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</ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </li> </ul> </nav> </header> <div id="container-site" class="clearfix"> <div id="content-news"> <section class="daily-content"> <header> <a href="/news/2024/12/02"> <time datetime="2024-12-02">2024.337 (December 2, 2024)</time> </a> </header> <article class="news-post" id="16731"> <h1> <a href="/news/2024/12/02/wing-commander-movie-night-633-squadron">Wing Commander Movie Night: 633 Squadron</a> <span class="permalink"> <a href="/news/update/16731"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/icons/if_link.png" height="20" alt="Update ID"></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wcnews.com%2Fnews%2Fupdate%2F16731&t=Wing%20Commander%20Movie%20Night%3A%20633%20Squadron"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_facebook_2581819-20.png" title="Share on Facebook" alt="Share on Facebook" width="20" height="20"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/home?status=Wing%20Commander%20Movie%20Night%3A%20633%20Squadron%20https%3A%2F%2Fwcne.ws%2F16731"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_twitter_2112797-20.png" title="Share on Twitter" alt="Share on Twitter" width="20" height="20"></a> </span> </h1> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/633_Squadron_Poster.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/633_Squadron_Postert.jpg" WIDTH="301" HEIGHT="225" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/633_Squadron_Postert_2x.jpg 2x" CLASS="align-right"></A> </div> <P>Last week's meeting of the Wing Commander movie club was a great success! Star Trek VI's connection to Wing Commander may have been slighter than other films we've watched (watch for the after action report on Friday) but it was also a lot of fun watching a film we all love together with friends. And isn't that the point of this whole endeavor in the first place? Next week, however, we're returning to music and to World War II with 633 Squadron (1964)! And as always you are welcome to join us <A HREF="https://discord.com/invite/vwKE8Tc">this Friday via Discord</A> to watch along.</P> <BR> <BR> <div class="lazyframe" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y09ssRENr9I" data-vendor="youtube"></div> <P>It's time for more high flying action with the Royal Air Force! 633 Squadron is a fictionalized air combat adventure which pits a squadron of elite Mosquito fighter pilots against a Nazi rocket base. Made in 1964, it's the first air combat movie to be shot in color and represents a new kind of World War II movie that starts to glamorize rather than memorialize the conflict. As such, we thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and watch 633 Squadron while Dam Busters is fresh in our mind. Even without the Wing Commander connection, the difference in these two films that tackle a similar subject matter just a few years apart should be fascinating. Will the dour realism of one give way to something that feels a little more fun? How many math lectures will it include? Fewer than five, we hope.</P> <P>Also like Dam Busters, the major connection to Wing Commander is the music. 633 Squadron is the other film that Chris Roberts asked David Arnold and Keivn Kiner to study when scoring Wing Commander. Here are the Wing Commander liner notes in which Chris Roberts references both movies:</P> <blockquote> When I set out to make "Wing Commander," I envisioned a classic World War II film as its model. Except that it was set in space, 500 years from now. This motif played strongly in the design and look of the picture. I also wanted it to play strongly in the score. I wanted the music to evoke some of the glorious old war film scores; full of heart, melody and heroic acts. "633 Squadron," "The Dam Busters" and other such classics came to my mind. When I first talked to David and Kevin about the score, they were in tune from step one.<br> <br> In fact, my first conversation with David had him citing classic war film scores as a jumping- off point - and that was before I'd even pitched him on my 'WWII' in space concept! From that point on, I am happy to say I was in good hands. From hearing the first temps to being blown away by the orchestra on the scoring stage at Air Lyndhurst, I was constantly surprised and impressed. The sound they've managed to capture evokes epic movies from the fifties and sixties. It's some of the best space music I've heard, right up there with the classics we've all grown up with. The film required many things of the score, bravery, guts, youthfulness, mystery, danger, loss and redemption. David and Kevin delivered all that and hummable melodies into the bargain! (I guarantee you'll be whistling the title cue as you leave the cinema.) The film grows as a result. Bravo! Here's to working together again.<br> <br> Chris Roberts<br> Director </blockquote> <P>Of course, there's another <I>little</I> connection that seems to indicate that this is a movie that's (still) not far from Chris Roberts' mind…</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/squadron42logo633title.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/squadron42logo633titlet.jpg" WIDTH="353" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/squadron42logo633titlet_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/squadron42logo633.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/squadron42logo633t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/squadron42logo633t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P><B>Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?</B></P> <P>633 Squadron is currently available as a free <A HREF="https://archive.org/details/633.-squadron.-1964.720p.-blu-ray.-999-mb.-hq.x-265.10bit">download from the Internet Archive</A>. In the United States it is available for rental or sale digitally at all storefronts. If you're interested in tracking down a physical copy, Kino Lorber publiished a Blu-ray release in 2021 which is readily available; it is a combo pack with Mosquito Squadron (1969)... but that one is NOT currently known to have been an influence on Wing Commander! </P> <P><B>How do we watch the movie together?</B></P> <P>It's pretty low tech! Simply join the <A HREF="https://discord.gg/vwKE8Tc">Wing Commander CIC Discord</A> 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!</P> <div id="comments-16731" class="container-comments"></div> <footer> <div class="outer"> <div class="author-avatar"> <img class="news-author-avatar" src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/avatars/5.png" alt="author avatar"/> </div> <div class="author-info"> <a href="mailto:news@wcnews.com">LOAF</a> </div> <div id="comment-count-16731" class="comment-bubble discuss-link" data-updateid="16731" data-threadid="0"> Comment on this </div> </div></footer> </article></section> <section class="daily-content"> <header> <a href="/news/2024/12/01"> <time datetime="2024-12-01">2024.336 (December 1, 2024)</time> </a> </header> <article class="news-post" id="16724"> <h1> <a href="/news/2024/12/01/lost-speech-accessory-pack-found-was-never-lost">Lost Speech Accessory Pack Found, Was Never Lost</a> <span class="permalink"> <a href="/news/update/16724"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/icons/if_link.png" height="20" alt="Update ID"></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wcnews.com%2Fnews%2Fupdate%2F16724&t=Lost%20Speech%20Accessory%20Pack%20Found%2C%20Was%20Never%20Lost"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_facebook_2581819-20.png" title="Share on Facebook" alt="Share on Facebook" width="20" height="20"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/home?status=Lost%20Speech%20Accessory%20Pack%20Found%2C%20Was%20Never%20Lost%20https%3A%2F%2Fwcne.ws%2F16724"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_twitter_2112797-20.png" title="Share on Twitter" alt="Share on Twitter" width="20" height="20"></a> </span> </h1> <P>Digital archaeology strikes again: we've discovered something we didn't know was missing… and we've had it in our collection all along! The true story behind the Wing Commander Academy Speech Accessory Pack, long thought to be a fan made addon, has been discovered. What we didn't know was that it was an official addon created and released by Origin in 1993. </P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/academy_ad_analysis2.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/academy_ad_analysis2t.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="250" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/academy_ad_analysis2t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>Backing up: Wing Commander Academy shipped in August 1993 and it included partial speech. If you have a speech-capable sound card (not a given in 1993!) the game will play the taunts of the (five different) Kilrathi AI pilots you can battle. But the responses from your wingmen do not play; they display as text. This always felt a little odd to players familiar with Wing Commander II… after all, four of the five Confederation comm sets, Angel, Hobbes, Maniac and the male space station, were already recorded. However, the reason the wingmen voices weren't included was actually pretty sensible: there wasn't room on the game's three 3.5" HD diskettes to include the larger wingmen files. Cutting them, we have always reasoned, made sense because the single most expensive part of an Origin game at the time was the physical diskettes. Three disks instead of four would mean a tremendous savings and it would help keep Academy's costs historically low for a new Origin title (a mere $49.95 instead of $70 or $80!). </P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/WCA_WINGMEN_SELECT.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WCA_WINGMEN_SELECTt.jpg" WIDTH="240" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WCA_WINGMEN_SELECTt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>… except it turns out that's not quite what really happened! The team had actually intended to ship the base game on 3 diskettes and then a second speech pack SKU which would include all ten audio sets on one additional diskette. This would be sold for a low cost as it essentially already existed; it just needed an installer to drop the files in Academy's GAMEDAT directory and set the game's CFG file to play speech. Stingray's voice would be used for Lightspeed so no new recording or quality assurance was necessary; the only cost of the effort would be the (not insubstantial) packaging. In the end, Origin decided that selling an Academy speech pack wasn't a good value proposition and they dropped the physical release. It was at this time that they opted to add back the Kilrath taunts to the base game as there was room on the third disk to store them… but not the larger wingman voices (wingmen have more things they can say, resulting in files that were two to four larger than the Kilrathi ones). </P> <P>Fans have known since at least the late 90s that renaming the sound files from Wing Commander II and dropping them in the right place in Academy's installation adds them to the game; they even figured out that Stingray was the best choice to replace Lightspeed. But we haven't known <i>why</i>. It turns out that since Wing Commander Academy had /partial/ speech, no changes to the installer were needed. It was believed this was all a happy accident, just something that happened to work because it logically might. HCl's website has a download of the renamed audio files; Wedge009 lists instructions for doing it yourself. It's a common "hack" to perfect your Academy installation. And file sites commonly included another identical set of the audio files with what at first glance looked like the usual Warez crud included as an installer. We even <A HREF="/news/update/9026">noted it as odd</A> at the time but couldn't draw any conclusions. The files in this download were dated 1996 and so there was no clear tie to the actual Academy era. </P> <P>What we didn't know was that this was the actual Origin version complete with an installer the modifies the game's setup! After researching the file further, investigating its internals and then confirming with developers working at the time we have established that Origin released it as a free download from their BBS on October 30, 1993. From there it spread around the pre-internet but its source was quickly forgotten! There's even evidence in there that it was being developed for sale with only the wingman audio: it reads "Thank you for purchasing WCA Wingman Voice Addition!" on quit after a successful installation! Also note that this version is even a little different from the fan created one; it uses the male Concordia pack instead of the starbase one for the space station. So the next time someone asks you how many Wing Commander games have speech accessory packs… you tell 'em THREE!</P> <P>You can downloaded the 'correct' audio <A HREF="https://download.wcnews.com/files/academy/WCA_Speech_Pack.zip">files with their installer here</A>.</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/install_000.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/install_000t.jpg" WIDTH="240" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/install_000t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <div id="comments-16724" class="container-comments"></div> <footer> <div class="outer"> <div class="author-avatar"> <img class="news-author-avatar" src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/avatars/5.png" alt="author avatar"/> </div> <div class="author-info"> <a href="mailto:news@wcnews.com">LOAF</a> </div> <div id="comment-count-16724" class="comment-bubble discuss-link" data-updateid="16724" data-threadid="32136"> Comment on this </div> </div></footer> </article></section> <section class="daily-content"> <header> <a href="/news/2024/11/30"> <time datetime="2024-11-30">2024.335 (November 30, 2024)</time> </a> </header> <article class="news-post" id="16727"> <h1> <a href="/news/2024/11/30/snakeir-crew-represent-or-we-will-grist-ar-roc-you">Snakeir Crew Represent (or: We Will Grist'Ar'roc You)</a> <span class="permalink"> <a href="/news/update/16727"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/icons/if_link.png" height="20" alt="Update ID"></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wcnews.com%2Fnews%2Fupdate%2F16727&t=Snakeir%20Crew%20Represent%20%28or%3A%20We%20Will%20Grist%27Ar%27roc%20You%29"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_facebook_2581819-20.png" title="Share on Facebook" alt="Share on Facebook" width="20" height="20"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/home?status=Snakeir%20Crew%20Represent%20%28or%3A%20We%20Will%20Grist%27Ar%27roc%20You%29%20https%3A%2F%2Fwcne.ws%2F16727"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_twitter_2112797-20.png" title="Share on Twitter" alt="Share on Twitter" width="20" height="20"></a> </span> </h1> <P>Oh, you're a fan of giant rubber cat monsters? Name four of them! The final cut of the Wing Commander movie famously sliced its intended Kilrathi appearances to the bone, removing everything before the climactic final chase and surprising viewers when it finally cuts to a series of brief conversations on their distinctive green-atmosphere'd flagship. So: who are these kils, anyway?</P> <P>The film's credits identify two of the characters as KILRATH CAPTAIN and KILRATHI ADMIRAL and the shooting script identifies a third speaking character as KILRATHI TECH. The Admiral is the kil who stands to the right and is (technically) the only one whose lips we see move. The Captain is the one who is usually speaking to him but his dialogue occurs when he's seen from behind or when we are looking at their viewscreen. The tech is at the port aft bridge station where he is intended to be the Snakeir's equivalent of the Radar Man position seen aboard the Tiger Claw and the Concordia and at Pegasus. His line is "the Rapier is homing in on a Confederation signal" but as previously suggested the closeup shown in the final is actually the Admiral. Here are the subtitled lines we see in the final cut:</P> <P><B>Scene 281</B> (2 shots)</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Kilrathi_Scene_1_1.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_1_1t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_1_1t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <br> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Kilrathi_Scene_1_2.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_1_2t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_1_2t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Kilrathi_Scene_1_3.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_1_3t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_1_3t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Kilrathi_Scene_1_4.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_1_4t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_1_4t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P><B>Scene 308</B> (2 shots)</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Kilrathi_Scene_2_1.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_2_1t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_2_1t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <br> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Kilrathi_Scene_2_2.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_2_2t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_2_2t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Kilrathi_Scene_2_3.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_2_3t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_2_3t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P><B>Scene 313</B> (2 shots)</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Kilrathi_Scene_3_1.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_3_1t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_3_1t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <br> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Kilrathi_Scene_3_2.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_3_2t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_3_2t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Kilrathi_Scene_3_3.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_3_3t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_3_3t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P><B>Scene 316</B> (1 shot)</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Kilrathi_Scene_4.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_4t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_4t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P><B>Unnumbered Scene</B> (2 shots)</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Kilrathi_Scene_5_1.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_5_1t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_5_1t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <br> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Kilrathi_Scene_5_2.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_5_2t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Scene_5_2t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>From there there's the greater lore: Peter Telep's adaptations include backstories for these characters and one of the extras. The Snakeir's name is the <B>KIS Grist'Ar'roc</B> and the captain is <B>Kal Shintahr Thiraka nar Kiranka</B>. The admiral, who is in command of the battlegroup, is <B>Kalralahr Bokoth nar Kiranka</B>. The Kilrathi Tech line is assigned to the superdreadnaught's tactical officer, <B>Second Fang Norsh'kal</B>. The unspeaking character seen at helm behind the captain and admiral is the carrier's executive officer, <B>Shintahr Ke'Soick</B>. We learn that Bokoth is the most respected admiral in the fleet and in the grand tradition of stock-thickening novelizations, Telep adds an additional arc for the Kilrathi with a jealous Thiraka plotting to betray Bokoth with Ke'Soick's help. Ke'Soick ultimately double-crosses Thiraka; Norsh'kal is blameless. So with the information from the novelization you can now amaze your friends by effortlessly identifying Bokoth, Thiraka, Ke'Soick and Norsh'kal!</P> <P>X Toys produced an action figure of Bokoth which is confusingly named KILRATHI GENERAL instead of Kilrathi Admiral. Adding to the confusion, the trading card included shows a Kilrathi warrior (seen in the earlier battle scenes) and the action figure of the KILRATHI PILOT (cut from the final movie) has a mislabeled card showing the admiral! Still pretty neat that it exists, though.</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/X-Toys_General.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/X-Toys_Generalt.jpg" WIDTH="92" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/X-Toys_Generalt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/X-Toys_Pilot.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/X-Toys_Pilott.jpg" WIDTH="91" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/X-Toys_Pilott_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>While working up this update we took a look at some cut footage to determine how the bridge is actually laid out and how many Kilrathi crewmen there are. The answer is that there are seven bridge stations with Kilrathi and at least two others who enter and exit the bridge in the background. But only four Kilrathi (or arguably three) appear on the Snakeir's bridge in the final movie. AD has created a high quality blueprint detailing the bridge layout:</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Kilrathi_Bridge_WCM.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Bridge_WCMt.jpg" WIDTH="244" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Kilrathi_Bridge_WCMt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>Bokoth and Thiraka stand in front of a viewscreen. To either side there are Kilrathi crewmen stationed in front of banks of bright lights. Towards the center of the room there is a helm station and a Sivar idol. At the rear of the bridge is an exit door flanked by two more crew positions (including the tactical officer/radar kil). Here are some shots from rough cuts of the film:</P> <P>Looking from the rear towards the front, view screen in the center:</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Snakeir_Bridge_Front_Tape_70.avi_snapshot_03.55.618.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Bridge_Front_Tape_70t.jpg_snapshot_03.55.618.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Bridge_Front_Tape_70t_2x.jpg_snapshot_03.55.618.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Snakeir_Bridge_Front_Tape_70.avi_snapshot_04.07.971.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Bridge_Front_Tape_70t.jpg_snapshot_04.07.971.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Bridge_Front_Tape_70t_2x.jpg_snapshot_04.07.971.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Snakeir_Bridge_Front_Tape_70.avi_snapshot_04.08.701.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Bridge_Front_Tape_70t.jpg_snapshot_04.08.701.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Bridge_Front_Tape_70t_2x.jpg_snapshot_04.08.701.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>Looking from the front towards the rear, door in the center with bridge stations to either side:</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Snakeir_Rear_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080.mov_snapshot_22.27.805.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Rear_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080t.jpg_snapshot_22.27.805.jpg" WIDTH="352" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Rear_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080t_2x.jpg_snapshot_22.27.805.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Snakeir_Rear_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080.mov_snapshot_23.59.820.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Rear_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080t.jpg_snapshot_23.59.820.jpg" WIDTH="352" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Rear_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080t_2x.jpg_snapshot_23.59.820.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Snakeir_Rear_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080.mov_snapshot_24.46.287.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Rear_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080t.jpg_snapshot_24.46.287.jpg" WIDTH="352" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Rear_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080t_2x.jpg_snapshot_24.46.287.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>Front looking rear, full crew:</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Snakeir_Looking_Back_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080.mov_snapshot_29.47.302.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Looking_Back_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080t.jpg_snapshot_29.47.302.jpg" WIDTH="352" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Looking_Back_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080t_2x.jpg_snapshot_29.47.302.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Snakeir_Looking_Back_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080.mov_snapshot_30.08.500.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Looking_Back_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080t.jpg_snapshot_30.08.500.jpg" WIDTH="352" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Looking_Back_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080t_2x.jpg_snapshot_30.08.500.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>Starboard fore "light screen" station:</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Snakeir_Light_BankAll-In-testrender-Complete-May2024-v3.mp4_snapshot_01.05.53.561.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Light_BankAll-In-testrender-Complete-May2024-v3t.jpg4_snapshot_01.05.53.561.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Light_BankAll-In-testrender-Complete-May2024-v3t_2x.jpg4_snapshot_01.05.53.561.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>Radar Kil/Tactical Station:</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Snakeir_Tactical_Station_All-In-testrender-Complete-May2024-v3.mp4_snapshot_02.24.55.263.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Tactical_Station_All-In-testrender-Complete-May2024-v3t.jpg4_snapshot_02.24.55.263.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Tactical_Station_All-In-testrender-Complete-May2024-v3t_2x.jpg4_snapshot_02.24.55.263.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Snakeir_Tactical_Station_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080.mov_snapshot_09.40.002.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Tactical_Station_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080t.jpg_snapshot_09.40.002.jpg" WIDTH="352" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Tactical_Station_Tape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080t_2x.jpg_snapshot_09.40.002.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>Kilrathi Admiral:</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Snakeir_Admiral_All-In-testrender-Complete-May2024-v3.mp4_snapshot_02.24.42.232.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Admiral_All-In-testrender-Complete-May2024-v3t.jpg4_snapshot_02.24.42.232.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Admiral_All-In-testrender-Complete-May2024-v3t_2x.jpg4_snapshot_02.24.42.232.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>Helm Station & Sivar Idol:</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Snakeir_Helm_All-In-testrender-Complete-May2024-v3.mp4_snapshot_02.17.08.732.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Helm_All-In-testrender-Complete-May2024-v3t.jpg4_snapshot_02.17.08.732.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Helm_All-In-testrender-Complete-May2024-v3t_2x.jpg4_snapshot_02.17.08.732.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Snakeir_Sivar_IdolTape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080.mov_snapshot_11.05.381.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Sivar_IdolTape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080t.jpg_snapshot_11.05.381.jpg" WIDTH="352" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Sivar_IdolTape_29_-_Kilrathi_scenes_-_1080t_2x.jpg_snapshot_11.05.381.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>Bridge Entrance:</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Snakeir_Hallway_Tape_70.avi_snapshot_04.02.247.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Hallway_Tape_70t.jpg_snapshot_04.02.247.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Snakeir_Hallway_Tape_70t_2x.jpg_snapshot_04.02.247.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>Where did these come from? The original cut of the movie had four additional scenes set aboard the Snakeir which were intended to appear earlier in the movie to update you on the Kilrathi plan. They were cut because they significantly involve the dropped Pilgrim traitor, Admiral Wilson, and because there was a concentrated effort to reduce the screen time of the Kilrathi creatures (and to generally obscure them with more gas effects, CG-edited mouths and shots that don't show the aliens' faces). These scenes were:</P> <P><B>Scene 11 & 12</B> - A conversation between Bokoth and Admiral Wilson (his identity obscured in a space suit). We learn that this traitor has given the Kilrathi the NAVCOM AI and that they are going to use it to destroy Earth.</P> <div class="lazyframe" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rxw5tQZ_Xzs" data-vendor="youtube"></div> <P><B>Scene 110B</B> - Thiraka reports to Bokoth and a still unidentified Wilson that the Tiger Claw has been located. We learn that there is a Pilgrim traitor aboard the carrier reporting to them. Wilson demands the Admiral launch an attack.</P> <div class="lazyframe" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KVb3jPCJEN8" data-vendor="youtube"></div> <P><B>Scene 298B</B> - Wilson castigates Bokoth for failing to destroy the Tiger Claw. Bokoth orders him to the ConCom to prepare the jump coordinates for Earth (setting up Wilson's further cut face off with Blair and Gerald).</P> <div class="lazyframe" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EV5L4Igl3as" data-vendor="youtube"></div> Are you interested in learning more about the Kilrathi scenes in the movie? We've created a Google Sheet that compares the shooting script, the final transcript, the novelization and the junior novelization! You can <A HREF="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cTVfCy1dgp0TGGphn_xyZl0V_oenmC85bDPcsL75gC4/edit?usp=sharing">access it here</A>. Since the novel adapted the script rather than the final cut, all three of the earlier Kilrathi sequences are included (and expanded!). To close, here's a final recut of the final Kilrathi scenes with all of the dialogue from the shooting script:</P> <div class="lazyframe" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3gbso0Nd9oI" data-vendor="youtube"></div> <div id="comments-16727" class="container-comments"></div> <footer> <div class="outer"> <div class="author-avatar"> <img class="news-author-avatar" src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/avatars/5.png" alt="author avatar"/> </div> <div class="author-info"> <a href="mailto:news@wcnews.com">LOAF</a> </div> <div id="comment-count-16727" class="comment-bubble discuss-link" data-updateid="16727" data-threadid="32135"> Comment on this </div> </div></footer> </article></section> <section class="daily-content"> <header> <a href="/news/2024/11/29"> <time datetime="2024-11-29">2024.334 (November 29, 2024)</time> </a> </header> <article class="news-post" id="16725"> <h1> <a href="/news/2024/11/29/reminder-wingnut-movie-night-tonight">Reminder: #Wingnut Movie Night Tonight!</a> <span class="permalink"> <a href="/news/update/16725"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/icons/if_link.png" height="20" alt="Update ID"></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wcnews.com%2Fnews%2Fupdate%2F16725&t=Reminder%3A%20%23Wingnut%20Movie%20Night%20Tonight%21"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_facebook_2581819-20.png" title="Share on Facebook" alt="Share on Facebook" width="20" height="20"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/home?status=Reminder%3A%20%23Wingnut%20Movie%20Night%20Tonight%21%20https%3A%2F%2Fwcne.ws%2F16725"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_twitter_2112797-20.png" title="Share on Twitter" alt="Share on Twitter" width="20" height="20"></a> </span> </h1> <P>This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on <A HREF="https://discord.gg/vwKE8Tc">Discord</A> this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which is explicitly referenced as having influenced the Wing Commander movie's explosion VFX. You can find details on that as well as how to watch along with us in <A HREF="/news/2024/11/25/wing-commander-movie-night-star-trek-vi">the announcement post here</A>. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST, but feel free to drop by and hang any time!</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Star_Trek_VI_Poster.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Star_Trek_VI_Postert.jpg" WIDTH="202" HEIGHT="300" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Star_Trek_VI_Postert_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <div id="comments-16725" class="container-comments"></div> <footer> <div class="outer"> <div class="author-avatar"> <img class="news-author-avatar" src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/avatars/5.png" alt="author avatar"/> </div> <div class="author-info"> <a href="mailto:news@wcnews.com">LOAF</a> </div> <div id="comment-count-16725" class="comment-bubble discuss-link" data-updateid="16725" data-threadid="0"> Comment on this </div> </div></footer> </article> <article class="news-post" id="16726"> <h1> <a href="/news/2024/11/29/after-action-report-top-gun-wrap-up">After Action Report: Top Gun Wrap Up</a> <span class="permalink"> <a href="/news/update/16726"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/icons/if_link.png" height="20" alt="Update ID"></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wcnews.com%2Fnews%2Fupdate%2F16726&t=After%20Action%20Report%3A%20Top%20Gun%20Wrap%20Up"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_facebook_2581819-20.png" title="Share on Facebook" alt="Share on Facebook" width="20" height="20"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/home?status=After%20Action%20Report%3A%20Top%20Gun%20Wrap%20Up%20https%3A%2F%2Fwcne.ws%2F16726"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_twitter_2112797-20.png" title="Share on Twitter" alt="Share on Twitter" width="20" height="20"></a> </span> </h1> <P>Greetings WingNuts,</P> <P>The Wing Commander Movie Club has <a href="/news/2024/11/18/wing-commander-movie-night-top-gun">visited the danger zone</a> and lived to tell the tale! We found that while Top Gun remains a striking movie full of fast action, striking cinematography and endearing characters… it also isn't much of a story. The scenes we remembered from years past were still wonderful but the lack of connective tissue seemed more apparent today. There's not really a character arc for Maverick: the film seems to set him up for a decision between being a devil-may-care fighter pilot like Iceman and a family man like Goose… and then Goose dies and instead he has to (fairly rapidly) get over his grief. But since the accident isn't his fault and he ultimately just splits the difference (he goes back to the girl AND is still a hotshot pilot!) there's not a very satisfying resolution. </P> <P>But do you know what other movie has that exact combination of action, cinematography and characters but also falls apart in the final edit? Wing Commander, of course! As AD explained going in, FOX's marketing is absolutely correct: before we even get to dogfight cinematography, the movie borrows a LOT from Top Gun. Specifically, what's left of its character arcs strongly echoes the same scenes in Top Gun, often split into different characters: Blair is distracted by his war hero/traitor father's controversial past just like Maverick… and he's ultimately counseled by mentor Paladin just like Maverick's resolve is finally steeled by Tom Skerritt. Maniac's story is taken from Maverick with even fuller cloth: an flying accident kills a loved one (Rosie/Goose) causing him to lose his nerve before his CO gives an inspirational speech to bring him back into the fight. Angel and Charlie both act as love interests and psychologists for their respective Mavericks… and both Mavericks get a final "you're okay" scene with their rivals (Hunter and Iceman). </P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_choreograhy_side_TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreograhy_side_TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreograhy_side_TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_choreograhy_side_WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreograhy_side_WCt.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreograhy_side_WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>We previously <A href="/news/2024/11/18/wing-commander-movie-night-top-gun">quoted</a> Wing Commander's VFX supervisor Chris Brown as saying Top Gun inspired the movie's dogfighting choreography and it's easy to see why. Top Gun's breathtaking aircraft photography and its frenetically paced cuts between cockpits, helmeted pilots and flying action are spectacular. Even the decision to use real F-5s instead of model MiGs is immediately understandable: models or CG would never look this good (the restored 2022 UHD release is strongly recommended)... I suppose this would be like having Talons show up as Kilrathi fighters, which did technically happen in Super Wing Commander. As you can see from some of the quick comparisons below, both movies use exactly the same set of paints for their dogfights just as Brown suggested: straight on shots of the pilots, ones that use their head motion to express action, angled exterior shots that include the aircraft (Wing Commander cut in half one of the Lightnings to allow for clear Top Gun style pilot shots). Then there's forward-facing VDU shots with very similar targeting systems… and that's all before the actual flying shots. Wing Commander can't match Top Gun's aircraft closeups but it does a great job on its take on Top Gun's more distant dogfight shots. </P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_choreography_headon_TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_headon_TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_headon_TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_choreography_headon_WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_headon_WCt.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_headon_WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <br> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_choreography_left_TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_left_TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_left_TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_choreography_left_WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_left_WCt.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_left_WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <br> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_choreograhy_outside_TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreograhy_outside_TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreograhy_outside_TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_choreograhy_outside_WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreograhy_outside_WCt.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreograhy_outside_WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <br> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_VDU_1_DB.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_VDU_1_DBt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_VDU_1_DBt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_VDU_1_WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_VDU_1_WCt.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_VDU_1_WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <br> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_VDU_2_TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_VDU_2_TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_VDU_2_TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_VDU_2_WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_VDU_2_WCt.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_VDU_2_WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <br> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_choreography_behind-TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_behind-TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_behind-TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_choreography_behind-WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_behind-WCt.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_behind-WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <br> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_choreography_wide-TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_wide-TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_wide-TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_choreography_wide-WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_wide-WCt.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_choreography_wide-WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>The Wing Commander movie's second act scramble is also heavily derived from Top Gun's two beautiful F-14s-at-sunrise takeoff sequences. Of course, this is just how an aircraft carrier works… but Top Gun was the movie that tuned the dramatic dance of loaders and catapult officers and showed it to the world, there's little doubt Wing Commander was following it.</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_landing_catapult-TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_catapult-TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_catapult-TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_landing_catapult-WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_catapult-WCt.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_catapult-WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <br> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_landing_deck_Officer-TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_deck_Officer-TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_deck_Officer-TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_landing_deck_Officer-WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_deck_Officer-WCt.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_deck_Officer-WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <br> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_landing_fighter-TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_fighter-TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_fighter-TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_landing_fighter-WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_fighter-WCt.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_fighter-WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <br> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_landing_missile-TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_missile-TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_missile-TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_landing_missile-WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_missile-WCt.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_landing_missile-WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>And then there are plenty of aspects of Top Gun that connect back to the earlier games. Wing Commander III's scramble is similarly inspired as are things like the locker room… and Rachel's flight-oriented double entendres and even her look lead right back to Charlie!</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_rachel-TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_rachel-TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_rachel-TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_rachel-WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_rachel-WCt.jpg" WIDTH="292" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_rachel-WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <br> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_barracks-TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_barracks-TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_barracks-TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_barracks-WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_barracks-WCt.jpg" WIDTH="288" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_barracks-WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>… and let's not forget the now infamous volleyball scene. Wing Commander Academy gave us our long-deserved Maverick-and-buddy cheesecake when they went swimming on Greenhouse in On Both Your Houses! And this speaks to another aspect of Wing Commander that comes right from Top Gun: the 'best friends/rival bros' connection between Blair and Maniac which is clearly patterned after the relationships the Top Gun pilots have. In Top Gun their as-close-as-lovers connection is a fascinating setup (I would argue a Lawrentian one) that never quite goes anywhere. But maybe there's still time for that story…</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_cheesecake_TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_cheesecake_TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_cheesecake_TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_cheesecake_WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_cheesecake_WCt.jpg" WIDTH="225" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_cheesecake_WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>I also suspect the Top Gun helmets are what Andrew Keith was imagining when he described Maniac's in the Wing Commander III novelization: "Marshall, wearing a flight suit and carrying his colorfully painted helmet under one arm." In fact, Andrew Keith likely owed his Wing Commander job to Top Gun mania. In 1991, he and his brother William Keith were hired to create a series of Top Gun-inspired action novels set aboard an aircraft carrier appropriately titled CARRIER. Andrew co-authored the first three and wrote the fourth on his own. The series, always attributed to the company name Keith Douglass, has continued well after Andrew's tragic passing.</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_wc3helmet_TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_wc3helmet_TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_wc3helmet_TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun_wc3helmet_WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_wc3helmet_WCt.jpg" WIDTH="90" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun_wc3helmet_WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>But in spite of all of that there are some pretty interesting differences. Wing Commander's Maverick explicitly isn't like Top Gun's: he's a rule follower and not an obnoxious asshole. Despite borrowing the name from Top Gun he doesn't carry with him the personality; can you imagine Mark Hamill's Blair buzzing Captain Eisen in the tower? Maniac gets that part of the character instead but it's always portrayed as charmingly stupid and accidental instead of a good thing that comes from having a type A personality. </P> <P>Wing Commander has always had an interesting relationship with the 'Maverick' name. It was Chris Roberts' callsign when he played the original game but they avoided locking down a canonical one for Blair for quite a while. The writers bible even named him Falcon/Phoenix with a backstory about how it changed between Wing Commander I and II and that's referenced in End Run… but since it was only ever in the bible and not the game itself, no one knew what Forstchen was referencing! The Sega CD release of Wing Commander I named the character "Hot Shot" (or Starbuck in Japan). The first mention of Maverick was in Super Wing Commander where the player character was given an entirely new name: Maverick Armstrong, leaving questions as to what the intent was. Blair was finally called Maverick in the Wing Commander III novel and for a time fans argued back and forth about whether that was really his callsign or just a description. But then Academy surprised everyone and used the callsign throughout every script. Blair was then listed as Maverick in Kilrathi Saga and in flight in Prophecy. The Wing Commander movie, for obvious Top Gun reasons, avoided giving him a callsign entirely! (Though it is mentioned in the adaptation… and then changed to Pilgrim for the sequel.)</P> <P>I also couldn't help but notice that Maverick's rival Iceman was also likely the visual inspiration for Wing Commander II's Jazz. Wing Commander II based its characters on real actors (sometimes role specific ones) and it's not a stretch to imagine the art instruction for Jazz was to make him young Val Kilmer!</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun-iceman-TG.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun-iceman-TGt.jpg" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun-iceman-TGt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/top_gun-iceman-WC.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun-iceman-WCt.jpg" WIDTH="381" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/top_gun-iceman-WCt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/sullytopgun.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/sullytopgunt.jpg" WIDTH="113" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/sullytopgunt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P><CENTER><I>Sully believes he is even more handsome than Tom Cruise AND less morally problematic.</I></CENTER></P> <div id="comments-16726" class="container-comments"></div> <footer> <div class="outer"> <div class="author-avatar"> <img class="news-author-avatar" src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/avatars/5.png" alt="author avatar"/> </div> <div class="author-info"> <a href="mailto:news@wcnews.com">LOAF</a> </div> <div id="comment-count-16726" class="comment-bubble discuss-link" data-updateid="16726" data-threadid="0"> Comment on this </div> </div></footer> </article></section> <section class="daily-content"> <header> <a href="/news/2024/11/28"> <time datetime="2024-11-28">2024.333 (November 28, 2024)</time> </a> </header> <article class="news-post" id="16729"> <h1> <a href="/news/2024/11/28/happy-thanksgiving">Happy Thanksgiving!</a> <span class="permalink"> <a href="/news/update/16729"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/icons/if_link.png" height="20" alt="Update ID"></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wcnews.com%2Fnews%2Fupdate%2F16729&t=Happy%20Thanksgiving%21"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_facebook_2581819-20.png" title="Share on Facebook" alt="Share on Facebook" width="20" height="20"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/home?status=Happy%20Thanksgiving%21%20https%3A%2F%2Fwcne.ws%2F16729"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_twitter_2112797-20.png" title="Share on Twitter" alt="Share on Twitter" width="20" height="20"></a> </span> </h1> <P>The Wing Commander Combat Information Center team would like to wish you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving! When times are tough–like, say, when you've been imprisoned by a treacherous pirate–it's a genuine relief that you can still gather around the ten-legged space turkey and enjoy life with your loved ones. Also Maniac was there. </P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/SpaceTurkey1.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/SpaceTurkey1t.jpg" WIDTH="225" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/SpaceTurkey1t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/SpaceTurkey2.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/SpaceTurkey2t.jpg" WIDTH="225" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/SpaceTurkey2t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>In all seriousness, we hope you are doing well today and always. And also a reminder that if you're looking for an internet family that good friends are always <A HREF="https://discord.gg/vwKE8Tc">welcome on our Discord</A>. We had planned to run a big in-universe article covering the history of the Pilgrims (GET IT?!) today but isn't just not ready for prime time yet. But a little taste of the research being compiled for the project is below to tide you over!</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/pilgrimcrossedited.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/pilgrimcrosseditedt.jpg" WIDTH="171" HEIGHT="300" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/pilgrimcrosseditedt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <div id="comments-16729" class="container-comments"></div> <footer> <div class="outer"> <div class="author-avatar"> <img class="news-author-avatar" src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/avatars/1.gif" alt="author avatar"/> </div> <div class="author-info"> <a href="mailto:news@wcnews.com">CIC</a> </div> <div id="comment-count-16729" class="comment-bubble discuss-link" data-updateid="16729" data-threadid="0"> Comment on this </div> </div></footer> </article> <article class="news-post" id="16730"> <h1> <a href="/news/2024/11/28/the-geography-of-the-pilgrim-alliance">The Geography of the Pilgrim Alliance</a> <span class="permalink"> <a href="/news/update/16730"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/icons/if_link.png" height="20" alt="Update ID"></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wcnews.com%2Fnews%2Fupdate%2F16730&t=The%20Geography%20of%20the%20Pilgrim%20Alliance"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_facebook_2581819-20.png" title="Share on Facebook" alt="Share on Facebook" width="20" height="20"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/home?status=The%20Geography%20of%20the%20Pilgrim%20Alliance%20https%3A%2F%2Fwcne.ws%2F16730"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_twitter_2112797-20.png" title="Share on Twitter" alt="Share on Twitter" width="20" height="20"></a> </span> </h1> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/pilgrimspace2.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/pilgrimspace2t.jpg" WIDTH="524" HEIGHT="300" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/pilgrimspace2t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>At its height, the Pilgrim Alliance consisted of twelve member systems located primarily in the Terra and Vearrier quadrants of Sol Sector and at least seven more recently established colony worlds located across Vega. Eleven of the twelve Pilgrim Alliance systems have been identified. This list does not include Terran Confederation-settled worlds occupied by the Alliance during the 2631-2635 war.</P> <UL> <LI>Alpha Centauri <LI>Beacon <LI>Bradshaw <LI>Cygnus <LI>Faith <LI>Frase <LI>Luyten <LI>McDaniel's World <LI>Promise <LI>Proxima Centauri <LI>Sirius </UL> <P>The twelfth system is either Canarus, Ella, Krieger, Talos, Tikopal or Weslyn. Beacon was the administrative capital of the Alliance and McDaniel's World was the religious center. After the surrender, nine of these Pilgrim systems were integrated into the Confederation. Three systems, Faith, Promise, McDaniel's World, along with seven colony planets, were allowed to remain semi-autonomous. The semi-autonomous Pilgrim population maintained neutrality in the Terran-Kilrathi War, although this was not recognized by the Empire. By 2654, two of the seven colonial enclaves had been destroyed, starting with the Hellespont in 2639. Surviving enclaves include Spiritia at Ymir, Divinity on Seva at Tamayo and Triune on Netheryana at Hell's Kitchen. The location of two enclaves, Mythada and Commune, is unknown.</P> <div id="comments-16730" class="container-comments"></div> <footer> <div class="outer"> <div class="author-avatar"> <img class="news-author-avatar" src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/avatars/5.png" alt="author avatar"/> </div> <div class="author-info"> <a href="mailto:news@wcnews.com">LOAF</a> </div> <div id="comment-count-16730" class="comment-bubble discuss-link" data-updateid="16730" data-threadid="0"> Comment on this </div> </div></footer> </article></section> <section class="daily-content"> <header> <a href="/news/2024/11/27"> <time datetime="2024-11-27">2024.332 (November 27, 2024)</time> </a> </header> <article class="news-post" id="16728"> <h1> <a href="/news/2024/11/27/happy-pre-black-friday">Happy (Pre-)Black Friday!</a> <span class="permalink"> <a href="/news/update/16728"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/icons/if_link.png" height="20" alt="Update ID"></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wcnews.com%2Fnews%2Fupdate%2F16728&t=Happy%20%28Pre-%29Black%20Friday%21"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_facebook_2581819-20.png" title="Share on Facebook" alt="Share on Facebook" width="20" height="20"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/home?status=Happy%20%28Pre-%29Black%20Friday%21%20https%3A%2F%2Fwcne.ws%2F16728"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_twitter_2112797-20.png" title="Share on Twitter" alt="Share on Twitter" width="20" height="20"></a> </span> </h1> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/malcolmmcdowell_autograph4.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/malcolmmcdowell_autograph4t.jpg" WIDTH="188" HEIGHT="250" CLASS="align-right"></A> </div> We're getting ahead of the holiday shopping this year with an updated list of Wing Commander sales! GOG is getting into the spirit with a 59% discount on the WC series, which makes each package $2.45. We're also <A href="https://www.facebook.com/approvedandofficalmalcolmmcdowell/posts/pfbid02qK2uBaZHLQE9ZncXYwQM4LNfmSwan7etufktemkdJbSFWTscUUPdYe2XRBCgh71hl">seeing</A> that there will be a 20% sale coming for the Malcolm McDowell poster below, but it doesn't seem to be effective yet. Academy DVD sets at Deep Discount are also the cheapest they've been in years ($9.62!). Lastly, the CIC glasses and coasters at Zazzle are 25% off with the coupon code BLKFRIWK2024. The coupon may just work today, but there's likely to be another one issued for the weekend. Good luck shopping for the Wingnut(s) in your life! <BR><BR> <P> <center><table> <TR align="center"><TD colspan="2"><B>Print Art</B></TD></tr> <TR> <TD> <UL> <LI><A HREF="/news/2023/11/04/true-origins-of-end-run-covert-art-revealed">End Run Cover by David Mattingly</A> $20-$100 (<a href="https://davidmattingly.com/search">search</a> for "Wing Commander") <LI><A HREF="https://malcolmmcdowellonline.com/shop/photos/video-games/wing-commander-3/">Malcolm McDowell Autographed WC3 PSX Print</A> $65 (<A href="https://www.facebook.com/approvedandofficalmalcolmmcdowell/posts/pfbid02qK2uBaZHLQE9ZncXYwQM4LNfmSwan7etufktemkdJbSFWTscUUPdYe2XRBCgh71hl">20% off</a> sale coming) </UL></TD></TR> </table></center> <center><table> <TR align="center"><TD colspan="2"><B>PC Games ($2.45 each)</B></TD></tr> <TR> <TD> <UL> <LI><A HREF="http://www.gog.com/game/wing_commander_1_2">Wing Commander 1&2</A> <LI><A HREF="http://www.gog.com/game/wing_commander_3_heart_of_the_tiger">Wing Commander 3</A> <LI><A HREF="http://www.gog.com/game/wing_commander_4_the_price_of_freedom">Wing Commander 4 DVD</A> <LI><A HREF="http://www.gog.com/game/wing_commander_5_prophecy">Wing Commander Prophecy & Secret Ops</A> </UL> </TD><TD> <UL> <LI><A HREF="http://www.gog.com/game/wing_commander_privateer">Wing Commander Privateer</A> <LI><a href="http://www.gog.com/game/privateer_2_the_darkening">Wing Commander Privateer 2</A> <LI><A HREF="http://www.gog.com/game/wing_commander_academy">Wing Commander Academy</A> <LI><A HREF="http://www.gog.com/game/wing_commander_armada">Wing Commander Armada</A> </UL></TD></TR> </table></center> <P> <center><table> <TR align="center"><TD colspan="2"><B>Movies & TV</B></TD></tr> <TR> <TD> <UL> <LI>Academy DVD: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005GYXO30">Amazon</A> $10.99 | <a href="https://www.walmart.com/ip/Wing-Commander-Academy-Complete-Series-DVD/55427299">Walmart</A> $13.20 | <a href="https://www.deepdiscount.com/wing-commander-academy-complete-series/773848553938">Deep Discount</A> $9.62 <LI> Movie Digital: <A href="https://smile.amazon.com/Wing-Commander-Freddie-Prinze-Jr/dp/B000I9X6FO">Amazon</A> $9.99 | <a href="https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/title/7689">VUDU</A> $9.99 | <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/wing-commander-the-movie/8d6kgwzl5r14">Microsoft/Xbox</A> $9.99 | <A href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFYAhN1shI0">Google/YouTube</a> $9.99 </UL></TD> </TR> </table></center> <center><table> <TR align="center"><TD colspan="4"><B>Novels ($6.99)</B></TD></tr> <TR> <TD> <UL> <LH><U>Freedom Flight</U></LH> <LI><a href="http://www.baen.com/freedom-flight.html">Baen Ebook</A> <LI><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Flight-Wing-Commander-Book-ebook/dp/B01HFFPM2S">Amazon Kindle</A> <LI><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/freedom-flight/id1126911660">Apple Books</A> <LI><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/freedom-flight-mercedes-lackey/1017979836?ean=2940158404702">B&N Nook</A> <LI><A href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/freedom-flight-4">Kobo</A> <LI><a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Mercedes_Lackey_Freedom_Flight?id=QaqAEAAAQBAJ">Google Play</A> </UL> </TD> <TD> <UL> <LH><U>End Run</U></LH> <LI><a href="http://www.baen.com/wing-commander-end-run.html">Baen Ebook</A> <LI><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wing-Commander-End-Christopher-ThaStasheff-ebook/dp/B07C2Y6D6G/">Amazon Kindle</a> <LI><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/wing-commander-end-run/id1370424666">Apple Books</a> <LI><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wing-commander-william-r-forstchen/1128479723?ean=2940159063632">B&N Nook</A> <LI><a href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/wing-commander-end-run">Kobo</A> <LI><A href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Christopher_Stasheff_Wing_Commander_End_Run?id=lPBUDwAAQBAJ">Google Play</A> </UL> <TD> <UL> <LH><U>Fleet Action</U></LH> <LI><a href="http://www.baen.com/wing-commander-fleet-action.html">Baen Ebook</A> <LI><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fleet-Action-Wing-Commander-Book-ebook/dp/B01N41F5MX">Amazon Kindle</A> <LI><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/fleet-action/id1177055190">Apple Books</A> <LI><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fleet-action-william-r-forstchen/1104706563?ean=2940156965090">B&N Nook</A> <LI><A href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/fleet-action-1">Kobo</A> <LI><a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/William_R_Forstchen_Fleet_Action?id=FNOADQAAQBAJ">Google Play</a> </UL> </TD><TD> <UL> <LH><U>Heart of the Tiger</U></LH> <LI><a href="http://www.baen.com/wing-commander-heart-of-the-tiger.html">Baen Ebook</A> <LI><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Tiger-Wing-Commander-Book-ebook/dp/B01N1FTDZG">Amazon Kindle</A> <LI><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/heart-of-the-tiger/id1177056749">Apple Books</A> <LI><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/heart-of-the-tiger-william-r-forstchen/1000089116?ean=2940156965144">B&N Nook</A> <LI><A href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/heart-of-the-tiger-5">Kobo</A> <LI><a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/William_R_Forstchen_Heart_of_the_Tiger?id=XNOADQAAQBAJ">Google Play</A> </UL> </TD> </TR></table><table><TR> <TD> <UL> <LH><U>The Price of Freedom</U></LH> <LI><a href="http://www.baen.com/wing-commander-the-price-of-freedom.html">Baen Ebook</A> <LI><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Price-Freedom-Wing-Commander-Book-ebook/dp/B01NCLX0SH">Amazon Kindle</A> <LI><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/book/the-price-of-freedom/id1186290509">Apple Books</A> <LI><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-price-of-freedom-william-r-forstchen/1104316524?ean=2940157553722">B&N Nook</A> <LI><A href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-price-of-freedom-19">Kobo</A> <LI><a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/William_R_Forstchen_The_Price_of_Freedom?id=G-S2DQAAQBAJ">Google Play</A> </UL> </TD> <TD> <UL> <LH><U>Action Stations</U></LH> <LI> <A HREF="http://www.baen.com/wing-commander-action-stations.html">Baen eBook</A> <LI> <A HREF="https://www.amazon.com/Action-Stations-Wing-Commander-Book-ebook/dp/B06VW4N578/">Amazon Kindle</A> <LI> <A HREF="https://itunes.apple.com/mt/book/action-stations/id1206444156?mt=11">Apple Books</A> <LI> <A HREF="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/action-stations-william-r-forstchen/1002526479?ean=2940157388072">B&N Nook</A> <LI><A HREF="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/action-stations-2">Kobo</A> <LI><a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/William_R_Forstchen_Action_Stations?id=FN8gDgAAQBAJ">Google Play</A> </UL> </TD> <TD> <UL> <LH><U>False Colors</U></LH> <LI> <A HREF="http://www.baen.com/wing-commander-false-colors.html">Baen eBook</A> <LI> <A HREF="https://www.amazon.com/False-Colors-Wing-Commander-Book-ebook/dp/B06XKQKYXR/">Amazon Kindle</A> <LI> <A HREF="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/false-colors/id1215360084?mt=11">Apple Books</A> <LI> <A HREF="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/false-colors-william-r-forstchen/1003110884?ean=2940157535803">B&N Nook</A> <LI> <A HREF="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/false-colors-10">Kobo</A> <LI><A href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/William_R_Forstchen_False_Colors?id=hhNXDgAAQBAJ">Google Play</A> </UL> </TD> </TR></TABLE></CENTER> <center><table> <TR align="center"><TD colspan="2"><B>Audio Albums</B></TD></tr> <TR><TD> <UL> <LI>Team Fat's Wing Commander 1 Complete MT-32 Archival Edition <a href="https://thefatmanandteamfat.bandcamp.com/album/wing-commander-i-complete-original-soundtrack-mt-32-archival-edition">Bandcamp</A> $10 <LI>Team Fat's Wing One: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XJF7Q3X/">Amazon</A> $7.99 | <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/wing-commander/id1214493986">iTunes</A> $9.99 <LI>Wing Commander Original Motion Picture Soundtrack <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BKJ3EQM">Amazon</A> $9.49 | <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/wing-commander-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/610919786">iTunes</A> $9.99 <LI>Cobalt 60: Prophecy EP <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/prophecy-ep/1555581619">iTunes</A> $3.96 | Twelve with Prophecy Bonus Tracks <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/twelve/513205343">iTunes</A> $10.99 </UL> </table></center> <center><table> <TR align="center"><TD colspan="2"><B>CIC Stuff</B></TD></tr> <TR><TD> <UL> <LI>CIC <a href="https://www.zazzle.com/pd/spp/pt-taylorcorp_glasstumbler?dz=21d92472-3b61-4188-88c7-c6e36cbfc044&clone=true&pending=true&size=16oz&design.areas=%5Btaylorcorp_glasstumbler_front%5D&social=true&view=113570338874946466">Pint Glasses</A> $15ish <LI>CIC <a href="https://www.zazzle.com/pd/spp/pt-aif_coasterset?dz=5a1456b9-ff89-4bb0-aada-177dc331de2b&clone=true&pending=true&design.areas=%5Baif_coasterset_4x4_round_c1_front%2Caif_coasterset_4x4_round_c2_front2%2Caif_coasterset_4x4_round_c3_front3%2Caif_coasterset_4x4_round_c4_front4%5D&shape=round&style=setof4&social=true&view=113688385924786264">Coaster Set</A> $25ish </UL> </table></center> <div id="comments-16728" class="container-comments"></div> <footer> <div class="outer"> <div class="author-avatar"> <img class="news-author-avatar" src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/avatars/70.gif" alt="author avatar"/> </div> <div class="author-info"> <a href="mailto:news@wcnews.com">ChrisReid</a> </div> <div id="comment-count-16728" class="comment-bubble discuss-link" data-updateid="16728" data-threadid="0"> Comment on this </div> </div></footer> </article></section> <section class="daily-content"> <header> <a href="/news/2024/11/26"> <time datetime="2024-11-26">2024.331 (November 26, 2024)</time> </a> </header> <article class="news-post" id="16723"> <h1> <a href="/news/2024/11/26/du-doo-doo-or-when-numbers-get-not-particularly-serious">DU Doo-Doo (or: When Numbers Get Not-Particularly-Serious)</a> <span class="permalink"> <a href="/news/update/16723"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/icons/if_link.png" height="20" alt="Update ID"></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wcnews.com%2Fnews%2Fupdate%2F16723&t=DU%20Doo-Doo%20%28or%3A%20When%20Numbers%20Get%20Not-Particularly-Serious%29"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_facebook_2581819-20.png" title="Share on Facebook" alt="Share on Facebook" width="20" height="20"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/home?status=DU%20Doo-Doo%20%28or%3A%20When%20Numbers%20Get%20Not-Particularly-Serious%29%20https%3A%2F%2Fwcne.ws%2F16723"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_twitter_2112797-20.png" title="Share on Twitter" alt="Share on Twitter" width="20" height="20"></a> </span> </h1> <P><A HREF="/chatzone/members/sharpshooter.4564/">Sharpshooter</A> recently noticed an interesting little background thread in Wing Commander IV and <A HREF="/chatzone/threads/wc4-du.32123/">decided to pull at it</A>. The game's ship selection screens, which shows specifications for each flyable ship in the game when they are available for a mission, includes an interesting figure not included in other locations: "Dmg/Salvo". This measurement, listed in du or damage units, shows how much potential damage one single salvo from a ship's main guns can cause (not accounting for outside modifiers like windows or interiors on capital ships). Four of them match the game's internal gun damage values exactly: the Hellcat (2 Ion Cannons & 2 Particle Guns = (43x2)+(30x2) = 146 du), the Banshee (4 Lasers = (18x4) = 72 du), the Bearcat (4 Light Tachyon Gun = (4x50) = 200 du) and the Lance (2 Plasma Gun & 2 Tachyon Gun = (67x2)+(70x2) = 274 du). </P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/WC4_DU_Hellcat.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WC4_DU_Hellcatt.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WC4_DU_Hellcatt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/WC4_DU_Banshee.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WC4_DU_Bansheet.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WC4_DU_Bansheet_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/WC4_DU_Bearcat.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WC4_DU_Bearcatt.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WC4_DU_Bearcatt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/WC4_DU_Lance.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WC4_DU_Lancet.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WC4_DU_Lancet_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>The remaining three ships, however, do NOT match the in-game data. And it's from noticing this that we can learn a little bit more about Wing Commander IV's development! Upon investigation, we learned that the specifications shown in these screens are stored in LOADOUT.IFF separately from the gun values used in gameplay. What that means is they can be wrong without it impacting anything else; they're static values that aren't calculated from the 'real' numbers. So what we're seeing isn't an indication of something misunderstood about the game's inner workings… it's a sort of sensory echo of how the game was balanced!</P> <P>Things like weapon damage values and ship specifications were always one of the last things locked when making a Wing Commander game. That's because they're an element that can be easily edited based on the Quality Assurance's playtesting. If testers find that a gun makes the game too easy or a ship's speed makes it too hard, those values could be easily altered right up until the game went gold (and today, well after!). However, there was one knock-on: printed material like manuals and hint books needed to be locked weeks earlier in order to be printed. So any changes to the game's simple balances made after these went to print would not be reflected. In the 90s, many hardcore Usenet jerks complained that Origin's manuals were 'notoriously inaccurate' as if the writers were lazy; the actual truth was that they were very accurate… for the latest build of the game they could possibly have referenced. </P> <P>Today this means that we can look at differences between the values printed in those sources and the ones in the game and get an idea of how things were initially balanced… a bit like how a space telescope looks back in time by capturing light generated eons past! Let's compare the gun damage values from <I>Origin's Official Guide to Wing Commander IV</I> with the ones in the game itself:</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wc34guidechart.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wc34guidechartt.jpg" WIDTH="149" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wc34guidechartt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>By including the numbers from Wing Commander III we can see that the base set stayed the same between both games… which means that the balance work on Wing Commander IV would've focused on the game's new 'heavy' gun variants. And indeed we can see that two values were changed after the guide went to print: the Heavy Ion Gun damage increased by ten and Heavy Photon Gun decreased by ten! This immediate explains the discrepancy in the Longbow screen. Using the guide numbers: 2 Plasma Guns & 2 Heavy Ion Guns = (2x67)+(2x50) = 234 du (versus the real in flight value, 254 du)! </P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/WC4_DU_Longbow.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WC4_DU_Longbowt.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WC4_DU_Longbowt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>The Vindicator tells us a slightly different story! The screen gives a value of 184 du while the final in-game guns, two Tachyons and two Lasers, only add up to 176. What most likely changed where was not a rebalancing of the gun values (which as we noted above remain the same as they did in Wing Commander III). Instead, we're seeing a full gun REPLACEMENT: the earlier iteration of the Vindicator must have had Heavy Photon Guns instead of Tachyons! This actually makes a little sense as the lore makes a point that tachyons guns are brand new while photon guns are more common on the workhorse fighters. </P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/WC4_DU_Vindicator.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WC4_DU_Vindicatort.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WC4_DU_Vindicatort_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>The Avenger, however, still isn't completely understood. The game lists a mysterious 267 du, an unlikely number in any of the scenarios we've thought through since the gun values should always be even numbers. A ship could theoretically get an uneven number if it had an odd number of guns but all evidence indicates that the Avenger was designed for four from the concept forward:</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wc4_concept_comparison9.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wc4_concept_comparison9t.jpg" WIDTH="207" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wc4_concept_comparison9t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>Our best guess here is that… it's an error. The Avenger carries two Heavy Photon Guns and two Heavy Mass Driver Cannons. Using the final in-game values that should be 248 du, a reduction of 19 from the screen which suggests a weapons change. But the earlier number in the guide gets us much closer: 268, a difference of just one (and matching the earlier guide's stats for Heavy Photon Guns and Heavy Mass Drivers). </P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/WC4_DU_Avenger.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WC4_DU_Avengert.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WC4_DU_Avengert_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>Thanks for traveling to the past to help us learn how Wing Commander IV balanced its guns! </P> <div id="comments-16723" class="container-comments"></div> <footer> <div class="outer"> <div class="author-avatar"> <img class="news-author-avatar" src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/avatars/5.png" alt="author avatar"/> </div> <div class="author-info"> <a href="mailto:news@wcnews.com">LOAF</a> </div> <div id="comment-count-16723" class="comment-bubble discuss-link" data-updateid="16723" data-threadid="32123"> Comment on this </div> </div></footer> </article></section> <section class="daily-content"> <header> <a href="/news/2024/11/25"> <time datetime="2024-11-25">2024.330 (November 25, 2024)</time> </a> </header> <article class="news-post" id="16721"> <h1> <a href="/news/2024/11/25/wing-commander-movie-night-star-trek-vi">Wing Commander Movie Night: Star Trek VI</a> <span class="permalink"> <a href="/news/update/16721"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/icons/if_link.png" height="20" alt="Update ID"></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wcnews.com%2Fnews%2Fupdate%2F16721&t=Wing%20Commander%20Movie%20Night%3A%20Star%20Trek%20VI"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_facebook_2581819-20.png" title="Share on Facebook" alt="Share on Facebook" width="20" height="20"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/home?status=Wing%20Commander%20Movie%20Night%3A%20Star%20Trek%20VI%20https%3A%2F%2Fwcne.ws%2F16721"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_twitter_2112797-20.png" title="Share on Twitter" alt="Share on Twitter" width="20" height="20"></a> </span> </h1> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Star_Trek_VI_Poster.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Star_Trek_VI_Postert.jpg" WIDTH="202" HEIGHT="300" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Star_Trek_VI_Postert_2x.jpg 2x" CLASS="align-right"></A> </div> <P>Top Gun? More like Top Fun! The <A HREF="/news/2024/11/18/wing-commander-movie-night-top-gun">third meeting</A> of the Wing Commander movie club was a great success; we all had a great time finding out that Top Gun maybe wasn't the perfect film we remembered from our youths… and noting its massive influences on the entire Wing Commander franchise, of course! This week instead of going for a broad inspiration, we're going to be zeroing in on a very specific one in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). You can join us <A HREF="https://discord.com/invite/vwKE8Tc">this Friday via Discord</A> to watch along.</P> <div class="lazyframe" data-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RYA2q2Sm_Jo" data-vendor="youtube"></div> <P>It's a good bet you're already familiar with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. It's the last of the films spun off of the original Star Trek television series. It tells a story about old soldiers conspiring to prevent newly possible peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire with the Enterprise heroes there to save the day. Considered by many to be a favorite in the series, Star Trek VI is a suitable swan song for a beloved starship and her crew.</P> <P>So what does this have to do with Wing Commander, as if we needed an excuse to watch more Star Trek? While Top Gun broadly influenced even the original Wing Commander, Star Trek VI wasn't even out when the series started (though the development team were famously Trek fans, breaking their crunch on the game only for an hour a week to watch new episodes of The Next Generation! Our basis for the pick is a very specific mention of the movie's influence on the Wing Commander film's explosive effects in an April 1999 Cinefex article (<A HREF="https://download.wcnews.com/files/wcm/Cinefex77-April1999-Wing_Commander_Article.pdf">full article</A>):</P> <blockquote> Seeking inspiration for the movement of the juggernaut capital ships, Digital Anvil viewed documentary footage and studied the war films Tora! Tora! Tora! and Midway. "After viewing these films," Brown stated, "Chris Roberts was adamant about holding on shots of these big ships coming across screen for a long time. That was more daring an approach than I was at first comfortable with, but in the end these long-duration shots worked very well, and they went a long way toward establishing the necessary sense of spectacle." This sense of spectacle - in the best Victory at Sea tradition - is particularly well illustrated partway through the film, when Tiger Claw is led into a trap and badly damaged during the ensuing battle. This sequence, along with the action in the movie's climactic scenes, featured vessels firing broadsides into one another, thus requiring extensive pyrotechnics to capture the grandeur of mighty ships in combat. Initially the idea had been to shy away from this scientifically inaccurate approach, since in reality, flames and fireballs would not long exist in the vacuum of space. "Pyro has been used extensively in space films, even prior to Star Wars," Chris Brown remarked. "So a lot of R&D went into developing an alternate look. But none of it worked for our traditional World War II kind of story. Our R&D didn't go entirely to waste, however, since the digital shockwave accompanying the pyrotechnic blasts only came about because of it. The idea was to do something in the vein of Star Trek VI's exploding planet shockwave, but then supplement it with rippling effects that enhanced the scale," Brown budgeted a pyro shoot into the schedule, but upon returning from Luxembourg, he discovered that the Digital Anvil team had created a viable and much less costly alternative. "They'd been experimenting with Pyromania's package of explosions on CD-ROM, and their tests were looking great. Rodney Brunet had tailored a number of the shots to make these generic explosions work for us in the context of our scenes.' </blockquote> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/StarTrekVI-Explosion1.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/StarTrekVI-Explosion1t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/StarTrekVI-Explosion1t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/StarTrekVI-Explosion2.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/StarTrekVI-Explosion2t.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/StarTrekVI-Explosion2t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>There should be lots of other things to talk about, though: Wing Commander and Star Trek VI are both products of the closing days of the cold war and they both express that influence in interesting ways. And as The Undiscovered Country is a roughly contemporary film, our franchise even shares a couple of actors!</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/StarTrekVI-Dekker.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/StarTrekVI-Dekkert.jpg" WIDTH="300" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/StarTrekVI-Dekkert_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/StarTrekVI-Rhinehart.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/StarTrekVI-Rhinehartt.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/StarTrekVI-Rhinehartt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/StarTrekVI-Tolwyn.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/StarTrekVI-Tolwynt.jpg" WIDTH="267" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/StarTrekVI-Tolwynt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P><B>Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?</B></P> <P>Star Trek VI is currently <A HREF="https://www.paramountplus.com/movies/video/AtBd4BsgKlfG7fSmV_f4DK370okC98sR/">streaming on Paramount+</A> in the United States and is available for rental or sale digitally at all storefronts. If you're interested in tracking down a physical copy, a UHD version featuring a striking new transfer was released in 2022 which remains in print. If you are unable to track down a copy please ping a member of the WCCIC staff on the Discord in advance of the watch.</P> <P><B>How do we watch the movie together?</B></P> <P>It's pretty low tech! Simply join the <A HREF="https://discord.gg/vwKE8Tc">Wing Commander CIC Discord</A> 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!</P> <div id="comments-16721" class="container-comments"></div> <footer> <div class="outer"> <div class="author-avatar"> <img class="news-author-avatar" src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/avatars/5.png" alt="author avatar"/> </div> <div class="author-info"> <a href="mailto:news@wcnews.com">LOAF</a> </div> <div id="comment-count-16721" class="comment-bubble discuss-link" data-updateid="16721" data-threadid="0"> Comment on this </div> </div></footer> </article></section> <section class="daily-content"> <header> <a href="/news/2024/11/24"> <time datetime="2024-11-24">2024.329 (November 24, 2024)</time> </a> </header> <article class="news-post" id="16722"> <h1> <a href="/news/2024/11/24/wildcat-thing-i-think-i-love-you">Wildcat Thing, I Think I Love You</a> <span class="permalink"> <a href="/news/update/16722"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/icons/if_link.png" height="20" alt="Update ID"></a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wcnews.com%2Fnews%2Fupdate%2F16722&t=Wildcat%20Thing%2C%20I%20Think%20I%20Love%20You"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_facebook_2581819-20.png" title="Share on Facebook" alt="Share on Facebook" width="20" height="20"></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/home?status=Wildcat%20Thing%2C%20I%20Think%20I%20Love%20You%20https%3A%2F%2Fwcne.ws%2F16722"><img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/if_twitter_2112797-20.png" title="Share on Twitter" alt="Share on Twitter" width="20" height="20"></a> </span> </h1> <P>A few days ago we <a href="/news/2024/11/20/wing-commander-cover-paintings-detailed">showed you the cover art</a> for the Czech language editions of six Wing Commander novels. One thing that's always particularly interesting to think about is what the cover of any given Wing Commander novel is showing… and these are no exception! Case in point: the Czech version of Action Stations shows a wing of Raptor-like fighters with some kind of space station complex and/or group of ships in the background. We've run the numbers and we think there's only one scene this could be: a squadron of Wildcats from the Concordia (including young Geoffrey Tolwyn and Vance Richards) leading the counterattack against the Kilrathi at McAuliffe or perhaps defending the Concordia. The main station may be Alexandria and the surrounding ships (if they are separate objects) would be Terran and Kilrathi warships engaged in the battle. </P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Czech_Cover_5.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Czech_Cover_5t.jpg" WIDTH="105" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Czech_Cover_5t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>What is a Wildcat? Action Stations gives us a brief look at the Terran Confederation two decades before Wing Commander I. One thing it includes is a totally different lineup of starfighters, the prior generation of ships flown by human and Kilrathi fighters. The two main human fighters are the Wildcat space interceptor and the Hurricane surface-to-space fighter escort. The relationship between the two ships is based on that of the Spitfire and the Hurricane during World War II. The Hurricane is the old reliable fighter that pilots swear by and the Wildcat is the top of the line, most modern type. There isn't really an action scene with the Hurricane, though, seeming to rule it out as a possibility here. The idea that the ships might resemble the Raptor also seems appropriate given the Raptor's appearance in another prequel scenario, the background story of the Enyo Engagement (and there's a further tie-in there as a young Tolwyn flew the Wildcat at McAuliffe and then the Raptor at Enyo five years later.) </P> <P><B>Wildcat History</B></P> <P>The Wildcat is a Terran Confederation carrier-based space interceptor that entered service in 2604 with the Terran Confederation Navy. Wildcats were designed to serve for twenty-five years but remained the Confederation's front line interceptor when the Terran-Kilrathi War began. The spacecraft cost fifty million credits. In 2630, the fleet board requested funding for a ten million dollar upgrade to replace outdated engines and repair increasingly common stress flaws which had been responsible for an increasing number of accidents (roughly one in three pre-war Wildcat pilots were killed in accidents if they flew for five years). Political machinations blocked the upgrade program and delayed the Wildcat's intended replacement until 2639 (a crash program after the war's start would ultimately introduce the Corsair to serve as a stopgap). </P> <P>The Wildcat served extensively during the Pilgrim War and in the first days of the Terran-Kilrathi conflict. At the time of the McAuliffe Ambush, Wildcat squadrons were considered the most prestigious in the fleet with pilots requiring advanced training and five hundred hours of flight time in the spacecraft before being assigned to combat units. The first dogfight between human and Kilrathi carrier planes was fought at McAuliffe between Wildcats and their Kilrathi equivalent Kala-class fighters. Like the Kala, the Wildcat's primary armament consisted of two laser cannons and two mass driver cannons (though the ability to maintain full guns had not yet been developed). The Wildcat carried seven missiles including one dumb-fire and six with locking mechanisms. Despite its age, the Wildcat had a slight edge over the Kala in terms of speed and its shields and armor could sustain significantly greater damage. </P> <P>Noted Wildcat pilots include Major Tanaka "Go-Devil" Shun, father of Lieutenant Colonel Tanaka "Spirit" Mariko, Lieutenant Vance Richards, who would go on to serve as the navy's spymaster and an admiral in three navies and Ensign Geoffrey Tolwyn. Tolwyn had not yet begun his advanced training to fly the Wildcat when the fighting at McAuliffe overtook him. Nevertheless, he volunteered to join Richards' Green Squadron aboard the TCS Concordia when the fighting broke out. In his first mission he shot down an enemy fighter, scored a partial kill on a bomber and intercepted a torpedo in space before it could hit Concordia. He suffered extensive injuries during the battle and an ensuing crash during landing but recovered from surgery and burn treatment in time to join Green Squadron for their part in the Confederation's counterattack. During that second sortie he shot down an enemy bomber and scored five hits on landing craft, destroying at least one. He also shot down a Kala flown by Prince Ratha nar Kiranka who, unknown to Towlyn, subsequently committed Zu'kara over the defeat. Tolwyn was awarded the Pewter Planet and the Medal of Honor for his heroics, kickstarting his rapid rise. </P> <P><B>Fan Lore</B></P> <P>Prior to this though, a cool piece of fan lore was the idea that the Wildcat might look just like the Hellcat V introduced in Wing Commander III. This thought was based on two things. The first is that the real world Wildcat and Hellcat also look extremely similar and seem to have a similar story with the Wildcat as the most advanced American carrier plane at the start of the war that found itself well countered by the Japanese Zero and the Hellcat as the newly designed replacement capable of outflying the enemy.</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Wildcat_Hellcat_Bearcat.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Wildcat_Hellcat_Bearcatt.jpg" WIDTH="177" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Wildcat_Hellcat_Bearcatt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>Adding to this idea, the jump between the F-90 Hellcat and the F-104 Bearcat also seems to intentionally mirror the late war jump from Grumman's F6F Hellcat to the more advanced and aerodynamic F8F Bearcat. </P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wildcat-hellcat.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wildcat-hellcatt.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wildcat-hellcatt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wildcat-bearcat.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wildcat-bearcatt.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wildcat-bearcatt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>The other half of this theory relies on something really neat: the presence of the Hellcat on Wing Commander Academy. Since it's never identified on screen, fans have long theorized that the simulated fighters and the gate guardian seen in "Red and Blue" were not Hellcats but their predecessor the Wildcat. It especially seemed to fit that the gate guardian would be an older design rather than a top-of-the-line one. Additionally, the F-90 designation is seemingly far ahead of the F-44 Rapier II we know was introduced the same year we see Academy's Hellcats.</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/tcsf-sirius.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/tcsf-siriust.jpg" WIDTH="506" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/tcsf-siriust_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <br> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wca_hellcat_statue_1.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wca_hellcat_statue_1t.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wca_hellcat_statue_1t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wca_hellcat_statue_2.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wca_hellcat_statue_2t.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wca_hellcat_statue_2t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wca_hellcat_statue_3.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wca_hellcat_statue_3t.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wca_hellcat_statue_3t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wca_hellcat_statue_4.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wca_hellcat_statue_4t.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wca_hellcat_statue_4t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <CENTER><I> Hellcat gate guardian at the Terran Confederation Space Force Flight School, Sirius </I></CENTER> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/tcsf-sirius-flight-line.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/tcsf-sirius-flight-linet.jpg" WIDTH="727" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/tcsf-sirius-flight-linet_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <CENTER><I> Flight line, 145th Training Wing, Terran Confederation Space Force Flight School, Sirius </I></CENTER> </P> <P>A gate guardian is typically a military vehicle (usually an airplane) that has been decommissioned and put on display at the entrance to a base. They are usually mounted on a pylon or similar display so they appear to be flying.</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/gateguardian.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/gateguardiant.jpg" WIDTH="317" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/gateguardiant_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P><B>The Academy Hellcat</B></P> <P>We do now know the intent behind the Hellcat on Wing Commander Academy and why it came to appear only in the first episode: it was designed and animated for an earlier iteration of the show! The ship WAS intended to be a Hellcat… but that's because the original plan for the show was that it would be a sort of 'Wing Commander 3 babies' that ignored older continuity in favor of simply adapting the Wing Commander III setting. Characters like Maya, Grunt, Payback and Archer were then intended to be Rachel, Vaquero, Cobra and Flint (you can find the series bible which details much of this <A HREF="/wcpedia/Academy_Television_Series_Bible">here</A>.</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Eldred_WCA03.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Eldred_WCA03t.jpg" WIDTH="233" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Eldred_WCA03t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/Eldred_WCA05.jpg"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Eldred_WCA05t.jpg" WIDTH="235" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/Eldred_WCA05t_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>The plan to instead use Wing Commander I & II ship designs and original characters came about very late in the process after model sheets (the things animators base what they draw on) for the different ships were already created and some animation tests had already been produced. The change had several impacts on the show including the appearance of some later ships in early cameos; there are similar blink-and-you'll-miss-them appearances from the Avenger, Longbow and Arrow during the series' first few episodes. </P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wildcat-avenger.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wildcat-avengert.jpg" WIDTH="225" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wildcat-avengert_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wildcat-longbow.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wildcat-longbowt.jpg" WIDTH="225" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wildcat-longbowt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wildcat-arrow.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wildcat-arrowt.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wildcat-arrowt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>This additional work also delayed other needed model sheets, especially those for capital ships. That's why the show uses a Kilrathi dreadnought-inspired design for everything from transports to blockade runners to destroyers and carriers. You can also tell that specific episodes that needed ships but didn't have sheets ready actually used the line art in Claw Marks. This is especially apparent when we see the Dorkir in "The Last One Left" and a Fralthi in "Expendable" (the same ship changes into a Ralari the next week). </P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wildcat-dorkir.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wildcat-dorkirt.jpg" WIDTH="225" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wildcat-dorkirt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/wildcat-fralthi.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wildcat-fralthit.jpg" WIDTH="225" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/wildcat-fralthit_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <P>Keeping the simulated Hellcats at the start of the show is also a nod to the show's namesake, Wing Commander Academy the game. Academy makes a pretty big deal about how the Academy's training simulator lets pilots fly and fight the NEXT generation of fighters that aren't actually in service yet, the F-97 Wraith and the Kilrathi Jrathek.</P> <div class="gallery"> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/WCA_Wraith_Intro.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WCA_Wraith_Introt.jpg" WIDTH="240" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WCA_Wraith_Introt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> <A HREF="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/WCA_Wraith_Cockpit.png"><IMG SRC="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WCA_Wraith_Cockpitt.jpg" WIDTH="240" HEIGHT="150" SRCSET="https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/thumb/WCA_Wraith_Cockpitt_2x.jpg 2x"></A> </div> <div id="comments-16722" class="container-comments"></div> <footer> <div class="outer"> <div class="author-avatar"> <img class="news-author-avatar" src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/avatars/5.png" alt="author avatar"/> </div> <div class="author-info"> <a href="mailto:news@wcnews.com">LOAF</a> </div> <div id="comment-count-16722" class="comment-bubble discuss-link" data-updateid="16722" data-threadid="32131"> Comment on this </div> </div></footer> </article></section><div id="archive-links">All news for November 2024 can be found <a href="/news/2024/11">here</a>.<BR/>Older news can be found in the <a href="/news">archive</a>.</div>   </div> <div id="m_right">  <section id="search"> <a href="/news/search"><h1>Search News</h1></a> <form class="content" action="/news/search" method="POST"> <input id="search_keywords" type="text" name="keywords" placeholder="Search..."><input id="search_button" type="submit" value="🔍"/> <div id="search_advanced"><a href="/news/search" title="Advanced search">advanced</a></div> </form> </section> <section id="social"> <a href="/contact.shtml"><h1>Follow or Contact Us</h1></a> <div class="content"> <a href="https://discord.gg/vwKE8Tc"> <img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/4180408_discord_squircle_icon.svg" height="32" width="32" alt="Discord" title="Discord chat with staff and fans"> </a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@WingCommanderCIC"> <img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/986962_youtube_icon.svg" height="32" width="32" alt="YouTube" title="Follow us on YouTube"> </a> <a href="https://www.twitter.com/wccic"> <img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/986958_twitter_icon.svg" height="32" width="32" alt="Twitter" title="Follow us on Twitter"> </a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WingCommanderCIC"> <img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/986944_facebook_icon.svg" height="32" width="32" alt="Facebook" title="Follow us on Facebook"> </a>  <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/wcnews.com"> <img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/bluesky_icon.svg" height="32" width="32" alt="Bluesky" title="Follow us on Bluesky"> <a href="/contact.shtml"> <img src="https://cdn.wcnews.com/design/images/buttons/2569496_email_icon_s.svg" height="32" width="32" alt="E-mail" title="Contact the staff & FAQ"> </a>   </div> </section>  <section id="awc"> <a href="/all-wings-considered"><h1>All Wings Considered</h1></a> <div class="content"> <span class="awcheader">Episode 37 - 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