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Re-watching Crusade
- Thread starter GKarsEye
- Start date
deaded
Regular
Warning: Contains some SPOILERS for the Technomage trilogy of novels.
Yes, except for....
"The year is 2265."
It's Jan. 2267 in "War Zone."
"They attack Earth without warning, and when on the verge of defeat, seed the entire planet with a bio-engineered virus."
Just a note, the Drakh originally intended the virus for use on the planet Minbar, after Earth had been destroyed by the deathcloud.
"Since humanity is a spacefaring race in 2265,"
Again, 2267.
"state-of-the-art destroyer Excalibur (built, like the White Star cruisers, with the help of Minbari technology)"
Minbari and *Vorlon* technology.
"Sheridan picks a quirky, somewhat unpredictable captain to command the Excalibur: a former Marine (or their equivalent) commando named Matthew Gideon (Gary Cole, Office Space, American Gothic)."
Don't know where he's getting this "Marine" thing, maybe from the flashbacks. Actually, it's more like space navy. Marines do not captain "ships," the Navy does. Gideon was previously captain of an Explorer class ship (main use: building jumpgates).
"Gideon also takes a liking to a grubby thief named Dureena Nafeel (Carrie Dobro),"
Grubby? Hardly. Gideon doesn't leave anybody behind.(ref. to "War Zone" & "The Path of Sorrows")
"Gideon also recruits a cynical, arrogant, annoying corporate shill named Max Eilerson (David Allen Brooks), who just happens to be a brilliant linguist and archaeologist. "
cynical, arrogant, annoying, *but likeable*
"Straczynski may have threatened to pull out of the project entirely,"
At one point, he *did* pull out of the project entirely.
http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-160&query=at%20one%20point%20walked%20off
"What's not generally known is that at one
point, I walked off Crusade. It was when the worst of the notes came in, and I
told Doug, and I told WB...I'm gone. I can't do what they're asking me to do,
it's wrong, find somebody who will."
"They prevailed on me to come back, and the main tool for this was "What about
the crew and the cast? If you walk, what happens to them?" Reluctantly, after
several days, I came back...and this led to the big notes meeting with TNT
where I told them I couldn't/wouldn't do what they were asking on moral,
ethical and creative grounds."
http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-16212&query=TNT%20survey
"Not that it made any difference to Crusade's eventual fate; that had zero to do with the writing, acting, or directing, and everything to do with an internal corporate TNT decision about SF in general. Even written at 100% of my energy level, even if it had been a GREAT show instead of a very good show, it STILLwould've met the fate it met. Of that there is no question."
http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17127&query=TNT%20survey
"JMS: I want the real truth to come out. Including the fact...I ran into some guys who worked for TNT about two years after Crusade went down. And they said, "Did you ever hear the rest of the story?" JMS: "What rest of the story?" TNT guys: "We found out, we did a research survey, a five year long study of our ratings. This was just after Crusade got going. And, we found out that the audience for B5 came for B5, then left afterward. And the TNT regular viewers didn't stick around for B5 and went away and came back. B5 wasn't adding to our viewer base."
So...they decided to pull the plug on Crusade for that reason and use the money to buy another show. But they couldn't say that because they'd be in breach of contract with Warner Bros. So their job was to make it impossible for us so they could then say, "We aren't getting the show we want, our notes aren't being dealt with, therefore we aren't responsible, we're canceling the show, this is your nut Warner Bros., you take care of it." That is why all the notes became so egregious. If I had given them everything they wanted, they still would have pulled the plug. They just wanted out. Yeah, I want that information out there."
BTW, the "other show" was Law & Order, the rerun rights.
"and TNT eventually backed down."
No, they didn't, well not on the "notes" issue. They did back down on their stance of trying to get out of paying for Crusade, but that was forced by Warner Brothers.
"However, not all reconciliations last. This one lasted until the thirteenth episode (out of 17 planned),"
Actually, 22 were planned. It was going to be a 22 episode season:
The existing 13.
"To the Ends of the Earth" and "End of the Line" by JMS
"Value Judgements" by Fiona Avery
The Dureena "sword trilogy"
plus 3 more that hadn't reached the script writing stage yet.
"TNT did pay for the completion of the existing episodes—but that was it."
Yes, *after* Warner Brothers twisted their arm. TNT tried to get out of paying for the completion of the existing 13 episodes, *especially* the first five (the Grey/Red uniform, pre-interference episodes). TNT tried to stop those from going through post-production, from *ever* seeing the light of day.
"In any event, thirteen episodes of Crusade were produced, and are now available in this DVD set,"
Yes, in the TNT broadcast order, *not* the better, but still flawed, Sci-Fi/JMS broadcast order.
Better, but still flawed, Sci-Fi/JMS broadcast order:
"Racing the Night"
"The Needs of Earth"
"The Memory of War" - nanovirus shield discovered
"The Long Road"
"Visitors from Down the Street"
"The Well of Forever"
"Each Night I Dream of Home" - more cautious early-stage flirting. Looping added at TNT's request: "Nice to see you again, Captain Lochley."
"Patterns of the Soul" - nanovirus shield used
"The Path of Sorrows"
"Ruling from the Tomb" - Gideon and Lochley first meet. Cautious early-stage flirting.
"The Rules of the Game" - Gideon bangs Lochley in the shower (not really "horny-teenager level petting").
"War Zone"
"Appearances and Other Deceits"
"Galen hijacks the Excalibur in order to fulfill a promise he made to his dying wife."
Not wife, fellow technomage and lover, Isabelle.
"First, there were a couple of atypically glaring continuity errors—for example, Gideon and Lochley go from horny-teenager level petting in one episode to cautious early-stage flirting in a later episode."
TNT Broadcast and DVD Set Order:
“War Zone”
“The Long Road”
“The Well of Forever”
“The Path of Sorrows”
“Patterns of the Soul” - nanovirus shield used
“Ruling from the Tomb” - Gideon and Lochley first meet. Cautious early-stage flirting.
“The Rules of the Game” - Gideon bangs Lochley in the shower (not really "horny-teenager level petting").
“Appearances and Other Deceits”
“Racing the Night”
“The Memory of War” - nanovirus shield discovered
“The Needs of Earth”
“Visitors from Down the Street”
“Each Night I Dream of Home” - more cautious early-stage flirting. Looping added at TNT's request: "Nice to see you again, Captain Lochley."
"The TNT Era episodes aren't bad, per se (except for the pilot), but the sudden jump to the Straczynski-controlled early episodes, which have the same level of quality and intensity in their writing as his Babylon 5 episodes, jarringly highlights the negative impact that TNT's meddling had on the show."
IMHO, "The Path of Sorrows" is right up there in quality with the first produced (last five aired by TNT). I was also impressed by Brian Thompson's against-type performance in "Patterns of the Soul."
"Galen is a larger-than-life kind of character, due to his immense knowledge and power."
Yes, and we find out just how **immense** in the Technomage trilogy of canonical novels. He's the only technomage who has achieved a perfect synergy/simpatico with the "tech." All the other mages are trying to control the tech and resist the superimposed Shadow programming. Galen's destroyed the shadow programming in his tech, and now reaches the tech directly. The "tech" implanted in every technomage, is an actual lifeform.
"He tactfully discusses the trials and tribulations the show faced in production,"
"But if you're expecting him to spend 45 minutes ripping into TNT and its programming executives with all claws bared, you'll be disappointed."
Actually, his attempt to get the real story of why Crusade was cancelled, was recorded, and edited out, AFTER Warner Brothers had agreed to put it in. As a result, in all future pressings, JMS's comments will not be included.
See:
http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17253&query=furious
http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17279&query=future%20pressings
"The show was shot in a full screen format and is presented as such,"
Almost right. Like B5, the live action was shot widescreen but all the important stuff was kept in the 4:3 frame. All the CGI and composite CGI (live action scenes that use any CGI at all), were shot/rendered 4:3 (to save time and money). This, the way they put Crusade on DVD, is the way they should have put all of B5 on DVD. That way, the top and bottom of the CGI frames aren't *cropped*, and the frame doesn't have to be enlarged to fit the widescreen frame left to right (which introduces the shimmering artifacts).
"Crusade and its cast and crew aren't guilty of anything, so they're completely free to go. The TNT people who botched this opportunity to create quality television are sentenced to watch endless repeats of Cletus Done Got His Hand Mangled In The Cotton Gin Agin, or whatever the hell they show on that network now."
I couldn't agree more.
ps.
"• Episode 4: "The Path of Sorrows"
The Excalibur visits a planet rumored to have been a center of healing in the distant past. They find a creature encased in its own spherical fishbowl, who heals psychological ailments, not physical ones. The alien helps various crewmembers confront their inner fears, their closely-held secrets, and their self-doubt. There are some deep, dark secrets hiding within Gideon, Dureena, and Galen…"
Gideon, MATHESON, and Galen. Those were the flashback sequences. Some of Dureena's secrets came out in "The Needs of Earth" and "The Well of Forever," but not really "The Path of Sorrows."
• Episode 5: "Patterns of the Soul"
Upon stopping at the small colony Theta 49, Gideon is shocked to find that the local population has been infected with the Drakh plague even though they left Earth before the Drakh attacked. Earth Force insists he evacuate them from the colony and return them to Earth, but Galen becomes suspicious. Upon further investigation, he discovers ....
GIDEON becomes suspicious.
Yes. Except for that.
vacantlook
Super Moderator
I love the scene where they're eating diner and he tells her about his idolizing Sheridan and she tells him she was married to Sheridan. 
vacantlook
Super Moderator
We don't know that their spheres actually held souls; it could be very much what Franklin said: an elaborate copy of someone's brain patterns.
vacantlook
Super Moderator
No, events of River of Souls were that a species who were evolving into an energy based lifeform were captured and each one's whole being -- not just their soul -- was trapped inside the Soul Hunters' orb.
vacantlook
Super Moderator
And yet still there's nothing that says for certain that they're capturing souls in the show.
hypatia
Regular
Ah, that was one of the unanswered mysteries of the series. Just what was in that thing? How did it survive, what did it want? Could it be trusted? Etc, etc.
Stupid TNT. If they'd sold the rights to B5 (a series they knew they no longer wanted) Crusade might have had a chance on the Sci-Fi channel.
vacantlook
Super Moderator
Ah, but TNT didn't want the show to have a chance because they knew they'd look obviously stupid for giving up a show that did well. What does TNT have going for it right now anyway? Every time I've popped by it's either some movie that's been out for a long time that they try to pretend it's some "new hit" or reruns of Law & Order or Angel or other such rerun.
KoshN
Super Moderator
We don't know. JMS does, maybe (unless he hasn't thought the whole thing out yet), but he isn't saying.
He wins it in a card game. He's tricked into winning it. The line that goes "...if you'll accept it." is a dead giveaway. See Crusade - "The Path of Sorrows".
The last we see on Crusade, he's still about as much in the dark about it as we are.
