. And they had remained there since their own arrival, over thirty-six hours ago.
“Now we blow them back to Sivar,” Tolwyn said, beating a fist into a palm. He stood, gave a cursory glance of the wide bridge, then joined Bellegarde near the viewport. “They ought to bloody well know the penalty for trespassing.”
“Either way, we’ll teach it to them,” Bellegarde added.
“Any news from Nephele?”
“Not since the last report. The Bedford Falls and the Tricaliber should be able to hold their own. But like these cats, the Kilrathi in that system are just sniffing around.”
“Here’s what I think, Richard. The emperor learned of the attack on Mylon. Of course he also lost a couple of destroyers out near K’n’Rek to theOlympus . So now he’s thinking that Pilgrims are responsible, since Mylon is Confederation territory. He sends out two battle groups to attack Ymir and Nephele, but then he realizes that if he starts these two battles, he’ll have to finish them. And I think he lacks the resources to do that. So he gets cold feet. Sends them in here anyway to gather what intelligence they can and deploy cloaked spy satellites. Now, if you mark my words, reports will come in from our fighters that the Kilrathi are in retreat, headed toward the jump point.” Tolwyn craned his neck and looked to the radar station. “Mr. Abrams?”
“Our fighters are still pursuing the battle group, sir. The Kilrathi have altered course. Looks they’re headed to the jump point.”
Bellegarde shook his head in mild astonishment. “When will you teach me that trick?”
“It’s no trick. Just think like a pack hunter. Now if our squadrons continue to pursue, they could be ambushed by one, perhaps two destroyers that broke off from the main battle group. Mr. Wilks? Give the order for recall.”
The comm officer nodded. “All fighters return to base, aye-aye, sir.”
“You see, Richard, despite the emperor’s cold feet, he wants us to know that he has these battle groups within jump range. Call it posturing, but it does humble the more keen strategist.”
From that limited reference it's not clear what kind of ships the Bedford Falls and the Tricaliber are, but the fact that they will 'hold their own' seems to imply that, only considering Wing Commander movie ship designs, they're intended to be Concordia supercruisers or Bengal carriers. Though we know from the movie's beloved TOWLYN scene that there are some other Confederation capship types out there (though they seem to be lower in the order of battle)!
Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?
It's a Wonderful Life is available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. It is currently streaming on Amazon Prime in the United States, though you must be careful to select the correct version as they also offer an abridged cut and a colorized edit. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on UHD Blu-ray in 2019 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!
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.
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