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The Wing Commander movie club has charted the evolution of man all the way to the distant future of 2001… and it's obvious why this is such an important film both for cinema and science fiction. Next week we've voted to continue the story going with a VERY different sequel: 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984). It's a case of a different filmmaker picking up the toy box and doing something different in just about every way. I can't wait to share it! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
2010 is a little bit like Wing Commander Prophecy: the same world but adapted by a different director once the creator was wholly gone. And it makes a lot of the same choices! But the real connection to Wing Commander is the Soviet spaceship Leonov which appears in Wing Commander Secret Ops in the form of a Murphy-class destroyer. What's more, the Leonov was designed by Syd Mead… the mind behind Wing Commander Prophecy's aliens (and a frequent contributor to the films in this series)!
The Leonov shows up in Ella 4 alongside two other capital ships named after cosmonauts: the Murphy-class Kuznetsova and the Plunkett-class Tereshkova. If you're interested in the naming of all the Murphies and Plunetts, I put together a quick spreadsheet to cover it.
As with 2001, we get another nod to the Leonov in the Secret Ops passwords. Here it's the winning password given after Episode 4 ("Triangle").
Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?
2010: The Year We Make Contact is available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on Blu-ray in 2009 and remains in print around the world. It is also currently streaming on Turner Classic Movies in the United States. 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!
How can I help pick future movie club movies?
The movie club movies are voted on each week by the Wing Commander Discord. The poll is typically posted 24 hours before each week's screening and the next movie is announced at the end. The choices for the poll come from a master pool of Wing Commander-related movies. If you would like to suggest a film for inclusion in that pool you can post it to this thread.
