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This article is from the Babylon 5, UK FAQ, by Anthony Naggs amn@ubik.demon.co.uk with numerous contributions by others.

2.1 What has happened to the production of Crusade?

As of 26th February 1999, and with 13 episodes (more than half the
first season) already filmed, JMS confirmed that production has
stopped. You can see his news posting care of DejaNews:
<URL:http://www.dejanews.com/[ST_rn=ps]/getdoc.xp?AN=448888662>

TNT, (the US cable tv channel), were hailed for stepping in at the
last moment and funding season 5 of Babylon 5. They also commissioned
the four tv movies. But despite signing up to buy Crusade their
relationship with Babylonian Productions and Warner Bros. had become
rather bumpy. One presumes that this reflects changes of staff
amongst TNT's tv executives in Atlanta.

Warners helped Babylonian resist TNT's requests to dumb down the
stories and to fill the sets with skimpily dressed females. But TNT's
jerking on the strings became too much for WB, who started to look for
another US outlet to underwrite production. One report is that
production initially stopped because all the scripts in hand featured
a minor character that TNT first said they wanted to see more of, and
then decided they didn't want after all!

The state of play, as reported on the 'net by JMS:
"So TNT will now air the full 13 produced, and that's the end of it
for now. I say for now because WB has told us to fold and hold all
the sets, rather than scrap them, because they believe strongly in the
show, and feel that when the ratings come in we may well be able to
pick up a second season. We'll see."

For Crusade to get that reprieve it must get good ratings in the USA
for those 13 episodes. Unfortunately the cast of Crusade are only on
contract until July, and even JMS himself will be involved in other tv
projects in the meantime so may not be available for a new season.
Other difficulties include the preference of channels such as SciFi
for productions that they own part of, so that they get a slice of any
success. (Crusade, like Babylon 5 before it, is owned by WB.)

More details of Crusade's travails can be found via DejaNews, or at
"Ain't it Cool News": <URL:http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/>

 

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• prev: 2. Crusade
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• next: 2.2 What was Crusade supposed to be?

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