EpDis: Crusade: War Zone

vacantlook · July 28th 07, 08:39

KoshN · July 29th 07, 00:57

'C' - It'd get a 'B' were it not for:

1. the opening fight scene.

2. Gideon & Matheson looking out a window in the wall (It should be in the floor of a rotating section, like in B5's The Long Dark -
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countr...guide/027.html).

3. Jensen doing a tight (SLOW) turn directly over what was essentially an anti-aircraft nest. You just don't do that. You get away, fast and low, and try to put ground clutter between your craft and the beings trying to shoot you down, and you skid*. e.g. You could be pointed North but actually be travelling Northeast. Alternately, you could just dive for ground cover, nail the throttle, perhaps while turning slightly (to not reduce speed that much). Jensen could even have used his engine exhaust to kick up dust/dirt behind him, which would help obscure him as well.

3. the Drakh footsoldiers never getting off a shot at Gideon's Thunderbolt Starfuries.

4. the scenes inside the crashed Drakh cruiser, which look like they're walking round and round in the same small room. No sense of space, of how big that cruiser is.

5. the exposition laden, end scene with Gideon and Galen. It had the feel of a connect-the-dots-for-the-dimwitted-and/or-newbie-TNT-viewer. To me, this scene in War Zone felt more blah-blah-blah, dragging on and on than the scene that JMS thought was excessively talky in Racing the Night (with Gideon, Galen and the alien's hologram). In the Racing the Night scene, at least I was sucked into the story, and didn't notice how long it was, because the dialogue there, was for the most part, very good.

*Skid - A skid appears as a lateral slide with a gradual loss of altitude. While dipping one wing, apply opposite rudder to prevent yaw (Compass heading shouldn't change significantly.). The craft will skid in the diection of the dipped wing as altitude is lost.

Crusader · August 25th 07, 11:25

"B" - Good

I always hear people berating this epsiode. That it was unnescesary and sloppy. I think it serves better as an opening episode than "Racing The Night" could have. While some scenes from A Call To Arms were reused this still remains one of my favourite episodes, the only thing damaging this episode in my opinion is the appearance of Trace Miller. That charcter seriously annoyed me so it is a good thing that he only appeared in 2 out of 13 episodes.

KoshN · August 25th 07, 16:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crusader

"B" - Good

I always hear people berating this epsiode. That it was unnescesary and sloppy. I think it serves better as an opening episode than "Racing The Night" could have.

What? People berate "War Zone" for the obligitory TNT added bits (e.g. the opening fistfight, the "Show Earth in chaos." riot footage, etc.). "Racing The Night" works fine as an opening episode, IF it's shown immediately after "A Call to Arms" which is how "Racing the Night" was supposed to be shown.

Instead, TNT aired them as follows:

"A Call to Arms" January 3, 1999

five month gap due to basketball

“War Zone” June 9, 1999
"A Call to Arms" June 9, 1999 (AFTER "War Zone")
“The Long Road” June 16,1999 (1st game of NBA finals)
“The Well of Forever” June 23,1999 (4th game of NBA finals)
“The Path of Sorrows” June 30,1999 (NBA Draft, so Crusade started at Midnight)
“Patterns of the Soul” July 7,1999
“Ruling from the Tomb” July 14,1999
“The Rules of the Game” July 21,1999 (JFK Jr. plane crash)
“Appearances and Other Deceits” July 28,1999

airing of the first five episodes shot, the grey/red uniform episodes

“Racing the Night” August 4,1999
“The Memory of War” August 11,1999
“The Needs of Earth” August 18,1999
“Visitors from Down the Street” August 25,1999
“Each Night I Dream of Home” September 1,1999

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crusader

While some scenes from A Call To Arms were reused this still remains one of my favourite episodes,

I've seen this episode MANY times, and I don't mind watching it except for the parts I mentioned in my first post in this thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crusader

the only thing damaging this episode in my opinion is the appearance of Trace Miller. That charcter seriously annoyed me so it is a good thing that he only appeared in 2 out of 13 episodes.

Naah, he's OK. He was starting to get better in his second episode, "Ruling from the Tomb". In "War Zone", he'd have been OK if only SOMEBODY would have cut that damned strand of hair or glued it into place. If it had acted up any more, they'd have had to name it (Herbie - the stubborn strand of hair.)and pay it a fee.

Chilli · August 25th 07, 22:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by KoshN

2. Gideon & Matheson looking out a window in the wall (It should be in the floor of a rotating section, like in B5's The Long Dark -
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countr...guide/027.html)

I don't have the scene in mind right now .. but I don't see the problem.

Who's to say they weren't standing by the red dot on this picture?

From there, you could look out of a window vertically just fine.

KoshN · August 27th 07, 11:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chilli

I don't have the scene in mind right now .. but I don't see the problem.

Who's to say they weren't standing by the red dot on this picture?

From there, you could look out of a window vertically just fine.

Because they were here (See attached jpg.) where I put the green dot. Note how the reflections are moving, which validates what I'm saying. On the zoom out, you can see that they're between the two raised ridges of the "wheel".

Chilli · August 27th 07, 14:06

I got out my DVD to check the scene .. you win

Like I said, I didn't have the scene in mind.

KoshN · August 28th 07, 07:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chilli

I got out my DVD to check the scene .. you win

Like I said, I didn't have the scene in mind.

Yeah, it was just a slip-up, an Oops! After The Long Dark, I'd hoped they'd catch things like this.

Lennier's Tears · May 16th 15, 02:07

Hey, it's my first ever Crusade episode!

It was alright ... I suppose I'll have more to say on this particular episode once I get through the rest of them and can better put it in context.

The most exciting thing for me was learning that there are now telepaths in Earth Force. Not wearing gloves! So far I really like the Matheson character.

What's with the weird uniforms? I know it's some years after Babylon 5's last season, but everyone in A Call to Arms is wearing the familiar Earth Force blue uniforms ...

I kinda LOLed at the 20th century riot footage, the weird mutiny fight, and the Drakh who kept sneaking up behind Gideon.

Kinda groaned at my favorite (not) thing in the Babylon 5 universe: For profit archaeology. Urghhhh.

RW7427 · May 16th 15, 18:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lennier's Tears

Hey, it's my first ever Crusade episode!

It was alright ... I suppose I'll have more to say on this particular episode once I get through the rest of them and can better put it in context.

The most exciting thing for me was learning that there are now telepaths in Earth Force. Not wearing gloves! So far I really like the Matheson character.

What's with the weird uniforms? I know it's some years after Babylon 5's last season, but everyone in A Call to Arms is wearing the familiar Earth Force blue uniforms ...

I kinda LOLed at the 20th century riot footage, the weird mutiny fight, and the Drakh who kept sneaking up behind Gideon.

Kinda groaned at my favorite (not) thing in the Babylon 5 universe: For profit archaeology. Urghhhh.

**clicks the like button**

I have Crusade on DVD. Haven't watched it in ages, though! For a long time, I didn't want to watch Crusade because it's not B5, and is pretty different, but I eventually gave it a go. Yes, it is different from B5, but I actually grew to like it.

One of my favorite current shows is Hawaii 5-0. Of course Daniel Dae Kim is in that show just like he was in Crusade. I watch Hawaii 5-0 and it often reminds me of him in Crusade!