Reviews

Wish the writers would have caught the GLARING plot hole of no dog saliva in his partner's fatal neck wound. The dog was licking the wound, as dogs are prone to do, and yet they found no dog saliva and only the attacker's human saliva there. The whole innocence of the dog was based upon that. Yes, the dog was innocent, but they got to that conclusion the wrong way. The logic path just didn't make sense.

Then, there was apparently nobody at the crime scene or back at the lab who knew how to handle the dog, and everybody was jumping to wrong conclusions about the dog's behavior and what went down. Why didn't they call the head guy in K-9 to come in right away at the crime scene to aid in handling the dog? He knew the dog responded to commands in French and would've done a better job than the cop who had the dog's neck in a snare. Other than that, and for the attacker managing to stay ahead of the dog by running, I liked the episode.

How could the writers, Hancock & Byer MISS this stuff, or be THAT lazy? Evidently, they don't know dogs, either.

I HOPE the dog makes further appearances with Nick, and doesn't get killed off. Like Bear, the Belgian Malinios, on Person of Interest, Sam the GSD could make a positive contribution to future CSI episodes, IF CSI get some wroters who can avoid plot holes that you could drive a semi through, i.e. writers who are familiar with GSD behavior.

Back when Crusade first aired on TNT (June 6, 1999 thru September 9, 1999), I was disappointed with some of the episodes (marked with #).

TNT Airing Order: 1. #War Zone#, 2. #The Long Road#, 3. #The Well of Forever#, 4. The Path of Sorrows, 5. Patterns of the Soul, 6. #Ruling from the Tomb#, 7. The Rules of the Game, 8. Appearances and Other Deceits, 9. Racing the Night, 10. The Memory of War, 11. #The Needs of Earth#, 12. #Visitors from Down the Street#, and 13. Each Night I Dream of Home.

Sure, each episode had it's good points, but it seemed like the show had no clear sense of direction, and the episode order seemed "off." The uniform change (from black to gray) took place in "Appearances and Other Deceits," yet other episodes which aired after it, looked like they should have preceded it. The virus screen used in "Patterns of the Soul" isn't discovered until "The Memory of War." Lochley and Gideon first meet in "Ruling from the Tomb," jump each other's bones in "The Rules of the Game," and then are on a first date in "Each Night I Dream of Home." Stuff like that.

Then, I found out the reason WHY the show had no clear sense of direction, and the episode order seemed off, TNT-Atlanta Notes. The last five episodes aired, were not meant to be aired last. "A Call to Arms" (the Babylon 5 movie) was supposed to be aired before the first Crusade episode (which was supposed to be "Racing the Night"). "War Zone" was an episode demanded by TNT because first they were not going to re-air "A Call to Arms," and wanted an intro. episode, and then decided to air "A Call to Arms" AFTER "War Zone", which makes no sense at all. "War Zone" was never supposed to exist, and worse yet, it took the place of an episode that WAS supposed to exist, either "Value Judgements" (which would have given us a Bester episode), or better yet "To the Ends of the Earth" (a real blockbuster JMS-written episode that would also have, among other things, made sense out of the uniform change).

In 2001, when Sci-Fi got the re-run rights for Crusade, they had the chance to make things right, but DIDN'T. Instead of re-starting Crusade, picking up the dangling threads, and finishing the first season, Sci-Fi chose to just air Crusade reruns and go with a pilot for a new series in the Babylon 5 universe. That made no sense, storywise. Crusade fans have been left hanging since September of 1999. Well, at least Sci-Fi asked JMS for better airing order.

Sci-Fi Airing Order: 1. Racing the Night, 2. The Needs of Earth, 3. The Memory of War, 4. The Long Road, 5. Visitors from Down the Street, 6. The Well of Forever, 7. Each Night I Dream of Home, 8. Patterns of the Soul, 9. The Path of Sorrows, 10. Ruling from the Tomb, 11. The Rules of the Game, 12. War Zone, and 13. Appearances and Other Deceits.

The episode order JMS came up with for Sci-Fi was much better....(but I'd move "War Zone" to first, because that's where it chronologically belongs.)....than the TNT order, but because of TNT past interference (the uniform changes, the looping, etc.), and the fact that only 13 of 22 episodes were ever completed, there is no possible 100% correct airing order for the existing 13 episodes. These episodes would have never aired back-to-back. Unfortunately, the DVD set uses the deeply flawed TNT airing order.

Still, even given all these problems, I've come to like almost all of the episodes I initially disliked (except parts of "Ruling from the Tomb"). More importantly, the episodes have caused me to really care about the characters, and want to see their story told. If you ever got a chance to read the three unfilmed scripts (Fiona Avery's "Value Judgements," and JMS's "To the Ends of the Earth" and "End of the Line"), you'd know some of directions Crusade would have taken, and would realize what a crime it is that Crusade was not re-started.

THE CRUSADE STORY MUST BE TOLD.

Most reviewers here seem to be expressing extreme disappointment with Babylon 5: The Lost Tales - Voices in the Dark. These reviewers EXPECTED Babylon 5 as if the show had never shut down in 1998. They expected something of that level, and that is the problem, EXPECTATIONS. Well folks, a lot of the stuff needed to make something like that (the sets, CGI, wardrobe and props, etc.) NO LONGER EXISTS at Warner Brothers. It is GONE (destroyed, lost or sold off, respectively). Combine that with JMS wanting only to do some small short stories in an anthology format, NOT long arcs right now, AND Warner Brothers OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE TIMIDITY (always in TEST-THE-WATERS mode) when it comes to allocating money to ANY new Babylon 5 project, especially a new material Direct-to-DVD venture, and this is what you get. Given all of the above, I do not think JMS and Co. did a bad job. Not great, but not bad either. However, what B5 needs is a huge shot in the arm, something to revitalize that universe, and this low budget DVD of two 36 minute B-stories, with Warner Brothers still not deciding whether there will be more, isn't it.

And no, the G'Kar and Franklin tribute/mention does NOT cause a continuity problem.

Spoiler for the B5 TV series below.....

In 2271 (Babylon 5: The Lost Tales - Voices in the Dark (2007)), G'Kar and Dr. Franklin and Londo are alive. "Beyond the rim" has two meanings:

1. Death and the afterlife.

2. The Rim of Known Space - the limit of what has been explored thus far. Beyond that limit lies the unknown.

JMS used this as a double entente, and gave a nod to Andreas Katsulas and Richard Biggs in the sense of meaning #1, and in the story used it in the sense of meaning #2 regarding G'Kar and Franklin going exploring.

2262 - G'Kar and Lyta leave B5, and go off on their adventures together.

2264 - G'Kar and Lyta come back. Lyta to see Garibaldi.

2264 - The Telepath War. Lyta and Lennier die. (Crusade Writer's Bible)

2265 - Legend of the Rangers To Live and Die in Starlight. G'Kar is there.

2267 - Dr. Franklin is on quarantined Earth, due to the Drakh plague. Crusade begins.

2268 - The cure to the Drakh plague is found in year 2 of Crusade.

2271 - Would have been Crusade's 5th year. B5-TLT-Voices in the Dark DVD

2278 - Londo & G'Kar die (In the Beginning).

2281 - Dr. Franklin is on Minbar, for the last get together before John Sheridan dies in Sleeping in Light.

So, the little tribute to Andreas and Rick doesn't ruin ANYTHING.

And BTW, this is **NOT** the worst B5 ever. That dubious distinction belongs to the B5 Legend of the Rangers pilot "To Live and Die in Starlight" (a.k.a. TLaDiS). I gave the B5-TLT DVD 6 stars, and was being charitible in giving TLaDiS 2 stars.

While "War Zone" has its weak points (mainly the TNT-mandated stuff, the fight scene, the riot footage, the exposition, etc.), it is definitely worth watching, even if only for Eilerson's scenes. Damn, that guy's good! I really miss that character.

The episode picks up right after the events of "Babylon 5 - A Call to Arms" (the TNT TV movie), and immediately goes into a TNT-mandated fight scene (a scene which makes no sense when you think about it.). "War Zone" was the pilot episode that TNT wanted because they decided, late in the game, not to air "A Call to Arms" right before the first episode of Crusade. It does a decent job of introducing the characters, but most of that wouldn't have been needed if they'd aired "A Call to Arms" and then gone right into "Racing the Night" (JMS' intended first episode of Crusade.). Also, "War Zone" ends on pure exposition, sort of a connect-the-dots bit for people completely unfamiliar with Babylon 5 (the TV show).

Anyway, give it a full viewing and you might be surprised at how much of it you end up liking.