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| Value Judgements Production number: will not be produced Written by Fiona Avery Former Psi Cop Bester is now a war criminal and on the run. |
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| Tried and True Production number: will not be produced Written by Fiona Avery Dureena is picked up by other members of the Guild who want to know what she's doing on an E.A. ship. She's stuck on a Thieves Guild space station and interrogated by her mentor, Mafeek. (Big thanks to Lou McClintock & John Devins!) |
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| To The Ends Of The Earth Production number: (will not be produced) Written by J. Michael Straczynsk Gideon tracks down the mysterious ship that destroyed the Cerberus. |
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| The End of the Line Production number: will not be produced Written by J. Michael Straczynski Season finale. While investigating the origins of the ship that destroyed the Cerberus, Gideon uncovers a terrifying Earthforce plot. |
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| When TNT cancelled Crusade, the crew was just a few weeks away from filming "Value Judgements". This story by Fiona Avery would have featured the return of Walter Koenig as the telepath Alfred Bester. During the time period between the end of Babylon 5 and the beginning of Crusade, the mounting tensions surrounding telepaths reached a breaking point. However, it does not appear that the conflict escalated into the all-out war between telepaths and mundanes that Lyta Alexander predicted. What is apparent is that the friction between the Psi Corps and the rogue telepaths led by Lyta became a war between telepaths. Lieutenant John Matheson's role in this war is told in the Crusade episode "The Path of Sorrows". After the Telepath Crisis, Alfred Bester was captured and charged with war crimes including killing mundanes in his role as a Psi Cop before the war and killing rogue telepaths during the war. Since that time he has escaped and become a hunted criminal. However, in the Babylon 5 universe there is no black or white. While Bester still prefers to dress in black, he revels in his ethical greyness. Bester maintains that history is rewritten by the winner. He is only a war criminal because he lost the war. He could easily accuse his opponents of the same crimes if he had won. Publicly he considers the charges to be slander. In private he confesses nothing to Matheson but admits that he "did what was necessary". The Excalibur's crew meets Bester on a colony where they have come to inspect an archeological dig. An alien vault is guarded by a door with a telepathic lock. Matheson is not powerful enough to open it, so they seek out the telepath that lives nearby for help. Matheson is alarmed when they discover Alfred Bester. He is dumbfounded that his crewmates even consider asking the telepath for his help after they learn his identity. Max Eilerson and Dureena Nafeel are willing to overlook Bester's past if he can help with their mission, and Dr. Chambers seems to side with Matheson. This leaves Gideon to make a decision that half his crew won't agree with. Fiona Avery shows great promise as a scriptwriter as "Value Judgements" is better than her first two Crusade scripts. This script is one that is light on the action and heavy on the dialog, but Avery still manages to make it exciting. She is aided, of course, by the wonderful character of Alfred Bester, which she has mastered perfectly. His implacable righteousness is expertly conveyed in his scenes. "Value Judgements" also focuses on the Excalibur's telepath, Lieutenant Matheson. His faith is put to the test in this episode. He believes that Bester is guilty, but the words of both Bester and his own crewmates together with Bester's actions challenge what he thinks is true. Part of the ending is marvelously ambiguous and leaves the reader wondering what might have been in store for Matheson and telepaths in general. Walter Koenig, who played Alfred Bester in twelve episodes of Babylon 5, was terribly disappointed that this episode wasn't filmed. He had memorized his part already, and he has stated several times that this is his favorite Bester script. Fiona Avery published her script for "Value Judgements" at Bookface.com where it could be read for free. Unfortunately, the site closed in January 2001. She also sells autographed hard copies via Scripts from the Lot. |
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| "To the Ends of the Earth" Review When TNT cancelled Crusade during the production of its first season, several scripts were already written that were never produced. "To the Ends of the Earth" is one of them. It would have been the next episode shown, airing after "Each Night I Dream of Home". "To the Ends of the Earth" would have kicked off Crusade's first main story arc. It is to Crusade what "Signs and Portents" was to Babylon 5. As I predicted before Crusade aired, this major arc has nothing to do with finding a cure for the Drakh plague. J. Michael Straczynski published his script for "To the Ends of the Earth" on Bookface.com where it could be read for free. Unfortunately, the site closed in January 2001. In "The Path of Sorrows" we saw a flashback to the destruction of the Cerberus nine years earlier. Ensign Gideon was the only survivor because he was outside the ship repairing damage. The disaster took place at the same time as "The Geometry of Shadows" on Babylon 5, and Gideon was in the path of the techno-mage exodus. Galen rescued Gideon and befriended him. EarthForce classified the loss of the Cerberus as a jump engine accident, but Gideon knew better. His ship had been destroyed by another vessel. While Gideon had no way of identifying the alien ship, it was clear to the audience that it was some sort of Shadow hybrid. Gideon committed himself to proving the truth and avenging his shipmates. In "To the Ends of the Earth", Gideon's Apocalypse Box gives him a lead on the ship that destroyed the Cerberus. Gideon immediately recalls the team that is searching an alien ruin for a cure to the Drakh plague and takes the Excalibur in pursuit of the Shadow hybrid. His obsession is noted by the crew. The reactions of the main characters illustrate the alliances that Gideon maintains with them. Max Eilerson and Dureena Nafeel are content to let Gideon get his revenge. Lieutenant Matheson is an informed co-conspirator. He has worked together with Gideon for years to track down the Shadow hybrid, and he also seems to know about the Apocalypse Box. Dr. Chambers weighs the options against her priority of saving lives. She is initially opposed to chasing the Shadow hybrid until she learns that stopping the ship might save lives. Galen has promised to help Gideon on his quest, but he is suspicious and fearful of the source of Gideon's information. Straczynski's script is very detailed. He includes camera directions and notes about what the characters are thinking. It is much more that a simple transcript of dialog and stage directions. Straczynski is able to convey a sense of tension even in this format that isn't intended for audiences. It's worth reading just for the educational aspect alone. As expected, "To the Ends of the Earth" asks far more questions than it answers. Who is building ships with Shadow technology? What types of ships are they building? Where are they? What are their plans? There are a few tantalizing clues about the answers to these questions, but they bring on new questions themselves. Captain Gideon's character is someone who has a priority that is higher than finding a cure for the Drakh plague. Galen is reinforced as someone who knows more than he lets on and is operating under a different agenda. Both situations show promise for further development. The character of John Matheson comes off much stronger in this script than he does in the earlier episodes. This is a welcome change for the underused Matheson. Reading this script makes me even angrier that Crusade was cancelled. This show was really going somewhere, and it wasn't a humdrum five-year search for a cure. Fortunately, Straczynski also posted the script for "End of the Line" on Bookface.com. This episode answers some of the question raised in "To the Ends of the Earth". Fans of Crusade owe a debt of thanks to Joe Straczynski for publishing "To the Ends of the Earth" online. He didn't have to publish it, and he didn't have to make it available for free. This is an exciting and pivotal episode, and I highly recommend to everyone that they take the time to read it. |
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| When TNT cancelled Crusade during the production of its first season, J. Michael Straczynski had already written the script for "End of the Line". This episode would have been the final episode of Season One. In the article, "It's the Journey", which I wrote while Crusade was still in production, I predicted, "Maybe they'll find a cure in the second season, but uncover an even greater danger to the Interstellar Alliance." In a recent interview with IGN FilmForce, Joe Straczynski confirmed his plans for Crusade. "Yeah, they would have found the cure around year two," he says. So, what is the nature of the even greater danger that the Excalibur would uncover? The answer lies in "End of the Line". The set up for "End of the Line" begins in "The Path of Sorrows" when we see a flashback to the destruction of the Cerberus nine years earlier. It continues in "To the Ends of the Earth", the other unfilmed Straczynski script. In this story, Captain Gideon destroys a Shadow hybrid ship like the one that attacked the Cerberus, but he learns that there may be more of them. He also learns of a communications signal that may lead him to the ship's home. I'll be getting into some spoiler material below. Unfortunately, Bookface.com closed in January 2001 so the script is no longer available. Gideon discovers that the ship that destroyed the Cerberus came from a secret EarthForce base. We've known for a long time that the Earth has been dabbling in Shadow technology. They have recovered and experimented on artifacts. They've sent an expedition to Z'ha'dum. Clark had a secret alliance with Mr. Morden. Ivanova fought against several EarthForce cruisers modified with Shadow technology during the Earth Civil War. In the short story "Hidden Agendas", we learn that the new Warlock class destroyers incorporate some Shadow technology. However, now we realize that Earth's w**k with Shadow technology is far more advanced than previously believed. The Cerberus was destroyed early in Babylon 5's first season (during "The Geometry of Shadows"), long before most humans had their first hint that the Shadows existed from the video of Warren Keffer's ship being destroyed. The research was obviously well under way even before President Santiago's assassination. "End of the Line" reveals a widespread conspiracy in the EarthForce surrounding the use of technology that has been forbidden by the Interstellar Alliance. Major Lee mentions that the Earth Alliance maintains a half dozen secret research bases, but it isn't clear how many of them are researching Shadow technology. They have also managed to keep it secret through many years and at least three administrations. Finally, from the end of this story, it is obvious that they are willing to go to great lengths to keep Captain Gideon from revealing their secret. In the IGN FilmForce interview, Joe Straczynski continues, "Suffice it to say that - through a series of incidents - the Excalibur crew would have been considered traitors and have to basically be on the run. Further, the cure that Earth would have believed to be the right one would not in fact w**k as they think it would have worked. Our guys would find out about this, and no one would have believed them. As things unravel, it's a larger conspiracy, so basically - after the second year - the show you think Crusade is would be a whole different show, with much more depth to it, more political, more controversial in some ways, and would deal with the impact of technology on society, would cast our characters as renegades and loners without port, and turn the whole series upside-down." So, the cast of Crusade might have ended up like Captain Sheridan, renegades trying to save the Earth from itself. Crusade was clearly not intended to be a five-year search for a cure. It would have been a far more interesting story worthy of existing in the Babylon 5 universe. The other major impact of "End of the Line" is that Gideon learns that the techno-mages also use Shadow technology. This fact has been hinted at by Straczynski online and has been touched upon in Legions of Fire. The techno-mage trilogy will cover this territory in detail, but "End of the Line" was intended to be the first published fiction in which this fact is revealed. This knowledge leaves Gideon's trust in Galen shattered and opens up more questions about Galen's agenda. The EarthForce researchers know that the techno-mages use Shadow technology. This could have set up a more active conflict between the two groups. Another question raised is what exactly were the people with the Shadow carapaces. Galen produces a similar carapace, but the script indicates that his is more sleek and controlled. Were the researchers trying but failing to reproduce this tool of the techno-mages? Reading this script makes me even angrier that TNT cancelled Crusade. With the excellent ratings that Babylon 5 has been getting on the Sci-Fi Channel, we can hold out hope for the slim chance that Crusade will be resurrected. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see "End of the Line" on television one day? |