Wing Commander Academy
Encyclopedia
Wing Commander Academy is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 animated television series created and produced by Universal Cartoon Studios, along with a team led by Larry Latham. The show was based on the Wing Commander franchise
Wing Commander (franchise)
Wing Commander is a video game media franchise consisting of space combat simulation computer games from Origin Systems, Inc., an animated television series, a feature film, a collectible card game, a series of novels, and action figures...

 and loosely served as a prequel to Wing Commander. The show's premiere airdate was September 21, 1996 in USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...

's "Action Extreme Team" block. The series' last episode
Episode
An episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...

 aired on December 21, 1996.

Ships featured in the series

The series featured many ships 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
Wing Commander I
Wing Commander is the first, eponymous game in Chris Roberts' science fiction space simulation franchise. The game was first released for the PC on September 26, 1990 and was later ported to the Amiga, CD32 , Mega-CD and the SNES...

, 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
Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger
Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger is the third main game in Chris Roberts' Wing Commander science fiction space combat simulation video game series, developed and released by Origin Systems...

 Arrow, Hellcat and Longbow and Wing Commander IV's
Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom
Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom is the fourth main game in Chris Roberts' Wing Commander science fiction space combat simulator video game series, produced by Origin Systems and released by Electronic Arts for the PC in 1995 and the Sony PlayStation in 1997...

 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!

DVD release

On March 6, 2012, Visual Entertainment
Visual Entertainment
Visual Entertainment Inc. is a home video/television distribution company that is based in Toronto, Ontario Canada. It is an independent label but has managed to release quite a few well-known TV series on DVD.-Children:* The Big Adventure Series...

 will release Wing Commander Academy- The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. In the US, the release will be distributed by Millennium Entertainment
Millennium Entertainment
Led by CEO Bill Lee, Millennium Entertainment is a leading independent supplier that acquires and distributes feature films, television series and specialty programming...

.

Crossover

These animated television series of the 90s had crossover episodes with Wing Commander Academy:
  • Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm
    Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm
    Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, also known as Mortal Kombat: The Animated Series, is a cartoon series based on the popular Mortal Kombat video game series...

     (1996, US, animated): episode 109 "Resurrection".
  • Savage Dragon (1995–1996, US, animated): episode 21 (208) "Endgame".
  • Street Fighter
    Street Fighter (TV series)
    Street Fighter is an American animated series produced by InVision Entertainment based on the Street Fighter live action movie, which was in turn based on the Street Fighter video game franchise. The series aired as part of the USA Network's Cartoon Express and Action Extreme Team lineups...

     (1995–1997, US, animated): episode 22 (209) "The Warrior King".

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK