Ya, I see the bible as something as less than 'true canon', since its technically 'unpublished' (other than if you count GOG) and is filled with outdated information.
I’d agree. A series bible isn’t usually canon, as contradictory as that seems… because they include all sorts of early ideas that weren’t ever followed on (take a look at any of the Star Trek series bibles.) You run into the same problem with the Wing Commander Academy bible… LOTS of fascinating information, but it also doesn’t quite match how the show actually played out. If there were a rule, I’d say it’d be that the information is valid unless contradicted (so a degree above speculation, but below canon.)
Although the LaFong timeline portion is definitely interesting, since its written from the conceit of being an 'in-universe document from LaFong' himself, and seems as if it might have been left overs from the WC1&2 guide that somehow didn't make it to publication, although even that guide's own 'references' to time seem to differ from it, I.E. possibly setting WC1's Enyo Campaign starting as late as Auguest/September (over .200-.243 or so). Actually if WC1 was moved to that point there really wouldn't be any overlap issues with Pilgrim Truth really (or that period of time where in Pilgrim Stars where Taggart first leaves (.088), taking Maniac and Blair with him to the Olympus, and all three are off the Claw, for most of the book, and its 'cliffhanger’).
You are hinting at something about the bible worth pointing out: there’s two versions and one is much more interesting as a living document than the other. The huge bind refuel of data provided with the GOG release (and available here on WCNews) is the final form of a living document quasi-maintained by the Maverick team… but it also wasn’t ever really used for anything. It was more a case of the Wing Commander geeks on the team continuing to drop material (more ship specs, product info, etc.) into a big document. But they didn’t send that out to licensors or anything like that… it just existed, and never went to the guys writing the novels, TV show, Privateer spinoffs, etc.
But the HEART of that document was ~20-30 pages of material that WAS written for external publication, including the timeline you’re referencing. That was all originally put together by David Ladyman as they were pitching Wing Commander to comic studios, book publishers, TV producers, etc. Which is why (as you noticed) it’s a little bit more clever than just chunks of later books and manuals dropped in… you get the extra conceit that it’s in-universe (mostly as a way of crediting the WC1/2 Guide for much of the material.)
So, it came later than the WC1/2 Guide… but also isn’t especially internally consistent with WC1 (which has two set dates for missions established at the time of publication, .110 and .140) or the book (which has no dates, but has prose mentions of the passage of time (i.e., this mission was a week after this one.) A few of the later products DO draw directly from it (WC3 and KS manuals, the calendar) for dates for important missions, though… (K’Tithrak Mang, Venice 4, and so on.)
On a side note, is there any translations of the material specifically included for the Japanese release of the Academy animated series? I've read there was at least some timeline that came along with it?
This is the Japanese DVD of the WC movie… it included a ‘quickie’ timeline that had been translated from one we did here on WCNews years ago:
https://www.wcnews.com/enc/apl1.shtml
Also what does the back of the box for the American release of the DVD set say (I've heard it makes reference to the series taking place in 2655 (as the series was set according to the Press Kit?), and does it also include any extras?
Yes, it starts “in the year 2655.”
The reason for that (and the references in the press kit/bible) is because the series was originally planned to culminate with a retelling of Secret Missions 2 — the Tiger’s Claw disrupting the Sivar ceremony on Firekka. They decided to drop the Firekkans (… and make them Dolosians) and set the story in 2654 instead a bit into production, but marketing never really got the message
(The movie also had a press release with a typo at one point, propagating its time as ’2564’ with inverted numerals for a while. It’s purely a typo, it’s right on-screen and everywhere else… but I remember having to social engineer Digital Anvil’s webmaster to trick him into fixing it on the WCMovie website (I had to call them and pretend I worked for FOX
)