Wing 1
Alpha Squadron
Weekly Report
Communiqué: 20020518
Esteemed WC,
For the week ending May 18 2002:
Status Position Rank Member Activity
Flight 1 – Jaded Hearts Roster:
Active Commander Captain Talons Pryde Flew TC-21, Re-subbed TC165 may re-fly
Active Alpha 1-2 LT Blaine Changed name, awarded ISM, Very active
Alpha 1-3 Vacant
Alpha 1-4 Vacant
Flight 2 – The Black Knights
Active Flight Leader Captain Killer Took son out on Monday
Active Alpha 2-2 Captain Nikolai Boshevki Awaiting new activity. May be in finals
Alpha 2-3 Vacant
Alpha 2-4 Vacant
Flight 3 –
Active Flight Leader CM William McArthur Having some RL Problems
Active Alpha 3-2 Captain Vector Moved to here, working Flight page
Alpha 3-3 Vacant
Alpha 3-4 Vacant
Commentary:
There is much to report. In the preliminary report (for the just-in-case), I mentioned that I would be giving a review of Episode II. Well if you do not want to have the movie spoiled for you, I would suggest not reading the blue print below. (In the body of the e-mail, it will be below the five *).
Before I get to that, I have some business to attend. Lieutenants Hobb and Cardassian were AWOL’ed this week as they have either not made contact or they are completely unreachable. This pains me to no end. I thought I had reached them both while I was a flight leader and apparently, I was wrong. This lowered our numbers to six members. It is just enough to keep our citation lists active. As a friendly reminder, I want to see our citation list become as the TC battle list one day. I want prospective members to see that we are active and that we work together to make a goal. I am looking for this from us.
I am not sure what is wrong with Commander William, but he mentioned to me that he was having some real life problems. I am concerned for his well being. Here in Alpha, I want us to be able to talk to each other about anything. I want us to be an on-line family in a manner of speaking. To this end, I want this squadron to be able to go to any member and feel secure knowing that they will listen and keep things private if they want. I want our squadron to be close enough so that if we ever met on the street, we would be like long lost friends. I want us to be able to say, “Yeah, I know Vector. I went on a vacation and he said to come on over when I pass through.” Anyway, I want McArthur to know that if he has anything he needs to talk about, feel free to talk to any of us.
Lieutenant Blaine received the Imperial Security Medal for his incredible activity and ceaseless work on the behalf of the squadron and wing. He has been an invaluable member of this squadron since his activity came up. He is excellent with graphics, writes well (for his age), and is quite intelligent. I have appointed him the squadron recruiter (considering I am not as good at recruiting as I want to be). I have a theory that may pan out for us. Which is better, the CMDR tooting the horn of the squadron or the members doing it? The CMDR will always be expected to do that. When a flight member does that, the squadron is given the appearance of being a great place to go for duty. CMDR’s should be recruiting for the wing and Wing commanders should be promoting the ship they serve. The BGCOM or SovCom should help with getting new members in the fleet itself. This form of recruiting is based on members being the strong point of the group. If the recruiting competition is still going on, this will act as my submission.
Now for more fun. Below is the review of the movie Attack of the Clones, so if you do not want any spoilers, I suggest closing this message now.
*****
Star Wars: the Attack of the Clones is by far one of the most interesting episodes to date. In the theatre I saw it, they had 10 minutes of previews (among them the sequel to The Matrix) and the anticipation was becoming unbearable. As soon as the famous opening fanfare began, the theatre went silent. The opening scenes seemed innocent enough until the councilor ship exploded. This took me by surprise and set up the entire plot of the movie on the surface.
From this point on, a great amount of background is revealed about Anikaan and Padme and how they related to each other. The deeper understanding of the Jedi’s code of behavior is quite enlightening. This is especially true in relationships. Padme and Anikaan both care for each other and the body of the film deals with the blossoming love for each other. Overshadowing this love affair was the continuing attempts on Padme’s life. With Obi-wan uncovering the plot of Dooku/Tyranus in the pursuit of the Bounty Hunter Jango Fett, the Jedi fight scene is set up beautifully. The famous rock group is not part of the scenes as originally reported. They do not even appear in the film.
Anikaan shows the beginning of his fall to the Dark Side when his anger gets the best of him after his mother dies. Yoda, back on Coruscant, feels the pain and anger that exploded from the sorrow Anikaan felt. The Tuskin Raider camp was obliterated that day and Anikaan expresses his remorse later in a private moment with Padme. Hayden did a wonderful job in his interpretation of the character.
Samuel L. Jackson does an incredible job as Mace Windu. His ability to bring out the hardened Jedi look during the combat scenes matched with his softer look in private is unmatched. He expresses himself wonderfully in the action scenes as he removes Jango Fett’s head with his Purple lightsaber in front of Boba.
Speaking of incredible, Yoda kicks ass as a whirling green blur as he fights against Darth Tyranus in the closing scenes. The complete speed portrayed is hard to follow so do not try. Yoda enters right after Obi-wan and Anikaan are soundly (and painfully) defeated in a duel.
I found it strange to see Yoda commanding the Stormtrooper predecessors and Jedi mixed in with the known forces of the Empire. The symbols on the arms of the troopers and the ships they flew make it stranger.
About Jar-Jar Binks. He is now an ambassador for the Gungan civilization. How he managed this is beyond me. He is duped (easily) into giving control to Chancellor Palpitine. Considering he is also Darth Sideous, Palpitine shows how political power is easily subverted in the Galactic Republic. Most of the scenes with him in it reminds me a little of C-SPAN and the droning of politicians. Do not ignore it as it is an interesting revelation of the motives of some of the councilors.
The final scene is of Anikaan and Padme in a secret marriage. I left the theater wanting more. I was surprised that it was over so soon. Over all, this movie is filled with irony from “Why do I have the feeling you are going to be the death of me” to continual losses of lightsabers Anikaan suffers and his quip “Obi-wan is going to kill me” (the meaning of this is that in a way, Obi-wan did kill Anikaan during their duel where he becomes Darth Vader). If I had not known episodes 4 through 6, I would have still been quite impressed with this installment of the Star Wars saga. Go see it and then go see it again to catch what you missed the first time.
*****
Respectfully,
Alpha Squadron Commander,
CMDR/CPT Talons Pryde/Alpha/Wing I/SSSD Sovereign/PCx3/ISMx3/MoI/MoT-1rh/MoC-1BoC/CoB/OV [CNTR] {IWATS-CBX-GFX-IIC/1/2-SM/2-TM-TT}.