Episode Info
The Spinoff To Babylon 5 - CRUSADE

RATING: ****(!!!!!!) out of ****

CAST:
Gary Cole
Captain Matthew Gideon

Carrie Dobro
Dureena Nafeel

David Allan Brooks
Max Eilerson

Marjean Holden
Dr. Sarah Chambers

This is what sci-fi is about. This is a show that asks some tough questions, that isn't afraid to bring issues like religion and art. Not only does it bring those issues into the fold, but it does so in a way that it doesn't seem preachy or contrived.

There are so many different things going on in this episode. I could easily take several pages just to describe them. I think that this is an episode which should stand on its own merits. All I will say is that it is an episode that works - not on a level of "Wow, look at all the nice effects and big space battles!", but on a level of "This made me think." I could not offer a higher commendation on an episode.

Of course, we did get a little humor at the beginning, where we learn something about Eilerson that perhaps we did not want to know. We get to see Gideon get the living daylights beaten out of him in quite an amusing way. We get a very nice looking ship, a ship that makes you instantly know which end you don't want facing in your direction.

This episode should be used as a study of what science fiction television should aspire to. The camera work, the editing, all of it comes together to form something that comes quite close to brilliance. This is an episode about art that is a work of art itself.

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