After almost a year of infighting, legal red tape and the inevitable internet rumors, J. Michael Straczynski's Crusade has finally arrived on Turner Network Television. Though TNT's ad campaign for the show describes it as a "special limited series" from the creator of Babylon 5, the word "stillborn" might be a more apt description since Crusade may be the first television series in history to have been guaranteed cancellation before its initial airing. As Straczynski's numerous Usenet posts have revealed, the problems began almost immediately upon filming. The story, which initially started up in the midst of the action, was deemed too obscure by the higher-ups at TNT, and the cast and crew were called back in to film entirely new setup episodes while those that had already been shot were reordered. Perhaps the most damning actions taken by TNT deal with a rumored memo (which has since been corroborated by Straczynski himself) that contained general orders to not only distance Crusade from Babylon 5 (from which it is a direct sequel), but also to up the ante on sex and violence. One preposterous suggestion entailed portraying a primary crew member as a "sexual explorer," who sought out intimate encounters with all forms of alien life, while another stated that all fight scenes should resemble those seen in professional wrestling. From a network that once seriously considered producing a biblical epic featuring a flying, thunderbolt-hurling Jesus, this is perhaps no great surprise. When neither side could reach an acceptable agreement, TNT opted to only air the 13 episodes that had already been ordered. Attempts to find another network to sponsor the show fell through due to budget problems.

For the record, the first four episodes of Crusade have been a mixed bag. Set four years after the end of the events depicted in Babylon 5's final season, the story follows a cadre of Rangers (an elite military group) who have been dispatched to comb the universe for the cure to a slow-acting metagenic plague that has been unleashed on Earth. Led by the enigmatic Captain Matthew Gideon (American Gothic's Gary Cole), the crew encounters every manner of travail that the universe sees fit to throw at them. While the cast is uniformly good, the reordering of episodes is apparent in that characters seem to grow close almost too quickly, and situations seem to occur almost out of the blue. The barest hints of a story arc have been dropped, particularly in dealing with Gideon's mysterious past and the mission of a vaguely sinister character named Galen (Peter Woodward), who seems to know quite a bit more about the nature of the universe than he's willing to share. The FX work is quite similar to Babylon 5 -- sometimes it's breathtaking, and sometimes it makes you want to reach for the nearest joystick to join in the fun. Regardless of the rough edges, the series still features an adventurous concept and a cast of unique characters that might prove intriguing if given time to develop. But unless the show gets the most stellar ratings ever seen at TNT, the thirteenth episode will be its inevitable swan song. One can only hope that it at least provides some sort of closure.

--David Rosiak