Ace Combat: Wedge Antilles vs. Kara Thrace
Welcome today’s special guest poster–my husband Chris 🙂 He’s the biggest Star Wars fan I know (don’t believe me, check out the picture of him in his jedi Halloween costume to the left), and he’s also the one who introduced me to Battlestar Gallactica. I couldn’t think of anyone better to pit the best fighter pilot from each against each other and see who wins . . .
*******************************************************************************
In much the same way that sports fans have fantasy leagues to make dream-team matchups, it’s fun for science fiction fans to have dream matchups between some of the larger-than-life characters in the most successful science fiction franchises.
I’ve heard in a few places that Kara Thrace of Battlestar Gallactica (whose call sign is “Starbuck”) is the best fighter pilot in the sci-fi universe. I’ve also heard that Wedge Antilles, Luke Skywalker, or Han Solo (all from Star Wars) are the best. With this thinking in mind, I decided to do my own little all-star matchup between Wedge Antilles, the long-time leader of Rogue Squadron, and Kara Thrace, arguably the best fighter pilot in the Colonial fleet.
(I didn’t choose Luke Skywalker or any other Force user, as they have an innate advantage through the Force. I didn’t choose Han Solo because the Millenium Falcon, although an amazing ship, is a heavily modified light freighter, and he doesn’t qualify as a fighter pilot.)
In terms of skill, Wedge and Kara are probably equal. They are both aces (they’ve racked up five or more kills), both served as commanders of large strike groups, and are highly respected for their skills inside the cockpit.
Wedge’s decades of experience (eventually he’s promoted all the way to Admiral), cool head, and innate calculating instincts serve him better than Kara’s fiery personality. Wedge excels at getting inside an opponent’s head, both with his flying and with his words.
Kara’s drive to excel probably matches or even exceeds Wedge’s, but hotheads like Kara can easily be manipulated, in much the same way a skilled martial artist uses his opponent’s weight and momentum against them. For example, in the Star Wars books, Wedge frequently uses his ship’s comm system to talk to opposing pilots. He would probably try to talk Kara down from a fight, while she would likely tell him to “shut the frack up” and be ready to lose.
If they both flew the same starfighter, it’d be a coin toss as to who won the fight. The difference between the two pilots really comes down to the equipment at their disposal, so let’s take a look at the birds they fly.
Imagine it like a dogfight . . .
Kara’s Viper Mark II would easily outmaneuver Wedge’s X-Wing, but she’d have to pack missiles to get through his shields, which can be placed into a double-strength configuration wherever he wants. And Wedge’s four laser cannons outclass Kara’s machine guns. As she maneuvers out of any lock he achieves on her and angles in behind him, he has his astromech droid program a proton torpedo to go off via a proximity fuse. She has no shields, and a proton torpedo can destroy unshielded enemy fighters.
Should she manage to take out his weapons and disable his shields, all he needs to do is plot an emergency hyperspace jump and live to fight another day, while she has to wait for Gallactica to recover her, determine his course, and plot a trailing FTL jump to find him.
The Mark II Viper probably has an edge over the T-65 X-Wing in terms of speed, power, and maneuverability. However, the X-Wing has a definite advantage in terms of armament, range, supralight travel capability, navigation, and survivability.
The winner of this duel would be Wedge Antilles, based solely on the equipment used.
But I’m just one sci-fi fan.
What do you guys think? Would you bet on Wedge or Starbuck in a dogfight? What other science fiction or fantasy characters would you love to see faceoff?
Nov 28, 2011 @ 11:30:30
I’ve never seen Gallatica, myself – but I’ve watched Star Wars 1-6 more times than I can count, and enduring hours of pointless trivia from my son. Didn’t think there was this much known about Wedge Antilles. Interesting.
Nov 28, 2011 @ 11:52:51
Wedge’s character is developed more in the books. Chris has shelves of them–at least 3-4 different series. Starbuck is pretty much undefeatable in BSG, and I’d back her based on creativity alone if it wasn’t for the fact that her ship definitely couldn’t compete with his.
Nov 28, 2011 @ 16:42:47
I did see Battlestar Galactica on TV but not the movie. And of course, Star Wars. But unfortunately I am not the one to ask that question. I’m a lover, not a fighter. 🙂
Interesting post! Got me thinking.
Nov 28, 2011 @ 17:30:33
Chris wanted to be a fighter pilot himself when he was younger, so I wasn’t surprised when he suggested this post 🙂
He watched Battlestar Gallactica on TV, but no channel was regularly playing it when he convinced me to start watching, so we used gift cards to get all four seasons on DVD. I was really glad we had all the episodes when we started watching because they have some real cliffhangers where I absolutely had to see what happened next.
Nov 28, 2011 @ 18:34:01
I wanted to be a fighter pilot too – but mostly because of Goose and Maverick 😀
Nov 28, 2011 @ 18:48:24
I actually wrote some fan fiction back in high school with a friend of mine where we reinvented the Top Gun characters. If I recall correctly, we turned Goose into a woman and made her fall in love with Iceman. And she didn’t die. (I can already hear Chris smacking his forehead when he reads that.)
Nov 28, 2011 @ 16:53:05
We are watching Battlestar Galatica for the first time now (in season 4)and I definitely agree with you Chris. I’d pit Wedge against Starbuck with Wedge coming out ahead … just because he’s way more level headed. 🙂
Great analysis!
Nov 28, 2011 @ 17:31:55
I have to give Starbuck credit for creativity, but I think she takes too many risks. I think Wedge would definitely capitalize on that 🙂
Nov 28, 2011 @ 17:32:44
Most definitely. Like I said in my post, I’d consider Wedge and Kara to be roughly equal in skill, but it’s a lot harder to shake a cool, calm customer like Wedge than it is to shake a hotheaded fighter jock like Kara. In the end, I think that cold calculation would likely top fiery determination most of the time.
Now chew on THIS: imagine if you added Kara Thrace to Rogue Squadron, flying alongside Wedge, Wes Janson, Hobbie, Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, Jaina and Anakin Solo, Leia Organa Solo, Corran Horn, Kyp Durron and Gavin Darklighter…they’d be able to take out a Super Star Destroyer by spitting at it.
Nov 28, 2011 @ 18:34:57
woah – Han and Leia get married? I’m soooo behind. :/
Nov 28, 2011 @ 18:37:28
Not only do they get married, but their son goes over to the dark side. Sheesh, I thought everyone knew that 😉
Nov 28, 2011 @ 18:28:25
Great debate. Wedge gave up and flew home during the first battle against the Death Star. Kara followed an attacking fighter to her death, and then came back. Thrace wins through tenacity alone, Wedge quits as soon as his pretty ship gets dinged.
Nov 28, 2011 @ 18:53:30
To be precise, Wedge–always the disciplined officer–obeyed a lawful order to RTB. Kara, much as I love her tenacity, disobeyed orders that imperilled the fleet (nevermind the fact that I think she was some sort of Cylon the whole time).
Nov 28, 2011 @ 18:56:12
RTB = return to base?
They never did explain to my satisfaction what Kara was . . .
Nov 28, 2011 @ 20:19:30
I have to correct myself: Kara disobeyed orders, thus imperilling the fleet. The orders didn’t imperil the fleet.
Nov 28, 2011 @ 20:28:15
I do love a good geeky post. 🙂
I’m going to go with Kara – only because she is such a rebel. Sometimes in a one-on-one fight, the one who is willing to take ridiculous risks, and maybe even play dirty, often comes out on top.
Having said that, I applaud the well thought out argument for Wedge. 🙂
Dec 02, 2011 @ 20:20:55
Geeks rule 🙂
Nov 28, 2011 @ 23:45:14
Wow, this is a tough one. I do so love Kara. But she is a total hot head and it gets her and the fleet in trouble. Not having read the Star Wars books I don’t know that much about Wedge. There is something to be said for the level headed. The rash and quick to act are often romanticized in fictional pieces, but Kara surly would fight to the death, no doubt about that – because she did.
Love this post Marcy and Chris!
Dec 02, 2011 @ 20:18:39
Thanks 🙂 I’m a look-before-you-leap type of person who has a contingency plan for my contingency plans so in general I back cool-headed logic every day. Hard for me to say in this case since I’m a huge Starbuck fan, but I think Wedge would beat her.
Nov 29, 2011 @ 07:59:55
While I love both Kara and Wedge..and their respective fandoms..Star Wars wins every time hands down.
Dec 02, 2011 @ 20:19:27
Haha. You and Chris both. Imagine the lightsaber duels that would take place if we lived closer together.
Nov 29, 2011 @ 14:12:31
Not knowing Starbuck, I can only speak to some of the things Wedge says and does. In book 1 of the Legacy series, Wedge teaches his daughter a thing or two about attack runs, namely that gunners often pick one of the twelve possible escape vectors and fire at it, making the best escape vector a straight line. Since Starbuck, according to your analysis, would be the type to jump to one of the other 11 headings, Wedge has an advantage of understanding her flying better than she does.
The second point I want to raise is that the BSG ships sound a lot like TIEs, probably closer to the Interceptors, which are more maneuverable and faster than the X-Wing, but Wedge would be an Ace if you count only his Squint kills.
Basically, I’m backing Wedge in this dog fight.
Dec 02, 2011 @ 20:14:50
That’s a really great example of how one of Wedge’s known tactics would cause Starbuck some serious trouble. Thanks for stopping by Pat 🙂
Jan 14, 2012 @ 09:56:00
As someone who has probably the same amount of love for Wedge Antilles and Star Wars as does your husband, and has liked what I’ve seen of Battlestar Galactica so far… I loved this post (and the comments)! 🙂 Stumbled on it from Google.
(Liked the thought about Kara in Rogue Squadron. Though Rogue Squadron did have its fair share of hothead Kara-like figures, such as Plourr Ilo. 😛 )
Jan 24, 2012 @ 19:55:30
I’m glad you found us 🙂
Jaina Solo was also a hot-head in her early years, but mellowed with time. Kara never really mellowed 🙂
Feb 28, 2012 @ 16:57:56
I grew up in a world where Starbuck was a dude. I saw a couple episodes of this new BSG, and it just never really ‘flew’ for me.
Chris’ examination of the equipment is probably spot on, and I agree with him, superior tactics by Wedge would more than likely beat out the viper’s advantages. We only have to look back at WWII in the early days of the Pacific and see a real world parallel, with the fights between the Japanese Zero (faster, more maneuverable) and the US Navy’s F4F Wildcat (more ruggedly built, better armored). Superior tactics allowed the Wildcat to hold its own (and win) against the Zero, until better fighters were brought into the war.
Like Chris, I too wanted to to be a pilot(Specifically a Naval Aviator) because of one aircraft- the F-14 Tomcat (The REAL star of Top Gun!). Loved that magnificent beast, going all the way back through Top Gun to the 1980 sci-fi movie “The Final Countdown”.
Let’s see, Star Wars, airplanes, military history, sci-fi movies, original BSG.. how much more geekery can I cram into one blog comment? 😀
Feb 28, 2012 @ 20:18:50
Bring on as much geekery as you want! We’re all friends here 🙂 I love the comparison to WWII aircraft because you’re very right.
I haven’t seen the original Battlestar Galactica yet, but I’m looking forward to watching it and comparing it to the remake that I love so much. (Perhaps that will become a future blog post here.)
Mar 12, 2012 @ 14:06:11
Something you learn from history is that these ace vs ace things are horribly chancy and don’t always depend on the pilots and their machines. Von Richthofen shot down Lanoe Hawker because Hawker was too far inside German lines and the wind was blowing him farther still. Ernst Udet lost to Georges Guynemer in what was, from all accounts, a nearly-even fight, but Guynemer let Udet live for reasons best known to Guynemer. Tommy McGuire was shot down by Sugihara because he let himself get low and slow against an opponent whose airplane performed better in those regimes.
And just to confirm my geek credentials, Kara baited the Cylon Ace for Kat, remember? Whatever else you can say against my girl Kara, she understood how to accomplish her mission and she was ready to lay down her life to do it. Check six, K-girl, you rock!!
Mar 01, 2013 @ 11:42:23
First, I definatly agree with the X-Wing being a superior fighter, (Although I do love the Mark II ) but one thing to remember, during the Yuuzhan Vong war Wedge went up against Jaina Solo in training missions (possibably one of the best Jedi pilots out there) and he out flew her and (simulated) shot her down. Force or not. I’d have to go with Wedge. Now the question is Wedge or Max Sterling?
Aug 24, 2014 @ 20:46:44
I appreciate Kara Thrace and the new BSG, but I don’t like that they changed the origins of the cylons and some of the changes in characters, along with a lot of the original story line. That being said, The original Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) was better than Kara Thrace. Not only would he beat her in a dog fight he’d take out Wedge as well. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m a big Starwars and BSG fan. I think wedge is great, but if you get a chance to watch the original Battlestar Galactica you’ll see that Derk Benedict cannot be replaced by a woman for that role.
Sep 01, 2014 @ 20:01:29
We haven’t had a chance to watch the original BSG yet. We’ll have to make sure to add it to the queue!