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Wing Commander (franchise)

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File:Wingcommanderlogo.gif
Wing Commander I Title Screen

Wing Commander is a series of space combat simulation computer games from Origin Systems, Inc.. Created by Chris Roberts and first appearing in 1990, Wing Commander is most noted for its style of cinematic storytelling.

Set in the 27th century, the games tell the story of humanity's war against the Kilrathi, an alien species of large feline bipeds. Humanity is organized in the Terran Confederation and the player is part of the Confederation's space forces. Launching from carrier ships, the player fulfills various missions in starfighters. The games were all notable for their storytelling through extensive cutscenes. Starting with Wing Commander III, all story scenes used live action filming, starring some major Hollywood actors, including John Rhys-Davies, Mark Hamill, and Malcolm McDowell.

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Franchise

Games

Main article: Wing Commander game series

An upcoming game, Wing Commander Arena, is coming to Xbox Live for the Xbox 360 in June 2007.

Film

Main article: Wing Commander (movie)

Television series

Wing Commander Academy was a thirteen-episode animated series that originally aired on the USA Network between September 21 and December 21, 1996. The series is before and during the events of the first game and features many familiar ships and characters. The cast featured Mark Hamill, Tom Wilson, and Malcolm McDowell reprising their Wing Commander game roles.

Novels

Several novels based on the games have been released by Baen Books.

Freedom Flight

The novel describes the Firekka campaign of the Tiger's Claw, featuring also the defection of Lord Ralgha (known as Hobbes in Wing Commander II and III).

Freedom Flight was written by Mercedes Lackey and Ellen Guon.

Wing Commander: End Run

The novel tells the story of a daring Confederation plan to weaken the Kilrathi Imperial family by attacking the planet of Vukar Tag. A strike force led by the TCS Tarawa must head to the heart of the Kilrathi Empire to divert part of the Kilrathi fleet. Set after Special Operations II and before Wing Commander III.

End Run was written by Christopher Stasheff & William R. Forstchen.

Wing Commander: Fleet Action

The Kilrathi have been severely weakened by the most recent Confederation attacks and their new fleet of secretly built carriers will not be finished for another year. So they try to lure the Confederation into a trap and sue for a false peace.

However, some daring Confed personnel try to prove the existence of the secret Kilrathi fleet and in the end, the fate of humanity is decided in a gigantic battle for Earth. Set after End Run and before Wing Commander III.

Fleet Action was written by William R. Forstchen.

Heart of the Tiger

Novelization of Wing Commander III, written by Andrew Keith & William R. Forstchen. Though it ignores a number of the game's more trivial missions, it adds a great deal more personality to the crew of TCS Victory, and includes a scene that was cut from the actual game: an explanation from a traitor, explaining their otherwise-incomprehensible behavior (the game itself was criticized for excluding this vital scene, although the later 3DO and PlayStation versions of the game did include it along with other scenes that were originally shot yet not added in the PC version).

The Price of Freedom

Novelization of Wing Commander IV, written by Ben Ohlander and William R. Forstchen. It departs significantly from the plot of the video game: it trivializes several significant characters and plot developments, and totally rewrites game-established Border Worlds technology.

Action Stations

The novel tells the story of the beginnings of the war, twenty years before the first game.

An interesting detail about this story is that it is presented as a historical drama, from the point of view of an author writing about the beginning of the war many years after the fact.

Action Stations was written by William R. Forstchen.

False Colors

After the end of the Kilrathi war, powerful Kilrathi warlords are not satisfied with the peace and remain aggressive towards the Confederation and other organizations like the Landreich. Operatives of the Landreich try to salvage a Kilrathi supercarrier left over from the war to prevent a warlord from starting a second human-Kilrathi war. Set after Wing Commander III and before Wing Commander IV, False Colors was intended as the first part of a trilogy, but author Andrew Keith died before he could begin on the other books. False Colors was written by Andrew Keith & William R. Forstchen. (Keith's brother, William H. Keith, was incorrectly credited on the cover).

Wing Commander

Novelization of the original movie script, including a traitor subplot filmed but cut from the final release. Wing Commander was written by Peter Telep.

Pilgrim Stars

The second part of the movie novelization trilogy, Pilgrim Stars deals with a Pilgrim rebellion against the ruling Confederation. Pilgrim Stars was written by Peter Telep.

Pilgrim Truth

The conclusion to the movie novel trilogy, Pilgrim Truth was never released. Pilgrim Truth was written by Peter Telep.

Universe

See also: All about the Wing Commander universe

While a reasonably complete future-history 'universe' in its own right, 'Wing Commander' is clearly inspired at least indirectly by Larry Niven's 'Ringworld' novels and the 'Known Space' universe in which they take place. The most obvious allusion to Niven's 'Known Space' universe is the alien race that inspired the Kilrathi, the Kzinti. The Kzinti are a tiger-like, samauri-flavored warrior race at odds with Humanity through four major interstellar wars in the world of 'Known Space'. Larry Niven himself transported the Kzinti into Star Trek lore when he adapted one of his earliest 'Known Space' short stories to the original Star Trek animated series in 1973 (episode 'The Slaver Weapon'). In a foreward to a 'Man-Kzin Wars' collection, Niven stated that he regretted this 'loan' to the Trek universe when it later saw rather liberal use in fanfiction, novelizations and games. He forbade their use by Interplay productions in their 'Starfleet Academy' PC games series, which was based on one such game, Star Fleet Battles.

WC Universe Timeline

  • -2654 (Pre-WC1)
  • 2654–2667 (WC1-2)
  • 2667–2670 (WC3)
  • 2671–2675 (WC4)
  • 2675–2681 (WCP)
  • 2701 (Arena)

States

Races

Major Battles, Campaigns and Operations

Characters

Main article: List of Wing Commander characters

Games

Books

Technology and vehicles

Main article: Technology and Vehicles (Wing Commander)

Wing Commander is a franchise based on fighter combat and dog fighting, with the understandable result that the games' fighters receive the most attention. Every Wing Commander installment has featured at least four flyable ships, each with its own unique purpose, armament and combat behavior, and five types of enemy fighters. Enemy and allied capital ships make a close second, with at least four each on either side of the war. Wing Commander spacecraft maneuver similar to airplanes, as opposed to more realistic physics-based forms of space travel. Minor concessions to real physics include that fighters can make "flat" turns (without banking), there is no real "up" or "down" without reference to some larger object (such as a carrier), and craft can turn more quickly than their engine thrust can re-orient them onto a new heading, producing tactics like the "afterburner slide" (later "Shelton slide").

Most fighters are armed with both projectile weapons and missiles, each with their own characteristics. Instead of an overall pool of rounds, fighters are limited by a capacitor in the amount of gunfire they can produce at one time; this capacitor feeds power to the ship's guns, but only recharges at a set rate. This forces players to apply gunfire carefully and discourages the so-called "spray and pray" approach. Fighters are protected with defensive energy shielding, which also regenerates at a set rate, and solid-state durasteel armor, which does not. Fighters are also equipped with afterburners. Finally, internal systems (gun capacitors, shield generators, ejection seat, radar, etc) can also take damage if struck by gunfire; these are repaired automatically at a set rate, unless they have been utterly destroyed.

The player is frequently based on a carrier, which serves as a mobile home base that sometimes must be defended from enemy incursions. Carriers and other capital ships (and some larger fighters) cross intergalactic distances using "jump drives", which utilize pre-existing interstellar phenomena, "jump points," to move from one point to another. Both the Kilrathi and Terrans use jump engines, making the capture and control of jump points an important part of any campaign.

Quotations

  • "Damn this war." — Capt. Jason Bondarevsky, End Run.
  • "Tengoku de omachi shite imasu!" (I am waiting for you in Heaven) — Mariko "Spirit" Tanaka, Vengeance of the Kilrathi.
  • "Justice is decided in the courts, not with particle cannons." - Jeannette "Angel" Devereaux, Vengeance of the Kilrathi
  • "This court cannot condemn me! Only history will decide if I'm a villain or a hero. And our history will be written by the Kilrathi!" — Major Zack "Jazz" Colson, Wing Commander II: Special Operations 2.
  • "This time it shall be different" — Kilrathi fighter captain.
  • "Kilrathi do not surrender. Nor do we betray. And yet, in being true to my kind, I have betrayed you."- Ralgha "Hobbes" nar Hhallas, unused scene in Heart of the Tiger video game
  • "By God Baron, tell Thrakkath that if he does there'll be a day when we come back. If it takes a hundred years we'll come back and we'll watch Kilrah as it burns to ashes". — Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn, Fleet Action.
  • "Carriers don't fly themselves, Admiral".

"Right. Quite right. It is the men, isn't it?" — Blair and Tolwyn, The Price of Freedom.

  • "The Price of Freedom... is eternal vigilance." — Admiral Tolwyn, Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom.
  • "'Space Marshal' Tolwyn believes that our victory over the Kilrathi was a fluke. That we as a race need tinkering with, engineering. If a few billion people die along the way well, they weren't worthy anyway. Why can't we be more like the Kilrathi, addicted to conflict, the only meaning in life being found in death? Tell us all, Admiral! Is that the price of freedom?" — Col. Christopher Blair, Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom.
  • "So here you are... an instructor. Not a general or a senator. And you could have had everything."

"Everything means I get to keep flying, so if you ask me, well, I've got everything."

-Blair and Paladin, Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom
  • "I still love Wing Commander. Given the right opportunity, I would definitely revisit it". — Chris Roberts.

See also

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