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This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Back to the Future (1985) and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here. The movie will start at 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!
Dec
…The Wing Commander movie club has watched Crash (1996) and… that's all we have to say about that! In all seriousness, it's a pretty interesting movie. For all of the extreme sex none of it is really prurient… it's all in the service of telling a decidedly unsexy story. I think what we can say about it overall is that we still had people talking about it the morning after the screening and that's a credit!
We talked about Crash's actual connection to Wing Commander in the intro post… but since this is (probably) the only erotic thriller movie club will get it seems like a good (?) idea to catalog Wing Commander's sex scenes. Which is easier done than said, as Wing Commander is largely a pretty chaste IP. In fact, Chris Roberts famously avoided anything of the sort in Wing Commander IV because of the response to the 'kiss Rachel or Flint' mechanic in its predecessor. In spite of this, we have had a few
Dec
Here's a quick look at something most people don't think about: Wing Commander III's low graphics mode! That's right, if you set everything to low quality (even in SVGA as here) then you end up with a game that looks a lot more like X-Wing than Wing Commander! It's kind of a fun alternative to the textured version and the capital ships in particular look wonderful.
... and here's a quick comparison of Wing Commander Prophecy's three original graphics modes: 3dfx, Direct3D and software. Upgrading to a Voodoo card was certainly worth the money even for a broke high school student in 1997! I know the recent fan-led graphics update is spectacular but I'll always have a candle burning for that original look...
Dec
One of my strange passions is finding vintage magazines that comission their own artwork for article headers. And today we've got a good one! This is a review of Wing Commander: The Secret Missions for the SNES from Brazil's Ação Games (issue #46, November 1993). Doesn't your heart lift up just a little seeing those low poly Kilrathi ships and those giant, IP-denied block letters for the title?
Dec
…The CEO of leading children's toy manufacturer Sandra's Workshop has once again requested help with parcel deliveries.
Sandra Corrs, the much-loved philanthropist who provides gifts to children across the core systems each year, has made similar requests in previous years. Last year, with the Thargoid invasion just beginning, her courier fleet was loaned out to help refugee evacuation efforts.
This year a different problem has emerged, as Sandra explained to Vox Galactica:
"We had Our Dolph's Routes transport fleet all prepped in advance this year, and with no Thargoids in sight, we thought we would finally have no more hiccups. Oh, how wrong we were!
This year, we've been hacked, and most of our location data for each present was wiped clean. We managed to restore the majority from a backup, but a few presents are going out that we still need help with figuring out where to deliver them."
Dec
…
It's fair to say that everyone already loved Back to the Future, so it's no surprise that… everyone loved Back to the Future. It's an effortlessly entertaining movie that grabs your attention and keeps you entertained. It turns out that no amount of time as an unfortunate king of geek chic pop culture can dull its clean! Next week, we're having the first ever Wing Commander movie club holiday party and we're going to be playing a classic Christmas movie that happens to be referenced pretty directly in a Wing Commander novel. That's right, it's Frank Capra's classic about suicidal ideation, It's a Wonderful Life (1946)! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
COMBAT ALERT FOR MOVIE CLUB MEMBERS: Since this is our holiday party, please bring the name of a movie you particularly love for our first ever Secret Santa movie exchange. We'll collect all the suggestions and then randomly swap
Dec
…Can you believe it has been an entire month since we learned about nuclear warfare and the rise of the Neo Sapien empire? I certainly can't, but it's time for another Wing Commander cartoon marathon this Saturday, December 20th! This time we're going to be checking off two Disney movies that actually feature Wing Commander games in them! Unfortunately, they're two mid-90s live action Disney movies rather than classic cartoons or beloved franchise. But load up the station wagon with all the kids for a completely family friendly Wing Commander movie club cartoon marathon (that features no cartoons). We're watching:
Man of the House (1995): It's Jonathan Taylor Thomas versus Chevy Chase in a classic tale of stepson versus stepdad that… also ends up involving the Boy Scouts and the mafia, maybe? Whoever wins, we lose! This one takes some odd turns but it spends most of its run time failing to be Home
Dec
…Zorgon Peterson has confirmed the successful conclusion of its Caspian Explorer field trials, with pilots securing vast quantities of exobiological data.
A Zorgon Peterson press statement described the results as "exceptional across every metric relevant to long-range exploration." Engineers supervising the campaign reported that the Caspian's performance exceeded even internal projections.
Chief Marketing Officer Devin Kaneda commented:
"These trials have demonstrated that the Caspian Explorer lives up to every ambition behind its design. Pilots pushed the vessel hard, covering vast distances using the vessel's neutron and white dwarf boosting capabilities to their fullest, and landing quickly and safely on distant worlds thanks to its unique design."
"The Caspian not only endured: it excelled. I'm excited to see what new horizons can be found by these brave explorers."
Kaneda also
Dec
Need a great gift for a Wing Commander fan? Wing Commander composer George Oldziey has made a little commercial showing the range of CDs and vinyl records available in his online store. The community has helped George Oldziey fund two Wing Commander orchestral albums and an extremely cool jazz CD… and if you missed out on those campaigns, now is the perfect time to pick up the albums you've missed! They're a testament to the determination of this very special community… and pretty darned cool to listen to, too. You can find the video here on Vimeo.
Dec
…One year has passed since the destruction of Titan Cocijo in the Sol system brought the Second Thargoid War to an end.
The conflict cost tens of billions of lives and reshaped political, military, and economic priorities across every major civilisation. In the time since, stations and settlements once abandoned due to caustic damage have been successfully restored.
Trade routes have reopened, industries restarted, and newly colonised systems have seen communities flourish far from the scars of the war.
In Sol, visitors gathered at a beacon positioned near the wreckage site of Cocijo, a reminder of both the triumph and the sacrifice that ended the Thargoid advance.
Many still struggle with loss, while others have taken the opportunity to begin again by rebuilding and supporting colonisation efforts to expand humanity across the stars.
But the peace gained at such cost has proven fragile.
In
Dec
…One year has passed since the destruction of Titan Cocijo in the Sol system brought the Second Thargoid War to an end.
The conflict cost tens of billions of lives and reshaped political, military, and economic priorities across every major civilisation. In the time since, stations and settlements once abandoned due to caustic damage have been successfully restored.
Trade routes have reopened, industries restarted, and newly colonised systems have seen communities flourish far from the scars of the war.
In Sol, visitors gathered at a beacon positioned near the wreckage site of Cocijo, a reminder of both the triumph and the sacrifice that ended the Thargoid advance.
Many still struggle with loss, while others have taken the opportunity to begin again by rebuilding and supporting colonisation efforts to expand humanity across the stars.
But the peace gained at such cost has proven fragile.
In
Dec
Here's a neat piece of ephemera: it's a gaudy advertisement that ran in the October 2008 issue of play3, a German PlayStation magazine promoting phone downloads. This was back when you could add things like ringtones, themes, backgrounds, games and other content to your pre-smart phones by sending a text message to purchase or rent it. And in this case, if you look past all the pornography, you'll find that the people at HandySMS were offering Wing Commander ringtones, both the overture from the movie and the Cobalt 60 Prophecy song! Did anyone ever use this service? It would be great to find these files today!
Dec
…It turns out we didn't have to wait very long for CountvonSchnaps next awesome take on a classic Wing Commander ship design! They're back with the F-104 Bearcat fighter from Wing Commander IV, one of the game's most delightful secrets (you can only fly the Bearcat if you complete a particular optional mission in the Speradon series). As with the Count's previous ship reworks, it's pretty nice:
Wing Commander IV: F104 Bearcat (DeviantArt)
Another design made for Shoguneagle showcasing my take of the F104 Bearcat.
A heavy fighter design it was intended, and created, as a pure aerospace fighter and is, in contrast to many of the other Confederation designs not a multirole unit. It did not see any action during the Terran Kilrathi War but did see active combat service during the Union of Border worlds Calamity.
Armed with 4x light tachyon cannons and 4x2 hardpoints it packs a punch and in combination with its
Dec
Display MoreThis week's analysis of the influence held by key figures in the enclave has arrived, courtesy of Conrad Sterling of Vox Galactica.
His latest survey of system populations suggests the following five powers enjoy the largest sphere of influence:
Rank 1: A. Lavigny-Duval - 7 Systems
Rank 2: Aisling Duval - 6 Systems
Rank 3: Pranav Antal - 5 Systems
Rank 4: Nakato Kaine - 4 Systems
Rank 5: Yuri Grom - 3 Systems
Zemina Torval has lost her foothold in the enclave and is now eliminated from contention for control of the region. The remaining powers fight to cling on to their current systems as the battle continues.
Dec
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here. The movie will start at 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!
And don't forget our fifth Wing Commander Cartoon party is early tomorrow!
Dec
…Everyone loves Back to the Future! And the Wing Commander movie club is largely a subset of everyone. I was personally not sure how I would feel after it was so over-exposed in mid-2010s geek culture... but you can't help but smile when you're actually watching it. It's so beautifully structured and ceaselessly entertaining, the run time feels like nothing at all. I'd go so far as to say it's a better movie on its own than with the rest of the trilogy that was added later.
Now let's talk Wing Commander! Here's the very last shot of the movie where the Delorean switches to flight mode and shoots off into the future... and the Privateer animation that it inspired. Note that this was originally not a come on for Back to the Future but a final joke to end the movie. Crazy what it has since become!
We also have a full resolution clip available here for future car wheel historians.
And here's the great Biff
Dec
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut event happening on Discord this morning! Join us at noon EST/9 AM PST for a fun filled morning of television... that all connect to Wing Commander somehow! This time around we've got two not-so-classic Disney live action films from the mid 1990s… that both feature Wing Commander appearances! You can find details on the shows included as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. Be sure to download the episodes so they're ready to play with the group!
