Flare Sci-Fi Forums: Crusade UK (�)

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Posted by The First One (Member # 35) on :

By the way, the '�' is meant to be a spoiler symbol - a joke. 8)

Well, Crusade is now being shown here in the UK. I have to go round to my parents' place to watch it via their satellite dish (thereby having to explain it to my mother - if anyone can come up with a way of explaining Babylon 5 to their mother, please reveal it here - and also endure my father carping from behind his newspaper).

So. . . it wasn't a brilliant episode, but then we always knew that. I tried to put certain things out of my mind - that this was a late addition to provide a proper introduction, that I won't see "A Call To Arms" until it gets released on video, apparently next week. . . and by and large I was successful. Gideon needs character development, as does Dr. Chambers. Dureena was cuter than I'd been led to realise. Galen was just annoying, no matter how well he acts. The characters that looked interesting are Lt. Matheson and Max Eilerson. Mum and I spent all the episode shouting "DEAD!" whenever the shuttle pilot Trace appeared.

The effects were quite good, especially the planetary vistas - except the Mars dome interior. We're going to need to see more of the Excalibur before I can decide how I feel about it - yet, strangely, I want to know more about its internal layout than I ever did with B5 itself. The scale of the beast also needs to be hammered home - a mile and a quarter is rather hard to grasp.

Ultimately, the lack of a proper pilot is always going to be a problem. Explanations of how Gideon's chosen crew were able to settle in on the Excalibur and all its new systems so easily. . . And why that explorer ship had the only different EarthForce uniforms we've ever seen. The whole way they handed over the ship to Gideon, using Tim Thomerson as a Senator (will he feature more later? As a Jack Deth fan I hope so, since there's gotta be something crooked about this character!), worked in some ways but seemed rushed in others. And no Rangers? This seems to be a uniquely Earth exercise, and that could limit the show and the concept.

But of course, i'll be watching it again. It won't help, since I think the deadline in the actros' contracts is upon us. . .

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"I am smart! I am smart! s-m-a-t, I mean s-m-a-R-t!"

Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :

A lot of what you are talking about here improves with Future episodes. You are going to see a lot of Galon. You will get a little bit of the feel of the size of The Excalibur in episode 4.

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WHO ARE YOU

Posted by HMS White Star (Member # 174) on :

Hopefully the next episode won't have as much of Galen in it, not that I don't like Galen but he has been the center of 3 of the 4 episodes. O well the next episode will be cool hopefully.

HMS White Star

Posted by Dan (Member # 129) on :

I liked this board before when you could see the other replies. Oh well.

To answer your questions:

Did you try saying like Star Trek only better to your mom? :-)

About the Excalibur:

Well, it gets better. The Excalibur is a whopping 2,990.37 meters long. Head for your old stomping ground at Tiggerclaw's BBoard for more info. There's also my Tech Manual at Myrkr.

About the characters:

Gideon is fleshed out a little in Well of Forever and a lot in Path of Sorrows (one of the best SciFi episodes I've ever seen. It's got Hugo written all over it). So far, we don't see much of Chambers. We may see something in Patterns of the Soul, and if I've been told right, we'll see her in Ruling from the Tomb. Trust me, Dureena looks even better in real life. I was surprised seeing her out of makeup. Galen does get better and is there a lot in the first 4 eps but Patterns of the Soul probably won't have him. When jms started writing, we had bits of Galen here and there. No, it's a whole bunch, followed by none at all, to very little.

No, I don't believe Tim Thomerson will be appearing again. And in the original 1st episode, Racing the Night, we did get to see the Rangers again discussing possibile locations, plus other references.

The actor's contracts don't expire until July 16th. It's starting to look bad.