Crusade DVD's

[SciFiRanger]

I recieved my Crusade DVD's today and after watching the first 4 episodes I must say how impressed I am. The quaility of the sound and video are excellent. Also as it's been a long time since I last seen any of these episodes, I would like to retract an earlier comment I made on this board about the actor Gary Cole. Originally I stated that he was a poor actor and poor choice for the character of Mathew Gideon but after watching this evening my opinion of him has now changed. On the first disk there were two of the most memorable episodes in my opinion, (The Well of Forever and The Path of Sorrows) just watching them again reminded me of how great this show really was. My only concern was that the set is titled (The complete series) which I hope is not the sad reality it implies. This story must be finished, preferrable as a returned series in all it's brillant glory with all the original cast members returning including Gary Cole. I can only hope that supporting these DVD's will make a difference. Buying B5 did, so I suggest we all buy this one too.

[Dr Maturin]

It is complete. The series, as it is, is thirteen episodes. So a set with thirteen episodes is complete. It's not a new thing to call a DVD set of a canceled series "The Complete Series."

[OmahaStar]

Yeah ... I had a really bad experience at Walmart when I went to pick up the set ...

I was going to wait until Friday, but I was able to scrape enough money together last night to get it today ... So I stopped at Wal-Mart on my way in to work this morning (getting up a half-hour early just for this!) ... And they didn't order any copies in.

The clerk had the audacity to say "well nobody wants it" ... My reply "Well obviously, somebody wants it. I'm standing here trying to get it, aren't I? What am I, (blank) invisible?" ... They've got it on the website, but according to the manager, none of the stores ordered in copies of "that cancelled show" ... Meanwhile, they've got over 300 copies of the first seinfeld volume sitting there. I said "Oh, like this piece of (blank) that was cancelled?"

Oh yeah ... I let em have it. I'll be going to best buy after work to pick it up. GRRRRR

[SciFiRanger]

<It is complete. The series, as it is, is thirteen episodes. So a set with thirteen episodes is complete. It's not a new thing to call a DVD set of a canceled series "The Complete Series.">

Z'ha'dumDweller: Apparently you missed my point or you just felt like being condensending? I thought we were all here to support B5 and Crusade, not to bash away aimlessly at the members on the board.

[DGTWoodward]

Mine has yet to arrive, I think it may be caught in dreaded customs!!!!

[KoshN]

Originally posted by SciFiRanger
<It is complete. The series, as it is, is thirteen episodes. So a set with thirteen episodes is complete. It's not a new thing to call a DVD set of a canceled series "The Complete Series.">

Duh: Apparently you missed my point or you just felt like being condensending? I thought we were all here to support B5 and Crusade, not to bash away aimlessly at the members of the board.

Um, I really don't think Z'ha'dumDweller was being condescending, and if that was the case, it'd be out of character (IIRC). I think we all "get" what you meant, and I certainly agree with what you said in the first post. Initially, I didn't like Gary Cole very much in the role (Easy there, Demon. ), but now I do. Guess I just had to get used to him in the role. Now, I can't imagine anybody else doing Gideon (Again, easy there Demon. That's not what I meant. I know you'd like to "do" Gideon. ).


I haven't been able to pick up mine yet. Got to wait 'till the 9th or 10th when I get paid. So, could you please tell us which episodes and special features are on what discs? I'm chomping at the bit to get 'em.

[Jan]

Re: Crusade DVD's

Originally posted by SciFiRanger
Also as it's been a long time since I last seen any of these episodes, I would like to retract an earlier comment I made on this board about the actor Gary Cole. Originally I stated that he was a poor actor and poor choice for the character of Mathew Gideon but after watching this evening my opinion of him has now changed.

I meant to comment on this before. I *love* Gary Cole as Gideon. His is a very subtle performance but very layered. Like his character, you know that there's a lot going on behind the eyes.

Glad you changed your mind, SiFiRanger!

Jan

[SciFiRanger]

I haven't been able to pick up mine yet. Got to wait 'till the 9th or 10th when I get paid. So, could you please tell us which episodes and special features are on what discs? I'm chomping at the bit to get 'em.

Disk One has commentary on (The Well of Forever) by Peter Woodward, Carrie Dobro, Director Janet Greek and Writer Fiona Avery.

Disk Two: Dose not seems to have anything other than the episodes

Disk Three: Has commentary by JMS on Racing the night.

Disk Four: Has two documentaries one called "The making of Crusade" and the other called "Forging Excaliber: Anatomy of a vessel and its crew".

Disks 3 and 4 will not play on my older JVC DVD player but they do play on my newer Toshiba DVD player and on my computer, kind of odd. Oh well, the Toshiba is in the living room connected to a larger TV anyways.

The order of the episodes is as follows:

1. War Zone
2. The long Road
3. The Well of Forever
4. The Path of Sorrows
5. Patterns of the Soul
6. Ruling from the Tomb
7. The Rules of the Game
8. Appearances and other Deciets
9. Racing the Night
10. The Memory of War
11. The Needs of Earth
12. Visitors from Down the Street
13. Each Night I dream of Home

(Sorry but I forgot to add the episodes earlier as I was late for a meeting.)

I pre-ordered my set from Amazon to ensure it would get to me ASAP.

[Jan]

Originally posted by SciFiRanger
Disk One has commentary on (The Well of Forever) by Peter Woodward, Carrie Dobro, Director Janet Greek and Writer Fiona Avery.

Got my set today and immediately watched this commentary. I have to say I think it's probably the best mix of people on any of them so far. They talked about the characters and the writing and the directing and the chemistry and the series....not about dents in the head. Mainly, they appreciated each other's contributions. Peter Woodward was a little evident as leading the comments but it that's natural since he's acted and written at least and possibly directed.

Very enjoyable.

Jan

[AmyG]

I got caught as Omaha Star did. After a problem with Season 3 (it repeatedly came bashed, and I had to return it a bunch of times - I don't think it's too much to ask that I get an intact box for my very favorite show, which I'm paying full price for!!), I stopped ordering them by mail. Picking them up at BJ's Wholesale turned out to be a great thing - it was the best price, and also because it's a price club they have them in these superprotective impermeable plastic blister packs, which make damage to the box virtually impossible. So I bought seasons 4 and 5 that way, and the movie set. But when I called up BJ's today, they said they didn't have Crusade in stock, and it wasn't even in their system! After selling all the rest of the B5-related products!

Well, I was disappointed, but got right online and ordered it from Narns & Noble. It should be here in two days. And I really, REALLY hope that the box edges aren't bashed up!

Amy

[grumbler]

The DVDs for Crusade have now been delivered (ahead of schedule, as it turns out) and, of course, I had my Amazon pre-order in and got them today.

Those who have seen the series have seen it, and so they won't be interested in a plot summary. Those who haven't wouldn't understand the plot summaries anyway, so i will talk about the DVD extras.

The first one I watched was the JMS commentary on "Racing the Night" which was supposed to have been the series' first aired episode (they later went back and filmed a six-episode "lead in"). It was very vanilla JMS. Nothing new and exciting except that he revealed that Dureena (the thief charactor) was the one who was going to become the "dark technomage" through the Shadow Tech (already forshadowed by her demonstrated desire to get Galen's powers in order to avenge herself on the people who killed her own race, leaving her the sole survivor) and the fact that he had explicitely used terms like "thief" "warrier" and "mage" to appeal to the D&D types.

The second was the "cast and crew" commentary on "The Well of Forever" which featured Peter Woodward (actor), Carrie Dubro (actress), Janet Greek (director), and Finoa Avery (writer). This was, indeed, a happy combination, because it covered all the bases and made for a very lively conversation about all aspects of the episode. It is by far the best of its kind on the entire B5 DVD series. I was left unsure about whether Peter was simply gay or just so secure in his non-gayness that he could let women laugh at his masculinity and laugh with them. Don't anyone tell me, it is better that way. No major revelations (I already knew that Peter Woodward stole Galen from Merlin in the movie Excalibur) but some interesting insights as to how the SF medium allowed everyone from writers to directors to actors to gnore the traditional boundaries between stage and sound stage. Some of the discussions aboutnwhat they though the CGI would look like and what they saw on broacast were quite funny. Unlike the B5 cast commentaries
(done, it is true, after much bigger lapses) they all remembered their emotional mindsets during filming.

The third was the "making of Crusade" minifeature. Very standard stuff. The JMS explosions about how TNT Atlanta literally sabatoged the show (which they did, and even admitted to) is missing. Ditto for the artistic types on the "Forging Excalibur" minifeature.

I haven't cracked the Easter Egg with JMS telling what really happened as yet. I know it is there, because he has talked about it. I suspect that it is on the fourth DVD because there is room there.

But these are thirteen episodes of damn good SF. One weeps for the potential lost when TNT realized that it was far, far too good a series for thier network.

[SciFiRanger]

I just finished watching the Special Features as well and I was very happy to see that most of the original cast had some comments here and there. The only two actors that did not contribute any comments on the 14 min documantary were, Gary Cole and Daniel Dae Kim. I would have to guess that they were both to busy on other projects to put in their two cents.

The other documentary on the Excaliber was only 5 minutes long and didn't reviel anything other than some original ship designs that were ultimately merged into the final design.

All in all they were entertaining but as Grumbler stated no where could I find JMS' comments regarding TNT. Perhaps it's hidden as he stated or maybe the WB just wasn't willing to let JMS go there. With something new in the wings perhaps they did not want any litigation to interupt the already delayed schedule of TMoS. Just my two cents.

Grumbler, please let us all know if you discovery it's ware abouts. I'll keep searching as well.

[charlie]

I picked up my copy of Crusade this afternoon at Hastings. My Walmart didn't stock it either, ( although it could be ordered through their internet thingamajig....).

Of note, Hastings had it yesterday but woudn't sell me a copy untill today....corection....they woudn't sell me " it ", they only ordered one copy....so I guess I may be the only one in town to actually have Crusade today.....lucky me huh ?

Well, luck may be a misleading term to use here....understand, other than the "pilot" episode I have never seen Crusade before, indeed, I have only watched the first disk of the four, and with that in mind I venture to make a few observations.

The box is nice....it matches the other boxes that B5 came in, it will look pretty on the shelf I think...the disks inside are nice and round and fit into my DVD Rom drive well and even play as per expected, how well they do in my DVD players or my PS2 remains to be seen, but eventually I'll get around to finding out. I had a few glitches in episode 4, that nice "freeze frame" for a moment as the laser hunts for the data track, but other than that it's not to bugy so far.

Now, as to the content of the disks.....hmmmmmmmmm.....a mixed bag so far.....actually after watching 4 episodes I'm a little lukewarm on the whole thing. It looks nicer than Farscape for example, ( and what dosn't egh - except for Dr Who and Lost in Space ). The stories play out like re-written tripe from Battlestar Glactica or Space 1999......( just what the hell was episode 4, "The Path of Sorrows" all about huh ? - besides letting us know a few of the hangups about some of the crew it does nothing to move me to taking the time to "tune in" next week, indeed, this is Star Trek - The next Generation B.S. if you ask me, ).

And the actors ? One word describes all the male leads I have seen so far, and that word is wooden. These are dry borring people, like those on S.T.T.N.G. , I actually would like to see some of them get into trouble on some far off planet and would smile if they got bumped off, heck, I might even cheer if they did. Now, the actress who plays Dureena Nafeel.....she's pretty good...and can do something more than hit her marks and spew dialog, everyone else however......well, I'll reserve judgement till I've seen the other disks.

Now, I did like that whatshis name in episode 4, the guy who played the PSI cop in that Japanese dudes dream....remember the guy ? He played the human cop in Alien Nation, a much underrated show in my opinion....I'm glad he got the job....he's an underrated actor too, hollywood often squanders such tallent and gives talantless bumbs like Jonathan Franks the big paychecks, ( sorry Jonny - I call them as I see them ).

Well, I paid 50 + bucks, ( including tax ), for this nifty box and the 4 DVD's inside, so I will over the next week or so watch them all, and I'll get back with you on what I think of the whole sorted affair. What I have seen so far dosn't impress me much, infact I may have been better off picking up those used "Last Exile" DVD's instead, but since I have every book, ( and I mean EVERY book including that old rollplaying game thing ), and all the DVD's about B 5 I felt obligated to pick this up as well.

Here that Joe ? I have maybe $ 900 worth of B 5 "junk", I hope you at least got the price of a cup of java out of it in royalties...it's my way of saying thanks for all the entertainment .

No, I'm not mad, nor am I disapointed - but I'm not exactly cheering and jumping either. Years ago I paid $ 100 bucks for tickets to see "Phantom of the Opera" and I didn't care much for that either, it was no "Cats", or "Camalot", but then again it was better than " All that Jazz". In the same way this looks better then most television Science Fiction.

B 5 is to me what Tina Turner is to music, Crusade is no "Tina Turner", hopefully it can aspire to a "Crow" or a "Morraset", but on first glance it looks like a "Cher".....something you can watch without absoloute bordom - but nothing you really care to see again anytime soon.

My aplogies to Cher fans...I'm sure she has tallet somewhere, I just have a hard time finding it. I did like that "If I could turn back time " video......nice and cheesy always suits my tastes.


One further point, the question in the credits...Who do you trust ? Why I would answer it this way - nobody but myself - trust is often a "suckers bet", at best, and that question borders on being absoloute stupidity, especially when asked to a "starship captain", who can afford to trust nobody.

Correction, he can trust on his staff to "screw up", and for the universe to put his balls in a vice ocasionally - and damn little else.

So it goes......

[Dr Maturin]

<<Well, I was disappointed, but got right online and ordered it from Narns & Noble.>>

Is that just an ironic typo or a deliberate play on words?

I did a search and these are the best prices I can find for Crusade:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=3347065

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00061QJSK/qid=1102488047/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-1014340-7583362?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846

http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=WBD039720

Wal-Mart stores usually don't get stuff like Crusade on the release date. In fact, they didn't get B5 until a few weeks after the release dates. But when they do, chances are it may be cheaper than their web store price.

[I love Lyta]

"Initially, I didn't like Gary Cole very much in the role, but now I do."

Same goes for me and Traci Scoggins as Lochley.
Till then I only saw her in C-movies and I thought "what in the nine hells rode JMS to hire her for that role?".
Now I think it was a pretty good idea.