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Here's a pretty insignificant but also interesting little behind-the-screens detail I only just noticed: the 1993 Origin catalog lists the yet-to-be-released second Wing Commander novel as "Intruder/End Run". It looks like the Christopher Stasheff novella that kicks off the book was at one point named Intruder instead of Milk Run! The name certainly fits the story just as well. The idea behind End Run was that Stasheff's story would set up the scenario and Dr. Forstchen's novel would bring in Bear and company to explore that setup. We're betting that the title was changed late in the process to better connect the two stories which do seem to end up further apart than the original idea just on account of their very different writing styles.

Wing Commander: Intruder/End Run (April) $4.99
by Christopher Stasheff and Bill Forstchen
What are the Kilrathi protecting on the remote world of Vukar Tag? Mission

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Distant Worlds working group has issued a call for mined and manufactured materials to support the construction of a new deep-space facility, intended to aid future exploration of remote galactic regions far beyond established survey routes.
Hermine Delarue, Executive Operative for Deep Space Surveys, stated:
"DSS has longstanding experience in supporting large-scale exploration efforts, most notably the construction of Explorers' Anchorage during the Distant Worlds II initiative in 3305."
"This new project focuses on preparing a remote site for long-range scientific operations. We aim to establish essential infrastructure for survey crews venturing into seldom-charted regions. Independent pilots are invited to help lay the foundations for the next era of deep-space discovery."
Timotheus Haddard, quartermaster for an affiliated Distant Worlds support carrier, added:
"Initial requirements

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

It's time to mark your calendars! The fact that it's now 2026 means that we will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of quite a few Wing Commander releases. 1996 saw the initial release of three major projects, Wing Commander IV, Kilrathi Saga and Privateer 2... along with lots of related media! It was also the year that gifted us all thirteen episodes of Wing Commander Academy. Who wants to watch them in real time starting in September?!

February 12, 1996- Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (MS-DOS) Wing Commander CTCG Promo #2: Admiral Tolwyn Origin's Official Guide to Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom

March 27, 1996- Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (PlayStation)

May 30, 1996- Wing Commander IV Demo (Macintosh) - download it here

June 4, 1996- Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (MS-DOS DVD)

June 8, 1996- Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (Macintosh)

Septeber 21, 1996- Wing

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Space Cadet Rewind, the able YouTuber that has done in-depth reviews of several Wing Commander games, is back with a video covering Wing Commander's lesser known cousin: StarLancer! And unlike the Digital Antiquarian, they actually did proper research into Digital Anvil and the making of the game. It's well worth a watch.

And if this inflicts you with a dreaded case of StarLancer fever, be sure to check out our article about how the game reuses assets from the Wing Commander movie in a surprising number of places!

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The Wing Commander movie club had a pretty good time with the Beverly Hills 90210 pilot; it wasn't high art but it was a lot of fun... and gave us a good picture of the pop culture world Wing Commander was born into. This week, we're finishing our TV miniseries by looking at a second pilot that's a little more relevant to Wing Commander's world: The Gathering (1993). It's the telemovie that kicked off the Babylon 5 franchise! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Babylon 5 was midway through its first season when Wing Commander III's development was in high gear and we're confident the team included some fans. In fact, the Blackmane base model was a nod to Babylon 5's titular station. It's even stored as "BABYLON6" in the game's files!

The 3DO version even references this in the game: the name "STATION 6" is clearly visible on one of its textures!

And here's Art director Chris Douglas

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There's some pretty exciting news from Remi Leonard's libRealSpace project, an attempt to recreate the RealSpace engine originally built for Strike Commander as an open source platform. They've released a new build of Strike Commander with VR support just in time for 2026! Check out the video below which seems just about perfect.

RealSpace was created for Strike Commander and the game's "virtual cockpit" mode actually lends itself to VR very easily. Pacific Strike and Wings of Glory also had this feature and WoG actually supported 1996-vintage headsets like the VFX-1! But even more exciting, RealSpace was the engine for Wing Commander Armada, III and IV so we can dream about this somehow being adapted to our favorite series. You can download the build here.