Wing Commander Movie Night: Top Gun

I'm happy to report that our second Wing Commander movie night was a success! We had a great group of fans who enjoyed seeing–and lightly roasting–The Dam Busters together this past Friday night. You can find the complete after action report later this week. So next we're going to be watching a movie that's a little more modern… with some more obvious connections to both the original Wing Commander game and the 1999 film. That's right, on Friday you are welcome to join us for a group watch of Top Gun (1986).

Top Gun is a 1986 action film based on the United States Navy's elite program that teaches top fighter pilots skills that they in turn pass on to their compatriots. It helped usher in lead Tom Cruise's ongoing superstardom and is one of the prototypes of the modern blockbuster. My generation loved it for mixing pulse-pounding air combat with engaging characters we couldn't help but root for… but does it hold up compared to the mega-films of today?

… and more importantly, how does it connect to Wing Commander? Let me count the ways! For the 1999 film, Top Gun naturally influenced the shape of the dogfights. Visual effects supervisor Chris Brown talked about it in an April 1999 Cinefex interview (full article):

The bold, hand-held look of the live-action was carried through to the digital space exteriors. "Top Gun had some terrific aerial dynamics, which served as inspiration," said Brown. "We decided to let the smaller ships blow right into camera while adding camera shake, as if a shockwave of air has buffeted the camera operator. Of course, there's no air in space; but the visceral nature of this approach served the story best. Adding heat-ripple when a ship's engine passed close by was another thing we lifted from that film."

FOX's home video marketing department also made heavy use of Wing Commander's similarity to Top Gun. Advertisements at both the distributor and the consumer levels promised that the film was “‘Starship Troopers’ Meets ‘Top Gun’ in this no-holds-barred battle on the far reaches of space.” Hey, at least it's better than all hell breaking loose at the edge of the universe!

Of course, Top Gun and Wing Commander go much further back. Val Kilmer's Iceman is, of course, the inspiration for the taciturn Michael "Iceman" Casey introduced in the original game. And Chris Roberts himself took his callsign, Maverick, from the movie… and it eventually became the canonical callsign for Blair (used most frequently on Wing Commander Academy, avoided altogether in the film! An early Point of Origin even bragged about the December 1991 issue of Omni calling Wing Commander II "Top Gun 2001". Now there's an idea for a movie!

There was even a business partnership at one point! In 1996, Origin signed on to help promote Thrustmaster's line of high quality flight sticks and other equipment, going so far as to include advertisements in copies of Privateer 2. And then Thrustmaster, for their part, added one of Privateer 2's Heretic fighters to the box of their best selling Top Gun-branded 'stick!

The general idea for Wing Commander Academy, with pilots attending a special flight school that offers additional command instruction for the most promising fighter pilots, comes straight from Top Gun.

Finally, Top Gun is the rare film that we can authorotatively say is still watched in the Wing Commander universe! Peter Telep's Wing Commander novelizations include an exchange between Blair and Angel about his callsign in which he reveals that he has, indeed, seen Top Gun.

"Comm established," she replied, flashing him a thumbs-up on the left VDU. "Lieutenant, your call sign is Maverick? Where'd you get that? From some old movie?"

"Actually, ma'am, it's been a standing joke for a while now. Back at the academy, I had a rep for being a by-the-book flyer. So, of course, they called me Maverick. And yeah, I did see that old movie. They flew those big, heavy atmospheric fighters. Must've been fun back then."

"We'll never know," she said curtly. "All moorings are clear. External power disengaged. Internal systems nominal, roger."

All of which is to say we're going to have a LOT to talk about this time around!

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

Top Gun is currently streaming on Paramount+ in the United States and is available for rental or sale digitally at all storefronts. If you're interested in tracking down a physical copy, a UHD version was released in 2020 which remains in print. If you are unable to track down a copy please ping a member of the WCCIC staff on the Discord in advance of the watch.

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!