Wing Commander Movie Night: Das Boot - Part One

The Wing Commander movie club gave our collective heart to a Starship Troopers! With all due deference to the one guy that was still mad that the movie didn't have the power suits from the novel, it's a heck of a movie! Now we're going to end the year by running silent and also deep with a movie you've absolutely heard of spoken in the same sentence as Wing Commander: Das Boot. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Das Boot is a 1981 film which follows the crew of a German U-boat fighting in the Atlantic in 1941. It is known for its realistic depiction of submarine life and for telling a story that isn't about heroes winning glory but ordinary men living through a terrible time. The film's success introduced director Wolfgang Petersen to the world; he would later go on to direct films like Outbreak and Air Force One.

Das Boot was one of Chris Roberts' key influences when making the 1999 Wing Commander movie. He routinely mentioned that Das Boot was a key inspiration during press for Wing Commander. Here's a selection of quotes:

"I wanted to have something that felt like Das Boot in space," says Roberts. "There were some scenes I wanted in the movie that were the equivalent of Das Boot's depth-charging scene. I was trying very much to make a classic World War II movie, but update it and set it in space, so things that you see will register with you on a subconscious level, but instead of destroyers at sea or a submarine stuck at the bottom of the ocean, it's all in space." - It's Wing Commander, Starlog #260 (March 1999)

“For me, it's sort of like a classic, nautical World War II movie, taking elements of Das Boot, or Tora! Tora! Tora! and sort of updating it and putting it in a science-fiction universe.” - 3 Questions With Chris Roberts, Cinescape Insider Vol. 4, No. 17 (15 March 1999) 



“‘Das Boot’ heavily influenced the film in terms of its look. Films like ‘Tora! Tora! Tora!’ [and] ‘Midway’ -- I tried to make my film in a sort of old-fashioned World War II sense.” - 'Wing Commander' Creator Takes the Director’s Chair, Salon (12 March 1999)



"The director likened the tone of the Wing Commander plot to Das Boot and other World War II movies." - Roberts Talks 'Wing Commander', Austin American Statesman (15 November 1998)

The connection wasn't lost on the actors, either. Here's Saffron Burrows (Angel):

"There is a whole World War II element to the movie which I really like," she continues. "It's a feeling of things being beaten up and lived in, and I love that. Wing Commander was inspired by Das Boot, and has that feeling - and in fact Jürgen Prochnow, the captain in Das Boot is in Wing Commander." - When Dreams Take Wing, Sci-Fi Teen #5 (March 1999)

And it sure wasn't lost on the professional reviewers, who noted it ad nauseam. Here's the late Roger Ebert making the comparison at the start of his Wing Commander review:

Jurgen Prochnow, who played the submarine captain in "Das Boot," is one of the stars of "Wing Commander," and no wonder: This is a sub movie exported to deep space, complete with the obligatory warning about the onboard oxygen running low. "Torpedoes incoming!" a watch officer shouts. "Brace yourself!" It's 500 years in the future. If the weapons developed by the race of evil Kilrathi only inspire you to "brace yourself," we might reasonably ask what the Kilrathi have been doing with their time.

What should we look for? As Chris Roberts mentioned above, the depth charge scene in Wing Commander was a specific inspiration.

But beyond that, you're going to see similarities everywhere down to the look of the sets…

… and the ship's captain! Chris Roberts would go so far as to cast Das Boot's star, Jürgen Prochnow, as the captain of the Tiger's Claw. Prochnow was already in the Wing Commander family; he had appeared in 1996's Privateer 2: The Darkening as mutant rights activist Xavier Shondi.

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

Notably, there have been several cuts of Das Boot over the years. These include the 1981 theatrical cut (149 minutes), the 1985 miniseries version (308 minutes) and a 1997 director's cut (209 minutes). We will be watching the 1997 cut which is the one Chris Roberts would've most readily had access to when making Wing Commander the next year. We are also splitting the movie into two nights because of its length. We will be watching roughly the first two hours this week and the rest of the film the following week.

Das Boot is currently available for rental or sale digitally at all storefronts. A copy is available as a free download from the Internet Archive. If you're interested in tracking down a physical copy, a BluRay version was released in 2012 and remains in print today. In Germany, there is a "Complete Edition" which includes every extant cut. 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!