Wing Commander Academy

Wing Commander Academy is a 1996 American animated television series produced by Universal Cartoon Studios, along with a team led by Larry Latham. 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.

Cast

Main cast

Mark Hamill as Christopher 'Maverick' Blair
Thomas F. Wilson as Todd 'Maniac' Marshall
Malcolm McDowell as Commodore Geoffrey Tolwyn
Dana Delany as Gwen 'Archer' Bowman

Additional voices

Lauri Hendler as Maya McEaddens, Lindsay 'Payback' Price
Kevin Schon as Prince Thrakhath nar Kiranka, Hector 'Grunt' Paz
Pat Fraley as Dr. Guthrig Andropolos, Gharal nar Hhallas
Ron Perlman as Daimon Karnes, Krulan nar Ragitagha
Jeff Bennett as Bokh nar Ragitika
Dorian Harewood as Jazzman
Jessica Walter as Admiral Rhea Bergstrom
Joan Van Ark as Dr. Bronwyn Sing
Jim Cummings as Emil 'Easy' Zoharian
Tom Kane as Kilrathi Pilot
Earl Boen as Kilrathi Commander
Jennifer Hale as Princess Zukara nar Kiranka
Andrew Prine as Vidkun
Michael Dorn as the Warrior King

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.

Home media

In March 2012, Visual Entertainment released Wing Commander Academy - The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 for the first time. The series became available on the Peacock streaming service in July 2020.