Display MoreIt's time for another thrilling edition of the monthly Wing Commander cartoon party… with a real cartoon included this time! This month we'll be stepping back in time to 1992 to imagine what it was like when Wing Commander: Privateer was being made… and we'll be enjoying some of the truly ridiculous nonsense television that defined the era.
Back in 1992, Origin couldn't settle on a name for their space trading game. The developers wanted to call it Free Trader in honor of the Traveller tabletop game that had greatly inspired them, but legal could not clear the name. It went through dozens of suggestions before being announced as the tepid "Trader Commander" and finally being changed to the not-quite-definitory Privateer. The game's storyboard artists riffed on the situation by labeling their work with the names of notorious media including films, TV shows and albums. We've already watched three of the films in regular Wing Commander movie club meetings (Ishtar, Heaven's Gate and The Exorcist) and this weekend we're going to check off the TV shows… and what TV shows they are! (And then we'll be ending the series with a GOOD show, a classic Simpsons in honor of a Privateer 2 news brief!)
Cop Rock ("Pilot", 1990): Cop Rock is still remembered today as a famous case "what the hell is that?". It was a big budget, dramatic cop show set in Los Angeles… that was also a musical with the cast stopping to break out into song in various musical numbers. Stranger still, its creator Steven Bochco would go on to soon create the hit cop show NYPD Blue which did not feature musical numbers. Eleven episodes were made. All three of the shows are contemporary, with Cop Rock being slightly older; it's perhaps not a coincidence that its is the one most remembered today. Coincidentally, this first episode of Cop Rock aired the day Wing Commander I shipped!
Scorch ("Pilot", 1992): Scorch is a live action sitcom based around… a thousand year old dragon puppet that is a weatherman. They had writers back then! You know how shows like Seinfeld or The Cosby Show were based on standup acts turned into sitcoms? Scorch was based on the act of Ronn Lucas… a ventriloquist, the hippest form of comic. Scorch premiered the same day as Fish Police, February 28, 1992, as part of the same lineup on CBS. Three episodes aired out of six (just like Fish Police). I had never heard of Scorch and genuinely broke out laughing when I learned the premise.
Fish Police ("The Shell Game", 1992): Fish Police is an animated series that aired on CBS in 1992. The premise of the show is that the characters are cartoon fish that are… police. That's it. It's one of several 'adult' animated shows networks fast tracked that year to take advantage of The Simpsons' incredible popularity. Spoiler warning: it didn't work! Three episodes aired out of a total of six produced.
The Simpsons ("Homer's Barbershop Quartet, 1993): You all know The Simpsons and this is a classic episode. We picked it because of a Privateer 2 CCN booth entry, seen below, which makes reference to both Chief Wiggum and Barney Gumble. We picked this one because it has both characters and is a true classic!
We will be watching the first episode of each show; anything more than that sounds like it might be torture! So JOIN US on Saturday, February 14th at noon Eastern when we'll enjoy them all together! We recommend pajamas and cereal to accompany the chat.
We've uploaded a zip of all four episodes together locally that you can grab in advance. For Scorch and Fish Police we will be watching a vintage VHS tape recorded of their original premiere which includes all the 1992 commercials! Both are embedded below on YouTube. You can get that here. Cop Rock is the only of the 'fly by night' shows that has been released on video; a DVD set was published in 2016. The Simpsons is available on DVD and streaming on Disney+ and Hulu in the United States.
How do we watch the shows together?
It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Saturday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the shows in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should download their own copies from the CIC and we will count down to play them one at a time together starting with the short at noon EST on Saturday. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!
Will there be custom certificates made for the attendees this time?
Yes.
Hey you actually have a cartoon this time! Was that an accident?
Shut up.
I love these events but want to do better long term planning. Do you have any others coming up?
We do! Here's the upcoming schedule. And if you have any idea for a future lineup, please feel free to suggest it on the forums!
- Marathon 8 - The Final Frontier, Part One - March 14
- Marathon 9 - The Final Frontier, Part Two - April 18
- Marathon 10 - Exploring the Armada Sectors - May 17
