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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

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Fuel storage has always been a limiting factor for aircraft. The need to land and refuel determines an aircraft's range and capacity, which is especially important for military aircraft. Bombers, spy planes, command and control platforms and anything intended to serve reactively benefit from staying in the air as much as possible. This need is what led to the development of in-flight refueling in which one plane's range and capacity is extended because it can rendezvous with a tanker aircraft that provides it new fuel without needing to land. The first successful in-flight refueling took place in 1923 between two biplanes. While the aircraft have become much more advanced in the ensuing century, the process has remained the same: one plane deploys a sort of hose or boom which connects to the other and transfers the fuel.

Wing Commander has been concerned with fuel since the original game. In an element

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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 television... that all connect to Wing Commander somehow! This month we're looking at a series of shows from the 1990s that were beloved by the Wing Commander III team. You can find details on the shows included 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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We had a great time with The Birdcage! It really is a classic; wonderful actors armed with witty dialogue that, if you'll forgive the comparison, feels like the respectable ancestor of modern Marvel quips. Robin Williams and Nathan Lane are so intensely likeable and their sets and costumes are particularly and perfectly evocative. And none of what was breaking a 'taboo' at the time feels out of place today… the gay aspect isn't ever treated as some joke and that holds up now that society is ever so slightly better!

The big Wing Commander connection was Robin Williams' famous visit to the Wing Commander IV shoot while he was making this movie. As anyone could've predicted, he's witty and charming to his standard incredible extreme here… and it might be his most handsome on screen role! Chris Roberts famously wanted him to appear as Merlin in the Wing Commander movie but they couldn't make contact in

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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 Dumb and Dumber (1994) 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!

And don't forget our eleventh (!) Wing Commander Cartoon party is early tomorrow!

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... but they are fun. Since the dawn of time, crummy plastic "ID badges" have been sold at science fiction conventions. They aren't really props, they aren't really well made or well designed or useful for anything... but they're such a mood, such a part of the culture. They're the kind of impulse buy you make when there's a three hour line for a calzone and the bag of Space: Above and Beyond bootleg VHSes you picked up are hurting your arm. Did you need a laminated seaQuest DSV ID that doesn't look like anything from the show? No, but it feels damn good to pick one up anyway.

I'd never seen any for Wing Commander, though, until Chris noticed this eBay listing. Woah! These are the platonic ideal of the concept. They're nothing like the ones in the movie, the information about the characters is wrong in significant ways... and damn I'd be thrilled to find these at a stand. So to be clear, not an