B5 spinoff series Crusade not too shabby

[Augustus]

The rise and fall of Londo, the earth war, etc etc were unique elements, as far as I know that didn't have any real "influence".

The rise and fall of a hero or anti-hero and a civil war (combined with elements of fascism if you like) were hardly new concepts when JMS used them. But then, what is? Most if not all stories have been told in some form or another in the past. It's how they're reinvented and updated that keeps them fresh. At least, that's my 2 cents.

well, yes the concepts of civil war and hero falling etc, are not new at all. I guess I was referring to the execution and style. I mean Londo really was comic relief then he really did horrible things and there really isn't a happy ending for him.

He turned his life around to be a mostly good guy by season 4 but the bad guys basically forced him to "be evil" again.

Anyway, very complicated and layered tragic story that I have never seen anything else come close to.

 

[Mr Light]

Whoops, didn't mean to say parodies, meant to say parallels. I'm not criticizing him for having LOTR shades. It IS my favorite show of all time

 

[Phily B]

A big problem with Crusade for me, was the music was totally crap. Same with Call to Arms.

 

[Phily B]

Though to be honest, I'm quite enjoying it. Especially compared to Season 1 of B5, I just thought that they could've done without the CGI dragon episode. I don't mind CGI in space, but the rest of the time its a bit grating.

 

[Reverend]

A big problem with Crusade for me, was the music was totally crap. Same with Call to Arms.

It can be a bit jarring at times, especially when you're used to Christopher Franke. I must admit that when I first heard it, I was less than impressed, though over time and repeated viewings it's sort of grown on me. I think it really helps identify the show as being it's own thing, separate from B5, which I believe was the intent.

Where it tends to fall down for me though is in the (very rare) battle scenes. It really struggles to add any feeling of tension or drama and more often than not makes it feel...slow, for want of a better term.

 

[Phily B]

Well I'm enjoying it so far, much better than the first time I watched it. Real shame that it didn't get to finish, or even start. TNT really sucked back around the Time Warner business.

 

[Phily B]

Something a bit off though, if Gideon was an ensign shortly before the shadow war how did he become a Captain within like 6 years?

 

[Jan]

I think you may be confused because of the look of the ship that destroyed the Cerberus.

Spoiler: Crusade

That wasn't a Shadow ship, it was a hybrid built by Earth (as revealed in the unproduced scripts).

Earth had been studying Shadow technology as far back as 2253 (according to Dr. Kirkish in "Messages from Earth") and it was a ship that they had created with partial Shadow tech that destroyed the Cerberus.

Crusade begins in 2267 so there was time for Gideon to become Captain in 14 years, especially since there'd been a major civil war on Earth where a lot of officers had their careers negatively effected by Clark.

Jan

 

[Phily B]

Yeah, but when he returns to Earth they specifically mention President Clark which gives him more like 6-7 years to get to Captain from Ensign, and it took Sheridan like 20+ years. Just seemed like a bit of an oversight on JMS' part which is a bit unusual for him.

 

[Jan]

Good point. I'm not conversant with the military at all. Anybody know how long such a progression takes in the 'real' world?

Jan

 

[Phily B]

On the last episode now, real shame that it ended. Even the music started to improve towards the end, and nice to see Stephen in it.

 

[Reverend]

Perhaps he won his promotion in a card game?

 

[Mr Light]

I always enjoyed the Crusade music. I thought it was very weird and different and really set the tone for the show as slightly bizarre and off-putting. On the subject of Gideon, I thought he was a great character. He definitely wasn't the typical noble moral leading man. I loved that he was a bit scummy, what with his dubious card games with important people and of course his Apocalypse Box. It would have been nice to see where he would have gone!

 

[Phily B]

I read somewhere this show was cancelled before it even aired, only have Lost Tales to watch and then I'm done with every B5 DVD available. Ah well.

 

[Phily B]

Ah, I also have something called Legend of the Rangers.

 

[Mr Light]

LOTR was a one-off tv movie that aired after the series and TV movies and Crusade, but many years before Lost Tales was released. It was a back-door pilot for a new series but it tanked in the ratings and didn't go forward (thanks to some amazingly famous sports game apparently). It only has one B5 character in it and is pretty maligned by fans, but I thought it was alright just as an action movie.

 

[Phily B]

It was pretty good, but then it got into that holo room they use for battles and it got really fucking stupid and cheesy.

I don't really care enough for the rangers for them to have based a show around them, Crusade was still Earth Alliace/ISA based.

 

[Phily B]

And it just got beyond stupid when she was doing that DBZ type scream thing. Who thought that was a good idea

 

[Plain Simple]

It's been some time since I saw LOTR, but I remember really disliking the introduction of yet another old mysterious unknown enemy. You never know where they would've gone with this (do we?), but as it stands, with only LOTR dealing with them, I dislike the idea, because it feels like the Shadows all over again.

 

[Mr Light]

Yeah, LOTR, even moreso than CRU, is a prime example of JMS recycling himself.