Firefly
American Gothic
Farscape
Crusade
Why does the best genre entertainment have to die
an unexpected and unnatural death?
Cast and Crew
Gary Cole as Matthew Gideon
Daniel Dae Kim as John Matheson
David Allen Brooks as Max Eilerson
Peter Woodward as Galen
Marjean Holden as Sarah Chambers
Carrie Dobro as Dureena Nafeel
Tracy Scoggins as Captain Elizabeth Lochley
Created by J. Michael Straczynski
Written by J. Michael Straczynski, Fiona Avery and
Peter David
Directed by Mike Vejar, Janet Greek, John Copeland,
Stephen Furst,
Jerry Apoian, Tony Dow, and Jesus Salvador
Trevino
Complete information is
available from this
IMDB
page.
Buy from: Amazon.com
or Amazon.ca
Past TV reviews can be found here.
Original Airdate
All 13 episodes of Crusade originally aired
in 1999.
Synopsis
After the events of Babylon 5: A Call To
Arms, Earth sends
out its best ship to find a cure for the Drakh
plague.
High Point
“Racing the Night” is probably the best overall
episode.
Low Point
The non-existence of episodes 14 through 110.
The Review
The originality of the series is mixed. On
one hand, it’s a
spin-off. On the other hand, it’s significantly
different in style
and look than it’s predecessor. We’ve got some of
the politics that
Babylon 5 did so well, but we’ve also got a
lot more action
going on, with very different character dynamics. I
give it 4 out of
6.
The effects were often better than they were
on Babylon
5, and they were certainly the best they could
afford given the
available budgets, but they’re still pretty obvious.
I give it 3 out
of 6.
The story is incomplete, as the series was
canceled/pulled/unplugged before the whole thing came
through. We’ve
got glimpses of what could have been, but the initial
mission
statement the crew had (the only statement that was
filmed, though JMS
alludes to more in his commentary) was left
unfulfilled at the end of
the series. Watching this series feels like reading
the first chapter
of a really great book, and then never coming back.
I give it 4 out
of 6.
The acting from most of the cast is great.
Gary Cole
convinced me he was great when he made American
Gothic, and
nothing changed my mind about that here. (Elements
of the Lucas Buck
character came through a couple of times, too, which
helped generate
interest in this captain as well. He’s not a
paramount of virtue, but
there are lines he will definitely never cross.) In
fact, the only
regular cast member I was dissatisfied with was
Marjean Holden,
particularly in the last episode. (Her reaction to
David’s request in
particular seemed wrong to me, and the gap in talent
became more clear
when we saw her playing off of Richard Biggs.) I
give it 5 out of 6.
The emotional response is often great. In
addition to
amusing moments, and to a parody of The
X-Files that worked
extremely well for this viewer, we had a sense of
urgency and a feel
for a larger universe showing up in the grand scheme
of things. Then
we get crushed by the sudden end to the series. I
give it 4 out of 6.
The production is pretty good. The sets
strike me as being
more convincing than those on Babylon 5, and
the variety of
locations gives a much greater variety for the look
of the show. I
give it 5 out of 6.
Overall, it’s the beginning of a good
series, and (I think) a
better package than the movie collection. It’s
accessible to people
who haven’t seen the parent series, too. (When this
first aired, I
could follow it without ever having seen a complete
episode of
Babylon 5. If my old VCR hadn’t died one
day, I’d have seen
all 13 in their original broadcast, instead of just
12.) If you’re a
fan of well written sci-fi, pick this up. I give it
5 out of 6.
In total, Crusade – The Complete Series
receives 30 out of
42. It would have scored higher had it managed a
complete season.
Argh, why aren’t there 9 more eps?
What a bittersweet dvd set. Such potential as a series. But I guess the saving grace is that it appears that the upcomming b5:mots movie might cover some of the future crusade plots JMS talked about in his commentary. At least thats my guess.
I was also disappointed that JMS only did commentary on one episode. After being spoiled with two on each b5 set, I’ve come to appreciate the detail and insight he provides on his commentaries. Oh well.
Don’t think I’m gonna buy it…
…for the simple reason that, despite their assurances to him, WB messed with JMS’ commentary, removing comments he made regarding the interference he received from TNT during the making of Crusade.
Now, if they ever decide to rerelease this set with his commentary intact, I’ll reconsider.
Missing episodes?
I don’t get it – are you saying there were episodes produced but never shown?
Re: Missing episodes?
All 13 produced episodes were included. Two additional
episodes were scripted, but never filmed. 95 other
episodes had been planned, but never got past that stage.
continuity
Watched these last week via netflix. Could have been a good, but I gotta ask. Why the hell did they not fix the continuity screwup on the dvd series. Specifically, disk 2, 3. Disk 2, lets show them using this nanotech that protects them from the virus. Then along comes an episode on disk 3 where the find the nanotech and discover it can block the virus temporarily.
Re: continuity
They had to choose which continuity error to make. That
one would be less obvious than switching uniforms for one
week before the new ones have even been made.
Re: continuity
Damn, I completely missed that one :)
Re: continuity
It’s worth noting that the Episode List on the Lurker’s Guide has the order that JMS recommends from a story point of view, although you have to ignore stuff like the uniforms. (The Crusade list is at the bottom of the page.)
Note that the “pilot”, War Zone, is suggested waaaay near the end of the list. Interesting. (That’s one that JMS didn’t even want to make, but TNT demanded it. My impression is that he tried to put everything they wanted into that one episode so they’d leave him alone… Sadly, it didn’t work…)
-Erf.