Crusade WHy Airdate order? (1 Viewer)

[Dave Scarpa]

I would've thought JMS would've put these in the order he preferred from the Sci Fi runs and not the TNT Airdate order. Any Explanation given?

 

[David Williams]

It doesn't really make sense does it. Unless you own a carousel player it becomes tedious very quickly swapping discs.

WB earned a big in my book for editing JMS' commentary and then putting these episodes out in the wretched TNT airdate order.

 

[Martin Rendall]

OK, so is the JMS order apparent? If not, what should it be?

Martin.

 

[Michael Sliger]

Since there is no way to have a proper order (since production of the series was cancelled days before filming of the episode which finished the costume change explanation), JMS' order is not perfect either. It will confuse casual viewers (since War Zone is presented 12th despite being set before every other episode) though it solves some major plot point gaffes for people paying close atttention. It is not an obvious order, so you will need the list from the Lurker's Guide.

Air Date Ep# Prod# Title
01/04/09 9 103 Racing the Night
01/04/10 11 101 The Needs of Earth
01/04/11 10 102 The Memory of War
01/04/12 2 107 The Long Road
01/04/16 12 104 Visitors from Down the Street
01/04/17 3 106 The Well of Forever
01/04/18 13 105 Each Night I Dream of Home
01/04/19 5 110 Patterns of the Soul
01/04/23 4 109 The Path of Sorrows
01/04/24 6 111 Ruling from the Tomb
01/04/25 7 112 The Rules of the Game
01/04/26 1 108 War Zone
01/04/30 8 113 Appearances and Other Deceits

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

"War Zone" should not be considered a part of the series at all. It should be watched as a supplement as the 13th episode and an example of network interfernce in the production process.

The only reason that JMS included it in the order he recommended to The Sci-Fi Channel for broadcast is that he knew they were paying for 13 episodes and were damned well going to air 13 episodes. The reason he put it in the number 12 slot was because he didn't want to end the broadcast run on an episode that sucked and leave a sour taste in the audience's mouth. (Sci-Fi's initial airing was the first time the series had been seen since it aired, once, as a "limited series" on TNT in the summer of 1999. Sci-Fi ran Crusade in part to evaluate interest in a possible revival of the series or other spin-offs directly related to it, so JMS had a stake in trying to find the best episode order to interest new viewers in the series under those circumstances.)

Between their edit of JMS's commentary (behind his back) and their botch of the episode order, Warner Bros. can ring up a big "no sale" on this set from me. And I'm going to write to tell them so.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Ric Easton]

I still don't get why in JMS's preferred order "War Zone" is down so low. Shouldn't it be the first episode since that is the one that introduces the characters?

Ric

 

[Rob T]

I finished the last episode tonight and I watched it in the airdate order. It seemed fine to me.

It was starting to get better too.
Damn TNT. :frowning:

 

[Jason Borchers]

.

 

[Michael Sliger]

http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1...ery=war%20zone

He never wanted to make the second "pilot" in the first place. When the TNT execs forced him to write and produce "War Zone", he used the episode as an example of why their previous notes and comments were completely inane. These concessions also led to an episode which does not match the rest of the series in tone or feel, making it an undesirable starting point. The drop in ratings after this episode (from 1.9 to 1.0-1.4 for the rest of the run) suggest that the episode didn't do its needed job. JMS does openly admit that "Racing the Night" isn't a perfect pilot either (see the "eleven minutes of exposition" discussion in the commentary track), but that was his initial vision for a first episode.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

That's the illusion created by watching in TNT's airdate order. The show wasn't "getting better". It started off good, then got worse. What you saw as episodes 9 through 13 were, in fact, the first 5 episodes shot. (Although other episodes that were planned but never shot would have fallen between them.) The "last" five episodes on the DVDs are basically the show JMS sold TNT, the one he wanted to do for about half of the first season (after which things would have started to take a radical turn culminating in the S1 cliff-hanger which would have changed everything.) The "last" five are the ones that TNT Productions in Los Angeles were perfectly happy with, but which TNT corporate in Atlanta suddenly started finding fault with. (In fact, TNT's analysis of the B5 first-run and rerun ratings made them decide to kill Crusade by any means necessary - but to try to force JMS to pull the plug so they wouldn't have to pay Warner Bros. for the full 22 episodes they'd contracted for. It turns out that B5 viewers wern't sticking with TNT - they tuned in for B5, watched it, then flipped the dial when it was over. Conversely the core TNT viewer wasnt' interested in B5 and would switch to another channel while the show was on, returning for wrestling or the evening movie. So TNT started making impossible demands, knowing that the famously flinty JMS would eventually refuse to work under those conditions - which is pretty much what happened.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[Rob T]

And I liked the last episode at the most.

 

[Jason Borchers]

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