Crusade (TV series)

For the Brian Keith 1955-1956 CBS television series, see Crusader (TV series).

Crusade
Crusade series launch poster
Format	Science fiction
Created by	J. Michael Straczynski
Starring	Gary Cole Tracy Scoggins Daniel Dae Kim David Allen Brooks Peter Woodward Marjean Holden Carrie Dobro
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	13 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	45 minutes per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	TNT
Original run	June 9, 1999 – September 1, 1999
Chronology
Preceded by	Babylon 5
Followed by	The Legend of the Rangers

Crusade is a spin-off TV show from J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5. Its plot is set in AD 2267, five years after the events of Babylon 5, and 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.

Production 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] Cast and crew have indicated that the asking price TNT gave to Sci-Fi was purposely set too high so that the executives at TNT would not risk embarrassment if Crusade had gone on to do well on another network.^{[citation needed]}

Plot Background

Drakh attack

Main article: Babylon 5: A Call to Arms

In 2267, six 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 one ("War Zone").

Telepath War

Main article: Telepath War

At some point between 2262 and 2267 (most likely in 2264, and just before "To Live and Die in Starlight" which took place in 2265^{[original research?]}), a civil war broke out on Earth between the Psi Corps and a group of rogue telepaths, with mundanes (non-telepaths) caught in the middle. As a result of the war, the Psi Corps (which all telepaths had been forced by law to join) was disbanded and the laws were rewritten; telepaths were given limited rights and allowed back into society, including the military (e.g. Lt. Matheson in Crusade). Few telepaths have advanced very far because of how recent the war was and due to the common fear of telepaths. Telepaths are still banned from scanning others' thoughts 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").

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 Terrans and many in EarthForce do not feel obligated to risk their lives to help Earth fight the plague.

Cast

Main article: List of people involved with Crusade

This is a list of season star cast members, as credited on the DVDs.^[4]

• Gary Cole as Captain Matthew Gideon: 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.
• Tracy Scoggins as Captain Elizabeth Lochley: 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 relationship as casual lovers, ("The Rules of the Game"). She returned to Babylon 5 after the conference and appeared infrequently.
• Daniel Dae Kim as Lieutenant John Matheson: second in command and P6^[5] telepath (slightly stronger than a Commercial Telepath (P5)). 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.
• David Allen Brooks as Max Eilerson: 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".
• Peter Woodward as Galen: a technomage, who had saved Gideon's life 10 years prior to the series ("The Path of Sorrows"). He was exiled from the technomages' 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).
• Marjean Holden as Doctor Sarah Chambers: ship's medical officer. She was on Mars at the time of the Drakh attack and was willing to risk the plague to go home to Earth and be with her family and help, but was persuaded that her medical expertise could be put to better use by helping to find a cure.
• Carrie Dobro as Dureena Nafeel: a thief and last known survivor of her race (which was 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.

Episodes

Main article: List of Crusade episodes

The "correct" order of episodes is somewhat unclear, and the episodes contain conflicting evidence as to the in-universe chronological order. Series creator J. Michael Straczynski revised TNT's ordering for re-broadcast on the Sci Fi Channel in April 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.^[6]

A third order was formally endorsed by Straczynski as the "true" chronological sequence of in-universe events for the filmed episodes, 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.

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
War Zone (108) The Long Road (107) The Well of Forever (106) The Path of Sorrows (109) Patterns of the Soul (110) Ruling from the Tomb (111) The Rules of the Game (112) Appearances and Other Deceits (113) Racing the Night (103) The Memory of War (102) The Needs of Earth (101) Visitors from Down the Street (104) Each Night I Dream of Home (105)	Racing the Night (103) The Needs of Earth (101) The Memory of War (102) The Long Road (107) Visitors from Down the Street (104) The Well of Forever (106) Each Night I Dream of Home (105) Patterns of the Soul (110) The Path of Sorrows (109) Ruling from the Tomb (111) The Rules of the Game (112) War Zone (108) Appearances and Other Deceits (113)	War Zone (108) The Long Road (107) Ruling From the Tomb (111) Appearances and Other Deceits (113) The Memory of War (102) The Needs of Earth (101) Racing the Night (103) Visitors From Down the Street (104) Each Night I Dream of Home (105) The Path of Sorrows (109) Patterns of the Soul (110) The Well of Forever (106) The Rules of the Game (112)

Unfilmed scripts

• 114 To The Ends Of The Earth, by J. Michael Straczynski
• 115 Value Judgments, by Fiona Avery
• 116 The End of the Line (season finale), by J. Michael Straczynski
• 118 Tried and True, by Fiona Avery
• "Dureena Kidnap Trilogy"
  1. 119 Part 1 War Story, by Richard Mueller
• 2XX Little Bugs Have Lesser Bugs, by Peter Woodward

Other planned episodes

• 117 Darkness of the Soul, by J. Michael Straczynski
• "Dureena Kidnap Trilogy"
  1. 121 Part 2 The Walls of Hell, by Larry DiTillio
  2. 120 Part 3 (untitled), by J. Michael Straczynski
• 122 (untitled), by J. Michael Straczynski

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 Straczynski. 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 Apocalypse 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.
• 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.

Uniform Switch

The crew received new uniforms in episode 8 ("Appearances and Other Deceits"), replacing the black uniforms, they have been wearing, with grey ones. While this doesn't pose a continuity problem in itself, it is noteworthy, that the "new" uniforms were the ones first used in production. After the first five episodes were produced using grey uniforms, there was a hiatus and the cast received new black uniforms. However, as the series resumed production, among the following episodes was the pilot War Zone, a coming-together-episode, which took place before the previously produced grey-uniform episodes. In order to provide an explanation, why the crew first wears black uniforms in the pilot, then switches for five episodes to grey uniforms and then switches back to the black uniforms, two bookending episodes were written. The first was Appearances and other Deceits, which was the last episode produced and the eighth shown. In episode 14 the grey uniforms would have been destroyed and the crew would have gone back to the black uniforms. ^[7]

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 Babylon 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.^[8][9]

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

References

1. ^ Crisis on Babylon 5: Crusade, Ain't it Cool News. Retrieved July 13, 2006.
2. ^ War Zone, The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. Retrieved July 13, 2006.
3. ^ The Babylon Project: Crusade, The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. Retrieved July 13, 2006.
4. ^ Straczynski, J. Michael (Creator) (2004-12-07) (in English [Subtitles: English, Français, Español]) (DVD [Video Object (VOB)], Region 1). Crusade: The Complete Series (Four disc set, 576 minutes). Burbank, CA 91522: Warner Home Video. ISBN 0-7907-9693-7. OCLC 57346752. ASIN B00061QJSK, UPC 085393972028, Wikipedia Crusade DVD releases. Archived from the original on 2010-01-02. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/57346752. Retrieved 2010-01-02. "Who do you serve, and who do you trust?" 
5. ^ Value Judgements script, page 16.
6. ^ Episode List, The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. Retrieved July 13, 2006.
7. ^ Appearances and Other Deceits, The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. Retrieved July 14, 2006.
8. ^ Re: "Crusade" DVDs in TNT order, JMSNews.com 2004-12-10
9. ^ Quickie from JMS 2005-01-30

External links

• Crusade at the Internet Movie Database
• Crusade at TV.com
• Crusade at The Great Machine (Babylon 5 Wiki)
• Apocalypse Box Site
• Crusade on The Babylon Project, an external wiki