WGN chief meteorologist Tom Skilling shared photos of an exploding Imperial TIE fighter and other starships from the Star Wars franchise — except his caption initially read:
I’ve came across these photos during my online wanderings today–and, while off the meteorological track, they strike me as quite amazing. These are simulated explosions Star Trek ships involved in these mock-up explosions put together using models of these ship–and the impressive use of cotton and led’s by a toy-collector/model maker who posts his/her material on sites under the header “plasticstarwars” on both instagram and youtube. VERY COOL!
UPDATE: So you think you've had a bad day? I owe Star Wars & Star Trek fans an apology! It's been pointed out to me…
Skilling has since updated his post to reflect the correct sci-fi franchise, and shared a quippy apology about his honest mistake with both Star Trek and Star Wars fans.
So you think you’ve had a bad day? I owe Star Wars & Star Trek fans an apology! It’s been pointed out to me (oh, maybe 1,000 times) that these are Star Wars vessels——NOT the Star Trek Enterprise. And I’m a Star Trek/Star Wars fan too–guess not a good enough one, huh?? Scotty won’t beam me up anymore! Harrison Ford & Mark Hammill probably won’t return my calls –of course, they never did! R2D2 will probably electrocute me next time he stops by. And Darth Vader has put out a hit on me! Other than that, what A GREAT DAY it’s been!! Maybe tomorrow will be better.
Skilling’s own network, WGN Chicago, called him out for the viral post, even sharing some comments from his followers:
…fans of the epic space franchise were quick to call him out.
Some of their comments:
“The Force was not with you on this post Tom Skilling” “Tom. You are about to feel the wrath of upset Star Wars nerds.” “Tom just unknowingly upset half the internet. LoL” “Star Wars, Tom, not Star Trek.” “Poor Tom…going to get flamed out by every sci-fi fan that follows him. God-speed, sir!”
Fortunately, nobody made any Death Star jokes at poor Tom’s expense, and most fans seemed to be taking his unintentional error all in fun!
Get up close to Star Wars ships
Fans of Star Wars ships have a lot to look forward to in the coming years, with both the Star Wars Hyperspace Lounge onboard the upcoming Disney Wish cruise ship and the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
The Hyperspace Lounge is set to feature over 40 ships from the Star Wars galaxy. The full list of ships can be found on the official Star Wars website — it includes iconic vessels like Han Solo and Chewbacca’s Millennium Falcon, the Halcyon, an Imperial Star Destroyer, and Resistance X-wing fighter just like Poe Dameron’s.
Other fun additions include a Rebel Alliance Naboo N-1 starfighter, a Resistance bunkerbuster, Tuggs’ Grub food transport, and a New Republic prison ship.
Due to the apparent timeline of this new adults-only cruise ship lounge, we apparently won’t see bounty hunter Din Djarin’s (Pedro Pascal) Razor Crest — which was tragically destroyed on Tython in The Mandalorian Season 2. Boba Fett’s famous Slave I ship is also noticeably missing from the list.
As for the Galactic Starcruiser, Star Wars fans will actually get to live on the Halcyon luxury passenger cruiser for a two-night, three-day adventure into a galaxy far, far away. Wookieepedia shares the following details about the ship:
The Halcyon was a Corellian MPO-1400 Star Cruiser operated by Chandrila Star Line. It was commanded by Captain R. Keevan, and a note posted in Oga’s Cantina in Black Spire Outpost on the planet Batuu advertising a mechanic position on board the starship directed all applicants to contact Keevan. The job listing stated that applicants would need experience working on MPO-1400s and that the ability to speak Shyriiwook would be beneficial.
Credit: Lucasfilm
