It’s a niche genre today, but in the 90s, space combat games were hot thanks to the blockbuster success of the 1990’s Wing Commander. Combining rock-solid gameplay with a branching narrative involving the Terran Confederation in open war against the cat-like Kilrathi, the computer game changed the industry forever.
On March 12, 1999, Wing Commander, the movie, hit theaters, and by March 19, it was forgotten forever.
Ironically, the video game’s success and the movie’s failure are mirror opposites. The game, developed by Origin Systems under the guidance of Chris Roberts, was one of the most expensive games ever made, and it looked it. Wing Commander the movie was made for $25 million, the same budget that its contemporary, Muppets in Space had. The movie with felt Muppets that looks better than the sci-fi space opera starring the hottest teen star of the 90s.
Freddie Prinze Jr. Gives Wing Commander His All
Wing Commander stars Freddie Prinze Jr. as Chris “Maverick” Blair. His frequent co-star, Matthew Lillard stars as Todd “Maniac” Marshall. Both are new pilots thrust into the forefront of the intergalactic conflict, along with Saffron Burrows as Jeannette “Angel” Deveraux, their new Wing Commander.
Turns out, Maverick is a Pilgrim, an evolved human with a flawless sense of direction and the ability to calculate billions of computations in a second, a trait he uses to perform miraculous feats with his fighter. As usual, Freddie Prinze Jr., a huge nerd, gives even the cringiest sci-fi dialogue his all. He bears no responsibility for a movie about space combat that keeps the action within cramped, sterile spaceship corridors instead of giving fans the awe-inspiring dogfights they came for.
The Game’s Creator Directed The Movie
Chris Roberts, creator of the video game series, bought the live-action movie rights from EA and decided to direct the film himself. Roberts directed the live-action scenes in Wing Commander 3 and 4, which included Mark Hamill as Maverick, and other stars, including Malcolm McDowell and John Rhys-Davies.
Putting together a massive Hollywood production turned out to be a much more difficult process, with small issues adding up to hobble the film, from incomplete sets to fur-less Kilrathi and worst of all for a sci-fi epic, a short time frame that gave them only six months to add special effects.
No Space Combat In A Movie Based On Space Combat?
The end result is battle scenes that include lots of face shots of the pilots. Imagine Avengers: Endgame if all we saw was the view inside Tony Stark’s helmet.
There are a few flashes of what could have been during the flying sequences, but those are too few and far between to make up for the tonal whiplash of the story that goes from pranks to tearfully asking to die after seeing a squadmate crash.
How Star Wars Kneecapped Wing Commander
Wing Commander’s time crunch impacted all aspects of the film, thanks to the impending revival of a little indie sci-fi franchise called Star Wars.
Wing Commander had to be in theaters before May 16, the premiere date for Star Wars Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace. Roberts knew that the return of Star Wars after 16 years away would overshadow every other movie, especially a sci-fi story about a young pilot with mysterious powers that have him more attuned to the world around him. The move didn’t matter, thanks to poor special effects and a nonsensical script that left viewers bored and confused, the video game adaptation earned only $11 million during its run, failing to recoup even the modest budget of $25 million.
Wing Commander Now
Wing Commander has been on ice since 2007’s Wing Commander: Arena, but Chris Roberts moved on to develop Star Citizen, an ambitious space opera game that has raised over $800 million in funding since it broke Kickstarter records over a decade ago.
The film, despite Freddie Prinze Jr.’s rising nerd cred as a voice actor for Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Star Wars: Rebels, is largely forgotten today except for whenever someone is writing a “Worst of the 90s” list. There, finally, Wing Commander the movie gets to be number one.
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