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I was digging through Google's increasingly limited Usenet archive when I found an interesting series of posts concerning Wing Commander Academy that I thought were worth preserving here. On September 20, 1996, Wing Commander Academy storyboard artist Tim Eldred posted to rec.arts.anime.fandom and rec.arts.anime.models to tell friends that the show he had worked on was starting the next day. At the time, Wing Commander Academy was of interest to the American anime community because it had been animated in Japan by notable studios. The conversation that followed adds a few details to the Wing Commander Academy story and we've included relevant replies from Mr. Eldred below.
The chain also included posts by artist Bruce Lewis who had been hired to storyboard an episode but had his work rejected at the last minute! He has a great sense of humor about this and by all accounts it wasn't indicative of his work; he went on to do some very impressive things over the years (and sadly passed away in 2019). You can read more about Bruce Lewis here and Tim Eldred's extensive work on Academy here.
Subject: Wing Commander Academy/on the air
From: Tim Eldred
Hi, all...
I debated whether or not I should post this, but on further reflection,
I decided it would be entirely appropriate, as the show is animated in
Japan, so here's the skinny:
WING COMMANDER ACADEMY, an animated program based on the famous computer
game starring Mark Hammill, Malcolm McDowell, Tom Wilson, and many
others, debuts TOMORROW (Saturday, Sept. 21) on the USA Network. Why am
I posting this? Because I had the honor of actually working on the show
as character designer, and I storyboarded pieces of several
episodes--all of which were animated in Japan!
Check it out if you're so inclined--I haven't seen any footage yet, so
I'm getting pretty geeked!
-Tim EldredBruce Lewis - Sep 22, 1996
Gordon Waters wrote:
> Congrats, dude! Can't wait to see you the handiwork turned out! Maybe we
> can get Bruce to "smuggle" some footage from this to AWA? ^_-
No way, Gordo! The director of WCA rejected my storyboards AFTER they were
completed (even though he approved the samples I submitted beforehand)...I believe
his exact words were "You are the worst artist I've ever seen."
Forgive me if I'm less than enthusiastic about WCA...
Best,
Bruce "B-chan" Lewis
Manhattan Projects MultimediaTim Eldred - Sep 23, 1996
> Well at least improve the mech because they are kind of squary and
unrealistic. But keep at it
Would that I could!!! The mecha in the show were all pre-fabricated,as
they were originally designed for the computer games, and by the time I
was brought on board, another designer had already been given the job of
setting the final model sheets.Bruce Lewis - Sep 26, 1996
Jeff Tatarek wrote:
> Bruce, I wish I could've been a fly on the wall when your storyboards got
> rejected. I'm at a loss to even begin justifying the Hollywood drone's
> comments, especially since I really enjoy your work. Wish -I- had the
> talent to match up to your "worst artist" status!
The weird thing is that I submitted a sample storyboard before Universal hired me, and
they said "great, looks good, welcome aboard.." Then I do the assignment (80+ pages of
storyboards) and run it by Tim (who says it looks fine) before submitting it and invoicing
Universal for what they owed me in return ($4K). A few days later the exec. prod of WCA,
Larry L______, calls me up and tells me the boards are "unnaceptable" and "the worst
I've ever seen."
Kore wa nan desu ka?
If I suck, fine, but at least tell me right up front, BEFORE I waste three weeks drawing
the damn thing! Now I gotta take MCA to court for four grand...
...just another tale from the glamorous life of a professional artist...
> Jerry Jetter is a
> damn sight better than anything I could ever crank out. Maybe Hollywood
> just ain't ready for the kinda-shojo look...
Thanks I'm blushing! As for Hollywood, someday SOMEDAY! they'll PAY for this
outrage!...
Best,
Bruce "B-chan" LewisTim Eldred - Sep 26, 1996
Hi, Doug...
(I know you from Ann Arbor, don't I?)
> Well, 1 episode is hardly enough to judge by... Well, that's not actually
> true. At least it didn't make me retch like Mortal Kombat did...
That's a plus!
> Anyways...questions: Is Wing Commander Academy supposed to fit into
> the game's timeline? If so, how? Maniac's managed to survive since
> your "character" first meets him aboard the Tiger's Claw in WC1. Also,
> as folks familiar with WC2 are aware, McDowell's character (forgot his
> name...) wasn't the captain of the Tiger's Claw...especially since he
> shows up in WC2, 3, and 4.
I've only ever played WC3, so I don't know that much about the overall timeline; therefore I can't tell you exactly what the
consistencies are between the show and the games. If you just look at it as something that might have happened to the characters in
their younger days, you'll be fine.
> The artwork seems nice enough...and the ships are rather accurate from
> the game(s). It also seems there's going to be continuity from
> episode to episode. I certainly hope so.
Indeed! There's much more continuity than usual, and that always makes for a better story. (Just wait 'til MY show goes into
production...!)
-TimTim Eldred - Sep 26, 1996
Hey, Jeff...
> The animation, though... ennnnh... Overall I'd place it squarely in the
> midst of most lackluster farmed-out products. The fighters didn't track
> very well...they kinda went all over the screen with little regard for
> believable physics and sorta got distorted.
I tend to agree with you, and my experience working on the show gave me an insight into why this probably happens. Everything in the
show was designed by Americans and animated by Japanese. This means the model sheets of characters and mecha were conceived by
American sensibilities, which are different (not necessarily inferior to) Japanese sensibilities. It starts to look clumsy when you
try and shoehorn one into the other. I don't think it's really a budget issue; more an aesthetic one. Most Japanese animation is just
as limited as American animation, but they get around it with a more integrated design sensibility.
I tried to approach all of my own design and storyboard work from the Japanese sensibility; I'm really anxious to see if it made a
difference.
> FWIW, I couldn't detect a lot of "Eldred-ness" in the chara designs. It
> looks like a lot of it got washed out in the final production, and it just
> looks flat.
My contribution to episode 1 was actually negligible; this show was already pretty much done before I joined the team. I only had ONE
pure character design show up in episode 1; a red-headed female character who only appeared from the back. A lot of "my" characters
will start showing up in episode 2, and my first storyboards will start showing in episode 3. (although, actually, sequences that I
designed were apparently judged good enough to use in the opening title; about a third of the scenes therein are mine!)
> Bruce, I wish I could've been a fly on the wall when your storyboards got
> rejected. I'm at a loss to even begin justifying the Hollywood drone's
> comments
I am also at a loss to explain what happened there. I know the guy pretty well, and this behavior was very uncharacteristic. Maybe he
didn't get his donut that morning.
-TimBruce Lewis - Oct 8, 1996
Jeff Tatarek wrote:
> Bruce, I wish I could've been a fly on the wall when your storyboards got
> rejected. I'm at a loss to even begin justifying the Hollywood drone's
> comments, especially since I really enjoy your work. Wish -I- had the
> talent to match up to your "worst artist" status! ^_-.
That's kind of you, Jeff; thanks. As a reward, I put you into the upcoming STAR BLAZERS
SPECIAL EDITION comic that Argo's shipping with the video gift pack...
> Jerry Jetter is a
> damn sight better than anything I could ever crank out. Maybe Hollywood
> just ain't ready for the kinda-shojo look...
Thanks again. Hollowood ain't heard the last of Bruce Lewis...
I also found one more post about Academy on September 26, 1996, replying to another user who asked if anyone had seen the show with some details about the work: Neat stuff!
Subject: RE: Wing Commander on USA
From: Tim Eldred
Hi, eduardo...
> Anybody catch the Wing Commander Academy(?) show on USA this past
> weekend? I saw the last half of it, and it looked promising, hopefully
> it won't get screwed up like JQ did. Now if USA would just give us some
> new ExoSquad or Sonic episodes...
As somebody who actually worked on the show (storyboards and character designs), I appreciate your
endorsement! This was my first TV experience, and so far I'm pretty happy with it--hope subsequent episodes
live up to your expectations!
-Tim Eldred
