<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>yeah..like it would've been weird if for Crusade's run on SFC they would've aired A Call to Arms in 2 parts as episodes of the series.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Well, that's a different kettle of fish.
The Gathering was the pilot for
Babylon 5 and
To Live and Die in Starlight will be the pilot for
Rangers.
A Call to Arms was not the pilot for
Crusade.
ACtA was the last
Babylon 5 adventure, not the first
Crusade story. (In fact, I'm looking at TNT's poster for it right now and it says,
A Call to Arms: A Babylon 5 Movie
)
Crusade didn't
have a pilot - that is, a sample episode or TV movie that introduces the series regulars and either sets up or illustrates the series premise. The show was sold to TNT
without a pilot, based on the success of
B5.
While
ACtA did setup the background situation for
Crusade S1 and introduce the ship and two of the characters who would be featured in it, it was more Sheridan and Anderson's story than anyone else's. Without Gideon, Matheson and Eilerson (none of whom had been cast at that point, IIRC) you can't really call it
Crusade.
(Besides, as a matter of contracts and packaging,
ACtA was never part of
Crusade. I don't think you could add it to the series without having to renegotiate the contracts for Boxleitner, Doyle, et. al.)
Regards,
Joe
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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division