posted
Well, the day is here a Crusade, the spin-off to Babylon 5 is here. I ask, beg, plead, even dare everyone here in the US to tune in and watch the series premier tonight at 10 pm ET. If you need the full story behind it, tune in directly after it for the TV movie "A Call to Arms" which provides the backstory to Crusade. If you are in the UK, Cananda, or anyother country, please post and I can give information to when this episode will be on. Here are some extra reasons to why you should watch "War Zone:"
1) The TNT movie, "A Call to Arms," a lead-in into the series, grossed a rating of 2.8 with little to no promotion. While the TNT movie "Houdini" grossed the same rating, with probably 100x the amount of publicity than ACTA got (if you watched TNT, there wasn't a commercial break that didn't have an add for it).
2) In 5 years, Babylon 5 has amassed a fan base that rivals Star Trek, and Star Trek has 32 years to gather it's fans while B5 has only been out for 6 years!
3) Babylon 5 has won critical acclaim and some even consider it the greatest genera of the time.
4) Babylon 5 was won an Emmy award and 2 Hugo awards, the Academy Awards of the SciFi universe. B5 has gone up against strong opponents like Independence Day, Star Trek: First Contact, the DS9 episode Trial and Tribbleations and The Visitor, plus some episodes of the X-Files.
5) The special effects and makeup divisions of Babylon 5 has started a movement in FX. They were the first to use all CGI in production of the space and battle effects. Nowadays, every effects companies (even ILM) has switched around to CGI. The Star Wars Special Edition or any other recent Sci-fi movie or series would have never come about if it wasn't for CGI.
6) The special effects for Crusade are being aided by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This assures nearly flawless technical accuracy never before seen in Science Fiction.
So please, watch this series with an open mind and do not judge this series before it starts.
------------------ Daniel Henderson Senior Babylon 5 Editor http://www.myrkr.com
Canada: Space: The Imagination Station, June 12, 7PM ET with repeat Sunday at 2 am
Also on City TV, June 15, 8 pm
Germany: It seems that RTL has the rights to Crusade and the B5 movies, even though Pro7 aired Babylon 5. Most likely, RTL will dub the show and sell it to Pro7.
England: Sky Channel has the rights to Crusade. The current plan is to air it Sunday, 4th July at 8pm.
France: Canal+, who aired Babylon 5, will most likely air Crusade, but this is as yet unconfirmed. (Canal+ is going to show River of Souls soon)
Finland: Finland's YLE (the Finnish Broadcasting Company) has acquired the rights to all 5 of Babylon 5`s seasons (which they are currently showing the fourth season) and also to Crusade.
Australia: It seems that Channel 9 (which is currenlty showing season 5) will get the rights for Crusade, but its air date is yet unknown.
Israel: Since Channel 3 has shown all 5 seasons, and the fact that it only shows series, Crusade will land there. Still no dates known.
New Zealand: TVNZ Channel 2 is airing Season five, but no news if they will get Crusade.
South America: WBTV will air Season 5, and I guess Crusade too, since it is a Warner Bros. channel.
That's all the info on air dates that I have.
------------------ Daniel Henderson Senior Babylon 5 Editor http://www.myrkr.com
posted
And since I'm in a bit of a sour mood, I shall address some of these points.
1.) B5's ratings haven't exactly been burning up the charts. However, to be fair, this doesn't mean as much to a cable station.
2.) Eh? I've never met anyone in real life who's even heard of B5, aside from my friend's brother. But again, to be fair, this isn't an indicator of quality either. The fanbase is limited, though, at least in the U.S.
3.) Some consider Rosie O'Donnell the queen of daytime television. Some think Total Request Live highlights original music.
4.) Judging from what actually gets the Hugo awards for dramatic presentations, that's not exactly good company. Besides, The Practice has won more Emmys. Does that make it a better show?
5.) If we're handing out awards for earliest CGI use, I think Tron and The Last Starfighter deserve a few...
6.) Now this I have heard, and it does sound very cool. I didn't see much evidence of it in tonight's episode, but I was only watching intermittently, and it didn't seem like a very FX heavy one anyway.
Now, as long as we're plugging shows, what you REALLY should be watching is The Prisoner marathon on TV Land.
------------------ "Gone savage for teenagers with automatic weapons and boundless love." -- Soul Coughing
The First One
A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he's pissed
Member # 35
posted
He is a dying System. We should let him pass. 8)
I'm certainly looking into getting satellite so I can watch Crusade. It's getting The X-Files' Sunday at 8 slot over the summer.
Annoying thing is, Crusade starts two weeks before they release "A Call To Arms" here on video. . . B(
------------------ "I also received an interesting, if some-what perplexing, note from a 13-year-old lad who asked if I "had a clue." I fear I cannot adequately answer, as I am not aware of any immediate clues at hand; but that is not to say there are none present." - T. Herman Zweibel
posted
Are they going to reair the first Crusade episode any time soon? And does anyone know if Wednesday at 10pm EST is going to be the regular time for the show?
------------------ "Angels and Ministers of Grace, defend us" -Hamlet, Act I, Scene IV
Warped1701: Yes, War Zone will replay on Monday after WCW. Be careful as it has a tendancy to run over.
Sol System: As a rebuttle:
1) Yes, it is on a cable system. Plus, any show will have a ratings decrease with all the time changes TNT has done to it.
2) Fan base is not limited. When PTEN was discontinued for the WB, the fans joined together to save the show. And look what it has brought us, 4 TV movies, another season, and the starting of another B5 series. Fanbase is far from limited.
3) Well, JMS also has an asteroid named after him while Roddenberry only has his ashes in Earth orbit and Lucas has nothing.
4) Here's a list of shows B5 has beat for the Hugo awards:
1996:
Apollo 13 The Visitor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) Toy Story 12 Monkeys
*1997: Independence Day Mars Attacks! Star Trek: First Contact Star Trek: Deep Space Nine "Trials and Tribbleations"
*= 2 additional B5 episodes (War Without End and Z'Ha'Dum) were also nominated but JMS declined.
This year, B5 been nominated again for the Hugo for Sleeping in Light. The only strong challenger it has is Star Trek: Insurrection, and if Severed Dreams could kill First Contact, it'll buzzsaw Insurrection with Sleeping in Light. Also, it's been nominated for 3 Saturn Awards for Best Cable Series, Best Actor, and Best Actress that I know of. I'm not sure about the rest.
5) Tron and Last Starfighter may have used it, but B5 made it practical. With a budget around $800,000 and doing all the FX shots they did even in Season 1 alone with models would have cost a fourtune. And if they could do it on their budget, larger FX companies sure could do it as well, hence Star Wars Special Editon.
6) Well all the shots of Mars, Ceti 4, and the background were FX shots. They looked pretty realistic. There also seemed to be more shots in this 1 hour episdoe than there was in the DS9 Finale. Plus, this is the episode that TNT wanted Crusade to be. Action, action, action, but minus the sex. If you want the real scoop, I have a copy of the DreamWatch article about Crusade's shutdown. It gets pretty vivid and sound almost like turning it into Voyager. Wait for Racing the Night, the episode that should have been the 1st.
As for The Prisoner, it's one of those SciFi series that I'd like to get into, but I can't see it anywhere. My cable provider doesn't gt TV Land.
------------------ Daniel Henderson Senior Babylon 5 Editor http://www.myrkr.com
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