Crusade: A Follow Up (or How Can I Ramble Less While Rambling More)

Last November I wrote a blog that discussed a suggested viewing order for Crusade, the short lived Babylon 5 spin-off that aired on TNT. After doing a re-watch recently with my son and wife, I had a few more thoughts and just wanted to put them out there. Some of the info below is repetitive while some is expanding on details glossed over originally, including a step-by-step process of my reasoning. If you liked my two lists, nothing has changed just a bit more information in a few areas and a bit less in others.

We will start with a quick and dirty re-cap.
Crusade filmed five episodes (actual production order in parenthesis) with the intended broadcast order of:
Racing the Night (103)
The Memory of War (102)
The Needs of Earth (101)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)

The show was put on an extended hiatus (three weeks instead of one) to create new black costumes to replace the original gray costumes, make make-up changes, and expand sets at the request of the network. They also requested a new opening episode, however they wanted it with the new costumes. After the hiatus, production continued with two episodes already written and ready for filming followed by the new first episode which was rushed into production:
Well of Forever (106)
Long Road (107)
War Zone (108)

Production continued with the filming of four scripts that were already in progress at the time of the first hiatus and a new episode was created to explain the costume changes:
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)

At this point they took the already scheduled mid-season holiday hiatus. Three episodes were completely scripted and in various levels of preproduction so they could resume filming after this second hiatus. These included an episode that would explain the change back to black uniforms, the return of fan favorite Babylon 5 character (Bester), and the season finale which was being filmed early to give more time for post-production:
To the Ends of the Earth (114)
Value Judgements (115)
The End of the Line (116)

Another five episodes were already planned with several the process of being outlined or scripted:
Darkness of the Soul (117)
Tried and True (118)
Untitled (119)
War Story (120)
Walls of Hell (121)
Gates of Hell (possible working title, 122)

TNT cancelled the series without going back into production. They would air the 13 completed episodes as a “limited series” during the summer.

TNT aired the episodes in this order:
War Zone (108)
Long Road (107)
Well of Forever (106)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
Racing the Night (103)
The Memory of War (102)

The Needs of Earth (101)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)

This created several continuity problems, for example, the virus screen was discovered in “The Memory of War” after was used in “Patterns of the Soul.” “Ruling from the Tomb” which has an on-screen date of June is aired before “Visitors from Down the Street” which has an on-screen date of May. There are several others (which I will point out farther down), but you get the idea. This was also the order they were released on DVD.

Many have tried to fix the continuity issues by moving the first five up in the order and assuming the change back to black uniforms happen off screen. For years one of my favorites of these is one I came up with myself which I call…

“Altered Production Order”:
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Memory of War (102)
The Needs of Earth (101)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Long Road (107)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)

I work from the assumption that episodes are mostly shot has they are intended to be seen (with a few exceptions here and there). So, I start with production order then move episodes that were shot out of order (“War Zone,” “Appearances and Other Deceits.” and “The Needs of Earth”). It fixes many continuity issues and has a good flow since you can see the natural evolution of production but even then, there are still continuity issues like Gideon and Lochley meeting and appearing to know each other in “Each Night I Dream of Home” but then meeting for the first time in “Ruling from the Tomb,” and the black uniforms simply vanishing without mention.

Next is the “Official Babylon 5 Chronology,” it goes:
War Zone (108)
Long Road (107)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Memory of War (102)
The Needs of Earth (101)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Well of Forever (106)
Rules of the Game (112)

This is not too far from my “Altered Production Order,” so it suffers from the exact same issues.

“Continuity Order,” a list from Wikipedia, fixes that issue of the Gideon/Lochley meeting but runs into the on-screen date issue as well as other issues, it goes:
War Zone (108)
Long Road (107)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
Racing the Night (103)
The Needs of Earth (101)
The Memory of War (102)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Well of Forever (106)
Rules of the Game (112)

There is also the “Sci-Fi Channel Order” that the creator came up with for its rebroadcast. It ignores continuity completely, so it’s a real mess, I think his bitterness at the network interference blinded him to the fact this order would kill any verisimilitude. It goes:
Racing the Night (103)
The Needs of Earth (101)
The Memory of War (102)
Long Road (107)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Well of Forever (106)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)

There are other lists out there as well, an all-inclusive order that includes the unproduced scripts, a “pure five” list that only includes the first five and a “pure” list that expands it to ten episodes. But any list that cuts episodes is not one I endorse. You gotta take the good with the bad.

This brings me to my preferred list which I call “Alternating Order” (formerly “Alternate Altered Production Order” in my last blog) Here is a step-by-step guide to how I get there. When trying to come up with the best possible order it is best to start with production order then start moving pieces. So we have:
The Needs of Earth (101)
The Memory of War (102)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Long Road (107)
War Zone (108)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)

“War Zone” was created to be the first episode, so we move it to the top. So now we have this order:
War Zone (108)
The Needs of Earth (101)
The Memory of War (102)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Long Road (107)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)

“Appearances and Other Deceits” must take place before all the gray uniform episodes: “The Needs of Earth,” “The Memory of War,” “Racing the Night,” “Visitors from Down the Street,” and “Each Night I Dream of Home.” So, we move it just before “The Needs of Earth.” This works well since it gives the impression that from the start, Earth will attempt to micromanage and manipulate how things are perceived. So now we have this order:
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Needs of Earth (101)
The Memory of War (102)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Long Road (107)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)

“The Memory of War” has the discovery of the virus shield used in “Patterns of the Soul” and mentioned in “Each Night I Dream of Home.” Chambers’ log heard in “The Needs of Earth” refers to “The Memory of War,” the Apocalypse Box warning in “The Memory of War” foreshadows “The Well of Forever,” The news broadcast puts “The Memory of War” date in late March/early April before the on-screen dates of “Visitors from Down the Street” and “Ruling from the Tomb.” This only requires we move “The Memory of War” ahead a single episode up in the order ahead of “The Needs of Earth.” This gets you back to my “Altered Production Order,” but as I said above, there are still some continuity issues. So here we are:
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Memory of War (102)
The Needs of Earth (101)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Long Road (107)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Rules of the Game (112)

“The Needs of Earth” and “Visitors from Down the Street” must take place before “The Well of Forever” because Matheson’s scans are referring to those episodes. They are already in that order.

“Visitors from Down the Street” must be before “Ruling from the Tomb”
Because of the on-screen dates of May and June. They are already in that order.

“Ruling from the Tomb” then “Each Night I Dream of Home” then “Rules of the Game” is the proper progression of Gideon/Lockley meetings. So, we move “Ruling from the Tomb” up between “Visitors from Down the Street” and “Each Night I Dream of Home”

These last two continuity points puts a black uniform episode between two gray uniform episodes. It’s an issue most lists ignore to keep the gray uniform episodes together. Other lists either put “Ruling from the Tomb” after “Each Night I Dream of Home” (ruining the progression of Gideon/Lockley meetings) or before “Appearances and other Deceits” (ruining the on-screen date order). Both the “Original Broadcast/DVD Order” and the “Official Chronology” are examples of this.

This informs the direction of the rest of this viewing order. With “Ruling from the Tomb” between “Visitors from Down the Street” and “Each Night I Dream of Home,” we now have this order:
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Memory of War (102)
The Needs of Earth (101)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Long Road (107)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Rules of the Game (112)

Rather than assume the change back to black uniforms happens off screen after clustering the grey uniform episodes together, it makes more sense to alternate the black and gray uniforms but making sure to take care not to create more continuity issues. It is just as valid assumption that they would use both sets of uniforms as it is that would would change back off screen. I realized this while watching a first season episode of seaQuest DSV and noticed that they would use different uniforms just like the real military. 

We can NOT move “Well of Forever” up between “The Memory of War” and “Needs of Earth” because it must take place after  “The Needs of Earth” and “Visitors from Down the Street,” since Matheson's scans refer back to those episodes, so we move on to “The Long Road” and move it up between “The Memory of War” and “The Needs of Earth.”

We now have:
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Memory of War (102)
Long Road (107)
The Needs of Earth (101)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Rules of the Game (112)

Next, “The Path of Sorrows,” goes between “The Needs of Earth” and “Racing the Night.” This means we first see the Apocalypse Box, but it is a total mystery in “The Memory of War,” it is explained to us in “Path of Sorrows” and then shown again in “Racing the Night” establishing that Gideon is keeping it a secret from Galen after Gideon was warned by the Box not to trust Galen. Perhaps not the original intent but it sure works well.

Speaking of “Racing the Night,” there was a temptation to move it before “The Memory of War” since that was the original intended order and it was supposed to be the premier episode, but the creation of “War Zone” made that a moot issue. Putting it after “Appearances and Other Deceits” didn’t work as well since Chambers sees a softer side in of Max in “Appearances and Other Deceits” but goes back to disliking him, even going so far as to call him “the king of the pig people” in “Racing the Night.” It’s better to have a few episodes that allow a reset of their relationship (the opening sequence in “The Needs of Earth” with the alien porn really helps to get there). Also having it take place after “Path of Sorrows” implies that Gideon's respite from bad dreams has past, however, they are now focused on his mission instead of the Cerebus.

However, I digress, “The Path of Sorrows,” goes up after “The Needs of Earth” leaving us with this order:
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Memory of War (102)
Long Road (107)
The Needs of Earth (101)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Racing the Night (103)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Rules of the Game (112)

Finally, we move “Patterns of the Soul” between “Racing the Night” and “Visitors from Down the Street.” This works very well since some of the exposition that was intended to be introductory for “Racing the Night” now seems more specific. For example: The reminder that Dureena’s race was wiped out by the Drahk and she is the last of her kind is now paid off in the very next episode with “Patterns of the Soul.” Black also claims he and his left Earth six months ago before the Drahk attack (which happened in December). Having this take place just before “Visitors from Down the Street” which is set in May works out nicely timeline wise.

We leave the remaining three where they are since “Well of Forever” must be after “Visitors from Down the Street” and “Rules of the Game” must be after “Each Night I Dream of Home,” and “Ruling from the Tomb” is already between “Visitors from Down the Street” and “Each Night I Dream of Home.” This works out well. Not only are both Lockley and The Excalibur “in the neighborhood” of Earth for “Each Night I Dream of Home” shortly after the events of “Ruling from the Tomb,” but it is also a nice progression that Dr. Franklin would authorize such an extreme measure after getting data from the conference on Mars.

We are now out of gray uniform episodes to alternate so we end with two black uniform episodes: “The Well of Forever” and “Rules of the Game.” This works well with Gideon commenting on Galen’s absences in “Racing the Night” not only explaining why he was missing in past episodes like “Appearances and Other Deceits,” and “The Needs of Earth” but it nicely foreshadows his absence from the following four episodes then pays off the warning of the Apocalypse Box that was made in “The Memory of War” in the penultimate episode. This allows the finale to end at Babylon 5. It’s a nice bit of symmetry. 

This leaves our final order:
War Zone (108)
Appearances and Other Deceits (113)
The Memory of War (102)
Long Road (107)
The Needs of Earth (101)
The Path of Sorrows (109)
Racing the Night (103)
Patterns of the Soul (110)
Visitors from Down the Street (104)
Ruling from the Tomb (111)
Each Night I Dream of Home (105)
Well of Forever (106)
Rules of the Game (112)

You can read the original post here Complete with a flow chart: http://brettharriscomics.blogspot.com/2021/11/reflecting-on-babylon-5s-crusade-or.html