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There's another project update for Origin composer George Oldziey's new new Wing Commander album. The physical orders have now been sent out to production! CDs could be back from the manufacturer as soon as this month and vinyls are expected in later May. George has reiterated his appreciation for all his supporting fans and is working on releasing a couple more treats to tide folks over before the albums arrive!

Greetings all. Just to let you know all the media for production of both the CD's and vinyl are submitted and are in the process of being produced. The CD's should arrive at my home in about 10 days. The vinyl will take a bit longer. In the mean time I'm going to make both the artwork and audio files for the vinyl available to you for download very soon. That way you can use the artwork with your own playlists and listen to the tracks in sequence without stopping with only a second in

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The initial production run of Gutamaya's new Corsair ships has been deployed to much fanfare, with a flurry of adverts targeting early consumers.
In a statement marking the occasion, Gutamaya's lead engineer Ines Allende remarked:
"Today marks a significant milestone for Gutamaya. The Corsair blends our customary elegant design with exceptional multipurpose capability, fulfilling the diverse demands of modern pilots."
"With a balanced hardpoint configuration, substantial cargo capacity, powerful thrusters and four utility slots, this vessel adapts beautifully for trading, combat, and exploration roles."
The Corsair is Gutamaya's first commercially available multirole ship which forgoes any Imperial Navy rank requirement. It offers versatility in a medium-sized ship classification, making it viable for trading with outposts inaccessible to larger Imperial vessels.
Princess Aisling Duval,

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We've got an unusual one this week: the 1969 comedy Monte Carlo or Bust! (aka Those Daring Young Men in their Jaunty Jalopies). Monte Carlo or Bust! is the sequel to the 1965 film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. It's a comedy racing movie set in the 1920s at the Monte Carlo Rally which stars Tony Curtis; it seems to be generally well regarded but no one on the team has seen it! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

The Wing Commander connection is equally mysterious and something we're going to have to explore as we watch. The quote that added it to our roster is from Chris Roberts' original treatment for the Wing Commander movie. Here he describes the film's climax–which seems to have become the 'broadside' scene–as being "literally Monte Carlo or Bust". Can we figure out what that means when we watch the movie?

As the Tiger's Claw slips behind a nearby planet, a plan

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Anyone out there looking for some new Privateer-centric 3D environments to play with is in for a treat! Cybot has a released a handful of new assets ranging from large to small. These include items like the weapon commodities and a flight sim pod. There's also a larger commodity exchange and CIC room. The big treat is an entire hangar big enough to host a Galaxy. Download them from the CIC Forum links below!

Feel free to use any of model however you want to

• Hangar
• Commodity Exchange, Commodities and Flight Sim Pod
• Planetary Habitats

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This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut event happening on Discord this morning!Join us at noon EST/9 AM PST for a fun filled morning of cartoons... specifically, the infamous "Warrior King" crossover that tied together Street Fighter, Savage Dragon, Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm and Wing Commander Academy. How did it happen? Why did it happen? You'll learn that and more as we run the cycle together... so get ready to see just how dedicated the Warrior King is to his precious Orb! You can find details on that as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. Be sure to download the episodes so they're ready to play with the group!

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Greetings WingNuts,

The Wing Commander movie club is back from Rylos and we're happy to report that it's still pretty nice! The Last Starfighter is a movie that deserves its cult classic status and if anything a modern viewing finds a more balanced and enjoyable film than it once seemed. It's easy to say that all of the cuts back to the robot duplicate on Earth are getting in the way of what you want to see… but in reality they did a pretty good job of making you appreciate the space action. A movie that's all fighter pilots shooting things wouldn't have come together like this!

For the Wing Commander connections, we have to start with the Gunstar which obviously inspired Glen Johnson's design of the Raptor. The recent 4k restoration of Last Starfighter is stunning and it is full of incredibly clear shots of the computer generated Gunstar. We've picked a few favorites here and have included an appendix

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This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Battlestar Galactica (1978) which inspired… a LOT of the first two Wing Commander games. You can find details on that as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

And don't forget our Warrior King Cartoon Party is early tomorrow!

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We've added something to the archive that we once tried to forget! When we started preserving Wing Commander Academy way back in 1997 using RealMedia encodings one of the first things we did was cut out all the commercials… and the 'bumpers' that advertised the show. These are the commercials that ran in between segments of the show letting you know it was coming up, starting, going in and out of commercials and so on. They're peak 1990s goofy, mixing Academy clips with children in crazy outfits and things like basketballs. But while they seemed cringeworthy once upon a time now they're a pretty fascinating part of history. One especially interesting thing, though, is that they use the original 2D logo for the show that was dropped (inset)!

We've collected nine so far and expect to find more as more old VHS tapes are digiized and published online. Our 'holy grails' are the show's original teaser

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Imperial agents have been blamed for an outbreak of combat in the Federally controlled Chi Eridani system.
Several incidents have occurred between supporters of Shadow President Jerome Archer and Senator Denton Patreus of the Empire. The former group blames the latter for trying to subvert Federal governance of the system.
Vox Galactica spoke to a representative for Jerome Archer's power base in Chi Eridani:
"Recent interactions with these Imperial troublemakers have been challenging, to say the least. But we didn't expect them to flood the system in such large numbers! As such they should be treated as a hostile invading force. Patreus's proxy squadrons must be driven out to solidify Jerome Archer's position as the key figurehead of Chi Eridani."
Meanwhile, a representative of the Imperial agents also provided a statement:
"Federal political complacency is to blame for growing calls for the

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The team at GOG recently announced that Wing Commander I & II and Privateer 2 would be joining their GOG Preservation Program. Now they've issued updated versions of both releases which gives us a look at what this actually means!

The answer seems to be 'not a lot, but not nothing'. The patch notes are reprinted below. All of the "verified" and "validated" items just mean they checked to see if the game still loads, so those aren't particularly interesting (or even accurate in the case of Privateer 2, which suffers fro crippling slowdown issues in space). But there are a couple of gems in here, including the addition of the French version of Privateer 2 the re-enabling of Wing Commander I's transfer utilities and Wing Commander II's installer options.

Privateer 2: The Darkening:

Added French localization.
Validated stability.
Verified compatibility with Windows 10 and 11.
Verified Cloud Saves support.

Wing

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AllTinker has a brand new version of Originator... and another one, and another one! We've been blessed with three updates to Originator that make the already-wonderful tool even better. The full notes are below but these updates fix everything from palette issues with Privateer 2 and Strike Commander assets to bugs that were preventing Armada, Wing Commander III and IV from displaying all of their content. If you aren't familiar with Originator, it's an incredible utility for taking apart almost every Wing Commander game. It's something I've found myself using every single day and I'm so grateful for all the work AllTinker has put into it. You can download the tool, learn more and follow development on the forums.

Version 0.3.07 (2025-03-28)

• Improved XTRE support (WC3/4); 1hash-clash name tables are processed properly now.
• Privateer 2 palette logic improved. Hopefully all palettes are now resolving

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Imperial socialites were treated to a tour of Gutamaya's newest ship, the Imperial Corsair, at an extravagant launch on Capitol in Achenar.
Gutamaya's event was attended by over a thousand prominent engineers, senators, press members and other notable individuals. Princess Aisling Duval and her cousin, Lucretia Roche-Duval, were the guests of honour.
Positive reviews of the Imperial Corsair's public unveiling have been published in several outlets across the Empire already.
"The Corsair's specifications showed a promising mix of straight-line speed and large cargo capacity, making it ideal for traders who value efficient travel times," said Eugine Varrik of the Imperial Herald. "The sleek design employs Gutamaya's famous curves – attendees were queueing up with their blinks to take the perfect selfie."
"What impressed me was the flexibility of the Corsair's internal components," said Miyu

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November 16, 1996: eager young wingnuts turned on the USA Network to watch the latest episode of Wing Commander Academy, typically the third of four action shows aired in a block. But on this particular Saturday what we found was... Mortal Kombat? Had Wing Commander Academy been cancelled, pulled early? No, it turned out the episode was airing a half hour later. But it was a pretty crazy one, with Michael Dorn playing a... space viking?

Thus we were introduced to the Warrior King saga, an entirely insane (and unpromoted) cartoon crossover between four licensed IPs: Street Fighter, Savage Dragon, Mortal Kombat and Wing Commander Academy. The four shows went together to tell the story of the Warrior King, the aforementioned space viking, as he sought a magic orb that would restore his destroyed homeworld. Each show followed the rules of its universe, and the familiar characters and settings never

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The Wing Commander movie club has taken the Starcar home from Rylos. But we're already planning to head back to space: this week we're going to be watching Battlestar Galactica (1978)! You likely know Battlestar Galactica either as a television show made immediately in the wake of Star Wars' successs or as the edgier, longer-running 2000s TV series. But it was also a movie! The original 1978 pilot film was so expensive that Universal cut a theatrical version which was a notable success in a variety of markets--even in the US after the show had aired on TV! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

It might be easier to list everything Wing Commander didn't borrow from Battlestar Galactica. Chris Roberts and the original development team were big fans of the show and knowing both IPs it quickly becomes aparent that there was a LOT of inspiration particularly for the first two Wing

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Street Fighter: The Animated Series is coming to BluRay! This is of interest to Wing Commander fans because the set will include the first part of the USA Network 'Warrior King' crossover. The episode, unsurprisingly titled "The Warrior King", includes the short prelude sequence that shows the beginning of the story that stretches across the four shows (the others being Savage Dragon, Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm and Wing Commander Academy).

The new release will include a variety of extras including artwork, storyboards and commentary tracks from fighting game experts. The set is being put out by Diskotek, a boutique physical media publishing company that has been making a name for itself lately with high quality, feature-laden releases of esoteric properties. Maybe they could put out Wing Commander Academy someday! The set is due May 27th for an MSRP of $39.95.

Street Fighter: The Animated

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If you will indulge me for just a moment I have some great personal news to share. This past October, my mom had a stroke during surgery and she has been in one hospital or another ever since… until now! She has made an amazing, tough fought recovery and has finally returned home from rehab. I'm so happy about this and in honor of the past six months of hospitals I thought it might be therapeutic to take a closer look at a fictional one: the famous Crius hospital from Privateer 2: The Darkening!

Treatment Background

A cryopod containing Vell Ricaud II, a male humanoid, was found in the wreckage of the Canera in Mendra City. His two decade-old custom-built Shernikov Medical Equipment Cryo Nine Series pod saved his life and limited his physical injuries, leaving him the only survivor of the crash. The damage to the pod started the thaw cycle from his deep cryonic sleep. Rescuers brought Ricaud to Astravin

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We're improving the Warrior King experience! If you familiar, back in 1996 the USA Network had a totally unexpected cartoon crossover: a newly created character, the Warrior King, traveled through an ongoing story across all four of their action-oriented kids shows: Street Fighter, Savage Dragon, Mortal Kombat and finally Wing Commander Academy. Over the years, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Wing Commander have all been released on home video... but Savage Dragon has not.

Years ago, I tracked down an off-air dub and digitized it so we would be able to watch the complete story. Then came Peacock, which offered Savage Dragon (and Wing Commander Academy) for streaming. Sadly, that was short lived and Savage Dragon isn't online for commercial streaming anymore. Luckily, I recorded the crossover episode from Peacock so we now have a significantly cleaner copy! Download it here (477M).

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Greetings WingNuts,

Maybe I'm biased because I love Planet of the Apes but we loved Planet of the Apes! It's a fantastic film: the script (by the great Rod Serling!) is a vast improvement on the original novel, adding cutting then (and sadly now)-current social commentary that at no time feels like a weight. The cast is amazing, the cinematography is still stunning and the ape costumes that the entire thing hinges on are pulled off perfectly.

To compare to Wing Commander III we thought we'd put together a quick rogue gallery showing all the Kilrathi costumes from the game as clearly as possible that you can compare to the ape costumes. You can find some great behind the scenes photos of the workshop that built the Kilrathi here.

There are three basic types of apes in Planet of the Apes: chimpanzees, orangutangs and gorillas. This lets the costumes start to distinguish between different characters pretty

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This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is The Last Starfighter (1984) which inspired the Raptor fighter in the original Wing Commander. You can find details on that as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

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We have a small treasure for you today! We've acquired a set of storyboards used to develop the Wing Commander Academy intro sequence. This covers the original animation created for the intro. Like many cartoons of the era, Academy's intro was a combination of high quality bespoke animation mixed with a series of quick clips from the show. These storyboards even include several intended shots that didn't make in into the final version! Let's take a look...

These first three pages do not appear in the final version (although the transport shot is similar to one we will see later). It would've been interesting to see Thrakhath's dreadnaught so early, too!

It's not clear what "photo ID inserts" would've been but we're guessing it would've been images of the real Mark Hamill, Tom Wilson and Malcolm McDowell.

You can find another breakdown of the Academy intro which shows the origin of the reused clips here.