| Episode Guide ||Image Gallery || Supporting Cast Gallery |
This is my small tribute to Crusade, sadly terminated after only 13 episodes. The characters were beginning to come to life, with some of the characters e.g. Dureena and Matheson, becoming really fascinating. All the characters have a story to tell, and one can only wish that J.M.S. might be able to return to it sometime in the future. Sadly however this seems unlikely to happen. This page covers an intro and short write-up on the main cast. There is an episode guide, an image gallery, featuring main cast, and a supporting cast gallery. Hope to add to both gaaleries as time goes by. - D.C.S.C.
This page is best viewed using Comic Sans Ms Font - which I think will be fairly standard on most computers.
The Setting for Crusade:
Babylon 5 fifth season ends: 2262
The telepath war: 2264/5
Crusade begins: 2267The telepath war is over, and Psi Corps has been disbanded, the remaining telepaths are trying to integrate into non-Psi Corps jobs. Currently telepaths have more freedom, but, are also under more control. The mundanes control the telepaths by subjecting them to mandatory scans.
The first officer on the Excalibur is a telepath who, as a result of changes in policy after the telepath war, is trying to integrate into a non-Psi Corps job.
"In the aftermath of the Telepath War, there are new rules for the telepaths, they're able to go out and mix in society again as lond as they can abide by the rules. If it turns out that they can't, there's the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, there might be another force like the Psi Corps organized to contain them." - J.M.S.Crusade takes place about a year or two after the events of the B5 arc. The Shadow War is over, and the Shadows have gone beyond the Rim, with the other First Ones, but the allies of the Shadows, their dark servants - the Drakh - remain. They are homeless and masterless and so their aim is to become masters in the place of the Shadows.
Toward that end they target, to make an example of the human race, to bring the others into line. But their attempt at conquest and destruction ends badly for them, with the destruction of the last Shadow Planet Killer.
As they retreat, they leave behind a gift. If you have heard the phrase "poisoning the well," this comes from the old Roman trick of poisoning the wells in villages when they were driven off, making the place unlivable for the victors. The Drakh do much the same here: they release a biogenetically engineered virus, a piece of leftover Shadow technology.
The virus has an incubation period of about five years, during which time it adapts to its host species. At the end of that period it will turn lethal. Released into the atmosphere of Earth, it will wipe out every man, woman and child as well as all animal life, unless a cure can be found.
The science that made the virus is literally thousands of years ahead of us. We could break it in time, but we don't have time - just five short years. The First Ones are gone, but many of their ancient cities, their sealed vaults, their secrets still remain. Somewhere out there, in one of those ancient places, could be the cure needed to save Earth.
The Excalibur under the command of Captain Gideon - with help from the Rangers - is Earth's last hope...
| Captain Matthew Gideon [Gary Cole] |
 |
Gideon is an unusual, quietly spoken and brooding character, not very trusting of outsiders, but loyal to his crew. Gideon will do what he feels is right, no matter how many people he offends. He will never leave anyone behind. A controversial choice as Captain of the Excalibur, but he is totally dedicated to his mission - to find a cure for the Drahk plague. He met Galen nine years previously when his ship, the Cerberus, was destroyed, apparently by either the Shadows or Shadow agents. He also won a mysterious object called the Apocalypse Box in a game of cards. The Box provides him with pointers and information that influences his decisions regarding the Excalibur's mission. But is the Box to be trusted, or is it playing some game of its own? |
| Lt. John Matheson [Daniel Dae Kim] |
 |
Matheson is the perfect second-in-command, totally loyal to his Captain, and to the Excalibur. He is a telepath with a history, and one of the first to be allowed to join Earthforce, since the disbanding of Psi Corps. He is always conscious of the new rules for telepaths, and also has a delightful sense of humour, which comes to the surface on occasion. |
| Technomage Galen [Peter Woodward] |
 |
A
Technomage raised by Elric [Babylon 5: The Geometry of Shadows]
following the death of his parents as a child. Tecnomages use technology to
simulate magic, by having technological implants in their bodies. Galen was
exiled from the order of Technomages when he continued contact with others
after they went into hiding prior to the outbreak of the Shadow War. He fell in
love with another Mage called Isabelle, but they were betrayed by three of
their own kind and she was killed [The Well of Forever, The Path of
Sorrows] In 2258, he saved Matthew Gideon after he was stranded in space following the destruction of his ship. He warned President Sheridan about the return of the Drakh [A Call to Arms], before joing Gideon aboard the Excalibur to find a cure for the Drakh virus. |
| Max Eilerson [David Allen Brooks] |
 |
Xenoarchaeologist, linguist, and employee of Interplanetary
Expedition (IPX). Eilerson has only one real question: how much money can an
artifact bring on the openmarket? He is mercenary, cynical,self-serving...and
those are his more pleasant qualities. But, as an archaeologist and as a
linguist he is beyond compare - He often translates as he hears a spoken
language! He is a necessary evil whom Captain Gideon is willing to put up
with. Max is still fond of his ex-wife, Cynthia Allen, and has a special fondness for their cat, Mr Kitty [The Rules of The Game]. |
| Dureena Nafeel [Carrie Dobro] |
 |
After her homeworld, Zander Prime, was destroyed by a Shadow
Planet Killer at the end of the Shadow War, Dureena believed herself to be the
only surviving member of her race, and blamed Sheridan for failing to save her
people. Escaping the slave traders of Praxis 9 [The Memory of War], she joined
the Thieves Guild in order to survive, and was recruited by Galen to join
Sheridan in fighting off the first of the Drakh attacks [A Call To
Arms], before remaing aboard Excalibur as part of the team to find a
cure for the Drakh virus. During her travels, she found a small colony of her people on a remote world, who are infected with the Drakh virus and are not expected to survive for longer than a year [Patterns of The Soul]. |
| Dr. Sarah Chambers [Marjean Holden] |
 |
The head of the Excalibur's medical department is a dedicated professional. She has a sister back on Earth - a situation that Dr. Chambers would have prefered to solve by joing her sister in the plague infested planet. She therefore ferociously applies her knowledge to finding a cure for the plague, and clings to her humanity in the face of possible extinction. |
| Captain Elizabeth Lochley [Tracy Scoggins] |
 |
A career
member of the Earth Alliance from a tradition of loyalty to Earthforce. Lochley
is the current commander of Babylon 5. Serious to the point of severity on
duty, she has a quirky side when off duty. Lochley also works hard to keep
herself in shape ..perhaps to burn off the calories from her "forays" into the
seedier parts of Babylon 5. She has developed a good relationship with Gideon,
both on and off duty! |
| EPISODE GUIDE || IMAGE GALLERY || SUPPORTING CAST GALLERY |
