Wing Commander Movie Night: The Empire Strikes Back

Spock has been found – and guess what, he regenerated and lived his whole life and happened to end up exactly as old as he was the first time. What luck! In all seriousness, we loved Star Trek III and talked a lot about how important it was in setting up the next twenty years of Star Trek storytelling.

This week, things are changing just a little bit: we're moving from the previous collection of films, which were exclusively ones which inspired Wing Commander, to add a new set of movies that are referenced in Wing Commander stories (either in front of or behind the screens). If we come across another reference to a movie that inspired Wing Commander, we'll prioritize that in future weeks. Until then, enjoy a new batch of films with a little more variety… and some interesting Wing Commander connections that we'll explore in these intro posts.

With that in mind, we're kicking things off with the Star Wars movie we didn't already do: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

So what's our very first Wing Commander reference? Wing Commander Prophecy gets the honor by featuring a quote that references The Empire Strikes Back during the T'lan Meth E2 pilot rescue. The SAR pilot deliberately echoes a line from ESB when he finds Maniac's wingman: "We found him, sir! Repeat: we've found him!". The original line, spoken by a snowspeeder pilot upon discovering Han and Luke, is "I found them. Repeat, I found them." Here's Wing Commander Prophecy's audio clip:

There's also a great sequence in End Run that is clearly referencing the Imperial attack on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back. During the Confederation's amphibious assault on Vukar Tag, we get a neat description of how the landing craft drop off 'walkers' like the ones invented for Star Wars! Too bad we didn't get to see that in Wing Commander III…

He pulled up to a hundred meters above the plateau and swept over it. Mongol and Chamberlain were lower down, weaving S-turns back and forth, waiting for targets to crop up. In the dust and confusion, he saw the grunts clambering out of their ships, racing through the wreckage, ground fighting vehicles pouring out the forward hatches, hovering up, and then skimming away. The heavy weapons landers touched down, disgorging their massive “walkers” which could traverse any terrain and earned as much armaments as a light corvette. There was a flurry of laser rifle fire, more secondary explosions, one of the landing craft, now serving as a medevac, already taking off and heading back out to space.

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

The Empire Strikes Back is available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. It is currently streaming via subscription on Paramount+. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on UHD in 2020 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.

For the previous Star Wars films, we made a point of watching the theatrical versions. Because The Empire Strikes Back's theatrical version is so close to the later special edition, everyone can choose which they'd prefer on their own.

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!