Display MoreCan you believe we're already heading into the middle of summer? That doesn't just mean swimming pools and ice cream and not being able to afford the electric bill… it also means the next monthly Wing Commander Cartoon Party! And this time around we're moving on from Star Trek to its cool 90s competitor Babylon 5, a series particularly beloved by the teams behind Wing Commander. We've selected four episodes with connections to WC to watch next weekend and we'd love for you to join us!
Season 2, Episode 18 - Confessions and Lamentations: The 1997 Wing Commander Universe map includes at least two nods to Babylon 5. The first is this system in the Kilrah Sector, Pak Ma'hran, which is a reference to the pak'ma'ra. The pak'ma'ra are one of the show's background races, a species of scavengers that seem to generally disgust everyone else. They're never the main point of a story, so we've picked an episode in which they're at least relevant!
Season 3, Episode 16 - War Without End (Part 1): The first part of Babylon 5's big timeline-correcting two parter gives Zathras his own shuttle… which looks suspiciously like Privateer's Tarsus! Watch carefully during this one to pick it out.
Season 3, Episode 22 - Z'ha'dum: Another reference on the Wing Commander map is the K'za-Ha'duhm System in the Kilrah Sector. It's named after both Khazad-dûm (Moria) and Babylon 5's Z'Ha'Dum. We visited the former in a recent Lord of the Rings screening, now let's see what's happening on the latter!
Season 5, Episode 22 - Sleeping in Light: There's a little nod to Babylon 5's emotional finale in Wing Commander Arena's Star*Soldier manual: the claim that a derelict Behemoth-class ship is a 'menace to navigation', which is also the reasoning the show gives for Babylon 5 being demolished. Interestingly, the phrase also appears in a scene cut from Privateer 2... several years before it winds up in Babylon 5's mouth!
So JOIN US on Saturday, July 18th at noon Eastern when we'll explore more of the third age of mankind! Feel free to drop in and out (or just stop by to talk Wing Commander).
We've uploaded a zip of all four episodes together that you can grab in advance if you would prefer to play them locally. You can get that here.
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.
No cartoons at all this time?
Just J. Michael Straczynski's character work!
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 13 - Music to My Ears - August 15
- Marathon 14 - CLASSIFIED - September 18
