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The Wing Commander movie club's official position on Dumb and Dumber was that it seemed a lot tamer than any of us remembered. Comedy really seems to be the genre that ages the fast… and sadly, we're getting old! That said, we're going back to the 1970s this time around… to the first major motion picture of The Lord of the Rings (1978). Did everyone think they were voting for the 2001 version? Maybe, but that would be mostly out of our purview! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
The most obvious reference to Lord of the Rings in Wing Commander comes in Secret Ops' Talos series where the Cerberus is joined by a Murphy-class destroyer named the TCS Foehammer. It's the name of Gandalf's sword, the one front and center in the poster above! (The sword is commonly called Glamdring, which translates literally to Foehammer.)
In the process of looking up this reference, I realized that the famous "Murphy.doc" and "Plunkett.doc" files that have been passed around the community for almost thirty years now weren't actually available in our archive! These were the 'ship descriptions' created by designed John Guentzel (Captain Johnny) to go with the new ships. We've added them to the document archive and have provided PDF versions for easy reference online.
- Murphy (.pdf, original .doc
- Plunkett (.pdf, original .doc
As imagined, several of the Murphy-class ships were named after words. In addition to the Foehammer, there's the Falchion (a type of sword) and then the Soulcutter, Wayfinder and Farslayer. These three are named after specific swords from something called The Book of Swords series by Fred Saberhagen. I've never read it myself but the first book dates back to 1983… we'll have to take a look for a future update!
Another 'half' reference appears on the Wing Commander Universe Map. In the Kilrah Sector we can find a system named "K'za-Ha'duhm". Which is both a reference to Lord of the Rings' Khazad-dûm (Moria) and Babylon 5's Z'Ha'Dum (which is of course also borrowed from Tolkein in the first place). We'll look at the Babylon 5 side of this equation in July's TV meeting!
Finally, the 1978 Lord of the Rings is famous for its use of rotoscope for the animation, a process by which live action is filmed and then painted over to appear in the desired style. Wing Commander used this same system for its early animations, most famously the pilots running to their ships in Wing Commander I. From the Ultimate Strategy Guide:
One of the most riveting scenes in the Wing Commander game was of the pilot and wingman racing to the launch bay. Produced using a technique called rotoscope, the production involved everyone, Chris Roberts, Paul Isaac, Jeff George, Glen Johnson and Denis Loubet. The pilots, actually people who worked at Origin, were first videotaped running on a treadmill. The group tried different lighting setups to achieve the effect they were searching for. The images were then digitized, but Roberts didn't want any of the graphics in the game to look like digitized video. Johnson had already designed a background, so he started working with different color combinations to make the pilots stand out. The final version was the result of days of experimentation.
Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?
The Lord of the Rings is available for rent or purchase on all of the standard streaming services. If you would like a physical copy, it was released on BluRay in the US in 2010 and remains in print around the world. Copies are available on the Internet Archive. 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.
