Question about recurring characters in Crusade

[DigificWriter]

Hi all. One of the things that, for me, sets Babylon 5 apart from other Sci-Fi television series and makes it such a fine achievement - beyond the story - is the incredible number of recurring and supporting characters featured in the series over the course of its five seasons. I've recently decided to try and attempt to re-imagine the B5 spin-off series Crusade, but can't find very much character information for the original Crusade outside of the main cast, and was wondering if you - my fellow SF fans - could provide me with any type of information about what, if any, recurring characters were featured during the series' short 13-episode run.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Trace Miller (played by Alex Mendoza) - IPX shuttle pilot who came on board along with Max Eilerson, appeared in 2 episodes

The Apocalypse Box (voiced by Gary Cole) - "appeared" in 3 episodes

Jane the ISN anchor (played by Maggie Egan) - character was carried over from B5, appeared in 3 episodes


Elizabeth Lochley was practically a recurring character despite being included in the opening titles of the show (why was she anyway??).

I guess Walter Koenig could have re-appeared as Bester at some point after his planned introduction in the unfilmed episode "Value Judgments".

Stephen Franklin appeared in one episode and was mentioned in at least two others. Don't know if the character was supposed to re-appear at some point.

 

[DigificWriter]

Thanks for the answers. BTW, in case anyone's interested, I've decided to use President Sheridan, Captain Lochley, Susan Ivanova, Talia Winters, and the crew of the Ranger ship Liandra (from "The Legend of the Rangers") as recurring characters, but will probably add Trace Miller as well. Franklin also seems like someone I might want to add, given that he'd be a good asset to the Excalibur's crew given his background, and could provide some crucial assistance to Doctor Chambers and her medical staff.

Also, if anyone can think of any existing B5 characters who might be a good fit as recurring characters but who didn't actually appear in the original Crusade, please feel free to suggest them.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Just a quick response; another familiar face I can think of: the Brakiri Ambassador shows up in two episodes (the usual guy, Jonathan Chapman, I believe).

I think his name (which was never spoken on screen) is supposed to be Lethke zum Batrado, or something similar...

 

[DigificWriter]

I've got a new question:
If the year 2258 constitutes the 'dawn of the third age of mankind', what would be an appropriate similar descriptor for the year 2267 (which is when I've chosen to set my version of Crusade)?

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Joke: "It was the dawn of the first of jms's three attempts to date to continue the Babylon 5 franchise"...

Seriously though, I'd still classify it as the dawn of the third age. Mankind has taken its first steps to be a major power in the galaxy, and with Sheridan leading the Alliance, that empire is still being built. The Crusade storyline, at least in the original histories, seems to have been a forgotten footnote by the time of the Lost Tales stuff, though I'd reason that it was beacuse fo the sour taste jms had in his mouth after its demise.

Mark

 

[Lindley]

Mr. Wells (from "The Fall of Night") was also a B5 carry-over.

Remember that Franklin was trapped on Earth when the quarantine went up.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

By the way, the first of the Crusade script books in the "What the Hell Happened?" series is being published tomorrow (Wednesday 25th). The scripts for the two unproduced episodes will probably be included in the fourth and final volume. I'm sort of tempted to buy that particular volume.

 

[JoeD80]

Elizabeth Lochley was practically a recurring character despite being included in the opening titles of the show (why was she anyway??).

She was in the credits because Tracy was on contract, which gets her a certain number of episodes but credited for all, similar to how Vir/Stephen Furst would show up in about 8 out of 22 episodes each season of Babylon 5.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

She was in the credits because Tracy was on contract, which gets her a certain number of episodes but credited for all,

Yes... but why? If a character appears for only five episodes of a full season or so, wouldn't it be sufficient to handle the respective actor as a guest star? What's the reasoning or advantage?

Granted, Babylon 5 always had the strange habit of including actors in the main cast, which would have been guest stars on most other shows. For example, Aron Eisenberg appears in 12 out of 26 episodes (= 46%, compared to Tracy Scoggins' 23% in Crusade) of DS9's 7th season, yet he was not part of the show's main cast.

The weirdest thing was Season 2 in which guest star Jeff Conaway appeared in as many episodes as main cast members Robert Rusler and Mary Kay Adams combined. Although this was in part explainable, I guess. JMS didn't want the Keffer character and Adams was unable to appear in the number of episodes she was orignally supposed to. But I guess JMS liked Zack.

 

[DigificWriter]

Would anybody mind trying to help me come up with an opening narrative for Crusade that follows the same structure as B5's opening narratives, makes reference to the year 2267, the Shadow War, the fact that pretty much every major inhabited planet in the known universe has been infected with the Drakh plague, the Excalibur, and the ship's mission? I'm really having trouble coming up with something that works.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

...the fact that pretty much every major inhabited planet in the known universe has been infected with the Drakh plague.

All of them? Great Maker, that's ambitious. Though I guess with everyone going down they'll be far more cooperative and efficient in searching for help. No Brakiri Ambassador in a fuss over pestering the Lorkans...

Sounds interesting. Good luck with the project.

 

[DigificWriter]

In my version of the B5/Crusade universe, there are really only 16 major planetary civilizations (the 15 [16 if you count Mars] planets that make up the Interstellar Alliance, plus the neutral planet of Centauri Prime, which was brought to the brink of ruin by the events of the Shadow War). The main reason I had the Drakh attack every single one of those civilizations is because I wanted to increase the importance of the Excalibur's mission and to impart to the entirety of the series an underlying sense of tension and a sense that the ship was truly fighting a race against time. Another thing that I did was to remove the Drakh's connection to the Shadows and make it so that the first time anyone in the known universe hears about them is when Sheridan, Captain Anderson, and Dureena encounter them in orbit of Daralan 7, which is a decision I made in order to add an additional element of mystery to the Excalibur's mission so that the ship's crew isn't just looking for a cure to the Drakh's plague, they're looking for information about the Drakh themselves.

 

[Reverend]

Thanks for the answers. BTW, in case anyone's interested, I've decided to use President Sheridan, Captain Lochley, Susan Ivanova, Talia Winters, and the crew of the Ranger ship Liandra (from "The Legend of the Rangers") as recurring characters, but will probably add Trace Miller as well. Franklin also seems like someone I might want to add, given that he'd be a good asset to the Excalibur's crew given his background, and could provide some crucial assistance to Doctor Chambers and her medical staff.

Also, if anyone can think of any existing B5 characters who might be a good fit as recurring characters but who didn't actually appear in the original Crusade, please feel free to suggest them.

Small point, but Talia is either dead or gone. The only info we have on her past the show itself is a mention in the third Psi Corps book set in 2271, where Garibaldi reflects that she's "dead, even though her heart's probably still beating." Meaning he hasn't seen or even heard about her. Either way Talia's personality was gone the moment Control took over.

Just a quick response; another familiar face I can think of: the Brakiri Ambassador shows up in two episodes (the usual guy, Jonathan Chapman, I believe).

I think his name (which was never spoken on screen) is supposed to be Lethke zum Batrado, or something similar...

He actually played two separate Brakiri Ambassadors. Lethke Zum Bartrado (the one you see most of the time) and Ambassador Kullenbrak, the one in 'Day of the Dead'.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Crusade wasn't just going to be about finding a cure for the Drakh plague -- I believe that plot element was going to be secondary to exposing the extent to which Shadow tech was being exploited by Earth Gov. At some point, Gideon would expose the cover up and the Excalibur would go on the run. I think Gideon might well be killed and reanimated using the technology of the Apocalyse Box, which would probably imply that time travel (using the great machine again on Epsilon III?) was also involved. Galen would also be forced to confront the other technomages' use of Shadow tech. Dureena was going to be granted the use of a sword with unspecified properties. Sounds like D&D...

 

[DigificWriter]

Small point, but Talia is either dead or gone. The only info we have on her past the show itself is a mention in the third Psi Corps book set in 2271, where Garibaldi reflects that she's "dead, even though her heart's probably still beating." Meaning he hasn't seen or even heard about her. Either way Talia's personality was gone the moment Control took over.

You must've missed that this is a re-imagined version of Crusade, which means that everything that happened in the original B5 universe - or was planned to by JMS - doesn't apply.

BTW, if anyone's interested in seeing/hearing more specifics about how I've chosen to re-imagine Crusade and, by extension, the entirety of JMS' B5 universe (with an eye towards eventually doing a re-imagining of B5 itself, but as a 'prequel' to my re-imagined Crusade), PM me.

P.S.: I'd still really like some help in coming up with an opening narration, if anyone has any ideas/suggestions.

 

[JoeD80]

Yes... but why? If a character appears for only five episodes of a full season or so, wouldn't it be sufficient to handle the respective actor as a guest star? What's the reasoning or advantage?

The advantage is your actor doesn't go looking for other work, because a television contract gives the show first call on an actor, meaning he/she must be available for the show. If you have a guest star individually negotiating, then they're allowed to go work on a movie or whatever else instead and they're not guaranteed for the episodes you need them for. That's why Draal ended up not being in War Without End.

Granted, Babylon 5 always had the strange habit of including actors in the main cast, which would have been guest stars on most other shows. For example, Aron Eisenberg appears in 12 out of 26 episodes (= 46%, compared to Tracy Scoggins' 23% in Crusade) of DS9's 7th season, yet he was not part of the show's main cast.

Since Joe planned a lot of Babylon 5 episodes in advance, he knew roughly where each recurring character was needed and could give them a contract for only a certain number of episodes. That way, the production wouldn't pay an actor for all 22 episodes when they only appear in 13, but the actor would also be guaranteed to be available for the 13 required episodes without having to renegotiate for each appearance.

The weirdest thing was Season 2 in which guest star Jeff Conaway appeared in as many episodes as main cast members Robert Rusler and Mary Kay Adams combined.

Jeff didn't have a contract in season two, but he wanted to keep doing the show and was written into about eight episodes.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Yes... but why? If a character appears for only five episodes of a full season or so, wouldn't it be sufficient to handle the respective actor as a guest star? What's the reasoning or advantage?

The advantage is your actor doesn't go looking for other work, because a television contract gives the show first call on an actor, meaning he/she must be available for the show. If you have a guest star individually negotiating, then they're allowed to go work on a movie or whatever else instead and they're not guaranteed for the episodes you need them for. That's why Draal ended up not being in War Without End.

Granted, Babylon 5 always had the strange habit of including actors in the main cast, which would have been guest stars on most other shows. For example, Aron Eisenberg appears in 12 out of 26 episodes (= 46%, compared to Tracy Scoggins' 23% in Crusade) of DS9's 7th season, yet he was not part of the show's main cast.

Since Joe planned a lot of Babylon 5 episodes in advance, he knew roughly where each recurring character was needed and could give them a contract for only a certain number of episodes. That way, the production wouldn't pay an actor for all 22 episodes when they only appear in 13, but the actor would also be guaranteed to be in the 13 required episodes without having to renegotiate for each appearance.

The weirdest thing was Season 2 in which guest star Jeff Conaway appeared in as many episodes as main cast members Robert Rusler and Mary Kay Adams combined.

Jeff didn't have a contract in season two, but he wanted to keep doing the show and was written into about eight episodes.

Thanks for the insight.

 

[Colonel Midnight]

How about (to start the opening narration...):

'It was the Dawn of the Interstellar Alliance...'

At least for the starting line.

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[Vendikarr]

How about (to start the opening narration...):

'It was the Dawn of the Interstellar Alliance...'

At least for the starting line.

Cheers,
-CM-

'with the races of the galaxy taking their first steps towards a greater civilization. Then tragedy struck...'