Product Description

2267 A.D. The battle is won, the war may be lost. After fending off the fierce attack of Drakh combatants, Earth faces an unseen yet even greater foe - a microbial, biogenetic plague that will destroy all life on the planet in five years if a cure isn't found. Crusade follows the race against time to find that cure - an urgent and hazardous quest that sends an Earthforce expedition across the reaches of space to explore technologies more advanced than Earth's. Leading this high-stakes archeological mission is a starship of the new Interstellar Alliance, the Excalibur, and its crew drawn from the Alliance's elite troubleshooting corps, the Rangers. With 7 billion lives at stake, action and courage against insurmountable odds must prevail in this Crusade.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5866 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2004-12-07
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Platforms: Mac, Linux, Mac OS X, Mac OS 9 and below, Windows
• Formats: AC-3, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
• Dimensions: 1.69 pounds
• Running time: 576 minutes

Features

• Another Thrilling Reach Into Tomorrow From The Creator of Babylon 5!   2267 A.

Amazon.com
The first and only spin-off of Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski's short-lived sci-fi series Crusade had its roots in the B5 television movie A Call to Arms, in which Earth was battling a Drakh invasion at the end of the Shadow Wars. When Crusade begins, the Drakh have released a deadly virus that threatens to wipe out all 10 billion humans living on Earth unless a cure can be found in five years. To take on this monumental task, Captain Matthew Gideon (Gary Cole) is assigned command of the state-of-the-art Destroyer-class ship Excalibur. His crew includes telepath John Matheson (Daniel Dae Kim); pompous but brilliant archaeologist-linguist Max Eilerson (David Allen Brooks); Dureena, a member of the Thieves' Guild and the last surviving member of her species (Carrie Dobro); medical officer Sarah Chambers (Marjean Holden); and technomage Galen (Peter Woodward).

While Babylon 5 had five years to develop into a powerful saga, Crusade had its plug pulled after a mere 13 episodes (which were reordered for TNT's broadcast), and the series never really got its footing. Galen often took center stage, then disappeared for several episodes. Matheson was underutilized (other than to provide fans with clues about what happened in the Psi-Wars after B5 ended), and tough-guy Gideon bounced back and forth between his desire to save the human race and his own moral code. There were some good action scenes and intriguing concepts (developed in conjunction with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory). Special effects sometimes were impressive and sometimes showed budget constraints, and we never really saw the power and scope of the mile-and-a-half-long ship, other than the cool bullet cars used to traverse its length. But it did have its moments. If B5 was the spiritual companion to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with its space-station setting and long story arc, Crusade was more like a traditional Star Trek setting, with mostly stand-alone episodes involving first contact with various species (even if, due to the nature of the Excalibur's quest, such species were usually extinct). And there were occasional tantalizing hints of a broader conspiracy that might have allowed the series to soar. Regardless, B5 fans will welcome even a brief opportunity to revisit this universe, especially when the Excalibur visits the station in "The Rules of the Game." John Sheridan's ex-wife Captain Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins) even earned a spot in the opening credits for her appearance in a few episodes. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Great Potential cut down in its prime...
Crusade was a well casted series with the potential for a great future.

It started slow like B5 without a lot of definition to the story arc, and the special effects were not all that at times... but the show had already developed a community feel to the well drawn characters, and as usual the dialog was top notch per jms standards.

After the cancellation jms eventually laid out what would've been the future of the story arc, and I gotta say that with this cast this is one story I would've loved to seen come to fruition.

As for the reference in the following review that the show was cancelled due to lack of popularity, this does not appear to be the case at all.

According to jms (and granted its a biased source, but he's not one to modify the facts), TNT just decided the show didn't fit into their type of programming. Audiences were tuning in for that show only, and not staying. So they tried to mess with the show and then eventually pulled the plug. And because they don't didn't want to look stupid if the show were a success elsewhere, they wouldn't let the rights go for any reasonable sum of money.

Crusade was a good show with great potential and a good cast. The show grew on me with repeated viewings. Not to be missed - especially by B5 fans.

Exellent series killed before it was born!
Crusade had the perfect cast, the perfect creator and primary writer (J. Michael Strazynski), wonderful characters, beautiful music, and it was killed before a single episode was aired. I admire the creator of the series and loathe those who killed it.

If you have seen any of Babylon 5 or the special movies made for TV related to Babylon 5, you know the quality of production and writing potential Crusade had going for it. Crusade was to be another arc of an unfolding story from JMS within the Babylon 5 universe. In the precious 13 episodes that were completed the viewer gets only a small look at what might have been. The Babylon 5 TV Movie "A Call to Arms" was the lead in, not really a pilot, but a way of setting the stage for Crusade with some characters from both series.

If there is justice in the universe, JMS will one day be permitted to make Crusade as he envisioned it. Then the rest of us will watch it, and later when it is available, we will purchase it.

Brainless TV executives
Crusade was to put it shortly a screw up from day one. The problem was not with the creator, cast, central idea, stories or potential for it to last 5 seasons which was the plan all of which were excellent. As other reviewers have stated if this had gone all the way I am sure it would proudly have stood alongside Babylon 5. Instead some cretinous short sited moronic powers that be tried to put pressure on JMS to turn this into Baywatch in space. He quite rightly pulled the plug rather than watch the show degenerate into something it was not meant to be. Over the course of the 13 episodes we were only given tantalising glimpses of what could have been. Gary Cole in particular was excellent as the mercurial Matthew Gideon. I knew he was absolutely right for the role as he brought that essential blend of authority, and humour while being of-kilter at the same time. The rest of the cast over the 13 episodes showed signs of settling well into their characters. The search for the cure to the Drakh plague was only the beginning of the story and was due to take in the long term consequences of shadow Technology not just the virus. Buy this set and wonder what would have come next. I personally imagine that Gideon would have found the cure and at the end married Captain Lochley. One can only hope that the story mght be finished in some way at some time but in the meantime I will make up my own ending. Buy this set and dream. Peace. Out.