Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

It's a Wonderful Life remains a classic, though I'm not sure many members of the Wing Commander movie club are feeling all too festive this year. So, ultimately a good reminder that better days are ahead. Now we've decided to end the year with an animated film that a lot of our audience has never seen: Arcadia of My Youth, the 1982 origin story of the fearsome space pirate Captain Harlock. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Wing Commander Academy character-and-storyboard artist Tim Eldred was (and remains!) an enormous anime fan and his work on the show was greatly influenced by classic shows like Captain Harlock. Mr. Eldred even slipped a Harlock skull tattoo onto one of the background techs he concepted for the Tiger's Claw… and if you look carefully you can actually see it appear in the final show! This capture is from The Most Delicate Instrument, which makes heavy use of the '

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's a fascinating preservation project: MemCards.art aims to archive all of the tiny game-specific icons that would be saved on original PlayStation memory cards. Every original PlayStation game had a 16x16 pixel icon to represent what game a particular save came from… and of course that included Wing Commander III and Wing Commander IV on the platform. And their icons were animated! MemCards has preserved each in both the original format and as an enlarged version that's easier to study. What a cool amount of work for such a small piece of gaming logistics! If you're interested in learning more about the history and function of these icons, they have an excellent introduction.

Original Size

Enlarged

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut event happening on Discord this morning! Join us at noon EST/9 AM PST for a fun filled morning of television... that all connect to Wing Commander somehow! This time around we've got two not-so-classic Disney live action films from the mid 1990s… that both feature Wing Commander appearances! You can find details on the shows included as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. Be sure to download the episodes so they're ready to play with the group!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Everyone loves Back to the Future! And the Wing Commander movie club is largely a subset of everyone. I was personally not sure how I would feel after it was so over-exposed in mid-2010s geek culture... but you can't help but smile when you're actually watching it. It's so beautifully structured and ceaselessly entertaining, the run time feels like nothing at all. I'd go so far as to say it's a better movie on its own than with the rest of the trilogy that was added later.

Now let's talk Wing Commander! Here's the very last shot of the movie where the Delorean switches to flight mode and shoots off into the future... and the Privateer animation that it inspired. Note that this was originally not a come on for Back to the Future but a final joke to end the movie. Crazy what it has since become!

We also have a full resolution clip available here for future car wheel historians.

And here's the great Biff

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here. The movie will start at 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

And don't forget our fifth Wing Commander Cartoon party is early tomorrow!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

This week's analysis of the influence held by key figures in the enclave has arrived, courtesy of Conrad Sterling of Vox Galactica.
His latest survey of system populations suggests the following five powers enjoy the largest sphere of influence:
Rank 1: A. Lavigny-Duval - 7 Systems
Rank 2: Aisling Duval - 6 Systems
Rank 3: Pranav Antal - 5 Systems
Rank 4: Nakato Kaine - 4 Systems
Rank 5: Yuri Grom - 3 Systems
Zemina Torval has lost her foothold in the enclave and is now eliminated from contention for control of the region. The remaining powers fight to cling on to their current systems as the battle continues.

Display More