Is There a Space Pope?

A world desperate for good news (or at least news that isn't awful) is going pope crazy this week as the Catholic Church has named Leo XIV as the latest spiritual leader in their centuries-long tradition. Of course this has prompted many in the media to ask the big question: what's going on with the church in Wing Commander's distant future? Are there still popes? Well, the first movie spinoff novel, Pilgrim Stars, confirms that there are when Blair explains that the McDanielist (Pilgrim) church's highest office, called "protur", is their equivalent.

"She's not going to McDaniel to destroy it. That planet represents everything she stands for. Someday she'd like to see it as the hub and governing force in the universe, much like Earth is today. Yes, if I know her, she's going to McDaniel to see somebody, a man named Protur Carver Tsu the Second."

"Protur ..." Blair repeated, reaching into his memory. "That's the title of the Pilgrim elect's most powerful leader. Kind of like the Roman Catholic Church's pope or the Vegan Victorists' kreek-son."

This is also a great small example of the classic 'sci fi list' trope that we've talked about before. It's not clear what a Vegan Victorist is but it's possible Peter Telep is connecting to the "Vegan Victory Award with diamonds" that Doomsday is said to have been awarded in Fleet Action. As for the pope, Pilgrim Truth brings up this comparison again and in the process mentions that the pope in the year 2654 is now "little more than a figurehead". Sorry, pope fans!

Protur Carver Tsu III held the Pilgrim theocracy's highest office, and while the Catholic religion's pope had in recent centuries become little more than a figurehead, the protur's authority remained well intact--even after the first Pilgrim war.

Another potential detail is that the Wing Commander Armada manual, Voices of War, includes a log entry about the Kilrathi by a Lexington pilot named 2nd Lieutenant Niekro Hammond. While talking about the Sivar-Eshrad cult he mentions that women have been holding high church offices since the late 1990s. While some religions have moved in that direction, most--including the Roman Catholic Church--have not.

As strict as the cats are on social “rules,” they sure aren’t the chauvinistic type! All of their religious factions have females in charge. I find this interesting – after all, it wasn’t until the late 1990s that we even let women hold high church offices on Earth.

We haven't seen any details beyond this on the 27th Century pope but the Wing Commander universe is no stranger to newly created religions with interesting leaders! Beyond the Pilgrims and the deep lore surrounding them we've got Princess Zukara and the Sivar priestesses, Mordecai Jones of the Church of Man (Retros), Uncle Kashumai of the Avuncular Order of Hom (itself a spinoff of the Anhurian Original Humanists) and so on... but those are all topics for future updates!

Reminder: #Wingnut Cartoon Party TODAY!

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... that all connect to Wing Commander somehow! Get ready to find out just how much a part of early 1990s culture the Wing Commander series was. 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!

Reminder: #Wingnut Movie Night Tonight!

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 original King Kong (1933) which was reference for an episode of Wing Commander Academy… and where Chris Roberts' game development career started! 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 second Wing Commander Cartoon party is early tomorrow!

After Action Report: Die Hard 2

Greetings WingNuts,

The Wing Commander movie club has changed planes at Dulles! Die Hard 2 was a nice change of pace from our usual fare of war movies and science fiction classics. It holds up very well today, arguably better than any of the later Die Hard sequels. John McClane's path to superherodom seems to already be clearly established but it's pretty subdued compared to what is yet to come. And the overall idea of criminals hijacking an airport instead of a plane remains pretty neat, too!

As noted in the introduction post, the immediate Wing Commander creative connection is pretty tenuous. The original Privateer's character design document calls out Commodore Riesmann as being based on Die Hard 2's Colonel Stuart (William Sadler). Privateer was originally intended to have a 'Confederation versus Kilrathi' main plot which would end with you siding with one of the factions. That was dropped and the more elaborate character plans were shuffled into the background, rendering Reismann simply a VDU image in the last mission. But watching Die Hard 2 it's clear what the intention was for his character: an Oliver North-style military officer who is willing to do immoral things if it means winning.

… and then there's the device! It turns out Die Hard 2 and Wing Commander Prophecy share a prop, seen below. In Die Hard 2 they're part of Colonel Stuart's rogue air traffic control set up… and one of them goes on to be the mission computer that Casey uses after each flight in Prophecy!

The reason this prop appears in both productions is because it's a rental. There are large companies with warehouses full of background props like this that can be rented to fill out a particular production when time or budget doesn't allow for a custom fabrication for everything. These light-up consoles were built by the now defunct Master Props and likely appeared throughout genre productions in the 90s. In fact, Star Trek super site Ex Astris Scientia has preserved Master Props' catalog listings for such pieces AND found this particular one in an episode of Star Trek The Next Generation (Unnatural Selection, season 2 episode 7)!

Finally, Dulles airport makes a brief appearance in a scene in Pilgrim Truth where the president of the Confederation meets with the leaders of the Pilgrims. Die Hard 2 wasn't actually shot at Dulles and most of the action is at night… but here's a quick comparison between the movie and the real life view of the tarmac from the air traffic control tower!

The communications link defied conventional physics, and while Confed scientists struggled to figure out how the invaders had accomplished the feat of establishing instantaneous connections with every Confederation and Kilrathi system, President Harold Rodham stood on the tarmac at Washington Dulles Air and Space Port, waiting to receive one Ivar Chu McDaniel, purported leader of the Pilgrims.

One of the invaders' more nondescript troopships landed. An orifice appeared in the quavering fuselage, and out stepped a kindred spirit, a man who, like Rodham, carried himself too timidly to suggest that he led billions. Surprisingly enough, he came unarmed, without guards, and seemed unfazed by the Marines who hustled up beside him. “Mr. President,” he called in a thin lilt, then advanced and extended his hand.

Rodham took it. “If you'll follow me?”

“I was disappointed that you called in those two battle groups from Saturn. Still, I admire your fortitude.”

Jerking his hand away, Rodham glowered at the wiry man. “We won't go down easily.”

“You won't go down at all, sir. Has the senate convened? I'm looking forward to explaining everything.”

“They're waiting for you.” Rodham said, and you’ve made it all too easy, you bastard. “This way.” He led McDaniel back toward the waiting hover.

Wing Commander Album's CD Run Arrives

Greetings! The WC volume 2 CD's just arrived yesterday. Looks and sounds great! I will be sending these out to CD only backers very soon.

Unfortunately, due to longer processing time and popular demand for vinyl, the LPs will not arrive until at least the first week of June. So for those who are receiving both a CD and a vinyl version I'll be shipping those together in one package.

Thank you all for your patience. I know this has been a long process, but I am thoroughly pleased with the results, and hoping you will be as well.

Yours truly,

George

Originator Updates Fixes WC2 Issues

Dickerson, Lake and Jeff

I was leafing through False Colors the other day and happened to notice an unusual reference I wanted to explore a litle further. This paragraph is from when the Landreich fleet is assembling to recover the Karga and it introduces two of the ship captains thusly:

Diaz would be working closely with the captains of the tender Sindri and the huge factory ship Andrew Carnegie, a Mutt-and-Jeff pair whose names were Dickerson and Lake—Bondarevsky still wasn't entirely sure which one was which. Their commands, though non-combatants, would have the pivotal part in the Goliath Project, the tender serving as a deep-space repair platform for the supercarrier while the mammoth Andrew Carnegie, designed for semi-automated minerals extraction and fabrication work on unsettled frontier worlds, had been pressed into service to manufacture whatever the Kilrathi derelict might be lacking right on the spot.

Mutt-and-Jeff stuck out to me as a very odd reference for the 27th century. Mutt and Jeff was one of the first daily comic strips which ran from 1907 to 1983. The reference specifically is to how the characters are a mismatched pair, one tall and one short. But as far as pop culture goes, the memory has already faded in our time!

"That's where we come in," Dickerson—or was it Lake?—put in. "The quicker your gang gets things secured and calls us in, the sooner you'll have all the comforts of home, courtesy of the good ship Sindri."

Later we learn that this was, indeed, Dickerson and that his first name is Charles. Sadly, we see him only briefly as the Sindri is destroyed by pirates. Lake is the captain of the Carnegie and he does show up again later in the book at another planning meeting. But what we never learn is which was Mutt (tall) and which was Jeff (short).

Wing Commander Movie Night: King Kong

The Wing Commander movie club has put their seats up and their tray tables in the upright position following the conclusion of Die Hard 2. Next week, we're going a little further back in the past… to 1933 for the original King Kong! King Kong is a massively important film for how it defined the kind of blockbuster movies whose evolution continues to this day… and it's always fun to watch a giant ape wreck things. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

The direct connection to Wing Commander this time around is a fun one: the island that Blair, Grunt and Kulrag crash land on in Wing Commander Academy's Word of Honor is based on the island where Kong is discovered in the original movie (later named Skull Island). USA originally aired a 'Kids Club' bumper with the series' background artists explaining this; unfortunately, it has been lost to time!

There's also a big connection to Chris Roberts' history. His very first game, programmed in BASIC and printed in a magazine in 1983, was… King Kong! It's a simple arcade game that pits you against the fearsome ape in a take on the film's final climactic battle atop the Empire State building. You can read all about the game's history at Pix's Origin Adventures and even play it in your browser here. Let's compare high scores this week! We've mirrored a copy of the King Kong tape here for anyone wanting to use an emulator.

Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?

King Kong is available to download free from the Internet Archive and to stream via YouTube. It is also available for rent or purchase on all the standard services. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on BluRay in 2010 and remains in print around the world. 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!

Wing Commander Cartoon Party II: The Wrath of Doug

Last month, we held a special Saturday morning cartoon watch party in #WingNut where we watched the entire 'Warrior King' crossover saga that included Wing Commander Academy. Well, we had so much fun that we've decided to do it again! It's not possible to find anything quite as epic as the Warrior King saga so instead we've pulled together a collection of other Saturday morning shows that reference Wing Commander in some way! Here's the lineup:

Doug - Doug's Lost Weekend (1992, s2e25): This early episode of Doug (pre-Disney's Doug) will be extremely relatable to any Wing Commander fan: Doug becomes addicted to a space sim that is full of nods to the original Wing Commander!

Gridman the Hyper Agent - A Lonely Hacker (1993, s1e17): Gridman is a Japanese "tokusatsu" superhero show similar to the ones used as the basis for shows like Power Rangers in the United States. Watch carefully for the slightest of cameos from an unusual port of the original Wing Commander!

Viper - Ghosts (1994, s1e04): Viper was part of the mid-1990s 'magic vehicle' craze kicked off by earlier programs like Airwolf and Knight Rider. The producers contacted origin asking for a free copy of Privateer when it came out… and then everyone was surprised by just how much the game featured in the final show!

ReBoot - The Tearing (1994, s1e01): The very first episode of Canada's famous ReBoot, the show that introduced full CG to television, pays a pretty big tribute to Wing Commander by having a parody of the series be one of the very first 'games' Bob and company have to enter!

So JOIN US on Saturday, May 10th at noon Eastern when we'll enjoy them all together! Last time we had big fun wearing pajamas and eating cereal… so we recommend you plan to do the same again! You will need to download the episodes from the CIC before we start. Like last time, we're going to start things off with a classic Looney Tunes short… the sequel to the original Duck Dodgers, Duck Dodgers in the Return of the 24½th Century from 1980! Here are the links:

• Duck Dodgers in the Return of the 24½th Century
• Doug - Doug's Lost Weekend
• Gridman the Hyper Agent - A Lonely Hacker
• Viper - Ghosts
• ReBoot - The Tearing

We've also uploaded a zip of all five shows together for ease of downloading. 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.

Why are you still calling it a 'cartoon party' when two of the shows are live action?

Shut up.

To Lev is to Fly

Warning: This update contains spoilers for the ending of Privateer 2: The Darkening.

As is often the case, the topic several nights ago on Discord turned to Privateer 2. While talking about the game's conclusion, Chris Reid thought to ask: is there any significance to the 'Arris' in his fake name?

To back up: the reveal close to the end of Privateer 2 is that you are not, in fact, Lev Arris but Vell Ricaud II, the long lost first son of the founder of Ricaud Interplanetary. The head of the Kindred, "Kronos", is really your twin brother Sar Ricaud. The booth system will eventually tell you that Ricaud Interplanetary is "the largest industrial concern in the Tri-System" and there are various small hints that Sar has turned it into the Kindred. When you decode the memory solid later in the game the report says that "also the names Larn Regis and Vell Ricaud occur over 150 times, as well as the name Ricaud Interplanetary."

So, the "Lev" in Lev Arris (which is the name that had been printed on his cryo pod) is (almost) "Vell" reversed. But is there a meaning to "Arris"? We speculated for a while but couldn't come up with one that felt satisfying (the closest guess was 'heir is'). Luckily, The Darkening's screenwriter Diane Duane seems to have a memory like a steel trap! We asked her on BlueSky and she was kind enough to reply:

Nope. In the early stages of writing I was just feeling around for a name that seemed easily memorable. For some reason "Harris" suggested itself, and I just dropped the initial H off it so it wouldn't sound so ordinary.. :)

(Want to read more from Diane Duane? Check out her bookstore, Ebooks Direct!)

So there you have it! I did find an interesting joke while I was looking through the ingame text to see where 'Ricaud' was actually mentioned. Check out this characteristically goofy CCN booth update about the Yummiechow's slogan contest:

But then that story continues in another update! You can also get this story which talks about how the Munchems line has failed because, in part, of a pirate attack! The implication seems to be that the Kindred is targeting the Yummiechow corporation because Kronos didn't win the snack contest!

Wing Commander Albums in Production, More Sample Materials Released

Greetings all, and thank you for your amazing patience. Both the CD and vinyl products are (finally) in production as we speak. In the meantime I want to share all the cover art as well as the vinyl audio files for you to check out. The vinyl audio is obviously divided into two long audio files which will give you the opportunity to listen to the tracks in sequence without having to click on individual files. One note about the side A file; it starts with a 60 second tone necessary for production, but after that it is smooth sailing!

Rest assured that as soon as the products arrive here I will be sending them out.

You are all the best!

George