Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

jtwcosmos "I want them out of my sky."This is the story of a star ship on a mission of discovery, and not just any discovery. What the crew of this ship is looking for, could very well be described as the Holly Grail. And both the name of the series - Crusade - and the name of the ship itself - Excalibur - clearly indicate that.If you take the time to read some of the reviews, you will quickly learn the difficult and complicated story of this series: how it was sabotaged by Network Executives, how it had to deal with their absurd demands and how it was killed off, eventually, when the creator refused to comply with their less then inspired requests.You will also learn about it's strong points - good story, mostly - and not so strong points - the music, for example. But is there anything more to it? Maybe there is.Crusade is a spin off of the highly successful series Babylon 5. The story begins several years after the end of the Great War, and the premise for it is explained in the TV movie "A Call to Arms", so make sure to watch the movie, first. As the successor of Babylon 5, Crusade inherits a very complex universe, where black and white are never easily identified and where morality and politics don't always go hand in hand. But what does this series do with it's inheritance? Does it develop it as fully as it deserves? I guess we will never learn the answer to that question, really, but from the 13 episodes it is clear that it could have. And if it hadn't been sabotaged by some really, really awful choices, it probably would have.But first, the good parts.The design of the ship is fantastic. It is big, powerful yet limited and it has a fighter wing, which makes for a lot of very animated space battles. It also has a very complex transportation system, and everybody seems to have their conferences in it.The main cast is likable, the characters are complex, and they clearly have things to do and places to go. Whatever they are, they are not the usual types one sees in a space show and they are quite unique, actually.One of the most powerful features of the show is it's mythology. JMS does a great job of developing a whole universe, ensuring an intriguing and fascinating background for the story. Most of the episodes build on that, are highly entertaining and provide a good blend of action, drama, inner conflict, ambition, frustration and humor. So much so that one is likely to ignore many of the shortcomings of the show.Which leads us to the... not so good parts.First things first: the show's opening credits are arguably the worst ever made. They are simply hideous and there is no question about that. They could easily be used as the template for how not to do things (and I've never seen credits like that again so... they probably were). The questions "Who are you?" and "What do you want?" written in shaky fonts all over the screen... not very promising. Especially if they are answered.Then there is the music. Bad, bad, bad.And the writing? Unfortunately it seems the writers never cared enough for it, and never gave the script a second thought. It seems rushed, it seems incomplete and it seems shaky. Come to think of it, maybe that's the meaning of the opening credits, who knows? Maybe it is a warning: "Beware! There be bad writing." Or maybe it is just the way it is rendered by the actors, but I seriously doubt that; the occasional moments of witty and insightful dialog that made Babylon 5 so great are delivered perfectly.Or maybe it is the direction that is at fault. A closer examination of some (if not all) of the episodes reveals a whole lot of close-ups, strange and goofy poses the actors seem to strike, and some scenes are positively begging for one more take. Alas, the amount of tape they have at their disposal seems to be very limited and that's a shame, really.And on top of it all, there is the Network's interference. Their less than inspired "notes" resulted in some episodes being quite pointless, and one can simply ignore them (like War Zone, for example).Crusade. A series that could have been so great, but didn't quite make it. 9/10.

bpeck13 This is a spin off of the Babylon 5 TV series. However, you don't really need any knowledge of the Babylon 5 series to enjoy it. To best understand this series, watch the prequel movie A Call to Arms first.It is too bad this series was cut short. It was interesting and Gary Cole made a great lead actor—not your typical stuffy military-type at all. He cheats, he lies, he speaks his mind regardless of rank, and he breaks the rules--but always for the right reasons.The worst part is that the series just stops mid-stream/mid-season. They should have finished out the season and found a way to wrap things up. So what if it was only a one-year series? At least the viewers wouldn't have been left just hanging with no conclusions or closures. They talk about fan/viewer loyalty—how about reciprocating some of that loyalty to the viewers??? Don't get us hooked just to slam the door in our faces!! I liked the series very much and would have liked to see it continued

talon_mortis Crusade was a show with a big challenge, live up to Babylon 5. It didn't, quite frankly. The over-arcing plot was good, most of the characters were well thought out and the ship itself was pretty damned gorgeous. So where did it go wrong? I think the main reason for the cancellation was the 'drabness' that overhung the show. There were a lot of episodes towards the start of the series that were simply weak. From Episode 9 onwards there was a definite improvement, with continuity strengthening and characters being slightly more developed.Some of the shows good points include the constant references to the Shadows screwing around in the past, possibly hinting at a re-emergence, the Apocalypse Box was a great idea, Max Eilerson, a slimyer company man we never did see. Oh, and of course the episode that directly parodied the X-Files.Biggest flaw? Galen. He was truly wooden, a big detraction from the pace and mystery of the show. It irks me that of all the characters that they could have brought back for Lost Tales, it would have to be Galen, wouldn't it. Ah well.So, a cancellation kind of earned. Perhaps B5 was just too good to sequel? After all, Legend of the Rangers came first and that flopped utterly. It makes me wonder just what Lost Tales holds for the future for us.

justinmo-1 I saw this series belatedly; it's fairly good, not exceptional, sci-fi fare. Some of it's philosophic moments are more profound than usual and the intellectual level of the discussion shows that the writers actually used classical allusion; or looked up the references anyway. Apart from that the characters are engaging and the plot's the usual ever-present danger but no-one important ever gets killed stuff. The problem is that the series is unfinished, apparently pulled before being resolved; this is a problem because the essential issue was that if they couldn't find a cure within five years then the population of the Earth would die of an alien plague. The discursive way the story writers approached the central theme indicates they expected to ride this horse for about 5 years themselves. But it stopped after one partial season, 13 episodes. Which means that the Earth actually died somewhere around 2004, and no-one noticed! I always knew media barons were bad guys; but killing off the Earth on a marketing decision is too much! This habit has become almost typical of American television's approach to SF ever since, everything good gets a short run and pulled, The Chronicle and Firefly stand out as other examples. They could have made one more episode of Crusade to solve the plague and wrap it all up at least... Boo, hiss!