Sat Aug 28 17:30:18 EDT 1999

Crusade: Compelling Stories and Characters Worth Caring About

Finally! A reviewer who has something really good to say about Crusade. Crusade fans can rightly be excited over the August 27-29 article from the Gannet News Service by Dinah Eng. Gannet's newsgroup includes over 90 newspapers, so the article could provide a big boost for the last episode of Crusade airing on September 1st.

The article, entitled "Effort to save 'Crusade' worth joining", is as much about Crusade as it is the Crusade campaign, even though it sprang from an interview with campaign primaries Tim and Heather Fleming. The entire text of the article can be accessed from the Fleming's Crusade for Crusade site at http://www.astro.umd.edu/~fleming/eng.html, but here are some of Ms. Eng's comments about Crusade.

"Who are you? What do you want? Where are you going? Who do you serve? And who do you trust?" Life's deepest questions open every episode of "Crusade," a thoughtful science fiction show that has a rare combination of compelling stories and characters worth caring about. While this show is set in the future, the issues it explores - faith, ethical warfare, technology's role in society, to name a few - are very much a part of present-day life.

In a time when TV is often criticized for featuring negative stereotypes and violence in shows, "Crusade" offers the kind of quality that should be promoted by networks.

In light of the NAACP's recent onslaught against network programming for it's lack of diversity, Crusade's multicultural cast stands out as exemplary. Ms. Eng commented that:

In the universe of "Crusade," life is not perfect, but humanity is fully represented.

In response to Ms. Eng's comment, Straczynski observed that science fiction seems to be a genre where racial distinctions and casting limitations are dissolved:

"We seem to get more even racial casting in science fiction because there are aliens, and humans become one world," . . . . "But why can we be one world in this genre, and not in comedies, or dramas? The limitations of casting in television are a shame and a tragedy. In 'B5' and 'Crusade,' we don't put designations on the casting sheets. Whoever walks in the door and does the best job gets the part. My job as a storyteller is to ask questions, and let the audience come up with the answers."

In JMS's opinion, one of the more important aspects of Crusade is that champions a "service point of view in society". In a world where most people are busy asking "what can you do for me?", Crusade's characters explore "who they trust, and who they serve." Despite feeling that it's probably too little, too late for Crusade, I applaud Ms. Eng's clearsighted recommendation that "[t]he underlying theme of the show is one we all could benefit from exploring in our lives."