Visual Guide: The Small Arms of Wing Commander Academy

You all can identify any fighter in space at this point… but what about the small arms? Today we've put together a guide to the smaller weapons of Wing Commander Academy: handguns, rifles, grenades and more! Animated shows like Academy create a sort of visual bible of model sheets of "props" that can be reused from episode to episode… resulting in a consistency where the same weapon can appear each time that type is needed. It's interesting to see where Academy does this and where it creates new weapons for particular stories! We've divided everything by faction: Space Force, Marines, Kilrathi, Dioscuri and then unique weapons that appear only once associated with a particular character. Enjoy!

Terran Confederation Space Force

The Space Force pistol is the most common weapon to appear on Wing Commander Academy, used by six different episodes. Like the similarly prolific Kilrathi Pistol, it has more design work than the average prop and seems to be intentionally toyetic. It is carried by shipboard security and seems to be part of the survival kit carried by the Scimitars. Implied to be non-lethal, though this is not explicit. In Red and Blue, Burroughs uses one to dispatch a guard during his escape. In The Most Delicate Instrument it is carried by security aboard the Tiger's Claw and onoe is used by Blizzard to break into Archer's quarters. Maverick (and later Grunt) carry one stored aboard Blair's Scimitar in Word of Honor and Maniac has one aboard his fighter that he uses to dispatch at least one Dioscurian in Lords of the Sky. Archer uses hers to destroy a robot in On Both Your Houses and finally Maverick carries one in Price of Victory after he is shot down. In Red and Blue, when used at close range, it causes a blue electrical discharge. In The Most Delicate Instrument and Word of Honor it fires thin blue bolts, in On Both Your Houses it fires wide blue bolts and in Lords of the Sky it fires wide yellow bolts.

The second type of Space Force pistol appears twice. Maya reveals in Recreation that she never goes anywhere without one. All three cadets carry them in holsters during the mission to Greenhouse in On Both Your Houses. Fires a long blue bolt. Seems to be lethal (it explodes a Greenhouse robot).

The Space Force Submachine Gun appears in only one shot, carried by the helmeted guard assigned to protect the flight line on Sirius in Red and Blue. Not fired.

The Space Force blaster appears twice, carried by security personnel in The Most Delicate Instrument and pilots assigned to guard duty in Recreation. It fires non lethal blasts in both situations. Referred to as a "blaster" in the The Most Delicate Instrument script and a "laser rifle" in the Recreation outline. It fires both long yellow bolts (when used by the cadets) and long blue bolts (when fired by security) in The Most Delicate Instrument and an unspecified blue discharge in Recreation.

The imposing rifle appears in two episodes: Grunt carries it in his Scimitar and uses it to fight the Dioscurians when he lands in Lords of the Sky. Blair and Grunt both carry them when they land on Dolos in Glory of Sivar. It fires long yellow bursts in the first appearance and long blue ones in the second. Note that it is NOT the custom marine rifle Grunt had in Word of Honor; it may be the equivalent of a rifle carried for hunting during a survival situation.

Terran Confederation Marine Corps

Word of Honor begins with a flashback to trench warfare on Repleetah and in the process shows us several weapons that are specific to the marines. The most significant of these is the laser rifle, which Grunt refers to by name later in the episode. It appears later in the story (Grunt having saved his from his marine service) and then shows up in two other places. In Recreation, it is carried by the guard protecting the Warrior King in the Tiger's Claw's brig. And then in Glory of Sivar it is, strangely, used throughout the episode by Kilrathi soldiers. It is used by different Kilrathi throughout the episode: the party that searches the crashed Sartha, the guards at the labor camp, the soldiers that capture Maverick and Grunt, the guards on the flagship and the soldier that the cadets encounter while trying to escape. It fires long blue bolts in its first two appearances and long red bolts when used by the Kilrathi.

Most of the marines also carry a distinct type of pistol in holsters on their chests or hips. We do not ever see the pistol unholstered but the visible portion does not seem to match the unique pistol Grunt carries in the third act of Word of Honor or either of the types used by the Space Force.

One marine fires a bazooka which destroys a Kilrathi tank. It fires a large, circular blue energy bolt.

Another marine has a pair of grenades attached to his uniform. We do not see them used.

Grunt picks up a timed explosive charge carried via shoulder strap to destroy a Kilrathi tank. It seems to be a nod to the tricorder from the original Star Trek television series. It generates a large yellow explosion which causes the tank to combust.

Empire of Kilrah

Like the Space Force, the Kilrathi have a distinct pistol and rifle which appear consistently across the run of the show; they also seem to be toyetic, designed to look less like 20th century guns and more something that a toy company could release in a roleplaying line. The Kilrathi pistol first shows up in The Last One Left, brandished by Gharal to capture Blair (it seems to be holstered on his back). It returns in Word of Honor carried by Kurlan when he escapes from his downed Dralthi. In Price of Victory, Blair acquires a Kilrathi pistol from a survival kit; the enemy pilots trying to prevent his escape also have them. The pistol fires red bolts.

The standard Kilrathi rifle features a distinct double barrel. Gharal's troops carry these rifles in The Last One Left while the Kilrathi soldiers on Dioscuri use them throughout the episode in Lords of the Sky. In Price of Victory they are carried by the Kilrathi party searching for Maverick. The rifles fire yellow bolts in Lords of the Sky and red bolts in Price of Victory.

The Kilrathi soldiers that board the Pleiku in Walking Wounded carry another unique type of rifle which has a fixed bayonet. We do not see these fired but they double as a cutting torch at one point during the boarding.

Dioscuri

The inhabitants of Dioscuri-2 use a variety of types of Stone Age weaponry, both in combat and for ceremonial purposes, as part of their role in Word of Honor. These props appear in four different scenes and each time they are unique! The party which captures Maniac carried long spears tipped with stones that had been carved into pincers. One Dioscrian throws a bolas, a trio of weighted balls connected by a cord, to capture Maniac.

The party which attacks Grunt is armed primarily with hand axes. Most are smooth but at least one seems to have markings. One of these Dioscurians is carrying a wooden club.

The chieftain that speaks to Maverick and Maniac carries a ceremonial staff topped with a skull and a beard of feathers that match the ones he wears. His escorts carry torches.

Finally, when it comes time to sacrifice the cadets, the chieftain brandishes a two-handed halberd which has distinct markings carved in its blade.

Unique

Grunt has an unusual pistol in the third act of Word of Honor. It's not either of the Space Force sidearms and it doesn't seem to match the marine pistols seen in the episode's flashback. It's not really clear at all where he gets it, but it appears extensively and clearly has a model sheet it's working from.

Zurakh, the Strakha pilot, flashes a blade when insulted by his commander. We get a closeup look at the middle of the weapon but never really see the whole thing.

And last but not least, we can't forget the Warrior King's staff from Recreation! It fires bolts of green energy that surround their target in tendrils of similarly colored light. As used it is non-lethal but he implies it can kill Maverick. He actually leaves the staff on the carrier after he's captured so it's not clear what its current disposition is!

We hope this guide has been useful. It's really interesting seeing how a model sheet can be used across a whole show to build continuity… and what happens when that doesn't happen correctly! Did you catch any small arms we missed? Let us know in the comments and we'll update the guide.

EGM Previews WC3 3DO

Thirty years ago this month, Electronic Gaming Monthly pulished this short but interesting preview of the upcoming Wing Commander III 3DO. Wing Commander III 3DO had a playable build ready fairly early in development... but a lot of aspects changed before release, including a complete redo of the video player. If you look closely at the gameplay screenshots in this preview you will notice they're a lot darker and some aspects of the interface are closer to the original PC release. And check out that destroyed labeled Exeter, another indication of how WC3 3DO retains some Super Wing Commander DNA!

Last Chance: GOG Summer Sale

Wing Commander Movie Night: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Buffy the Vampire Slayer didn't quite live up to the highs of the franchise that followed but it was an interesting little movie… just one that fell short of the premise or its colorful cinematography. This week, we're returning to space with one more movie in 'part one' of our series: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Our connection to the making of Wing Commander once again comes from the March 1992 art list composed for Wing Commander Privateer which notes the following for the external design of Perry Naval Base: "Perry Naval Base: Perry looks very similar to the orbiting base in Star Trek." This would be the massive orbital starbase facility first created for Star Trek III and then reused extensively in later features and serieses. Perry Naval Base is one of the signature designs in the game, making a significant appearance on the box cover. It plays a major role in Privateer and the same type of base (later established to be Halsey-class) made a surprise return in Wing Commander Arena. This is actually the second Wing Commander starbase to be inspired by Star Trek; the massive star bases in Wing Commander II were inspired by Franz Joseph's Star Fleet Headquarters (which never appeared on screen).

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

Star Trek III is available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. It is currently streaming via subscription on Paramount+. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on UHD in 2022 and remains in print around the world. If you are not able to locate a copy please stop by the Discord and ping a CIC staff member before Friday's showing.

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!

Reference: Sprite Sheet Collection

Like most people, I constantly find myself needing to refer to the ship sprites from the original Wing Commander games. Four (or five, depending on how you count Super Wing Commander) different Wing Commander games used an engine called 3Space which stored ships not as 3D objects but as collections of sprites that were resized and rotated to simulate 3D. This allowed the earliest games to have ships that appeared to have textures or details beyond what was possible on home computers when they were released.

Over the years, we've collected plenty of orthographics and sprite sheets to show off this material extracted from the games... but it just occured to me: why not just upload all the source images in galleries? So that's what we've done! All 3,362 in game sprites are now accessible via the WCPedia links below! Whether you're studying up on Kilrathi insignia or just need a side view of a Gratha for a project they're all here.

• Wing Commander (22 ships, 794 sprites)
• Wing Commander II (29 ships, 1013 sprites)
• Wing Commander Academy (2 ships, 74 sprites)
• Wing Commander Privateer (19 ships, 703 sprites)
• Super Wing Commander (21 ships, 778 sprites)

Computer Studio Visits Origin Systems

Here's a little gem from the Internet Archive: scans of a Polish gaming magazine called Computer Studio. This is an April 1993 article covering the current state of Origin Systems. It's largely focused on Richard Garriott's Ultima group but there's an interesting section about Privateer as well. It's cool to have a snapshot of the game from a very different perspective! A translation of the Privateer section is included below.

Another pair of important figures at Origin are Joel Manners and Scott Russo. The former previously collaborated with Roberts during the creation of "Wing Commander" and now he has decided to use the knowledge he acquired to benefit a proven idea. Together with Scott Russo he is currently working on a spinoff game game titled "Privateer". Many aspects of it will come straight from "Wing Commander" but the action of "Privateer" goes further than in Roberts' program: it is not limited to just taking part in combat patrols in space.

The player takes on the role of a spaceship pilot and will have complete freedom of action and travel in any diretion. Initially, "Privateer" was defined as a cross between "Wing Commander" and "Elite". The fabulous (even by today's standards) graphics complete the picture of a dream game. Unfortunately, this miracle will be available only to those who have computers with 386DX processors or higher, SVGA and sound cards. Maybe there will be versions "Privateer" for new computers like the Atari Falcon or the Amiga 1200, but these are early ideas.

Reminder: #Wingnut Movie Night Tonight!

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

After Action Report: Blade Runner

Greetings WingNuts,

The Wing Commander movie club has explored Los Angeles of the… recent past… and if there was ever any doubt, we all love Blade Runner. It's an incredible movie whose aesthetic grabs you from the first frame and carries you through even the film's weaker moments (which include the meat of the climactic third act fight and in the theatrical version we watched the well-intentioned-but-poorly-done narration.

The big story when it comes to Wing Commander is Blade Runner's connection to Privateer's New Detroit environment. We thought it would be fun to walk you through exactly how we go from one of Syd Mead's stunning concept paintings to the finished animation in Privateer.

And here's how that concept was realized by director Ridley Scott:

Here is an excerpt from a March 18 1992 art list by Privateer's lead designer Joel Manners. He describes the planet, then known as New Chicago instead of New Detroit and specifies how each "options screen" should look and what the player should be able to do with it. Street Level, called Main Street at this point, is described: "The main street of New Chicago is a dark, wet, rainy place full of neon signs, traffic (in the air and on the ground) and so on. Blade Runner rip off in the worst way. The player can go to: Weapons dealer, Bar, both guilds, the commodities exchange, the mission computer, and the ship dealer."

Wing Commander Privateer's concept artists used this description to design the screens that would be used in New Detroit. From the composition it's extremely likely they were referencing Syd Mead's concept painting directly. The New Detroit sketches are not credited but several others from this set were signed by the late, great Paul Steed.

Origin Systems' 3D artist Jake Rogers took this sketch and turned it into a 3D environment and animation that was then rendered into what you see in the final game. You can explore these and other 3D models created for the early games via the WC3D Collection Index.

The 3D model has a great deal more detail than could ever have been visible. Take a look at some of the textures which were too small to be seen, including signs on the hotel, a street sign, the elevator button labels and a funny message on the ATM screen!

And here's the final animated screen, credited to Chris Roberts' Wing Commander Privateer!

That wasn't quite the end of the story: just four years later Origin would hire Syd Mead himself to work on Wing Commander Prophecy. If you compare the concept art you'll see that it's a surprisingly short jump from his design for Blade Runner's Spinner to the Nephilim fighters in Wing Commander Prophecy!

Chris Roberts would return to the Blade Runner well one more time. The environment was chosen as a good selling point for some of Star Citizen's first bespoke artwork (distinct from the Wing Commander material reused for the Squadron 42 pitch). Here's the familiar concept piece which was ultimately turned into an interactive previz animation!

Here's the same progression for New Detroit's other Blade Runner inspired options screen, the New Detroit landing pad.

Hangar. The landing berth for the player is located on top of a landing platform which is supported high above the city on a very slender pole. There is a large repair and refueling facility on the edge of the platform, and an elevator attached to the side, but not much else. From here the player can go to the Main Street.

Dr. Forstchen Goes to Hollywood (via Bulgaria)

Wing Commander author Dr. William Forstchen has found quite an audience with his most recent writing, the "One Second After" series. The books tell the story of the aftermath of a horrific EMP attack which renders modern technology useless and they've become very in vogue among "preppers" who are concerned about surviving major disasters. And now they're making a movie! Dr. Forstchen is executive producing the film which shoots in September. Here's the press release:

Movie Adaptation Just Announced for Apocalyptic Bestseller One Second After: Shooting to Begin in September

WASHINGTON, D.C., DC, UNITED STATES, April 21, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Author William R. Forstchen, Ph.D., announced that his New York Times #1 bestseller, One Second After, about an EMP strike against the United States, is being adapted into an MPI Original Film (Motherland, Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game) in association with Startling Inc. (Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon). The feature film is penned by legendary sci-fi screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski (Changeling, Sense8, Jeremiah, Babylon 5), with Forstchen serving as an executive producer. Scott Rogers is directing the film, which is scheduled to begin shooting in Bulgaria this September.

Long regarded as a foremost expert on EMP technology, Forstchen has been consulted by numerous federal, state, and local governments and private entities and has spoken at conferences all over the United States.

His book One Second After was the first to give readers a realistic look at an EMP strike and its awesome power to destroy the entire United States, literally within one second. One Second After spawned three sequels, each of which is a fictional exploration rooted in the cold, solid facts of how an EMP strike above U.S. soil would impact society.

“I believe the threat of America being hit by an EMP weapon is the single greatest danger to our survival,” Forstchen said. “Electricity is the fundamental building block of our society. Everything is predicated on electrification.”

An EMP causes widespread cataclysmic damage to power grids due to what’s called the Compton effect, he explained.

“An electromagnetic pulse is the byproduct of detonating a nuclear weapon. When a nuclear weapon is detonated 200 to 250 miles above the Earth, the gamma ray burst when it hits the upper atmosphere sets off the Compton effect. In essence, a giant electrostatic discharge hits the earth’s surface and wipes out electronic devices as well as entire power grids, leaving affected areas in the dark,” he said.

For more information, please visit https://www.onesecondafter.com/.

More About William R. Forstchen
William R. Forstchen is a New York Times bestselling author and a Professor of History at Montreat College, in Montreat, North Carolina. He holds a doctoral degree from Purdue University with a specialization in military history and technology. He is the author of more than 50 books.

A noted expert historian and public speaker, he has been interviewed on FOX News, C-SPAN and many others on topics ranging from history to technology and cultural issues, to space technology development, to security threats.

The other interesting aspect of all this is that the novel was adapted for the screen by J. Michael Straczynski, best known as the mastermind behind Babylon 5. Straczynski has a slight connection to Wing Commander: in an August 8, 1996 GENIE post he mentioned that he had met with Chris Roberts 1n 1995 to discuss working on what would become the Wing Commander movie: "Actually met Chris Roberts last year, when we were in some preliminary discussions about us doing a Wing Commander movie or series. He definitely wants to be a film-maker." Pretty neat crossing of the streams! (JMS' Wing Commander bona fides had already been established at that point; he had previously posted asking for cheat codes for Wing Commander III!).

Wing Commander Album Production Update

Greetings all. Just to let you know I'm not "slacking off" here. I'm in contact with the company making the vinyl deliverables. Vinyl is a very hot format these days. Here is the latest reply from the company making your vinyl discs...

Hi George,

I'm so sorry I did not get back your voicemail yesterday, I was unexpectedly out of the office.

I want to also apologize for how late your order is running, and our lack of communication regarding the timeline. Things are running very late across the board right now due to production delays at the 3rd party facility that handles all of our stamper plating. They have been having some technical issues with their equipment that have put them very behind and we're currently waiting on your stampers to arrive back here so we can complete your pressing. As soon as they do arrive, the pressing and packing follows quite quickly. I am pushing them for status updates and to get our highest priority orders including yours to us as fast as they possibly can, and I will let you know as soon as I have an update for you. We appreciate your continued patience as we work through this delay.

So, as soon as they arrive I will let you know! Thanks for your patience!

George

Orchestral Recording Live Stream Archived

Back in August of last year, Wing Commander composer George Oldziey graciously live streamed the orchestral recording sessions for his spectacular new Wing Commander album. If you missed out on the chance to see them, we've added screen recordings of both to YouTube. They aren't a substitute for the real thing but hopefully they'll be useful for reference in the future!

Session One

Session Two