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1[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/220px-Wing_commander_post_6005.jpg]]
2As part of the agreement between Creator/ElectronicArts and Chris Roberts, in regards to the departure of the latter from the former, he was given contractual permission to make a movie based on the ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' franchise. In 1999, the result was released to the public by Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox.
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4New pilots Christopher Blair (Creator/FreddiePrinzeJr) and his best friend/rival Todd "Maniac" Marshall (Creator/MatthewLillard) are assigned to the TCS ''Tiger'' [''sic''] ''Claw'' as the Kilrathi fleet prepares to mount a massive assault on Sol Sector, using navigational information gained in a raid on a major Terran Confederation naval base. Time is short for Admiral Tolwyn (Creator/DavidWarner) to mount a defense, and the ''Tiger Claw'' is ordered to buy them more time. Whilst integrating with the ''Claw'''s flight wing, led by Jeannette "Angel" Devereaux (Creator/SaffronBurrows), Blair finds himself fighting some of the most crucial battles of the war--and trying to keep secret the fact that he's half "Pilgrim," a sub-species of humans subject to FantasticRacism.
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8!!Tropes employed by the movie:
9* ActorAllusion: The SilentRunningMode scene when the ''Tiger Claw'' is hiding in an asteroid crater is a clear ShoutOut to ''Film/DasBoot'' with Creator/JurgenProchnow being in both films.
10* AdaptationDistillation: Bossman is depicted as KIA before Blair could meet him where in the first Wing Commander ([=WC1=]) video game he flew as your wingman on several missions. [[spoiler:Commodore]] Taggart is captain of a civilian trader, when in [=WC1=] he was an elderly pilot flying with you on the Tiger's Claw and wasn't portrayed as a civilian until Wing Commander 2 ([=WC2=]). [[spoiler:Though similar to the movie, Taggart was also an intelligence officer in [=WC2=] using a civilian free trader ship as cover for intelligence operations against the Kilrathi.]] The TCS Concordia is depicted as existing in the same time period as the TCS Tiger's Claw, despite [=WC2=] showing the Tiger's Claw was destroyed by stealth fighters prior to the TCS Concordia's construction years later which carried a anti-ship cannon in [=WC2=] derived from a bigger version used by destroyed Kilrathi ship called the Sivar that fought against the Tiger's Claw in [=WC1=]: The Secret Missions 1 expansion (in the video game the Sivar was a "super-dreadnought" never seen before which destroyed the Goddard Colony with the [[{{BFG}} special Gravaton weapon]] and it was the Claw's job to hunt it down before it destroyed more Confederation colonies, while in the movie the Sivar was just a large battleship escorted by two destroyers which ambushed the Claw). The Skipper Missile that cloaks to avoid detection and decloaks periodically to reposition itself towards the ship it's targeting before recloaking wasn't introduced until Wing Commander 3 (Cloaking technology by the Kilrathi wasn't depicted until [=WC2=], and it was initially only shown to be used on fighters and not missiles until [=WC3=]), and at that point in the video game series the Tiger's Claw and Concordia were both depicted as destroyed.
11* AdaptationDyeJob: Maniac started out, in the game series, with darker hair. While the jump to FullMotionVideo kept close to that with Creator/ThomasFWilson, in the movie he was depicted as blond.
12* AdaptationalHeroism: Admiral Tolwyn, at best a dark and conflicted figure in the games, is presented as far more straightforwardly heroic in the film. Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that the film takes place a decade and a half before his final descent into outright villainy, and Tolwyn was a fan-favorite character at the time, second only to Blair.
13* ArtificialGravity: Done in such a way that it affected objects even as they left the ship, as long as they were within a few meters of it.
14* ArtisticLicenseMilitary:
15** Commander Gerald and several ''Claw'' pilots go with the Marines on a raid [[spoiler:against the Kilrathi Command And Control ship]], even though there's no logical reason (other than to keep the protagonists front and center) for them to join the mission.
16** Despite being a civilian, [[spoiler:(though that's actually just a non-official cover for Naval Intelligence Commodore)]] Taggart is given a bomber and ordered by the ''Tiger Claw''[='=]s captain to accompany a strike group to take out the communications ship. [[spoiler:In the original storyline, the ''Tiger's Claw'' captain Sansky was the traitor on board, and presumably ordered Taggart off the ship so a higher-ranked officer wouldn't relieve him of command, once Taggart noticed Sansky was making some bad decisions in fighting the Kilrathi.]]
17* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Sound does not travel in a vacuum outside of a spaceship. So [[spoiler:Commodore Taggart]] doesn't need to demand that the crew of the ship remain silent while being hunted by a Kilrathi destroyer.
18* AsteroidThicket: The Ulysses Corridor.
19* AttackPatternAlpha: Two Confed fighters execute a "Jack in the Box", with both of them popping out from behind an asteroid to engage Kilrathi ships at close range.
20* TheBattleStar:
21** TCS ''Tiger Claw'' is a carrier that is ''capable'' of fighting enemy capital ships toe to toe, but anything from a cruiser on up is considered long odds. She relies on her fighter wing to keep the fight away from her. The follow-on novel (and the outline for the never-completed trilogy capping second sequel) shows that the ''Claw'' never quite recovered from the mauling she took during the movie during the one time she did engage another warship directly (as opposed to engaging with her fighters).
22** Admiral Tolwyn's flagship, the TCS ''Concordia'', is indicated to be a straight example of this trope in the {{Novelization}}, described as a Supercruiser.
23* BetterThanSex: Rosie claims that some hotdog flying with Maniac was better than sex. Angel calls bullshit on the claim, to which Rosie replies, "Well, sex with myself, anyway."
24* CallingTheOldManOut: Blair calls Angel, his squadron[[note]]"wing" in the film dialogue, a script-editing error that was fixed in the {{Novelization}}[[/note]] commander, on her policy that pilots who died "never existed", as being unfaithful to those who have died in service.
25* CanonImmigrant: The Pilgrims, a race of evolved humans who were never mentioned before in the games. Author Peter Telep, who also wrote the film's novelization, completed two sequel novels that would have fleshed out the Pilgrims and revealed why they never appeared in the games. Sadly, the second novel was never published, which left the series on a cliffhanger.
26* CasualInterstellarTravel: Jump drive technology allows for interstellar travel, but can only be done from certain points and it can sometimes take days to reach a given destination when traveling at sub-light between jump points. It's implied the Pilgrim War and following Kilrathi War has resulted in the Confederation ceasing most exploration and sticking to safe jump points. Paladin demonstrates that ships can get around a lot faster if they're willing to jump things like pulsars and black holes, however this is incredibly dangerous.
27* TheCavalry: {{Subverted}}. Admiral Tolwyn's fleet manages to get to Sol System before the Kilrathi do, and take up orbit over Venus to await the Kilrathi arrival. When Blair arrives in Sol System [[spoiler: pursued by a Kilrathi Cruiser]], Tolwyn can't send any ships to help Blair without tipping off the Kilrathi to the presence of the Enigma Sector Fleet in Sol System. Even considering that their non-intervention will [[spoiler: leave the Kilrathi cruiser free to [[DeathFromAbove open fire on Earth]]]], the cost of springing their trap early before the Kilrathi fleet had stepped into it would be much worse. [[spoiler: Blair's broadcasting the Kilrathi fleet's intended jump coordinates does allow Tolwyn to move his fleet into position to [[CurbStompBattle whale on the Kilrathi as they are forced to make the jump one ship at a time.]]]]
28* ChekhovsGun:
29** [[spoiler: [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Beacon 147]]]] in the outer reaches of the Sol System.
30** If you look closely, you can see a distinctive chain around Taggart's neck [[spoiler:supporting his [[MembershipToken Pilgrim's Cross]]]] throughout the entire movie.
31* Myth/ClassicalMythology: There are many references throughout the plot to ''Literature/TheOdyssey''.
32* ComingInHot: Complete with the crashed fighter being pushed off the edge of the deck and falling into [[SpaceIsAnOcean the ocean, er, space]].
33* CoversAlwaysLie: The back of the film's DVD cover erroneously replaces the image of Tcheky Karyo with that of Creator/JurgenProchnow.
34* CreatorCameo: Chris Roberts, creator for both the movie and the game series on which it's based, gets a cameo at the end after the climax of the film, as a rescue ship pilot welcoming Blair to Sol Sector.
35* CurbStompBattle: The Kilrathi attack on Ulysses Station in the beginning of the film [[spoiler: as well as Enigma Sector Fleet's ambush of the Kilrathi fleet in Sol System in the film's climax]].
36* TheDeadHaveNames: {{Inverted|Trope}}. Anyone who dies is said to have not existed, and mention of their name actually forbidden. Blair finds this deplorable, and [[CallingTheOldManOut calls Angel out on it]].
37* DeflectorShields: Though they only hold up to so much punishment for the ''Tiger Claw'', given that she isn't designed to get that up close and personal with enemy ships. These shields appear impervious to torpedoes, and the shields must be down for either the ship to launch torpedoes or for enemy torpedoes to hit them. Much of the anti-ship tactics in the film revolve around either timing their shots just right, or goading the enemy into lowering their shields somehow.
38* DelayingAction: The ''Tiger Claw''[='=]s primary mission in the film, harassing and delaying the Kilrathi fleet by whatever means possible so Admiral Tolwyn can make up the few hours he needs to be in position.
39* DidntThinkThisThrough: Maniac and Rosie's brinkmanship contest and choosing to [[BloodKnight engage enemy fighters against orders]] ends with Rosie's completely avoidable death, trashing the flight deck in the process.
40* DontThinkFeel: Due to his special heritage [[spoiler:as a Pilgrim]], Taggart tells Blair to ignore the warnings of his fighter's computer [[spoiler: to calculate the jump to Sol Sector]].
41* FantasticRacism: Against the Pilgrims.
42* FinishHim: ''Give him a broadside, Mr. Gerald!''
43* GodHelpUsAll: During the film's opening montage, which is capped with an audio snippet of the president of the Terran Confederation informing the Senate that all attempts at a peaceful resolution with the Kilrathi have failed:
44-->It is my sad duty to inform you… that as of 6:00 a.m. this morning, [[ThisMeansWar we are formally at war with the Kilrathi]]. God help us all.
45* GravitySucks: Beacon 147, a NegativeSpaceWedgie also known as [[MeaningfulName Scylla]]. Two Confed ships nearly fall victim to this trope, and an unsuspecting Kilrathi warship ''does'' fall victim to this.
46* HighlyConspicuousUniform: The Confederation Marines wear red armored suits.
47* HollywoodEvolution: As told in the ''Confederation Handbook'' and hinted at during the OpeningMonologue, Pilgrims are a result of spacers who worked and lived in the less-shielded outer sections of space stations, over generations mutating to have special powers.
48* HollywoodTactics: Most noticeable in the broadside scene, given the cinematic reasons to have the larger ships close enough to be on the same screen.
49* HolographicTerminal: Used for displaying the sensor readouts on stations and capital warships, in particular the maps used to plot the Kilrathi approach path [[spoiler:to Sol Sector]].
50* HyperspeedAmbush: Blair transmits the [[spoiler:Kilrathi fleet's intended]] jump coordinates, allowing Tolwyn to position his fleet to strike [[spoiler:the Kilrathi]] as soon as the enemy makes their jump, one at a time as per normal jump tactics.
51* IAmVeryBritish: Angel. Ironic, as her character is supposedly Belgian.
52* InappropriatelyCloseComrades: Maniac and Rosie are squad-mates rather quick to hop into the sack together, and their rivalry/romance directly leads to Rosie's pointless and preventable death when the two of them decide to disobey a direct order to return to the ''Tiger Claw'' leads to her fighter being damaged and crashing during landing. Maniac falls apart after that. Blair and Angel have a slower-burning romance that's still highly inappropriate given that she's his squad leader and thus direct commander.
53* InTheBlood: Pilgrims' navigational talents.
54* InvisibilityCloak: The Kilrathi Skipper missile is a cloak-equipped missile that travels a certain distance, decloaks and changes course, then cloaks again. It's slower than a normal missile, but the cloaking makes it impossible to destroy unless a fighter can chase it down.
55* LiveActionAdaptation: Based on a series of computer games.
56* MembershipToken: The Pilgrim Crosses for Blair [[spoiler:and Taggart]], as well as the class ring [[spoiler:of Admiral Tolwyn]]: [[MilitaryAcademy Annapolis]], [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo Class of 1942]]. The novelization takes this further, with the Pilgrim Crosses also eventually identifying the traitors: [[spoiler:Admiral Wilson and Captain Sansky.]]
57* TheMole: Cut from the film due to poor test audience response. Instead we just have lots of FantasticRacism and unexplained system failures that lead one to believe that Confed's ships are ''definitely'' built by the lowest bidder. The {{novelization}} retained the traitor subplot, ultimately revealing the mole: [[spoiler: Captain Sansky, working for Admiral Wilson]].
58* NewMeat: Blair and Maniac both initially receive a frosty reception due to their inexperience.
59* NomDeGuerre: Maniac, Maverick, Angel, Iceman, Paladin, ''et al.'' Most of the characters are fighter pilots, after all.
60* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Saffron Burrows' character Devereaux is Belgian. She doesn't attempt an accent, however, just using her normal English one.
61* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: Averted and played straight in the same scene, when the hangar bay was depressurizing due to damage from an attack. Blair plays it straight, when he grabs an item on the deck to stop his being sucked out into space, without any obvious discomfort or injuries. Maniac's rush towards the vacuum is stopped by a cable tied around his waist and held at the other end by other pilots. The sudden stop when the cable that was tied around his midsection catches makes him visibly wince in pain, and afterwards it's shown to have badly dug into his midsection, causing him to cough up blood. He is later shown shirtless in his quarters wearing bandages on the affected area.
62* OneHitKill: The shields of a Kilrathi destroyer do not seem to provide much protection, collapsing after a single hit. (This is {{justified}} in the [[AllThereInTheManual manual, or rather the games]] -- capital ships have "phase shields" that are immune to SpaceFighter weaponry, excepting torpedoes which can {{technobabble}} their way through the shields; a ship as small as a destroyer ''can'' be sunk with a single torp -- but that explanation doesn't make it into the movie. It also doesn't explain why the ''Claw'' herself shrugs off four torpedoes, which is ''at least'' twice as many as she can survive in the games.)
63* OpeningMonologue: The intro pans over space charts while playing a recording of UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy giving a speech about the Space Race, which segues into other radio broadcasts delivering exposition about the Pilgrams, mankind's invention of FasterThanLightTravel, and the disastrous FirstContact with the Kilrathi.
64* PeopleInRubberSuits: The Kilrathi. However, Chris Roberts has never liked the appearance of ''any'' of the Kilrathi, from ''any'' source. Sources (''i.e.'', rumors circulating online) say that the Kilrathi costumes [[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome actually were very imposing]] when allowed to stand to their full height, but cramped sets meant they spent the movie hunched at the waist and shoulders, resulting in their [[SpecialEffectsFailure less-than-impressive final appearance]].
65* PlanarShockwave: From destroyed Kilrathi capships, and they look pretty freaking awesome. Also from a Skipper missile near the end of the movie, but this time Angel tries to [[OutrunTheFireball outrun a fireball]] which is less tall than her ship is, instead of, say, [[TwoDSpace pulling up a few meters]]. They even ''refer'' to it as the "[[LampshadeHanging planar wave]]" in dialog.
66* PointDefenseless: The Confederation and the Kilrathi appear incapable of stopping eachother's torpedoes before they hit.
67* PoorCommunicationKills: What turns Beacon 147 from a warning to pure High Octane SchmuckBait.
68* RaceAgainstTheClock: With the loss of the Vega Sector Fleet, the door is open for the Kilrathi fleet to move on to attack Earth. Admiral Tolwyn's Enigma Sector Fleet, moving at top speed, will arrive a few hours too late to intervene. The ''Tiger Claw''[='=]s mission is to delay the Kilrathi fleet to [[DelayingAction buy as much time as possible for Tolwyn to get in position.]]
69* RightInFrontOfMe: Blair is sitting in the cockpit of a Rapier, when a woman suddenly standing next to the ship quizzes him on his dogfighting skills with a couple hypothetical scenarios. She is brutally honest in explaining why Blair's responses would only get him killed, leading to the following:
70-->'''Devereaux:''' What's wrong, Lieutenant? Did I bruise your ego?\
71'''Blair:''' No, it's just that I'm not used to getting combat advice from a [[WrenchWench grease monkey]].\
72'''Devereaux:''' ''[introducing herself]'' Commander Devereaux, Lieutenant. Your wing commander.
73* RightBehindMe: Happens to Maniac after his inverted landing.
74* RuleOfCool: The reason for using ArtificialGravity to make the ''Tiger Claw'' work like an [[SpaceIsAnOcean ocean-bound aircraft carrier.]] Is it the most sensible way to operate an aircraft carrier in space? Goodness no, but it's entertaining to watch.
75* SeeTheWhitesOfTheirEyes: Averted during the [[spoiler:ambush of the ''Tiger Claw'']] where torpedoes are launched, and the perspective switches to the opposing force with the launching ship nowhere to be seen; played straight with the Rapiers whenever they engage with cannon, and even with missiles in multiple scenes.
76* ShoutOut: Quite a few to ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' – evidently the Pilgrims who named everything were fans of the Classics.
77* SilentRunningMode: Via StealthInSpace. Ships, from small fighters up to entire fleets of capital ships, try to avoid detection by shutting down all non-essential power systems and getting as close as they can to asteroids, debris, or planets (in the case of the aforementioned fleet). Works to varying degrees depending on how close the enemy gets. At one point the ''Tiger Claw'' plays up Roberts' inspiration from ''Film/DasBoot'' with the ''Claw'' doing this while damaged, to try to avoid the Kilrathi fleet. They go as far as requiring everyone aboard the ship to stay as quiet as possible, despite the fact that sound doesn't travel through vacuum.
78* SpaceIsAnOcean: And space carriers are submarines.
79* SpaceNomads: The Pilgrims are a group of these, notable for their ability to navigate without the help of computers. They suffer from prejudice and persecution by most of the society, having previously waged war against the Terran Confederation. It turns out Blair's mother was one. He keeps it quiet due to prejudice, but his abilities definitely come in handy during the film.
80* TakeAThirdOption: Suggested by Rosie, after Maniac introduces himself and Blair to ''Tiger Claw''[='=]s pilots in the rec room. The first option is that the new pilots and the old pilots get into a brawl. The second option is that they instead share a friendly bottle of Scotch. Rosie's proposed third option? Kick the new pilots' asses, ''then'' drink their Scotch.
81* ThatManIsDead: Bossman, a recently-deceased veteran of the ''Tiger Claw'', who his own former squadron goes so far as to say ''never existed''. This is apparently in line with how they've treated the deaths of all their former comrades.
82* TimTaylorTechnology: [[DeconstructedTrope Played to its logical conclusion]]: several of Tolywn's ships suffer [[ExplosiveOverclocking catastrophic meltdowns]] from running their engines too hard in the push to get in position to defend Earth. Upon being informed of this, [[RaceAgainstTheClock he orders the ships to raise their engine output again.]]
83* VanillaEdition: All three releases (non-anamorphic UsefulNotes/{{DVD}} in 1999, anamorphic DVD in 2011, and UsefulNotes/BluRay in 2013) have nothing more than a fairly barebones menu and the theatrical trailer included.

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