Point taken. Actually went back and re-watched the movie. It wasn't as bad as I remember
- maybe because when it came out originally, I was in my early 20's, and nothing was cool enough. Either way, it did indeed add a level of understanding to the characters and the Kilrathi; although trying to make the game universe gel completely with the movie universe may be more of a stretch than I can make - maybe more yoga...
Don't worry about making it all fit, that's not the point. I used to think that papering over contradictions was important - that unless everything fits perfectly, or at least the differences can be explained away, there's a problem. But that's not it at all. I mean, in that literal sense, nothing fits. There were contradictions between WC1 and WC2. Heck, there were even contradictions in WC1, between the manual and the game. So, you can't make it all fit - but you can have fun with all the sources.
Let's take a relatively harmless example (...because the Pilgrims are just such a tired topic): the appearance of the Tiger's Claw. WC fans these days actually tend to shrug this off - hey, there are five or six different versions of the Tiger's Claw, who cares if it looks completely different in the movie? Well, actually, it did matter: the fact that there were five different contradictions earlier didn't make a sixth contradiction less problematic. Rather than causing the universe to explode, however, it serves to give us more freedom - and more detail. The original Tiger's Claw had a big open forward landing deck - then, SWC gave us a Tiger's Claw with side-hangars. The Academy cartoon invented a new version, but conveniently enough, combined the 'Claw's appearance from WC1 (except for the landing deck being covered over), with the side-hangar featured in SWC. Still, it's a big mess, right? Three major versions of the ship, each totally different, plus a couple of smaller revisions (WC1: the 'Claw is different in the manual, different in the game, and different in the cutcenes; a fourth revision is seen in the WC2 intro), and they don't agree about even something as basic as whether the ship has a huge open deck at the front or not.
...Then along comes the movie. Another new version of the Tiger's Claw - and controversial, because it's the ugliest ever (perhaps except for SWC, but it's a close call). But... it has a forward landing deck, just like WC1. And guess what - it also invents a completely new feature - a big, sliding wad of armor that closes over the deck during battle. This new feature, ironically, can be used to explain the difference in appearance between WC1 and Academy.
Now, someone could reasonably pretend that only the WC1 version is "right" (but which WC1 version...?). It wouldn't be unreasonable. Or someone could simply ignore the whole issue, and use whatever version he liked best - like we did in UE and Standoff. On the other hand, you can also use the different versions to enrich one another. For instance, in UE, we had the Dauntless fire off a broadside of torpedoes - that's straight from the movie. Someone else could conceivably make a new mod that revolves around a Bengal-class carrier, and actually make a ship that looks like the WC1 version, but with the sliding armour plates that can seal off the landing deck during battle. That would be pretty fun, innovative, interesting - great stuff.
...Except that sooner or later, someone would come along yelling that you can't do that, because the movie is not a part of the canon. So, don't try to fit everything together - but don't be that guy, either
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Since we wouldn't finish until at least 2050!
