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We'll just come right out and say it: RoboCop is great! This week's movie will be another classic from our youth: the classic time travel/not-quite-stoner comedy Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989). You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
We're watching this one as part of a recently added rule for movie selections: we will pick one film to represent a real world actor… and that movie has to have been made before the reference. So Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is the movie for legendary comedian George Carlin, referenced in Action Stations! Here's the brief mention where he gets a star system named after him… the closest base to McAuliffe with a working FTL communications system.
"Target Vikyah?" he whispered, already sensing what the answer was.
"McAuliffe," Speedwell replied.
"How do we know that?"
"Because it reports our translight burst transmitter is down due to intense solar flares as reported from the Carlin system. There's only one Confed base offline at the moment, and that's McAuliffe, where we've been having problems with flares of late. This message reporting the signal problems was sent by one of their listening posts inward to Kilrah yesterday. Twelve hours later it was repeated back outwards, Skip, back outwards to an Admiral Nargth.""McAuliffe," Skip whispered. "Damn it all, they're going for McAuliffe."We've also already talked about time travel in our post about Back to the Future so we won't retreat all of that here… but we did pick out another time travel adjacent bit of Privateer 2 flavor text that we didn't include last time! We're not quite sure what the overall joke here (beyond that it is a joke) so if anyone can crack it please post to the forums.
S.N. Transports of Delight
A classic rags to riches story, Shick Nields built his empire of used ship trading up from humble beginnings as a simple wagon maker on Bex. He is unique in the history of auto trading, being the only known dealer to have unknowingly averted a major interplanetary war by selling a single ship. According to legend, an ancient and warlike race from beyond the Tri-system had designs on the peaceful planet Bex, but just before the planned invasion their Commander-in-Chief, Shaftus Destructivus made the fatal error of purchasing what he believed to be a nice little sporty number with only 2000 jumps on the clock from Shick Nields himself, in which he planned to lead the entire battle fleet, screaming down to Bex. What he didn't know was that the craft he had bought was in fact a Hades sewage system maintenance vehicle, with a new paint job and a few cosmetic adjustments. Whilst being perfectly air tight, the vehicle relied on traditional friction brakes to stop, which in space are useless (vacuum is an environment where friction does not apply). It would be an understatement to say that he was 'quite surprised' on over-shooting Bex by about 120 millennia, taking himself and the entire fleet out of the Tri-system and into the echo dimensions, from which no one has been known to return from. This event may provide a clue as to why the CIS have turned a blind eye for the last 30 years while Shick has continued as the system's leading purveyor of dubious space transport. His latest selection of quality used vehicles can be viewed on-line through the booth system.
Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?
Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure is available for rent or purchase on all of the standard streaming services. It is currently streaming on MGM+ in the United States. It is also available to stream for free on YouTube. If you would like a physical copy, it was released on UHD in the US 2022 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!
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.
