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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 this Friday via Discord to watch along.

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.

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The Wing Commander movie club has sailed the Atlantic with the Titanic and now it's time to get back home… to space! This week's movie is a true classic with some deep ties to Wing Commander: Alien. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Alien needs no introduction, but just in case: Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi/horror film is about a group of interstellar truckers who must battle a relentless monster in close quarters aboard their starship. From the gritty, realistic environs of the Nostromo to the biomechanical alien itself, the spectacular film earned a level of respect that far outstripped the standards of its genres. Countless aspects of Alien are deeply rooted in most any science fiction film made since.

Wing Commander is, of course, no exception. From the chairs in the spacecraft in the original games through to the characters of the movie itself (with a little creative crossover

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If there's one thing we learned from Highlander it's that there can be only one. No, we actually learned the origin of Paladin's ship's name! More on that in the after action report. But next week's movie is even more of a crowd pleaser: Aliens (1986). So get ready to join the space marines and learn what Wing Commander took away from James Cameron's all time classic. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

We were first inspired to look at Aliens because of another quote from Chris Roberts' original treatment for the Wing Commander movie. Here he compares his goal to Aliens in a way that frankly makes a lot of sense: they're both movies where the characters are stuck on their own in a terrible situation and drama arises out of how they respond differently to that situation.

"The idea behind this project is to create a film that has the feeling of a tight character-driven rollercoaster

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The Wing Commander movie club thoroughly enjoyed revisiting Star Wars, which we felt was just about a perfect movie. Next up: a movie that is not at all perfect that most of us probably have not ever seen. This time around, we held a vote for the theme for the next movie and the electorate chose 'something weird' instead of another war movie or sci-fi classic. And that something is An American Werewolf in Paris (1997)! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

An American Werewolf in Paris is a 1997 horror-comedy film which is ostensibly a sequel to the 1981 film An American Werewolf in London (though this is apparently more of a Privateer 2 style connection). It might best be described as a totally forgettable 1990s horror movie that briefly held the attention of the MTV-generation. If you've seen it, it was probably at a dollar theater or the result of a questionable Blockbuster rental!

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Well last week was certainly pretty Excorciting. No? Well, we had a good time. Next week we'll be honoring the recent passing of astronaut Jim Lovell by watching his story in Ron Howard's 1995 Apollo 13. This should be a fun one! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

It's space history but... how is it Wing Commander? Like Demolition Man, Apollo 13 was a source for temp tracks for the Wing Commander movie. In fact, Chris Roberts used a total of four different tracks from James Horner's score at varying points in the temp score. The first is "Into the LEM" which was used for the moment Paladin presented Tolwyn's ring to Captain Sansky and then again later when Sansky died.

Two tracks, Master Alarm and Manual Burn, were used for the Tiger Claw's big jump scene.

Finally, Re-entry and Splashdown was used for the movie's finale where Blair returns to the Tiger Claw to see Angel rescued.

Where

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The Wing Commander movie club had a surprisingly fun time watching An American Werewolf in Paris. It wasn't a good movie but it was a good time... and that's really what we need these days! You'll also be surprised at how obvious the Wing Commander connection is when the after action report comes out. But this week we're heading back to World War II with what is probably going to be our final movie about the RAF: 1969's Battle of Britain. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Battle of Britain is a war movie covering the 1940 Battle of Britain (well, duh). The battle pitted the outnumbered but courageous RAF against the might of the German Luftwaffe as heroic fighter pilots desperately fought to defend their homes from Nazi bombers. The movie was lauded for its spectacular flying sequences; the story itself is less a character piece and more a Longest Day-style anthology that covers

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The Wing Commander movie club has taken the Starcar home from Rylos. But we're already planning to head back to space: this week we're going to be watching Battlestar Galactica (1978)! You likely know Battlestar Galactica either as a television show made immediately in the wake of Star Wars' successs or as the edgier, longer-running 2000s TV series. But it was also a movie! The original 1978 pilot film was so expensive that Universal cut a theatrical version which was a notable success in a variety of markets--even in the US after the show had aired on TV! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

It might be easier to list everything Wing Commander didn't borrow from Battlestar Galactica. Chris Roberts and the original development team were big fans of the show and knowing both IPs it quickly becomes aparent that there was a LOT of inspiration particularly for the first two Wing

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The Wing Commander Movie club is back from our secret mission to find the Firefox and it was… surprisingly dull! More on that in the after action report Friday. This week, however, will be different as we're screening a true classic: the original Blade Runner (1982). It's Harrison Ford versus replicants in a perfectly realized dystopian vision of near future Los Angeles. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Blade Runner should be best known to Wing Commander fans because the Privateer team borrowed its future (well, now past) Los Angeles for the design of industrial planet New Detroit. Here's the original concept from a March 1992 art list (then called New Chicago):

New Chicago is the industrial center for the Tolnidian [Gemini] sector. The planet itself is almost permanently cloaked in clouds and rain produced by the heavy industry located here. The cities are very reminiscent of

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What can we say about Blade Runner? No matter how they end it, it's a great movie and it gets the Wing Commander movie club seal of approval (which is technically a sea lion). Now we've got an unusual one this week, the 1992 comedy Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy seemed like a fun-but-light treat at the time but in the ensuing decades it has developed into quite a popular franchise with multiple tv shows (and a reboot in the works now). You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

But how does a comedy movie about fighting vampires from 1992 impact Wing Commander? Wing Commander does have (F-109) Vampires… but that's not it. This is a convoluted one. Manual readers may recall that Wing Commander Privateer has a very elaborate backstory published as a short prose story, "The Frontiersman: Interview with a Privateer". It details the man character's past including a battle with the Retros and

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The Wing Commander movie club gave our collective heart to a Starship Troopers! With all due deference to the one guy that was still mad that the movie didn't have the power suits from the novel, it's a heck of a movie! Now we're going to end the year by running silent and also deep with a movie you've absolutely heard of spoken in the same sentence as Wing Commander: Das Boot. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Das Boot is a 1981 film which follows the crew of a German U-boat fighting in the Atlantic in 1941. It is known for its realistic depiction of submarine life and for telling a story that isn't about heroes winning glory but ordinary men living through a terrible time. The film's success introduced director Wolfgang Petersen to the world; he would later go on to direct films like Outbreak and Air Force One.

Das Boot was one of Chris Roberts' key influences when making the

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On Friday, the Wing Commander movie club watched the first two hours (exactly!) of Das Boot, taking us from occupied France right through a strikingly familiar depth charge scene. We noted a lot of elements Chris Roberts borrowed for Wing Commander (including the Captain) and we'll collect them all in a final after action report next week. But first, we need to finish the tour! You can join us on Discord on Friday for the screening and you're more than welcome to be part of the fun.

Das Boot is a 1981 film which follows the crew of a German U-boat fighting in the Atlantic in 1941. It is known for its realistic depiction of submarine life and for telling a story that isn't about heroes winning glory but ordinary men living through a terrible time. The film's success introduced director Wolfgang Petersen to the world; he would later go on to direct films like Outbreak and Air Force One.

Where can I find a

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The Wing Commander movie club survived our trek to Altair IV! Forbidden Planet was a pretty fascinating movie, a prototype for the modern 'serious' science fiction film… and a huge part of the DNA of Star Trek, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and more. This week, we're headed back to Earth… the Earth of the near future! This week's movie is Demolition Man, an extremely fun action movie from 1993. So plan to order some Taco Bell and form on our wings for a modern… masterpiece, I guess. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

The Wing Commander connection here is that music from Demolition Man was used during the production of the Wing Commander movie as a 'temp track'. Temp tracking is a process by which a film is given temporary music before it has its own score in order to show everyone a sense of what is being worked towards. In the case of Demolition Man, a Elliot Goldenthal track

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Game over, man! Aliens remains a nearly perfect movie, the Wing Commander movie club had a great time revisiting it. This week we're going in a slightly different direction but one with plenty of action: we will be watching Die Hard 2 (1990)! You know, the Die Hard everyone forgets about. Die Hard 2 was the first sequel to the 1988 classic. It takes Bruce Willis' John McClane to the east coast where he battles terrorists at a Baltimore airport. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

The Wing Commander connection here is slight but pretty interesting: the original art list for Wing Commander Privateer references Die Hard 2 as the inspiration for Commodore Reismann, the officer Admiral Terrell puts in charge of ambushing the Steltek drone. Here's his original, surprisingly lengthy character description (note that Tolnidan became Gemini):

Commodore Hans Reismann: Commodore Reismann has

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The Wing Commander movie club greatly enjoyed our trip back to 1970 with Apollo 13; it's a movie that comes together so perfectly it feels preordained rather than directed. This week we'll be traveling further into the future for another outer space adventure… but one that's anything but neutral about its director! The next film will be the 1984 version of Dune by David Lynch. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

A beloved IP meets a director who has his own, distinct vision separate from any of the fans. The results… something no one can quite explain. Am I talking about Wing Commander or Dune? But beyond that similarity, our first in game reference is a pretty clear one: in Privateer when you try to communicate with New Constantinople you can choose a line of Paul's from Dune: "My name is a killing word". Why? It's not entirely clear...

We also recently did a deep dive into

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The official Wing Commander movie club is BACK!... and for the record, we did find Showgirls pretty fascinating. But now we're back to movies that have been credited with inspiring Wing Commander and this week's film is a big one, at least visually: it's Firefox (1982). The legendary Clint Eastwood directs and stars in a high tech thriller from the height of the cold war. It's Eastwood vs. the Soviet Union in a race to capture a high tech airplane that should look pretty familiar to veterans of the Vega Campaign. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Firefox's influence on Wing Commander isn't a mystery… it's right there in the name! Firefox's titular MiG-31 Firefox super-jet is the very clear inspiration for Wing Commander's own F-44 Rapier II design. The Rapier becomes 'less' Firefox in each iteration but you can still see the inspiration all the way through some of the early

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There's probably no point in reviewing The Empire Strikes Back, but it's safe to report that we all loved it. This week, the Wing Commander movie club is going back to the 1950s to take a look at the beginning of our future. We'll be watching Forbidden Planet, a movie that spawned (among many other things) the original Star Trek! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Wing Commander Academy's Lords of the Sky opens with Tolwyn briefing the cadets. He shows a map of the Dioscuri system which they'll be patrolling and if you look very carefully you can see the background painters have added a number of labels to surrounding stars. One of them is a nood to Star Trek (M1701) and one is a reference to Alien (LV442). And at the top left of the image you can find C57D… a reference to the hero starship in Forbidden Planet, the United Planets Cruiser C-57D!

Privateer 2 doesn't just name ships

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That's five sorties down: the Wing Commander movie club has polished off 633 Squadron and lived to tell the tale! Unlike -- spoiler warning -- 633 Squadron itself. This week we're going to try a movie that doesn't have a single airplane... or even a spaceship! Join us Friday for a screening of the Oscar-winning civil war epic Glory (1989). You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Glory is a 1989 movie about the American Civil War, following the exploits of one of the first African American regiments, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. The soldiers face racism from their own side with many insisting that black troops are incapable of fighting. But they but prove themselves under fire, ultimately suffering heavy casualties in an attempt to capture Fort Wagner in South Carolina. It is notable for marking a period of increased popular interest in the Civil War (on that coincided with the

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There's great news coming out of the Wing Commander movie club's watch of Star Trek: The Motion Picture: it turns out the human adventure is only beginning! This week, we're going back to World War II for another sort of human adventure: Hell in the Pacific (1968) is less of another epic war story and more of a psychological duel. It has only two characters and very little dialogue; more Enemy Mine than Return of the Jedi! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Hell in the Pacific is included in our series because of a quote from the Wing Commander movie's visual effects supervisor Chris Brown which was included in an August 1998 preview of the film in SFX magazine. Wing Commander certainly has gun-with-engine Rapiers and tracer bullets in space… but it's not totally clear from what I've read that those are specific to Hell in the Pacific. I guess we'll find out!

The classic war movie

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The Wing Commander movie club hit the finish line with Monte Carlo or Bust!, although the Wing Commander connection remains pretty broad! More on that Friday when we'll be watching a completely different sort of movie: Highlander (1986). Highlander is a fantasy adventure film that has attained cult classic status and spawned a long-running IP with sequels, TV shows and other media. It tells the story of nigh immortal Scottish warriors battling across the ages–so you can expect plenty of swords and brogues! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

What's the Wing Commander connection? In Starlog's Wing Commander movie magazine, Chris Roberts talks about how Sean Connery's character in Highlander was the inspiration for Paladin's character in the original game. Which should give us a great chance to do the one thing everyone secretly desires: talk about Paladin.

When I was originally doing

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Last week, the Wing Commander movie voted on a movie from a list of Oscar winners. It turned out to be Rosemary's Baby, which was a great way to start a spooky October. Sadly, this time around I thought it would be fun to vote from a selection of Razzie winners… and after two rounds, the winner was Ishtar (1987). Ishtar is famous for being an enormous box office bomb and was once considered the worst big budget movie ever made. Modern critics are much kinder, though, so it'll be interesting to see what it's like! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

What does Ishtar have to do with Wing Commander? This is another one of the 'joke' movie names used to label original Privateer concept art. Specifically, it was used for the very first sketches of the game's incredibly familiar mining base options screen. You can hear the music just seeing the screenshot!

Where can I find a copy of the