Babylon 5: Crusade question
 

Okay, I'm a convert to B5. I have the season box sets and the movie box set.

Is Crusade a huge disappointment? Did JMS get to finish the story in one season? Is this really worth owning?

JMS did not get to finish his story. TNT made it well known that the show was D.O.A., so all we got were 13 episodes. Some of the episodes are brilliant and I think the 13 episodes of Crusade are better than the first 13 of B5. Unfortunately, not only did TNT pull the plug on the show before it aired its first episode, they also sent numerous memos to JMS telling him to include more action and more sex. "Warzone" is an episode that stands out in particular.

I would say it's worth owning because a lot of the episodes demonstrate the great promise of the show. That and you won't have to buy any more sets, so it's just a one time investment.

I liked it while it lasted

No. No. Yes.


This is an interesting and entertaining show... and if you can get over the frustration that the storyline isn't finished (yet), you should like it.

It isn't the Second Coming or anything... but it's a fun addition to the B5 universe.

Personally, I've more or less ignored its existence. I think it's mainly because I know that it's an incomplete show, and watching it will only irritate me.

Have you read any of the books yet? Some of those are actually quite good reads and fill in some of the dangling plot threads from the main series (look through some of my old posts (there aren't many) for a rundown of the relevant books).

If you have gone ahead and gotten B5 season1-5 and the movies set...why not get Crusade.

I personaly loved Crusade. Peter Woodward's performance as Galen is top notch in the series.

It is very irritating that JMS did not get to see this to it's conclusion :down: to TBS!

Give it a try!! Take care All!! :wave:

Also, Crusade was the series to answer the questions raised in "A Call to Arms". Since Crusade never finished, you'll have to be content with not knowing the answers (at least from the small screen perspective).

Okay, I'll probably get it. Thanks for your opinions, all.

I mentioned in another thread that you can poke around the web and find JMS's plans for <i>Crusade</i>'s five-year story, and get information on the last four un-filmed episodes that point the direction the show was going to take. Essentially, just like B5, <i>Crusade</i> was going to change direction several times, keeping it interesting.

I still hope one day that someone gives JMS a bag of money and tells him to re-do <i>Crusade</i> with no interference from the suits.

"Crusade" wasn't off to a bad start, but you sort of got the feeling it was still trying to find its legs.

The show was designed to be more episodic and less arc-intensive and epic than "Babylon 5," so it should be expected for the pace to have been a little slower. Still, when viewed as a whole, it's sort of like ending "Babylon 5" right before "Signs and Portents."

Though I don't doubt that there was an "arc" in place... there are a lot of mysteries set up in those thirteen episodes that weren't resolved. (Which, when reading JMS's posts to rastb5mod, are more mysterious than just watching the eps would lead you to believe, particularly the Apocalypse Box.)

Got to have them all :)

Yes. Get Crusade, it's worth it.

Well, there's still one piece of the B5 Universe missing -- Babylon 5: Legend of the Rangers. I've got the broadcast version on VHS and have burned a DVD for archival purposes. It'll be nice to have the complete set. I just hope B5:LOTR gets released at some point -- though I doubt we'll ever see it officially on DVD.