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For next week (and the week after), the club voted to do something a little different: we're going to kick off the year by looking at two very different TV pilot movies from the 1990s. This next week will be Class of Beverly Hills, the 1990 pilot for Beverly Hills 90210 and next week will be Babylon 5's The Gathering telefilm. If you're old enough to remember 1990 then you might recall the 90210 pilot kicking off the cool, brightly colored California summer vibe often associated with the era. It'll be fun to see how it holds up! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Our Wing Commander connection here is pretty odd: one of the pre-slugged high scores in the TrainSim in Wing Commander I was… "BRAIN 90210". Is this a reference to one of the multiple Brians on the core Super Wing Commander team? Or the character of Brian on 90210? We'll find out!

We also have a couple of Wing

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We only just reported on their Bearcat and CountvonSchnaps is already back with two more classic takes on Wing Commander ships... this time the Dralthi and the Krant from the original game! That's right, they've gone furball. I'll always argue in favor of two cockpits for the Krant... but these are still pretty wonderful. Enjoy!

Wing Commander II: Dralthi (DeviantArt)

Another Wing Commander design and this time a Kilrathi design! Again thanks has to go out to Shoguneagle for commissioning me to make another iconic design.

The Dralthi medium fighter has seen many iterations during its long service history. The one depicted here is an early Mk I version. Armed with two laser cannons, 2x missile hardpoints and a mine launcher.

The Dralthi can be found at all frontlines during the Kilrathi-Terran war and was the most numerous medium fighter produced during the whole war.

Wing Commander II: KF402 - Krant (

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Isn't it great finding Wing Commander in the wild? I recently came across a BlueSky post from Tyrel Lohr about a 3D model they've been working on of a Dorkathi!

Finally, I also started on a version of the Kilrathi Dorkathi Transport from Wing Commander 2. The fins are not 100% perfect, and I had to ad lib a few details, but I think it mostly works.

Even better, though, tt turns out Tyrel Lohr has been building entire fleets! They build 3D-printable models of sci-fi ships that they offer on Cults. They've already build a host of fighters and capital ships from Wing Commander I and II for both the Confederation and the Kilrathi. Most are completely free and the most expensive is just a few dollars. If you pick one up, we'd love to see how it prints!

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It's hard not to love It's a Wonderful Life, even if its specific vision of hope is increasingly specific to a 1940s America that we don't necessarily support today. As we noted, it's almost like a long Twilight Zone episode, complete with that same sense of our grandparents' nostalgia that that show is sometimes steeped in. It also flies by very quickly even though the 'point' of the movie isn't reached until very close to the end.

The major connection to Wing Commander is that Pilgrim Stars has a flagship named the TCS Bedford Falls after It's a Wonderful Life's setting. The two 'versions' of Bedford Falls are the crux of the story, with Jimmy Stewart's character seeing what an impact his seemingly small life had on his town (which becomes a dystopian nightmare in the timeline where he never existed). Wing Commander could take place in either world!

With that in mind, I thought I'd make a quick list

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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 are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Arcadia of My Youth (1982) and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here. The movie will start at 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

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We would like to wish a merry Christmas to all wingnuts that celebrate (and a happy holidays to all that don't). The Wing Commander community remains a constant source of happiness in dark times for us and I can't rightly express how much your friendship, your contributions and your general existence makes our lives better. The WC:CIC staff sends you all love and hope.

Now: need some balls to decorate your tree? Here's a quick visual timeline of Wing Commander's most Christmas-y ship, the Super Wing Commander Dorkir. It was built from the Wing Commander II depot model and remains a very bizarre sight when you encounter them in the game.

Like everyone, we're absolutely exhausted this year so we'll leave it at that. But if you're in need of a big dose of Christmas cheer, we highly reccomend checking out last year's omnibus post which collects two decades of wingnut holiday celebrations!

Happy holidays,