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EpDis: Crusade: The Long Road
- Thread starter vacantlook
- Start date
KoshN
Super Moderator
The weakest parts I thought, were the CGI shots showing the entire mine site (didn't look real), and the part where Alwyn was supposedly going to shoot down the ship (Not really convincing. Sure, it was convincing to the Earthforce Captain, but he was an idiot.)
The best parts were:
The Alwyn, Galen and Gideon conversation at the dinner table (re. Elric, and the mages leavng).
The comedic bit in the bar with the holodemons. (*chomp*).
The comedic bit about the shuttle's engines being replaced with a substance resembling peanut-butter.
The CGI shot of the mine's destruction and the aftermath (burning ruins).
The Galen/Alwyn and Gideon/Galen conversations at the end.
Alwyn's ship seen leaving (Nice touch with the gold dragons on the wings.)
As for the golden dragon, well nobody would believe that such a thing would really exist, but as an illusion that a technomage could conjure that could really do damage? It's possible. And if Galen were doing it, it could REALLY do damage.
Overall, I gave it a 'B'.
The best parts were:
The Alwyn, Galen and Gideon conversation at the dinner table (re. Elric, and the mages leavng).
The comedic bit in the bar with the holodemons. (*chomp*).
The comedic bit about the shuttle's engines being replaced with a substance resembling peanut-butter.
The CGI shot of the mine's destruction and the aftermath (burning ruins).
The Galen/Alwyn and Gideon/Galen conversations at the end.
Alwyn's ship seen leaving (Nice touch with the gold dragons on the wings.)
As for the golden dragon, well nobody would believe that such a thing would really exist, but as an illusion that a technomage could conjure that could really do damage? It's possible. And if Galen were doing it, it could REALLY do damage.
Overall, I gave it a 'B'.
Lennier's Tears
Regular
Wow, not much of a thread here ... But hey, at least I'm not the *first* person to post in it 
This episode felt very Star Trek-ey to me. You know, crew members dressing in silly disguises (where did they get those anyway, they don't have a replicator ) to mingle with the locals who live in some quaint old-timey society with an overabundance of white people, all as background to explore some moral issue. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I thought the issues being explored here were rather interesting, although the execution might have been lacking a bit.
It's interesting to see Earth Force in the role of the evil, strip-mining corporation, although obviously not an actual corporation, and with a pressing need of their own. We've seen various Earth Force officers being all arrogant, blunt, and lacking empathy for non-Earth populations, so it fits with that. I'm sort of surprised that this whole thing appears to be worked out between the officer in charge of the operation, the locals, and the Excalibur crew. Aren't there any higher-ups making decisions? What about Earth Gov or Alliance rules about this sort of thing? Presumably you can't go around setting up mining operations on planets with people living on them? (I only just watched it for the first time ever, and I can't recall if that was an Earth colony or what, but that probably determines exactly which rules apply)
I see Earth Force people still wearing regular Earth Force uniforms, so I take it that the Excalibur crew has a different set of uniforms for some reason or other that is not yet clear to me. Are they not inside Earth Force? Is this a private operation?
Techno mage stuff is always cool, I'm happy to see more of it. But, what is the deal with the way they all talk. Do they teach you that in techno mage school?
As we were discussing in a different thread recently, Babylon 5 was pretty low budget, but they did a good job not letting it show so much in the sets. In this episode of Crusade, I felt myself constantly distracted by the budget sets. The "outside" sets looked like rooms with plants in them, and the furniture inside really threw me ... same with the clothes. I always liked the costumes on Babylon 5. I don't mean just the uniforms and outfits of the main characters, but also the stuff in the background. The 23rd century humans of the Babylon 5 universe all sort of dressed in a recognizable style. The group of people we meet in this Crusade episode are all over the place. And maybe that's intentional, but it sort of seems like a budget issue to me. They're supposed to be "practically medieval", but their outfits are made up of items and styles that cover several centuries worth of European and US fashion. The furniture is mass-produced late 20th century stuff. Where are they getting this stuff?? I know that's totally not the point of the episode, but that sort of thing tends to really distract me. I also agree with KoshN that the CGI shots of the entire mine site looked pretty fake.
This episode felt very Star Trek-ey to me. You know, crew members dressing in silly disguises (where did they get those anyway, they don't have a replicator
) to mingle with the locals who live in some quaint old-timey society with an overabundance of white people, all as background to explore some moral issue. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I thought the issues being explored here were rather interesting, although the execution might have been lacking a bit.It's interesting to see Earth Force in the role of the evil, strip-mining corporation, although obviously not an actual corporation, and with a pressing need of their own. We've seen various Earth Force officers being all arrogant, blunt, and lacking empathy for non-Earth populations, so it fits with that. I'm sort of surprised that this whole thing appears to be worked out between the officer in charge of the operation, the locals, and the Excalibur crew. Aren't there any higher-ups making decisions? What about Earth Gov or Alliance rules about this sort of thing? Presumably you can't go around setting up mining operations on planets with people living on them? (I only just watched it for the first time ever, and I can't recall if that was an Earth colony or what, but that probably determines exactly which rules apply)
I see Earth Force people still wearing regular Earth Force uniforms, so I take it that the Excalibur crew has a different set of uniforms for some reason or other that is not yet clear to me. Are they not inside Earth Force? Is this a private operation?
Techno mage stuff is always cool, I'm happy to see more of it. But, what is the deal with the way they all talk. Do they teach you that in techno mage school?
As we were discussing in a different thread recently, Babylon 5 was pretty low budget, but they did a good job not letting it show so much in the sets. In this episode of Crusade, I felt myself constantly distracted by the budget sets. The "outside" sets looked like rooms with plants in them, and the furniture inside really threw me ... same with the clothes. I always liked the costumes on Babylon 5. I don't mean just the uniforms and outfits of the main characters, but also the stuff in the background. The 23rd century humans of the Babylon 5 universe all sort of dressed in a recognizable style. The group of people we meet in this Crusade episode are all over the place. And maybe that's intentional, but it sort of seems like a budget issue to me. They're supposed to be "practically medieval", but their outfits are made up of items and styles that cover several centuries worth of European and US fashion. The furniture is mass-produced late 20th century stuff. Where are they getting this stuff?? I know that's totally not the point of the episode, but that sort of thing tends to really distract me. I also agree with KoshN that the CGI shots of the entire mine site looked pretty fake.
Jan
Regular
Wow, not much of a thread here ... But hey, at least I'm not the *first* person to post in it
This episode felt very Star Trek-ey to me. You know, crew members dressing in silly disguises (where did they get those anyway, they don't have a replicator
What's building up here is an us vs them between Earthforce and Gideon, I think.
Regarding the uniforms, JMS said:
And for the clothes:
I'm not sure I get this part? Just because they've chosen a certain level of technology, why should that mean that they'd adopt the styles that were common for that period unless there were a particular reason for doing so? I know if I were choosing to set up a colony I wouldn't limit myself that way.
I loved this episode for the whimsy. I do like gold dragons!
Jan
Lennier's Tears
Regular
I'm sure I'll better understand what is going on in each individual episode once I've seen all of them
Sorry, I explained that poorly. I mean that from what we see of this society, and from the way they are described, I wouldn't expect them to have much of an industrial setup, and no way to factory produce clothes for the colonists/villagers. If they are hand-making their own clothes, you'd expect to see limited styles and fabrics. If they are, on the other hand, importing their clothes from elsewhere, you'd expect the clothes to resemble those we see in other 23rd century human populations.
Instead it's sort of a weird mix that makes me think someone in the costume department didn't really think too hard about what this community should look like, and I'm assuming that happened because there wasn't any money to think about that, let alone implement any ideas beyond "the clothes look old-timey".
I'm sure lots of people consider that a weird issue to get hung up on. I fully admit I get hung up on weird, minor details But, I'm sure that, since we are all people with varied real world interests, we all have our own little nitpicks and things we can't stand to watch in TV or movies while they may pass unnoticed by other viewers. This is definitely one of mine!
Sorry, I explained that poorly. I mean that from what we see of this society, and from the way they are described, I wouldn't expect them to have much of an industrial setup, and no way to factory produce clothes for the colonists/villagers. If they are hand-making their own clothes, you'd expect to see limited styles and fabrics. If they are, on the other hand, importing their clothes from elsewhere, you'd expect the clothes to resemble those we see in other 23rd century human populations.
Instead it's sort of a weird mix that makes me think someone in the costume department didn't really think too hard about what this community should look like, and I'm assuming that happened because there wasn't any money to think about that, let alone implement any ideas beyond "the clothes look old-timey".
I'm sure lots of people consider that a weird issue to get hung up on. I fully admit I get hung up on weird, minor details
But, I'm sure that, since we are all people with varied real world interests, we all have our own little nitpicks and things we can't stand to watch in TV or movies while they may pass unnoticed by other viewers. This is definitely one of mine!