Goodbye, John Spencer

Actor John Spencer, best known for his starring role on The West Wing, passed away on Friday. He was 58 years old. Wing Commander fans knew him best for his role in Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom. Spencer played Captain Hugh Paulson, the Third Fleet bureaucrat/tool of the conspiracy who relieves Captain Eisen as commander of the TCS Lexington. Paulson gives Colonel Blair orders for several missions before meeting an unfortunate fate at the end of Seether's laser knife. Spencer played the unlikable character perfectly - fans to this day continue to despise the slimy, sycophantic Paulson.

Rest in peace, Mr. Spencer. Our sympathies go out to his fans, family and friends. He will be well remembered as one of cinematic Wing Commander's brightest stars, if not one of its favorite characters. Yahoo has published an obituary, available here.

Spencer is the second Wing Commander actor to pass away this year - Privateer 2's John Vernon died in February. He is also the second Wing Commander Captain to die: the TCS Lexington's previous commander, actor Jason Bernard (Captain William Eisen), died tragically in 1996.

The Way Life Should Have Been

There's an exciting new addition to the CIC's Document Archive: the Privateer 3: Retribution script. The script was donated by former Origin employee Mark Vittek, who was heavily involved in the project. The script follows yet another main character as the Privateer but also features a lot of Wing Commander continuity -- Black Lances, Doctor Severin, Nephilim Stingrays and the like. It was written in late 1997 for a post-Prophecy project that was developed and then cancelled in 1998. Interestingly, the script includes a full budget for a film shoot and 3D renderings of various 'base' locations which would appear in the game. You can download the script here (26 megs, PDF). Below are some examples of the set design images contained in the script's third part.