Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
We were pleasantly surprised by how many people ultimately enjoyed Romeo + Juliet… including my mom, who joined the group this week! And I will be remiss if I don't offer one final happy birthday to Patterned, who chose the film. It's a massively stylistic adaptation of Romeo + Juliet that delights with incredible visuals and an endlessly playful background layer on top of the original dialogue of the play. You can't help but smile, even if you aren't interested in Shakespeare or the prettiest actors of 1996.
Here's our big connection going in, the portion of the play that Paladin quotes in the Wing Commander movie's original cut:
And here's one we didn't remember ahead of the movie: an episode of Wing Commander Academy takes its name from a line in Romeo and Juliet!
When Mercutio is fatally wounded, he famously swears "a plague o' both your houses!" to the others involved. Wing Commander Academy plays with this with a dash of literalism. In the episode, the Confederation is revealed to be just as guilty as the Kilrathi… because they've been developing a literal plague weapon.
And of course we have to compare the SPACE SUITS used in both productions! No, that's just a joke to point out that we noticed Paul Rudd's Apollo-style space suit (worn at the costume party) has a shoulder patch that seems to be a variant of the American flag with the monument seen in various establishing shots in place of the stars. If you enjoy figuring out an alternate timeline setting from only what are clearly very intentional background clues, you'll enjoy this movie more than you expect!
One cute part is that the movie keeps the original dialogue but makes it clear that the characters are calling their ostentatious modern guns 'swords'. Which means that both this movie and Wing Commander do that!
Sully is a real Romeo; he's a certified lover boy.
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Original update published on August 21, 2026
Here's our big connection going in, the portion of the play that Paladin quotes in the Wing Commander movie's original cut:
And here's one we didn't remember ahead of the movie: an episode of Wing Commander Academy takes its name from a line in Romeo and Juliet!
When Mercutio is fatally wounded, he famously swears "a plague o' both your houses!" to the others involved. Wing Commander Academy plays with this with a dash of literalism. In the episode, the Confederation is revealed to be just as guilty as the Kilrathi… because they've been developing a literal plague weapon.
And of course we have to compare the SPACE SUITS used in both productions! No, that's just a joke to point out that we noticed Paul Rudd's Apollo-style space suit (worn at the costume party) has a shoulder patch that seems to be a variant of the American flag with the monument seen in various establishing shots in place of the stars. If you enjoy figuring out an alternate timeline setting from only what are clearly very intentional background clues, you'll enjoy this movie more than you expect!
One cute part is that the movie keeps the original dialogue but makes it clear that the characters are calling their ostentatious modern guns 'swords'. Which means that both this movie and Wing Commander do that!
Sully is a real Romeo; he's a certified lover boy.
--
Original update published on August 21, 2026