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NEWS ARCHIVE: (30/07/98) -> (29/08/99)
Last Update on September 05 '99
 
 Sunday, 29th August, 1999

BUY BABYLON 5 SCRIPTS:

The Official Babylon 5 Fan Club (www.thestation.com) are going to be selling Babylon 5 scripts each month starting this month with the pilot episode "The Gathering". They will be printnig as many copies as they have orders for, and then send those out. When the scripts are gone, they're gone. These will be special exclusive collector items - so don't miss out.

Email: The_Gathering@thestation.com to reserve your Pilot Script for $25.00. The first 100 orders will be autographed by J. Michael Straczynski. No orders will be processed or reserved before September 1, 1999.

If you are interested, reserve your copy after September 1. Please follow up your reserved copy request with payment information. Send checks, money orders or credit card information to the Fan Club address (Official Babylon 5 Fan Club P.O. Box 856 North Hollywood, CA 91603). Or use their toll free number at 1-888-777-8517.

Note: This script is a replica of an authentic, internal document and will be presented to the consumer just as it would appear in the hands of our cast and crew.

Message from jms:

"Yeah, we plan to sell a number of B5 scripts in chronological order, for a limited period, one or so per month. What that means is: we'll take orders on a script such as the Gathering from September 1 to the end of the month. Then we'll print up only as many copies as have been ordered. That's it. Then we move to the next one. It'll probably take years before it would cycle through all the scripts we make available before we got back to the Gathering again. So when they're gone, for all intents and purposes, they're gone."

- jms

Check the Official Babylon 5 Fan Club site (www.thestation.com) each month to find out how to reserve your copy of the next script.


UK CRUSADE AIR DATES UPDATE:

After "Racing The Night", Crusade will air on both Saturday and Sunday nights for two weeks to wind up the show. The remaining air dates are as follows:

  • Sun 29th Aug - Racing The Night
  • Sat 4th Sept - The Memory Of War
  • Sun 5th Sept - The Needs Of Earth
  • Sat 11th Sept - Visitors from Down the Street
  • Sun 12th Sept - Each Night I Dream Of Home

  • In the UK Crusade is on Sky One at 8pm


 
 Saturday, 28th August, 1999

CRUSADE EPISODE 12 RATINGS:

The rating for episode 12 - "Visitors from Down the Street" was 1.2. Down 0.1 on the series average.


A CALL TO ARMS!

We call upon all Crusade fans to send letters to the Sci-Fi Channel, Warner Brothers, and TNT on September 2, the day after the final TNT episode of Crusade airs. At that time, all the ratings for Crusade will be in and the networks will be ready to make decisions. Only by demonstrating that Crusade has a tremendous audience can we convince Warner Brothers to work hard to sell Crusade and make the Sci-Fi Channel and TNT want to buy it. It is critical that everyone send their letters simultaneously to show that Crusade has an enormous and loyal following.

Please spread the word to other fans and encourage your friends and family to write letters. Help us to speak with one voice which is so loud and strong that it cannot be ignored!

For further information go here.

For addresses, come to www.astro.umd.edu/~fleming/2addresses.html
For letter writing tips, come to www.astro.umd.edu/~fleming/tips.html


ANOTHER UK CONVENTION:

Peter Woodward will be one of the guests at a convention at the Stakis Bristol Hotel in Bristol 10/23 to 10/24

Visit the following web site for further information - http://members.xoom.com/con_vergence/index.html


CRUSADE AIR DATES NEXT WEEK (30/08/99):

US, Canadian & UK air dates & times for Crusade next week. (The week of 30/08/99)
- As always, check your check your local listings for the time in your area just in case.

Monday
TNT (US) - Episode 12: "Visitors from Down the Street". 11 pm ET/PT - (repeat)

Tuesday
CityTV - Episode 12: "Visitors from Down the Street". 8:00pm

Wednesday
TNT (US) - Episode 13: "Each Night I Dream of Home". 10:00pm ET/PT - Last of the 13 Episode's

Thursday
CFCF-12 - Episode 12: "Visitors from Down the Street". 00:00am (i.e. Midnight - start your vcr on Wednesday at 11:58PM or so)

Friday
None

Saturday
SPACE - Episode 13: "Each Night I Dream of Home". 7pm ET - Last of the 13 Episode's

SkyONE (UK) - Episode 10: "The Memory of War". 8pm

Sunday
SkyONE (UK) - Episode 11: "The Needs of Earth". 8pm

SPACE - Episode 13: "Each Night I Dream of Home". 2am ET - (repeat) - Last of the 13 Episode's



 
 Monday, 23rd August, 1999

CRUSADE EPISODE 11 RATINGS:

The rating for episode 11 - "The Needs of Earth" was 1.5!. Up 0.2 on the series average.


A CONVENTION IN THE UK:

The Cult Tv - Telly Breakaway convention in the UK has 2 Crusade guests at its con this year, Carrie Dobro and Marjean Holden have agreed to attend. The convention will be held at Pontin's Sand Bay Holiday Centre in Weston-Super-Mare on 17-20th Sept.

Its a non-profit making charity convention.

To secure your place call the Pontins booking line on 0870 604 5606 and quote reference C.U.L.T.

For more details go to the convention's official site here: www.cult-tv.freeserve.co.uk

 
 Saturday, 21st August, 1999

CRUSADE A HIT IN CANADA:

Canadian viewers have welcomed Crusade with open arms, and two representatives of SPACE: The Imagination Station (Crusade's Canadian home) have called the show a hit. But in postings to SPACE's Babylon 5 forum yesterday, the same representatives urged viewers to enjoy the thirteen episodes they had, because there would be no more.

Responding to questions about Crusade's ratings, Andrew Toth of SPACE had this to say:

    The kind of money required to put on a show like Crusade is unfortunately light years outside of our resources.
    Crusade has done very well for us in the ratings, it would be what we'd consider a "hit". It has done much better on Space than on some other stations and that is partly due to our audience being really in tune with what's on the station and the fact that we promoted it more than the others. It has done so well, in fact, hat we have been trying to clear another run through the series. Sorry to report, though, that we've hit a brick wall with the distributors and it doesn't look good that we can repeat it. Enjoy it while it lasts.
    Andrew Toth/SPACE, RE: what are the Crusade ratings like?, 8/18/99.

Questions about the possibility of SPACE co-financing a second season of Crusade brought a swift, decisive no from SPACE's Denis McGrath:

    No. Not an option at all. For a host of reasons that I could never go into even if I wanted to. Unfortunately, sometimes bad things happen to good shows. And that's what's happened to Crusade. I think, in light of the fact that production has been shut down for months, the cast is released from their contracts, and even the creator has moved on, people need to face up to the fact that 13 episodes of Crusade is all there is ever going to be, and that for the foreseeable future, they won't even be replayed--the rights for reruns have not been cleared.
    I can't explain why. I don't know any of the details, but any speculation that this group or that group could finance it and continue just demonstrates how little is understood about the shadowy world of how television gets made. Space can't finance more. Warner won't. There is no white knight. There is no way to 'get it going' again. Crusade is dead.
    It's a shame, but there you go. Add it to the pile of worthy shows that never got a chance to do what they could, and move on.
    Denis McGrath/SPACE, RE: Financing Crusade and Other Matters, 8/18/99.

Source: Voice of the Resistance


TNT POSTER CONTEST:

The TNT website is having a Crusade poster contest. They may be trying to get a feel for the audience and find out how large it is, but anyway it seems a bit late in the day for this and should have been done near the start of the series. Everyone should go to the site though and participate in the contest to show your support.

http://tnt.turner.com/crusade/


CARRIE DOBRO INTERVIEW:

Carrie Dobro plays Dureena Nafeel in Crusade

Interviewer: Tony Tellado

Tony Tellado: Did the makeup change a little bit on her?

Carrie Dobro: A little bit. I have had three complete different make ups.

T2: She did look different in A Call To Arms.

CB: In A Call To Arms, I had a big huge forehead with all the reptilian stuff. My hair was completely different. For the series, I had a similar headpiece but it was much smaller and I had bangs. After the first five when they changed everything, they made the forehead piece even smaller but a different pattern. And my hair was straight and off my head. I've have had three complete different looks, I'm molting. I'm alien, I can do these things. You can't tell me different.

T2: You wear contact lenses too, right ?

CB: I had a couple of different lenses. Very big. The ones that we wound up with were large gold contacts. For a while in a couple of episodes, I was wearing two contact lenses per eye because they didn't have what they wanted. I can't remember if it was Call To Arms or a couple of episodes but it was a while. That was a treat.

T2: You have appeared in make up before. You were in Hypernauts, which I thought was a neat series.

CB: It was a great little series. You know what happened right ?

T2: I don't know they whole story.

CB: I thought it was more of a teen show than a kid show. Unfortunately while we were filming when Disney bought ABC and we were told that all Saturday morning programs was now going to be Disney. That was kind of a shuffle in that direction. It wasn't artistic differences or that they didn't like the show but "We're putting on our shows."

T2: I understand that the Disney Channel has aired some of the episodes combined.

CB: They took four episodes and put them together. They ran it as a movie for a while.

T2: Nice memories from doing the show ?

CB: That show was so much fun. That was interesting because it was a lot more prosthetics. It was the first time that I had ever worn prostethics. I would get there way before anyone else like at five in the morning. Nobody would ever be there. We'd shoot an episode in two days. Nobody knew what I looked like. I remember that once I had a half day and went down on the set and no one knew who I was until I laughed. I have a very distinctive laugh. Everyone would go, my God, that's Carrie. The other thing that was odd was that you get in all this prosthetics stuff, and on that set, everybody else was human except for Ran and Ran wasn't there every day. You would sit when you were not working and have these intense conversations with people. Then I would walk by them on the way to the john or my dressing room, and I would see myself in the mirror and I would say, Oh My God, this what they think they're talking to. Because I would always forget. It was very very very odd..I remember actually meeting someone at a party who was one of the editors on the show whom I never met. I met him at a party with a friend of mine who is a director who worked on editing on a film that I was also in as a human. He heard my voice and said, "Oh My God, That's who she is." He came up to me at a party and said, I can't believe we never met. It was a riot. You forget wearing all that prosthetic that people don't know what you look like. Bruce (Boxleitner) had never seen me out of make up. I had never seen him without his grey hair. On the very last day of A Call To Arms, We both went to the good-bye party and looked at each other at the same time and said "So that's what you look like". You spend hours upon hours with these people and they don't know. It's very odd.

Source: Sci-Fi Talk Home Page. Many thanks to Tony Tellado for allowing me to post this.

You can view the whole transcript at the Scf-Fi Talk site.


CRUSADE AIR DATES NEXT WEEK (23/08/99):

US, Canadian & UK air dates & times for Crusade next week. (The week of 23/08/99)
- As always, check your check your local listings for the time in your area just in case.

Monday
TNT (US) - Episode 11: "The Needs of Earth". 11 pm ET/PT - (repeat)

Tuesday
CityTV - Episode 11: "The Needs of Earth". 8:00pm

Wednesday
TNT (US) - Episode 12: "Visitors from Down the Street". 10:00pm ET/PT

Thursday
CFCF-12 - Episode 11: "The Needs of Earth". 00:00am (i.e. Midnight - start your vcr on Wednesday at 11:58PM or so)

Friday
None

Saturday
SPACE - Episode 12: "Visitors from Down the Street". 7pm ET

Sunday
SkyONE (UK) - Episode 9: "Racing the Night". 8pm

SPACE - Episode 12: "Visitors from Down the Street". 2am ET - (repeat)



 
 Tuesday, 17th August, 1999

EPISODE TEN REVIEW & RATINGS:

I have put up a review of the tenth episode of Crusade, "The Memory of War", written by Lars Joreteg.

Here is a small quote from the review:
"Overall, I thought this episode was quite good, and despite a somewhat lacking conclusion to the plot, the great character interaction and production values made this episode very enjoyable."

The rating for episode 10 - "The Memory of War" on TNT was 1.3, recovering the 0.1 it lost last week.

Don't forget to put your views on the ISN News message boards.


TOP 10 SCI-FI CHANNEL SHOWS:

As a comparison for how well Crusade is doing (the series is averaging 1.3, with no promotion at all), here are the top 10 rated Sci Fi Channel Shows:

    Farscape 1.5
    Darkman II 1.2
    Sliders 1.1
    Space: Above & Beyond 1.1
    First Wave 1.0
    The Butcher's Wife 1.0
    Darkman 0.9
    Heart & Souls 0.9
    Field of Dreams 0.9
    Dark Skies 0.8

Source: SciFi Wire


JMS ON THE FUTURE OF CRUSADE:

"J. Michael Straczynski wasted no time in addressing the issue at the forefront of the minds of his fans in San Diego Friday. "We haven't heard anything more on Crusade," Straczynski said almost immediately after walking on stage. "My feeling is that -- have you all see the Commitments, the movie? If you haven't see the movie it's about an Irish rock-blues kind of band. They get together and they begin to fall apart after a very [promising] start. In the end the guy who is a saxophonist, I believe ... says 'Look, if it worked we'd have gone on to be one more successful rock band. Now it's myth.' And if we do go on it's great. If we don't, now it's myth. All I could do was make the best show I possibily could and fight against the ... stupid interference we were getting. I'd rather make the shows that I'm proud of than 110 where I'm not. It's a simple philosophy but it works for me. We'll see what happens." But there's some upbeat news surrounding Crusade's sour situation: Straczynski later revealed that the Crusade cast members wish to come back on board the series should production start again."

Source: Cinescape Online


JMS AT AUSSIECON/WORLDCON:

JMS will be appearing at the AussieCon3 / WorldCon as the special guest of honor.

Aussiecon3/Worldcon
Sept. 2-6, Melbourne, Australia
Special Guest of Honor: J. Michael Straczynski
For more information, please e-mail info@aussiecon3.worldcon.org or snail mail: GPO Box 1212K, Melbourne VIC 3001, Australia or PO Box 688, Prospect Heights, IL 60070-0688. Their web site is located at www.aussiecon3.worldcon.org.

 
 Saturday, 14th August, 1999

EPISODE NINE REVIEW & RATINGS:

I have put up a review of the ninth episode of Crusade, "Racing the Night", written by Lars Joreteg.

Here is a small quote from the review:
"Sometimes while watching a television series, along comes an episode which makes you sit up straight and think to yourself "wow, this show is good!" When starting to watch Babylon 5, the eighth episode ("And the Sky is Full of Stars") was that kind of episode for me - from knowing almost nothing about Babylon 5, it made me an instant fan. While I've always liked Crusade from the beginning, this episode had a similar effect on me - it made me realize how good this show really is, and what incredible potential is there. Crusade truly deserves to survive, this episode is clear proof of that."

The rating for episode 9 - "Racing the Night" on TNT was 1.2, 0.1 down on last week, but I expect it's just a blip and that it will go back up again.

Don't forget to put your views on the ISN News message boards.


CRUSADE AIR DATES THIS WEEK (16/08/99):

US, Canadian & UK air dates & times for Crusade this week. (The week of 16/08/99)
- As always, check your check your local listings for the time in your area just in case.

Monday
TNT (US) - Episode 10: "The Memory of War". 11 pm ET/PT - (repeat)

Tuesday
CityTV - Episode 10: "The Memory of War". 8:00pm

Wednesday
TNT (US) - Episode 11: "The Needs of Earth". 10:00pm ET/PT

Thursday
CFCF-12 - Episode 10: "The Memory of War". 00:00am (i.e. Midnight - start your vcr on Wednesday at 11:58PM or so)

Friday
None

Saturday
SPACE - Episode 11: "The Needs of Earth". 7pm ET

Sunday
SkyONE (UK) - Episode 8: "Appearance and Other Deceits". 8pm

SPACE - Episode 11: "The Needs of Earth". 2am ET - (repeat)

 
 Sunday, 08th August, 1999

53 Seconds To Power Rebuild - Crusade situation Report:

One could say that the saga that has come from Crusade's behind the scenes struggles could be a "Limited Series" all on it's own. This week is no exception. Rumors, reports and more news have come in from the front of the new "Battle of the Line". Early this week ISN received a report from one of our message board members that she had gotten in the mail an interesting reply from the Sci Fi Channel to one of her many letters. Here is what the postcard said. It must be noted here that the writing on the card is handwritten rather than printed type that usually comes from the standard automated response.

    I am sorry to inform you that the network cannot pick up the show, but thank you for your interest.

That seems to have a finality to it, however, several "Save Crusade" sites doubt that the network has passed on the series totally. Many of them have contacted ISN stating that the last thing they were able to confirm was that the SFC was waiting for all 13 episodes to air in the US before making their decision. If that is not confusing enough then you can then ponder the report on Allie Sawyer's "Voice of the Resistance" site found here. In her report Allie has managed to get a SFC representative to make a statement saying that the SFC is not considering picking up the show at this time. So, does that mean they are waiting for a right time? Or is there truly no interest? To squelch the number of questions these statements have brought to light Allie asked JMS. The remarks below are the only ones that he has made about the subject recently and can also be found on her site. JMS wrote:

    I can't comment on what the person that you spoke to said, only because I've gotten emails that have passed on both positive *and* negative comments...leading me to suspect that the perspective changes with whoever answers the phone.

Beyond that, there's no news either way.

As they say in those paid advertisements, "But that's not all!" ISN has learned even more bad news about the current run of Crusade. The site recently spoke to Ms. Nicole Lucas who is in charge of public relations for Babylon 5 and Crusade on TNT. She told us that there are no plans to re-air Crusade after the limited run is over at this time. Again, the question came up to clarify the "at this time" issue. While not getting a full answer she agreed that it would be a real good idea to tape as many as you possibly could. Also, there are no plans for another Babylon marathon "at this time".

Now for the rumors: Several industry watcher sites, including www.backstage-pass.com , are starting to hear reports that Gary Cole is currently looking at other projects. ISN has even heard rumors that Cole has been spotted near the set of Chris Carter's new FOX series "Harsh Realms" in Canada. It is not known if he is character is a regular, re-occurring or guest one though. Another rumor has it that Cole is back in the running for the on again off again mid season replacement "Sherman Oaks". While these are still rumors it should be noted that Cole is a popular actor and won't remain out of work for long.

Speaking of cast members finding work… you can currently find Max, David Allen Brooks, on CBS's "Young and the Restless". Hopefully, his character can befall some major injury or life threatening disease if the call for Crusade should come in. Heck! It happens all the time on those type of shows.

Lastly, we would like to share some good news for a change. The fan response for "Racing the Night" has been some of the best so far. Many feel that this should have been the episode that opened the show. Comments on the net have been overall positive and this episode might have drawn back some of the fans that felt that the previous episodes have lacked a certain something. This could not have come a moment to soon. If this show is to survive the overwhelming odds, it must have as many voices as it can shouting support from the rooftops.

To learn more about what you can do for the show come to our "Save Crusade" area on the left side of the main isnnews.net page. Also, visit the message boards at the link below to hear the tips and tricks others have used to generate positive responses from the TNT, SFC and the show's sponsors. Some of our members have received handwritten responses and other materials in gratitude.

ISNnews.net would like to thank these wonderful people for the information that helped make up this piece:
The hard work of Allie Sawyer and her great site,
The fine folks at www.backstage-pass.com for helping us confirm some of the rumors,
Ms. Nicole Lucas for granting us a statement on the state of Crusade,
Cynthia Burnett (Saphfiremage), for sending us the full wording of the SFC postcard.

Joe Steinkamp (Ranger)
Moderator and reporter for www.isnnews.net


INTERVIEW WITH MARJEAN HOLDEN:

Interviewer: Tony Tellado

T2: There has been some successful Australian comedies in the past, so the ground has been paved for you. Is there anything that you would like to say to the fans of Crusade?

MH: A huge big Thank You. The fans have been great. They have really gone above and beyond what any fan base would do. They are very committed to their show. That's what we are here for. This show is so different. The subject matter and story matter is so different. The show that actually means something and is trying to do good. And they say, we don't think so. I really have to give to the fans. They really have been fantastic in supporting us. Even before we were on the air.

T2: That's special. But you have something special too. I'd like to see it continue.

MH: We really would too. We were just getting into the flow of things. You don't find very ofter where everyone gets along. Everybody is working for a common factor. We took on the world and did it together. We knew that we were going to need each and every one of us to make it possible. There was no attitude of "I'm more important than you" Everyone is a link in the fence. Without that link, the fence would fall down.

T2: You all bring something to the table, maybe a round table..If you take away one of the parts, it isn't Crusade. In A Call To Arms, I wanted to see the whole cast.

MH: They didn't know that it was going to go that far when we got to the Excalibur. They had no idea that they were going to assemble a team to do this. At the end of the episode is when the planet killer is released. They had to do it. They set it up well.

Source: Sci-Fi Talk Home Page. Many thanks to Tony Tellado for allowing me to post this.

You can view the whole transcript at the Scf-Fi Talk site.


CRUSADE AIR DATES THIS WEEK (09/08/99):

US, Canadian & UK air dates & times for Crusade this week. (The week of 09/08/99)
- As always, check your check your local listings for the time in your area just in case.

Monday
TNT (US) - Episode 9: "Racing the Night". 11 pm ET/PT - (repeat)

Tuesday
CityTV - Episode 9: "Racing the Night". 8:00pm

Wednesday
TNT (US) - Episode 10: "The Memory of War". 10:00pm ET/PT

Thursday
CFCF-12 - Episode 9: "Racing the Night". 00:00am (i.e. Midnight - start your vcr on Wednesday at 11:58PM or so)

Friday
None

Saturday
SPACE - Episode 10: "The Memory of War". 7pm ET

Sunday
SkyONE (UK) - Episode 7: "The Rules of the Game". 8pm

SPACE - Episode 10: "The Memory of War". 2am ET - (repeat)

 
 Tuesday, 03rd August, 1999

EPISODE EIGHT REVIEW:

I have put up a review of the eighth episode of Crusade, "Appearances and Other Deceits", written by Lars Joreteg.

Here is a small quote from the review:
"Overall this is my favorite episode so far, what could have been very cliched turned out to be fresh, while also providing excellent character development."


MESSAGE BOARD UPDATE:

The ISN News message boards have been updated with a new logo and some new graphics. Many thanks to our main reviewer and logo creator Lars Joreteg for the logo!

Why not disucss what you think about Babylon 5 or Crusade on the boards? http://forums.isnnews.net/

 
 Sunday, 01st August, 1999

RATINGS FOR EPISODE EIGHT:

The rating for episode 8 - "Appearances and Other Deceits" was 1.3, back to what is steadily becoming the average rating for the series.

Don't forget to put your views on the ISN News message boards.


CRUSADE AIR DATES THIS WEEK (02/07/99):

US, Canadian & UK air dates & times for Crusade this week. (The week of 02/08/99)
- As always, check your check your local listings for the time in your area just in case.

Monday
TNT (US) - Episode 8: "Appearances and Other Deceits". 11 pm ET/PT - (repeat)

Tuesday
CityTV - Episode 8: "Appearances and Other Deceits". 8:00pm

Wednesday
TNT (US) - Episode 9: "Racing the Night". 10:00pm ET/PT

Thursday
CFCF-12 - Episode 8: "Appearances and Other Deceits". 00:00am (i.e. Midnight - start your vcr on Wednesday at 11:58PM or so)

Friday
None

Saturday
SPACE - Episode 9: "Racing the Night". 7pm ET

Sunday
SkyONE (UK) - Episode 6: "Ruling from the Tomb". 8pm

SPACE - Episode 9: "Racing the Night". 2am ET - (repeat)

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