Crusade (TV series)
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| Crusade | |
|---|---|
 Title screen to Crusade |
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| Genre | Science fiction |
| Running time | 45 minutes per episode |
| Creator(s) | J. Michael Straczynski |
| Starring | Gary Cole Peter Woodward Carrie Dobro |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Original channel | TNT |
| Original run | June 9, 1999–September 1, 1999 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Crusade is a spin-off TV show from J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5. It occurs in the year 2267 C.E., several years after the events in Babylon 5, just after the movie A Call to Arms. A race called the Drakh have released a nanovirus plague on Earth, which will destroy all life on Earth within five years if it is not stopped. To that end, the destroyer Excalibur has been sent out to look for anything that could help the search for a cure.
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[edit] Background
Like Babylon 5, Crusade was intended to have a five-year story arc, although as Straczynski notes in the DVD commentary for A Call To Arms, it was intended to resolve the Drakh plague after a season or two and move onto other arcs. However, conflicts arose between the producers and executives at TNT, and production was cancelled before the first episode was broadcast. [1] TNT's research had indicated that the audience for Babylon 5 did not watch other TNT programming, and likewise TNT's main audience was not watching the show, making another related program unattractive to the network's management. Straczynski believes that the network's "interference"[2] with the production was an attempt to get out of their contract by allowing them to argue that he failed to deliver the series they wanted. Thirteen episodes were made and broadcast by TNT, with at least four more scripted. The Sci-Fi Channel attempted to pick up the show and continue production, but was unable to find room in its budget.[3]
[edit] Drakh attack
In 2267, seven years after the end of the Shadow War the Drakh, a former ally of the Shadows, attempt to destroy the Earth with a leftover Shadow Planet Killer. Interstellar Alliance president John Sheridan takes command of the Excalibur and Victory and leads the EarthForce and ISA fleets to victory. Despite their defeat, the Drakh manage to release a nanovirus weapon into Earth's atmosphere, infecting everyone on the planet. In five years the plague will destroy all life on the planet. The Victory was destroyed in the battle, but the Excalibur survived. Command is turned over to Captain Matthew Gideon who is given a mission: explore the galaxy to either find a cure or an ally capable of producing a cure ("War Zone").
[edit] Telepath War
At some point between 2262 and 2267 a civil war broke out on Earth between the Psi Corps and mundanes (non-telepaths), assisted by a group of rogue telepaths. As a result of the war, the Psi Corps (which all telepaths were forced to join) were disbanded and telepaths were given limited rights and allowed back into society. Few telepaths have advanced very far due to how recent the war was and common fear of telepaths. Telepaths are still banned from scanning others without consent and are required to be deep scanned by powerful telepaths on a regular basis to ensure that they are not violating any laws ("The Well of Forever").
[edit] Mars independence
After the Earth Alliance Civil War in 2261, Earth joined the Interstellar Alliance. As promised by John Sheridan, Mars was granted independence since ISA laws required members to free any colony where the majority of colonists want independence ("Rising Star"). There is still resentment between the two sides ("Ruling from the Tomb"). Earth controls most of the information systems and resources in the solar system and Earth based corporations control much of the Mars economy ("Objects in Motion"). As a result there is some hostility among Mars-born humans towards Earthers and many in EarthForce do not feel obligated to risk their lives to help Earth fight the plague.
[edit] Cast
John Matheson, Max Eilerson, Sarah Chambers, Matthew Gideon, Dureena Nafeel, and Galen
- Captain Matthew Gideon (Gary Cole): captain of the Excalibur. He was specifically chosen by Interstellar Alliance president John Sheridan because he would be willing to take chances and would not let diplomacy get in the way of completing the mission.
- Lieutenant John Matheson (Daniel Dae Kim): second in command and strong telepath. He is considered to be a role model among human telepaths since no other has advanced so far in the EarthForce military. He served as Gideon's first officer on his previous assignment as well. He was assigned to the Excalibur at the insistence of Gideon.
- Max Eilerson (David Allen Brooks): a successful archaeologist from Interplanetary Expeditions. He was a child prodigy and has a gift for understanding alien languages. He was not originally assigned to the Excalibur but was recruited by Gideon during their encounter in "War Zone".
- Galen (Peter Woodward): a technomage, who had saved Gideon's life 10 years prior to the series ("The Path of Sorrows"). He was exiled from the technomage's order in 2267 after he helped Earth and the Alliance fight the Drakh in the battle that resulted in Earth becoming infected with the plague (Babylon 5: A Call to Arms).
- Dr. Sarah Chambers (Marjean Holden): ship's medical officer. She was on Mars at the time of the Drakh attack and chose to join the crew rather than return to Earth and be with her family.
- Dureena Nafeel (Carrie Dobro): an ex-thief and last known survivor of her race (a race destroyed by the Drakh during the Shadow War). Along with Galen, she assisted the crew during the Drakh attack on Earth. After the attack she was held on Mars by EarthForce for further questioning, but was released when Gideon made her part of the crew.
- Captain Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins): commanding officer of Babylon 5. She first encountered Gideon on Mars during an interstellar conference on the plague where she was heading security ("Ruling from the Tomb"). She and Gideon originally clashed due to similarities in personalities, but soon developed a strong relationship ("The Rules of the Game"). She returned to Babylon 5 after the conference and appeared infrequently.
[edit] Episodes
The "correct" order of episodes is somewhat unclear, and the episodes contain conflicting evidence as to the chronological order. Series creator J. Michael Straczynski revised TNT's ordering for re-broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel in April of 2001, and the episodes have been repeated in this order a number of occasions since then. "War Zone," an episode made halfway through the production as an opener, has been pushed near the end. In particular, these episodes ignore a discontinuity in uniforms — in the TNT order, the crew start out with the revised uniforms in production, and then in "Appearances and Other Deceits" were forced to change to the "new" uniforms used earlier in production. The fourteenth episode would have featured a return to the older uniforms that the crew prefer.[4]
A third order was formally endorsed by Straczynski as the "true" chronological sequence of events for the filmed episode, as it appeared in The Official Babylon 5 Chronology (published in the pages of The Official Babylon 5 Magazine in 1999-2000). This particular ordering supersedes Straczynski's own "preferred" sequence from a strictly chronological and causal standpoint. The original broadcast order as set by TNT was used for the DVD releases.
[edit] Completed episodes
"The Well of Forever" and "Patterns of the Soul" were written by Fiona Avery and "Ruling from the Tomb" was written by Peter David. All of the other episodes were written by J. Michael Straczynski. Production codes are noted next to the episode title.
| Original broadcast order | Revised broadcast order | Chronological order |
|---|---|---|
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[edit] Unfilmed episodes
- Value Judgments, by Fiona Avery
- Tried and True, by Fiona Avery
- To The Ends Of The Earth, by J. Michael Straczynski
- Untitled "Apocalypse Box" episode, by J. Michael Straczynski
- "Sword Trilogy"
- War Story, by Richard Mueller
- The Walls of Hell, by Larry DiTillio
- Part 3 (untitled), by J. Michael Straczynski
- The End of the Line (season finale), by J. Michael Straczynski
Scripts for "Value Judgments", "To the Ends of the Earth" and "The End of the Line" were available online for a time at Bookface.com. "Value Judgments" was to feature Bester, and "To the Ends of the Earth" and "The End of the Line" would deal with Earth use of shadow technology, and the mysterious ship that destroyed the Cerberus.[5]
[edit] Continuity problems
As a result of TNT showing the episodes out of their intended sequence, there are several continuity problems, including:
- In episode 10 ("The Memory of War"), Dr. Chambers reprogrammed the technomages' nanovirus to create a short term protection against the Drakh nanovirus. However, they had already used the device in episode 5 ("Patterns of the Soul").
- The Apocalypse Box warned Gideon not to trust Galen in episode 10 ("The Memory of War"), however Galen's "betrayal" occurred in episode 3 ("The Well of Forever"), according to aired episodes. However, it is possible that the betrayal the Apocalypse Box actually referred to the events of "To the Ends of the Earth", the unaired script by JMS. This revealed information on Galen and the rest of the Technomages that might have been seen by Gideon as a betrayal. (see the Technomage Trilogy). Additionally, the Apocolypse Box lies and distorts the truth on occasion, so it is possible that the events of episode 3 were unrelated to the Box's information.
- The crew received new uniforms in episode 8 ("Appearances and Other Deceits"), however they had already been wearing the "new" uniforms for several episodes. In episode 14 the new uniforms would have been destroyed and the crew would have gone back to the "old" uniforms.[6]
- Gideon and Lochley met each other for the very first time in "Ruling from the Tomb", and they developed an intimate relationship in episode 7 ("The Rules of the Game"), however in the final episode ("Each Night I Dream of Home") they are merely on friendly (and slightly flirty) terms with each other, after Lochley's damaged Starfury is rescued by Excalibur. This episode, the fifth to be filmed, was originally to have introduced Lochley; a line of voice-over dialogue establishes that they had previously met.
[edit] DVD releases
The complete series was released as a four disc set in 2004, almost five years after the series ended and a few months after the final season and movie set of Babylon 5 was released. Crusade was also included in Babylon 5: The Complete Universe, a set of all B5 shows and movies released in the UK on October 24, 2005. It was not included in Babylon 5: The Complete Television Series, which was a set released in the US.
The episodes are in the original broadcast order. The set does not include the pilot movie, A Call to Arms, which was released earlier as part of the movie set. Unlike Bablyon 5, Crusade was not presented in widescreen on DVD. Initially the set included a commentary with Straczynski, however he got it removed from subsequent pressings when he learned that parts of it had been replaced with an entirely different interview to cover up his harsh criticism of TNT.[7]
| DVD Name | Region 1 | Region 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Crusade: The Complete Series | December 7, 2004 | March 28, 2005 |
| Babylon 5: The Complete Television Series | August 17, 2004 | N/A |
| Babylon 5: The Complete Universe | N/A | October 24, 2005 |
[edit] References
- ^ Crisis on Babylon 5: Crusade, Ain't it Cool News. Retrieved July 13, 2006.
- ^ War Zone, The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. Retrieved July 13, 2006.
- ^ The Babylon Project: Crusade, The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. Retrieved July 13, 2006.
- ^ Episode List, The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. Retrieved July 13, 2006.
- ^ [1], [2], [3] and [4]
- ^ Appearances and Other Deceits, The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. Retrieved July 14, 2006.
- ^ Crusade DVD commentary, JMSNews.com
[edit] External links
- Crusade at the Internet Movie Database
- Crusade at TV.com
- Crusade at The Great Machine (Babylon 5 Wiki)
