Title: Crusade (r2)
Crichton Kicks - January 31, 2005 09:00 PM (GMT)
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Warner Bros have announced "CRUSADE The Complete Series DVD Box Set." for release 28th March 2005 for £34.99 RRP. The DVD release of CRUSADE includes audio commentaries by Michael J. Straczynski on two episodes*, a 'Making Of' documentary and 'Forging Excalibur', a look at the creation of the starship.
Episodes:
Disc 1: War Zone, The Long Road, The Well of Forever
Disc 2: The Path of Sorrows, Patterns of the Soul, Ruling from the Tomb
Disc 3: Rules of the Game, Appearances and Other Deceits, Racing the Night
Disc 4: The Memory of War, The Needs of Earth, Visitors from Down the Street
Disc 5: Each Night I Dream, + Special Features
From the PR:
Temporarily drawing to a close one of the most monumental television projects ever, Warner Home Video releases CRUSADE The Complete Series DVD Box Set. The sensational follow-on to the award winning, sci-fi show Babylon 5 will be available from 28th March 2005 priced £34.99 RRP.
CRUSADE picks up the torch from where its illustrious award-winning predecessor Babylon 5 left off. Written and produced by Michael J. Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5, CRUSADE begins in the late 23rd century, as humanity defeats the evil Shadow race. But its allies remain--and they swear revenge. When the mysterious, hateful Drakh unleash a deadly biogenetic plague on Earth, mankind faces its demise within five years unless the Rangers--an elite army of light forged during civilisation's darkest hours--can find a cure.
Now, in a ceaseless battle against time and the dangers of deep space, the Rangers aboard the advanced prototype starship Excalibur boldly pursue their mission: to find a cure for the plague and to destroy the Drakh and their alien allies. Diplomacy and negotiation mean nothing. With 7 billion lives at stake, action and courage against insurmountable odds must prevail in this Crusade. Political intrigue, challenging philosophical ideals and hilarious comedy blend with the high-octane action and spine-tingling drama expected in a sci-fi saga of Babylon 5's epic nature.
Crusade features some of the best loved key characters from Babylon 5 including Captain Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins), Doctor Franklin (Richard Biggs) and Galen (Peter Woodward), alongside many new crew members heading by Matthew Gideon (Gary Cole - Dodgeball)
The DVD release of CRUSADE includes audio commentaries by Michael J. Straczynski on two episodes, a 'Making Of' documentary and 'Forging Excalibur', a look at the creation of the starship.
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Phillip Culley - January 31, 2005 10:26 PM (GMT)
Hoorah! :)
Shame about the extravagent price tag though... :rolleyes:
Crichton Kicks - January 31, 2005 10:29 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Phillip Culley @ Jan 31 2005, 10:26 PM) |
Hoorah! :)
Shame about the extravagent price tag though... :rolleyes: |
I paid about £25 for mine :thumbsup:
Still steep for 13 episodes though.
Phillip Culley - January 31, 2005 10:36 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Angel @ Jan 31 2005, 10:29 PM) |
| QUOTE (Phillip Culley @ Jan 31 2005, 10:26 PM) | Hoorah! :)
Shame about the extravagent price tag though... :rolleyes: |
I paid about £25 for mine :thumbsup:
Still steep for 13 episodes though.
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At least it's not the £50 price tag we're expected to pay for Six Feet Under :)
Although the series is well worth the money :thumbsup:
(of course, I'll probably still pay the price for Crusade :ph43r: )
goth willow fan - January 31, 2005 10:38 PM (GMT)
Wonder if it has the watered down commentaries.
JMS was not best pleased with what they did to the R1 release.
Crichton Kicks - January 31, 2005 10:40 PM (GMT)
Not sure offhand, but I'd imagine we'll get the same tbh.
Crichton Kicks - February 3, 2005 05:51 PM (GMT)
Worryingly for the Region 2 release;
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Last June we reported that Babylon 5 and spin-off Crusade creator/producer J. Michael Straczynski had recorded commentary tracks for the Crusade - The Complete Series DVD set that was released this past December 7th. Now Straczynski has posted info that his commentary tracks will be removed from future pressings of the set!
Fansite FirstOnes.com has posted the text of Straczynski's recent message about his latest goings-on, and from his long note, this is the portion which talks about his insistance to Warner that the commentaries be removed:
On the subject of the Crusade DVD commentary...I see another fairy tale looming in the future...WB has agreed, after quite a bit of noise, to remove the commentary that I did from all future pressings of the set, since that was the deal that we had made: use it all, including the explanation of what happened, or use none of it. So those of you who have your DVDs now, and for the next bit, will have that commentary. Those afterward won't. I don't know when the next pressing will be, but whenever that is, is when the change takes place.
So we imagine that the existing sets will now fly off the shelves, in order for fans to get Straczynski's commentary tracks on them. But don't forget that this is the edited-down version of his comments, and that the whole story isn't on there.
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Phillip Culley - February 3, 2005 06:30 PM (GMT)
A phrase which sounds similar to 'clucking hunts' comes to mine here :)
However, I can understand it from JMS's point of view...
Perhaps he could publish the uncut commentaries online for us to download :)
Crichton Kicks - February 3, 2005 06:37 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Phillip Culley @ Feb 3 2005, 06:30 PM) |
| Perhaps he could publish the uncut commentaries online for us to download :) |
That would be great wouldn't it ?? :thumbsup:
And, I believe the phrase you were looking for was Cucking Funts :lol:
Phillip Culley - May 10, 2005 11:08 PM (GMT)
Finally picked this up at the weekend...
Does the R2 set come with a booklet as per the other B5 sets? All I got with mine was the FACT flyer, and WHS had an empty box on display, and they got the disc caes out of storage, so it's possible they forgot about it....
Also, what is the final situation with the commentaries? One of them on my set (can't remember which) has a JMS commentary - is this the supposedly deleted one, or was there another one?
goth willow fan - May 11, 2005 07:17 AM (GMT)
No book - just bought it recently too and mine was celophane wrapped.
As per the commentary - I believe the "no holds barred what I really think" commentary is a no show and what we are left with is actually more cut than the US discs.
Crichton Kicks - February 18, 2006 10:52 AM (GMT)
An interesting post on the TrekBBS forums re: Crusade's future direction had the series continued;
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There really aren't a lot of specifics available, but here's the gist of it, derived from two of the unproduced scripts and some JMS postings:
Near the end of Season One, Gideon has another encounter with the mystery ship that destroyed the Cerberus and killed every crew member except for him. Among other things, he discovers that the effect of its main weapon is virtually identical to that of the Excalibur's main gun.
While the mystery ship escapes, Excalibur's crew discovers a unique energy signature that would make it possible for them to locate and follow the ship in the future.
In the S1 cliffhanger, they would find the ship again, this time following it to a secret base. Gideon and Galen infiltrate the facility. Gideon is captured, and brought to the base commander -- an EarthForce officer in charge of a covert project intended to adapt and exploit Shadow technology. The ship that destroyed the Cerberus was an early experiment that "escaped." The human CPU went mad, hence the attack.
Meanwhile, Galen makes his way deeper into the site, and discovers its ultimate secret: an area where humans are being used as "hosts" to grow Technomage-like implants. Galen destroys the area, killing the doomed "hosts" in the process.
After the pair escape, they have a major falling-out. Gideon is shocked to discover that Galen's tech was provided by the Shadows (per the Technomage novels by Jeanne Cavelos), and is angry at how much possibly vital information Galen has withheld from him to protect that secret. Galen leaves the Excalibur.
Gideon organizes a meeting of those w**king on the cure, to be held on Mars. At the meeting, he intends to present evidence of what he found at the secret base. He intends to go alone, so that he's the only one who can be accused of treason for revealing the secret, but Matherson, Dureena, and Max all join him. (Chambers may be there, too, and perhaps one or two others from the crew.)
As Gideon approaches the building where the meeting is to take place, we become aware that Galen is also on Mars, watching from a distance...and that he has discovered that an assassin is lying in wait for Gideon. Before Galen can sound a warning, the assassin fires, and we see Gideon fall to the ground -- fade to black.
JMS has indicated that the cure would have been discovered in Season Two. At some point, the Excalibur crew would realize that the cure was not exactly what it appeared. No one in EarthGov would believe them, however. Gideon and company would "steal" their ship and "go renegade," hunted by both EarthGov and other forces in an attempt to find out what is really going on. That was pretty much as far as he went in describing the future of the show. What follows is speculation, and very limited speculation, at that:
We know the plague comes originally from the Shadows. We know that a similar plague was created by a Technomage using nanotech, and that the Drakh plague seems to use some of the same techniques. We also know that both EarthGov and the Technomages have some knowledge of Shadow-based nanotech.
Finally, we know (from the Technomage novels) that *all* Shadowtech has the quality of predisposing the user towards chaos. If the "cure" is an application of Shadow-derived nanotech, there is a good chance that it will retain this quality -- creating almost as many problems as the original plague would have.
Since this is only a possibility, however, and since there would be unimaginable ethical and political pressure to use any cure as soon as it was discovered, it is entirely plausible that EarthGov would ignore Gideon's warnings, and use the cure. The argument against using it would come from a maverick captain who had at least tried to reveal top-secret information, and a technomage who was inherently suspect.
It is interesting to note that B5 really got the Shadow arc rolling only in S2. Prior to that, much of the emphasis had been on Sinclair's missing 24 hours and the Minbari surrender, although the mysterious Shadow ships and the notion of an ancient enemy were introduced starting around mid-season.
The original outline for B5 had called for these threads to be resolved by the fourth of fifth episode of S2, with the Shadow War then dominating until early S4. Similarly, Crusade S1 would have been about finding a cure for the Drakh plague, although the Shadow-tech thread would also have been introduced. Early in S2, the plague story would probably have been ended, and the new thread begun. (The plague story was never sustainable over five years, anyway. We all knew the plague was cured.) I'm not sure where the story would have gone after that. But I can make a couple of guesses on specific points:
1) The Interstellar Alliance, especially John Sheridan, would have been more open to Gideon's ideas than EarthGov, and would likely have provided some covert assistance to Excalibur.
2) Elizabeth Lochley -- who was spared the hard choice of acting against her government and orders because she was never told to bomb civilians or commit any other obviously criminal act -- would now have to make that choice after all. I suspect that she would throw her lot in with Gideon.
The Excalibur couldn't have docked at B5 without instantly being seized, but I'm willing to bet Gideon and others could have come aboard on shuttles, and used the place for meetings and to pick up supplies.
Anyway, that's what little we know from the last several years, and what I can guess about the future direction of the series.
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star_fury - February 24, 2006 03:50 PM (GMT)
After reading your post I think I would prefer to see crusade resurrected rather than a big-screen movie of Babyl 5.. It all sounds rather good :thumbsup: .
prophecy girl - September 5, 2007 08:13 AM (GMT)
crusade thread is kinda empty :blink:
1.1 war zone: after the film, i was expecting to see sheridan (i mean new ship with shadow technology ) or garibaldi (well the mission was given on Mars) :unsure: still a good start with the introduction of every character (well apart thief girl and techno mage galen)
1.2 the long road:good but has nothing to do in the mission to find a cure for earth
1.3 the well of forever, learn a bit about the telepaths new organisation and that trust has still a long way to go
Crichton Kicks - September 5, 2007 09:48 AM (GMT)
Crusade has a few people from B5 turning up from time to time, but sadly, yes, there are obvious opportunities passed up. Garibaldi was originally due to have appeared in a later episode but it was later rewritten.
JMS has recounted on many an occasion just how much TNT influenced the first few episodes in particular, instructing him to have a lot more fisticuffs and physical violence etc (remember, this was TNT, whose shedule at the time, was predominantly wrestling-based). Hence, you get the fistfight at the beginning of the first episode.
The second episode is obviously a character piece. B5 took its time in that first season, and produced a few episodes like this. I'm not much for it myself I have to admit.
1x03 is an improvement though.
prophecy girl - September 5, 2007 10:09 AM (GMT)
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| Crusade has a few people from B5 turning up from time to time, but sadly, yes, there are obvious opportunities passed up. Garibaldi was originally due to have appeared in a later episode but it was later rewritten. |
well i got confused by seeing Tracy Scoggins ( Capt. Elizabeth Lochley ) in the credit but appearing nowhere in the three first episodes :blink: :unsure:
Phillip Culley - September 5, 2007 10:30 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE (prophecy girl @ Sep 5 2007, 05:09 AM) |
| well i got confused by seeing Tracy Scoggins ( Capt. Elizabeth Lochley ) in the credit but appearing nowhere in the three first episodes :blink: :unsure: |
Best thing to do is remember what it was like in the first season of B5 - despite being in the credits Andreas Katsulas manages to skip a huge consecutive chunk of episodes (something like TKO through to The Quality of Mercy - a good 8 episodes), or even Lennier, who only appeared in 6 episodes of the whole season! :)
Crichton Kicks - September 5, 2007 10:58 AM (GMT)
There were also issues around the running order. TNT aired them out of sequence didn't they?
Phillip Culley - September 5, 2007 12:02 PM (GMT)
I think that depends on what the sequence is :)
From what I remember, Racing the Night was supposed to be the first episode (which is why there was all the dialogue setting the story up).
In fact, I've just checked the Lurker's Guide, and this is the order they have:
Racing the Night (broadcast as episode 9)
The Needs of Earth (broadcast as episode 11)
The Memory of War (broadcast as episode 10)
The Long Road (broadcast as episode 2)
Visitors from Down the Street (broadcast as episode 12)
The Well of Forever (broadcast as episode 3)
Each Night I Dream of Home (broadcast as episode 13)
Patterns of the Soul (broadcast as episode 5)
The Path of Sorrows (broadcast as episode 4)
Ruling from the Tomb (broadcast as episode 6)
The Rules of the Game (broadcast as episode 7)
War Zone (broadcast as episode 1)
Appearances and Other Deceits (broadcast as episode 8)
However, given that War Zone has to be the first episode because it introduces the story, and doesn't fit anywhere else, this looks to be JMS's chronological order (uniform changes aside):
War Zone
Racing the Night
The Memory of War
The Needs of Earth
Visitors from Down the Street
Each Night I Dream of Home
The Long Road
The Well of Forever
The Path of Sorrows
Patterns of the Soul
Ruling from the Tomb
The Rules of the Game
Appearances and Other Deceits
IIRC the mains things which make the DVD order wrong are the nanotech shield introduced in Memory of War was reused in Patterns of the Soul, however on broadcast Patterns came before Memory. Also the whole Gideon/Lochley relationship jumps back and forth, going from them being very close in one episode, only for them to meet for the first time in a later episode....
Crichton Kicks - September 5, 2007 01:41 PM (GMT)
Cheers for checking that Phillip. Fairly safe to say, the whole thing's just a mess isn't it? :lol:
prophecy girl - September 5, 2007 03:43 PM (GMT)
:blink: oh my, what a mix up :ermm: (remind me of firefly :rolleyes: )
prophecy girl - September 9, 2007 04:16 PM (GMT)
the path of sorrow : to show gideon, peterson (spych guy, i was expecting to see lytha or bester :rolleyes: ) and galen backstory ......... good
patterns of the soul: a bit of politic set up added to the consequences of the plague on other race (or what is the last survivors of dureena people), nice to finally see some action for doctor chambers (was kinda missing in the previous episode)
ruling from the tomb: yeah captain lockley :thumbsup: , the usual "let the fate of the world go his normal way" cult, silly idea to bring back the excalibur for a conference on the plague (couldn't they do video conference :unsure: ), added a little tension around dureena :rolleyes: and the usual tension between military people :lol:
prophecy girl - September 12, 2007 09:02 AM (GMT)
the rules of the games: a babylon 5 story :thumbsup: , captain lockley :thumbsup: , lockley and gideon :o :naughty: :rolleyes: , some backstory, some alien problem but i was not sure about the kidnapping cat plot until the "in memory of mister kitty" in the credit :o :rolleyes:
appearances and other deceits: how to redecorate in space as plot B :lol: , the plot A was a bit "the thing" :unsure: , ok episode
racing the night: according the commentary, it was supposed to be the pilot :ermm: , i understand with the dream of gideon (nice use of his point of view) but the rest of the story is a bit so/so to attract watcher (and no one would have understood the galen business)
prophecy girl - September 13, 2007 08:46 AM (GMT)
the memory of war: the bad side of technomagie, galen/dureena :unsure: , good episode
the needs of earth: :lmao: @ the alien x-rated film and then gideon playing anderson :rolleyes: , a bit of backstory for dureena, not a bad episode
visitors from down the street: :lol: that's a good one (love the black and white PI film feeling)
prophecy girl - September 15, 2007 05:16 PM (GMT)
last episode <_< 1.13 each night i dream of home
:thumbsup: franklin (even if once again it kinda spoil the fate of earth as franklin is appearing in "sleeping in light" B5 5.22), not sure about the appearance of cpt lockley :unsure:
ok, the beginning of the answer about the virus: nano technology is involved, not really said but i had the feeling they implied the techno mages have something to do with the creation of the virus :unsure: good thing galen was not around :ponder: , would it have mean that part of the answer would have been found with the techno mages and the rest with the drakks/shadows? :unsure:
Crichton Kicks - September 15, 2007 11:24 PM (GMT)
The thing with Crusade's central 'find a cure' theme was pretty much that you always knew that they found one. Sleeping in Light aired well before Crusade aired. The intention was to explore the nature of the cure itself. It would have been found early on, during the second season of Crusade. The rest of the series was exploring the nature of the cure, its ramifications and the wider picture.
You might want to check out the 'Technomage' trilogy of novels, which adds a little context around the Technomages and Crusade.
prophecy girl - September 16, 2007 04:03 PM (GMT)
:rolleyes: more babylon 5 books to check :lol:
trying to go around legions of fire books at the moment
Crichton Kicks - September 16, 2007 05:34 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (prophecy girl @ Sep 16 2007, 05:03 PM) |
:rolleyes: more babylon 5 books to check :lol:
trying to go around legions of fire books at the moment |
Legions of Fire trilogy? Good luck with picking up a copy of 'Out of the Darkness', the third volume. I've been looking for a copy for a couple of years, and they're currently going for about £40. As much as I love the series, I can't justify to myself paying £40 for a paperback.
Besides, I've got an e-copy, which will have to do for now! :lol:
If you struggle, check Demonoid, that's where I got my e-copy from. It's part of a B5 novels pack.
prophecy girl - September 17, 2007 09:08 AM (GMT)
:o just checked amazon and it's £46.66 :blink: why is a book so expensive? <_<
Phillip Culley - September 17, 2007 09:59 AM (GMT)
Book out of print + demand (moreso since it's the finale in a trilogy) = profit! :)
prophecy girl - September 17, 2007 10:16 AM (GMT)
darn
:ermm: they could reprint with the release of the lost tales :unsure: