Display MoreWing Commander Academy viewers often come away from the experience with one enduring question: what was the deal with Viking? Viking (or Victoria as she prefers to be known on her own time) is a human pilot who appears only in Wing Commander Academy's first episode. She is part of Blair and Maniac's class at the flight school. She is part of the training mission that opens the episode, she flirts with Blair afterwards and then during the simulated dogfight she is the one that accidentally shoots down Jazzman.
At the end of the episode she appears in civilian clothes on the tarmac and informs Bair that the experience has taught her she can't be responsible for killing anyone. Instead, she is leaving the military and offers him the opportunity to come too. He refuses and the episode ends with her walking away sadly as his Scimitar blasts off into space. It's a poignant moment, especially when informed by knowledge of Blair's future!
But then she is never mentioned again! What happened? She wasn't a special guest star like Damon Karnes or Admiral Bergstrom: Viking was voice acted by Lauri Hendler, who was part of Wing Commander Academy's regular cast (she's best known for voicing Payback and Maya McEaddens.) She was also clearly designed as a first tier character; not only does she have a detailed face and animations but she appears in three different outfits across the episode, one of which (the pink civilian dress) was designed just for her! She even has two distinct props, a turquoise barrette and a purse. All of these took specific concept work to include.
The answer is that she was a setup for the second season. The broad concept for Wing Commander Academy's second season was that it would expand what was shown of the war. The plan was patterned after the creative team's previous project, ExoSquad, and would've moved the show's story from just showing the cadets aboard the Tiger's Claw to including the homefronts: political intrigue with the Emperor in the Kilrathi court and then a broader view of the war from the Confederation's viewpoint on Earth.
The imagined storyline for the Earth portion of the story was that it would follow the anti-war movement with hawkish politicians facing off against protesters who believe humans and Kilrathi can live in peace. Viking would've returned as a sort of viewpoint character who becomes involved in the peace movement to carry the audience into the situation. The other connection to the previous story would've been Blair's family: Blair's father was to be head of the protest movement, a sort of Ron Kovic character who had returned from his own military service deeply affected and motivated to fight for peace. Blair's grandmother was to represent the other side as an important pro-war politician.
The Wing Commander Academy press kit contains some references to this plan. The biography of Blair talks about his parents and then the list of terminology includes the orbital city where this was all to occur!
Pedigree: Since the time of the American Civil War, the Blair family has maintained a tradition of wealth and influence combined with public service. Maverick's grandmother is a member of the Confederation Council, while his father is the chairman of StarPeace, an organization dedicated to promoting understanding among the inhabited worlds of the galaxy.
Terra Station, n. -- a city-sized space station/capital to orbit around Earth where the Terran Confederation Congress meets
Get In, Losers, We're Going Wing Commandering.
