Questionable Motives?

[frostytheplebe]

Hey everybody!!!

Long time no see. So I watched the Wing Commander movie again last night and it got me thinking...

Why would Admiral Wilson warn the Concordia Battle Group about the incoming attack from the kilrathi fleet? Would it not have been better to just let the kilrathi steem roll Earth the same way they did Pegasus... or did they have some kind of trap prepared for the fleet?

I could understand if the pilgrim sabotuers wanted to get both fleets in the same system and kill eachother off, thus weakening both sides enough for the Pilgrim Alliance to come in, knock out both sides, and take control of both empires. This theory however does not hold water because Paladin stated that Blair was the last descendant of a dying race, which meant to me that either the Pilgrims were on the verge of extinction, or their people, with the exception of a few, had given up there ways and integrated into the Confederation. Either way, it seems highly unlike that these few individuals had the manpower to restore the Alliance. Any thoughts?

 

[ChrisReid]

You need to read Pilgrim Stars! Pilgrims very much still exist at the time of the WC Movie (...and then are resolved in Pilgrim Truth).

 

[AD]

Hey everybody!!!

Long time no see. So I watched the Wing Commander movie again last night and it got me thinking...

Why would Admiral Wilson warn the Concordia Battle Group about the incoming attack from the kilrathi fleet? Would it not have been better to just let the kilrathi steem roll Earth the same way they did Pegasus... or did they have some kind of trap prepared for the fleet?

I could understand if the pilgrim sabotuers wanted to get both fleets in the same system and kill eachother off, thus weakening both sides enough for the Pilgrim Alliance to come in, knock out both sides, and take control of both empires. This theory however does not hold water because Paladin stated that Blair was the last descendant of a dying race, which meant to me that either the Pilgrims were on the verge of extinction, or their people, with the exception of a few, had given up there ways and integrated into the Confederation. Either way, it seems highly unlike that these few individuals had the manpower to restore the Alliance. Any thoughts?

In the novelization (and in the deleted scenes!) Gerald actually asks Wilson "Why warn Tolwyn?" His reply is that the stars were the Pilgrim's destiny "not Earth's and not Kilrah's." He also adds " This way we all lose." So your suggestion is pretty much right. He wants Confed and the kilrathi to wipe eachother out.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Why would Admiral Wilson warn the Concordia Battle Group about the incoming attack from the kilrathi fleet? Would it not have been better to just let the kilrathi steem roll Earth the same way they did Pegasus... or did they have some kind of trap prepared for the fleet?

From Wilson's perspective, Earth will be destroyed regardless--Tolwyn is not in a position to return there in time. Remember you have the scene where the Concordia's computer reveals that the fleet will arrive two hours after the Kilrathi. Wilson's hope is that the Kilrathi will destroy Earth and then settle in for a mutually devastating fight with Tolwyn's fleet.

It's supposed to be the big heroic story that the Tiger's Claw can use the pulsar to arrive at Charybdis and delay the Kilrathi for two hours... but I don't know if the finished movie does a great job of expressing this, past Tolwyn's great scene introducing the problem ("a mere two hours could decide the outcome of this war").

This theory however does not hold water because Paladin stated that Blair was the last descendant of a dying race, which meant to me that either the Pilgrims were on the verge of extinction, or their people, with the exception of a few, had given up there ways and integrated into the Confederation. Either way, it seems highly unlike that these few individuals had the manpower to restore the Alliance. Any thoughts?

We get some details about the remaining Pilgrims in the novels and handbook. They haven't integrated at all, really--there are still surviving planets (and reservations) of Pilgrims... but they've essentially had the fight knocked out of them because of the war. (Think of Japan after World War II--with the added bit that their newfound pacificism is being upheld as both political and religious doctrine...).

 

[AD]

From Wilson's perspective, Earth will be destroyed regardless--Tolwyn is not in a position to return there in time. Remember you have the scene where the Concordia's computer reveals that the fleet will arrive two hours after the Kilrathi. Wilson's hope is that the Kilrathi will destroy Earth and then settle in for a mutually devastating fight with Tolwyn's fleet.

It's supposed to be the big heroic story that the Tiger's Claw can use the pulsar to arrive at Charybdis and delay the Kilrathi for two hours... but I don't know if the finished movie does a great job of expressing this, past Tolwyn's great scene introducing the problem ("a mere two hours could decide the outcome of this war").

I agree. I do feel like the extended film makes it feel alot more like by the time blair makes the jump it really is down to the wire. What is missing is that you never really get a sense of the Kilrathi threat and why they shouldn't make it to earth. YOu get a few early glimpses at the Kilrathi fleet at Pegasus but never more capships than we see throughout the film. The Dralthis should give us an idea of the size of the fleet, yet through the film the Tiger claw and crew take out a half dozen capships and we never really see the scale of the threat again. Plus removing a number of scenes on the kilrathi ships with the traitor means they took out a bunch of planned establishing shots of the Kilrathi fleet.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

The lack of establishing shots of the fleet is an excellent point--the movie really does suffer from it. I know the CGI ended up being much more time consuming and expensive than they had planned... but really all we have is a line about there being forty Kilrathi capital ships (which Peter Telep's novel oddly retcons as 'four Kilrathi capital ships').

 

[Maniac II]

There's an extended version of the film? How much does it fill in that the regular release misses? IIRC wasn't there a fair amount of story material that never even ended up shot (e.g. the knife fight)?

 

[AD]

There's an extended version of the film? How much does it fill in that the regular release misses? IIRC wasn't there a fair amount of story material that never even ended up shot (e.g. the knife fight)?

If you've read the novel then pretty much everything in the novel was shot. So all the traitor stuff, and the knife fight, etc. There's a rough workprint that... isn't exactly available. Someday I hope everyone gets to see it but you can get an idea of what's missing (along with screenshots) here: https://www.wcnews.com/articles/movie_cuts.shtml

 

[Bob McDob]

The Dralthis should give us an idea of the size of the fleet, yet through the film the Tiger claw and crew take out a half dozen capships and we never really see the scale of the threat again.

And about that many fighters in the first fight.

The novel gives Wilson's line to Sansky. His explanation baffled me for a long time - I didn't understand why he'd kill his own ship and crew and Earth for... not wanting to harm his friend?