Wing Commander Academy
Wing Commander Academy is a 1996 American animated television series created and produced by Universal Cartoon Studios, along with a team led by Larry Latham.[1] The show was based on the Wing Commander franchise and loosely served as a prequel to Wing Commander. The show's aired from September 21 to December 21, 1996 on the USA Network's "USA Action Extreme Team" block.[2]
| Wing Commander Academy | |
|---|---|
 Title screen | |
| Genre | Animated television series Science fiction |
| Created by | Universal Cartoon Studios NBC Universal |
| Directed by | Larry Latham |
| Voices of | Mark Hamill Tom Wilson Malcolm McDowell Dana Delany Kevin Schon Lauri Hendler |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Larry Latham |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Universal Cartoon Studios |
| Distributor | MCA TV |
| Release | |
| Original network | USA Network |
| Original release | September 21 – December 21, 1996 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Wing Commander (franchise) |
Spacecraft featured in the series
The series featured many spacecraft introduced in the Wing Commander video games. The Scimitar and Broadsword were the primary fighters and bombers flown by the main characters, with the Dralthi and Grikath fulfilling those roles for the Kilrathi. As in Wing Commander I, the TCS Tiger's Claw was a Bengal class strike carrier. Individual episodes also featured cameo appearances from ships introduced in later games such as Wing Commander III's Arrow, Hellcat and Longbow and Wing Commander IV's Avenger. None of these ships are mentioned by name. A number of new capital ships were introduced by the series including the Achilles class destroyer and the Agan Ra Sivar class dreadnaught.
Episode list
| # | Title | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red and Blue | Blair and Maniac are assigned to the Tiger's Claw for training. |
| 2 | The Last One Left | Blair and Maniac encounter a Confed war hero turned renegade. |
| 3 | The Most Delicate Instrument | Mentally unbalanced from stellar phenomena, four cadets begin to exhibit erratic behavior. |
| 4 | Word of Honor | Blair and Grunt crashland on an alien world, but they're not alone... |
| 5 | Lords of the Sky | Blair and Maniac land on an alien world where the local savages worship the dastardly "Lords of the Sky." |
| 6 | Chain of Command | Tolwyn meets an old "friend"- who just happens to outrank him now! |
| 7 | Expendable | Blair and Payback scout an unstable jump node. |
| 8 | Recreation | The crew of the Claw discovers a mysterious being in suspended animation aboard a derelict space capsule. |
| 9 | Walking Wounded | Maniac scores guard duty on a crippled medical ship. |
| 10 | On Both Your Houses | Blair, Maniac, and Archer pursue Kilrathi fighters to a lush tropical planet where things are not as they seem. |
| 11 | Invisible Enemy | The Kilrathi have a new and terrible weapon: the Stealth Fighter. |
| 12 | Price of Victory | Blair crashes on an ice world, where he meets an unusual Kilrathi who just happens to have an agenda... |
| 13 | Glory of Sivar | Blair and Grunt land on the planet Dolos- and find themselves surrounded by fur! |
Home video release
On March 6, 2012, Visual Entertainment released Wing Commander Academy- The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 for the first time.[3] In the US, the release will be distributed by Millennium Entertainment.
Crossover
The episode 8, "Recreation" is the final part of a 4-episode crossover with 3 other shows that aired as part of the US "Action Extreme Team" programming block:[4]
- Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm (1996, US, animated): episode 9 "Resurrection" (Part 3)
- Savage Dragon (1995–1996, US, animated): episode 21 (208) "Endgame" (Part 2)
- Street Fighter (1995–1997, US, animated): episode 22 (209) "The Warrior King" (Part 1)
References
- Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 909–910. ISBN 978-1476665993.
- Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 699–700. ISBN 978-1538103739.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-10-15. Retrieved 2011-10-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Warrior King: The Forgotten Street Fighter / Mortal Kombat Crossover". Den of Geek. 2017-05-13. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
External links
- Wing Commander CIC
- Wing Commander Academy on IMDb
- Wing Commander Academy at TV.com
- Wing Commander Academy at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Wing Commander Academy TV episodes