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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 been given a special directive from Admiral Terrell: eradicate all pirate activity in the Tolnidan sector. Reismann is a distinguished officer who has recently come under criticism for being too blood-thirsty in his pursuit of the Kilrathi. He is responsible for the utter destruction of several Kilrathi colonies, and has never taken any prisoners. Terrell has decided to get Reismann out of the lime-light until this blows over, and is confident that the pirates are in for a bad time. Reismann is a cold, calculating individual. Picture the main bad-guy in Die Hard 2 (the colonel guy) and you get the picture.
Commodore Reismann seems to have been intended to feature more in Privateer's original formulation which would've had the main storyline focus on the war between Confed and the Kilrathi instead of the Steltek precursor narrative (originally intended for a mission disk). In the final game Commodore Reismann appears only as a VDU image in the last mission (above) and he has only two lines of unique dialogue (along with the standard set of Confederation comms).
# Fancy meeting you guys here.
# Mind if I join the party? This is it?
# Who's ambushing who?
You're just in time for the massacre.
# Yeah...but whose?
# I have every confidence in you guys.
Listen up and pay attention. This is Commodore Reismann. We'll hit the thing as soon as it arrives. Hold your position until it does. And, uh, feel free to join in...Reismann out.Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?
Die Hard 2 is currently streaming on AMC. It is also available for rent or purchase on all the standard services. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on BluRay in 2013 and remains in print around the world. If you are not able to locate a copy please stop by the Discord and ping a CIC staff member before Friday's showing.
How do we watch the movie together?
It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Friday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the film in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should bring their own copy and we will count down to play them together at 10 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!
