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Here's a topic I brought up on The Virtual Broomcloset (And also possibly here!) back in 'the day'....I figured what the heck...


In the intro to Space Quest 6, Toolman mentions that Roger is being returned to his "former post with StarCon fleet". Was that a retcon meant to imply that Roger was always with StarCon, and perhaps that the Arcada and Xenon orbital station were vessels of the Confederacy?


Or could it be that Roger's former organization evolved into or was taken over by StarCon at some point?

After all, We have no idea how long Roger was frozen for the end of SQ2..

SierraDude81 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 29, 2021 11:31 am In the intro to Space Quest 6, Toolman mentions that Roger is being returned to his "former post with StarCon fleet". Was that a retcon meant to imply that Roger was always with StarCon, and perhaps that the Arcada and Xenon orbital station were vessels of the Confederacy?
Or could it be that Roger's former organization evolved into or was taken over by StarCon at some point?
After all, We have no idea how long Roger was frozen for the end of SQ2..

I hadn't given it much thought.
Is there any indication that it would be a retcon about Arcada not being a part of StarCon (just never named as such, since his job is to get off the ship as quick as possible)?

I haven't played SQ6 recently, so I can't recall where or what Arcada is. *shrug*

On the other hand, Kielbasa's long list of "thank you"s always cracks me up.

Rath Darkblade wrote: ↑Tue Jun 29, 2021 6:16 pm I haven't played SQ6 recently, so I can't recall where or what Arcada is. *shrug*

On the other hand, Kielbasa's long list of "thank you"s always cracks me up.

Arcada is the ship Roger begins on in SQ1.
https://spacequest.net/sq1/ships/

Rath Darkblade wrote: ↑Tue Jun 29, 2021 6:16 pm
On the other hand, Kielbasa's long list of "thank you"s always cracks me up.

That's likely a "repurposed" bit from the end of Steve Martin's 1977 comedy album, "Let's Get Small" -- pretty much the same joke.

Ah, OK. I didn't know the original ship in SQ1 was called the Arcada.

I haven't heard Steve Martin's album, either. I was way too young when he released that!

I believe it is a retcon and I dislike it. Not a fan of StarCon personally. I just think the older uniforms and the "nameless Xenon space institute" of some kind was better. In my headcanon they are separate entities.

Rath Darkblade wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 7:45 am
I haven't heard Steve Martin's album, either. I was way too young when he released that!

What? Why, every 5- and 6-year-old in my neighborhood had that album...

Just kidding -- I didn't discover his four comedy albums until I was a little older in the early-to-mid '80s, buying them from a local used books-and-records store.

MusicallyInspired wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 10:04 am I believe it is a retcon and I dislike it. Not a fan of StarCon personally. I just think the older uniforms and the "nameless Xenon space institute" of some kind was better. In my headcanon they are separate entities.

It's official: StarCon has been absorbed into and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of RetCon.

I always loved the idea they were going for with StarCon, but a lot of that has to do with me loving lore in games. StarCon's addition and retcons added what felt like deep history to the series, and I loved it.

I just missed the old uniforms the most. That's where it started. At least they gave back Roger's purple sleeves. But I preferred it when everyone's uniforms were like that (like in SQ1VGA). And the small black triangle on the left side of the tunic. It's just got that sci-fi feel that really snagged me as a kid. The Starcon uniforms are nice homages to the Star Trek movie uniforms (and obviously TOS), but I really missed that older design.

goatmeal wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 12:14 pm

Rath Darkblade wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 7:45 am
I haven't heard Steve Martin's album, either. I was way too young when he released that!

What? Why, every 5- and 6-year-old in my neighborhood had that album...

Just kidding -- I didn't discover his four comedy albums until I was a little older in the early-to-mid '80s, buying them from a local used books-and-records store.

Found it! You can find anything on google.

MusicallyInspired wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 10:04 am I believe it is a retcon and I dislike it. Not a fan of StarCon personally. I just think the older uniforms and the "nameless Xenon space institute" of some kind was better. In my headcanon they are separate entities.

It's been years since I played SQ1, but still, no wonder I didn't remember Arcada. IIRC, in SQ1, they didn't name the ship you start on. Am I right?

MusicallyInspired wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 1:36 pm I just missed the old uniforms the most. That's where it started. At least they gave back Roger's purple sleeves. But I preferred it when everyone's uniforms were like that (like in SQ1VGA). And the small black triangle on the left side of the tunic. It's just got that sci-fi feel that really snagged me as a kid. The Starcon uniforms are nice homages to the Star Trek movie uniforms (and obviously TOS), but I really missed that older design.

I agree with this as well.

I feel like, especially with Space Quest I, they weren't sure if there'd be another.
Because you can literally name your hero anything - and it is only "Roger Wilco" (if you name it that, or press enter without putting in a character name).

I think as the series progressed, they were adding more. And by the time Space Quest V (Intro of StarCon) - Scott and Mark were no longer working on the game together. So it veered more to becoming a straight up Star Trek parody (it felt like) rather than a general "Sci Fi" parody. And they focused MUCH more, I feel like, in story (which SQ4 also did a lot of). The games were able to do so much more, hold so much more, have voices.

It's not surprising, that after SQ4 - that they would do some retcon to make it a more cohesive story.

Rath Darkblade wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 6:03 pm It's been years since I played SQ1, but still, no wonder I didn't remember Arcada. IIRC, in SQ1, they didn't name the ship you start on. Am I right?

No, you are not. It was called the Arcada in both the remake and the AGI original.

Tawmis wrote: ↑Thu Jul 01, 2021 12:25 am I agree with this as well.

I feel like, especially with Space Quest I, they weren't sure if there'd be another.

Well, they did call it "Chapter One" on the original black box, in-game, and in the demo. Hehe.
But yeah, there's never a guarantee. And early on in a series you don't need a ton of stuff fleshed out anyway.