Crusade

"Crusade" is a spin-off "Babylon 5" composed of thirteen episodes but without conclusion of the lead plot.

The plot is based on a virus released on Earth by the aliens Drakh that will decimate the global population in five years. Captain Matthew Gideon is assigned to command the starship Excalibur and search for the cure exploring the galaxy. Along his journey, he lives adventures with his crew in the outer space.

The lead characters are reasonable: Captain Matthew Gideon (Gary Cole) is the best and most interesting one. Lt. John Matheson (Daniel Dae Kim) is a telepath not allowed to use his abilities that are pointless. Max Eilerson (David Allen Brooks) is an annoying character. Galen (Peter Woodward) and Dureena Nafeel (Carrie Dobro) are promising and should be better developed. Dr. Sarah Chambers (Marjean Holden) is expressionless in an important role.

The special effects are poor, even for a 1998 TV Series, but it was worthwhile watching the DVD Box. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available.

To those of you who only saw it when broadcast on TNT, the broadcast "opener" was not in fact the true opening episode. The series is now being rebroadcast in the order in which it was intended by Sci-Fi Channel, and after only a week it remains far more satisfying than it was two years ago. The story detailed on all the chatrooms at the time. Basically, B5 was bought for TNT by the people who bought re-broadcast rights, but supervision for Crusade was taken over by people who supervised original series and evidently didn't like it -- they were into westerns. They wanted a new character added, a female who 'explored' other species sexually. They were responsible for the change in uniforms, and they demanded a new opener, one which gave away too much. JMS went as far as he could, then told them to stuff it. They took 13 episodes, no more, and at the time the Sci Fi channel had committed its financial future to Farscape. I liked Farscape -- now I love it -- but I LOVE Crusade. Watch the series as it is broadcast here, and write Sci-Fi asking if they can't get new episodes. Marjean Holden may be trapped in Beastmaster, but I suspect the other actors would jump at the chance to play such complex characters.

The tribulations associated with the production of this show were a drama in and of themselves, and anyone who doesn't know the history should check it out. The first episodes are not representative of the original vision Mr. JMS had for Crusade. The last episodes were actually the first ones filmed and intended to launch the series.

There are actually some sad parallels to the problems Gene Roddenberry had with NBC in trying to get Star Trek made. The NBC execs thought the Star Trek pilot (The Cage) was too brainy. They wanted the regular series plots dumbed down and more action added. As they say, the one thing we learn from history is that no one seems to learn from history.

Given the success of Babylon 5 and the fact that B5 fans were greatly anticipating Crusade, it was a business fiasco for TNT's execs to presume to tamper with something they didn't understand. Unfortunately, tamper they did, and we have been forced to live with the consequences of an unfulfilled vision. Compare Crusade's "Racing the Night", the intended first episode, with "War Zone" to see the result of TNT's meddling. Notice the utterly unnecessary fight scene in "War Zone". Also, notice that the Rangers disappeared entirely from the TNT-influenced episodes.

TNT's final insult was in trying to foist this off as a "special limited series". Since when do you introduce an audience to a story and a bunch of characters, then deliberately fail to finish what you've started? Curiosity prevented me from not watching. Now I'm stuck wondering about what might have been.

I was especially intrigued by the storyline involving Gideon and the mysterious "apocalypse box". JMS never let characters get away with cheating, as Gideon was clearly doing by consulting the force controlling the box. I'd really like to know what fate was in store for Gideon as recompense for taking shortcuts to success. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll have to make up my own ending to this story.

If allowed to develop unobstructed, Crusade could have been a classic series. In spite of TNT's interference, there were still flashes of brilliance in the few episodes that were produced. Instead, it seems that Crusade is doomed to occupy a place in sci-fi history as a memorial to what might have been.

Crusade was a bold step in another direction for the ultra successful Babylon 5 TV series. Set up in the prologue movie 'A Call to Arms' and taking place 5 years after B5 ends, Crusade follows the crew of the experimental destroyer Excalibur in a search for a cure from a deadly alien plague which is slowly killing the Earth, something in itself is amazing. Not many shows would cut off mankind's homeworld for the sake of a story, and in doing so lifted Crusade to a new level of Sci Fi.

The Excalibur is a mixture of Minbari, Vorlon and Earth technology, and resembles the Liberator from Blake's 7. The highlight of the ship has to be the Main Guns which converts all of the ship's energy into one savage laser beam, but renders the ship without power for one minute as it recharges. J. Michael Strackzynski, the show's creator, is a forward thinker, so much so that this ship was first mentioned back in Babylon 5's 5th season episode 'Movement of Fire & Shadow'.

Season One was a mixed bag. Lasting only 13 episodes due to a conflict with JMS and broadcaster TNT, there were only a handful of episodes that stood out. Out of those made, 'Racing the Night' was arguably the best. A desperate species suffering from the same plague as Earth, using any means necessary to find a cure; this episode posed more questions than people think. Had the series continued, it was promised the show would have taken on a new aspect, and the plague wouldn't have been the only thing the crew should be worried about...

All in all the show was definitely killed off before it's time. It had potential to rival or even surpass Babylon 5 in terms of excellence, but it seems we'll never know.

I've read a lot of the comments, and I see an overwhelming trend here: people don't know what they're talking about. Crusade is NOT a bad show. It is an excellent show, and a worthy addition to the B5 universe. It was originally scheduled to air after the movie "A Call To Arms", and the pilot episode was to be "Racing The Night". They had 5 episodes ready and were about to film more when TNT paused production. They wanted serious changes to the show: new uniforms, more violence, more sex. They forced JMS to write a new pilot, "War Zone" with ridiculous requirements, such as a fistfight in the opening.

He later refused to add more sex and a 'sexual explorer', so TNT canceled the show after 13 episodes were filmed. The show was canceled before it even aired. It was not canceled because it was bad, but because TNT made it bad. They did eventually air it, but totally out of order. If you ignore "War Zone" and watch the other 12, it's a great show. The show clearly has an arc, and it was about to begin when the show was canceled. Hopefully the SCI-FI channel will pick it up in the future and continue this great series.