Wing Commander (film) - Novelization

Novelization

The novelization of the film by Peter Telep was fairly faithful to the film itself. However, in the book the plot to discredit Blair is more far-reaching and includes David Suchet's character, Captain Jason Sansky. There is also more general information about the Kilrathi and their first attack on a space station. The novel is based on the film's shooting script, which includes most of this information. Significant cuts removed the 'traitor' subplot from the finished film, since it heavily involved the unimpressive Kilrathi puppets. Admiral Bill Wilson was to be the traitor that compromised the Pegasus station (there were a number of scenes between Wilson and Bokoth, the commander of the Kilrathi battle group). In addition, Wilson provoked a knife fight on board the Kilrathi ConCom between Blair and Commander Gerald. Gerald wounded Blair, but everyone came to their senses and Blair used his Pilgrim Cross knife to kill Admiral Wilson (the only surviving element of this in the film is that Blair has a bandage on his hand during the scene where Paladin gave Blair his Pilgrim Cross). Also, Sansky was to commit suicide rather than be captured as a traitor; however, since all of his 'traitor' scenes were removed, the film now implies that Sansky died from head injuries he received during battle.