A couple of other people have raised this question; here's why I consider it a
non-issue.

Does anyone here really think that, after X-years of following the Crusade
story, we're going to come to the end in which our heroes look out through the
window of the Excalibur at a dead Earth...glance at each other...shrug...and
say, "Oh, well, I guess we should've found it ten minutes earlier, huh?"...and
head off into the sunset.

Anybody out there see this as a likely scenario? Raise your hands.

Yes, they're going to find the cure at some point. Where and when and how, and
in what segments, is one issue...and the rest is the journey to *get* there.
It's like saying, "We know the wagon trains got to California, so nothing
interesting could've happened along the way." Tell that to those who died
along the way.

You're confusing the issues with the following:

>If the
>show's basic premise is that the hero's are searching for something
>(in
>Voyager's case, a way home; in Crusade, a cure) then the viewer knows in
>
>advance that they will not find it (until possibly the end of the series, if
>at all).
>Because if they did, it would by defintion, change the shape of the
>show.

There you make my point for me. That's the frustration aspect: you know if
they get home, the show's over. So they will never get home, the viewer knows
that, and gets frustrated.

Here, you know that eventually, somehow, humanity will be saved. So there's no
frustration knowing it ain't ever gonna happen. Instead, you can sit back and
see how it happens, and who is affected by what happens.

This is something very common to what I've done with B5's story telling.
Starting at episode 1 of season 1, we learn that G'Kar and Londo will die
strangling one another. I put those cards right on the table, face-up. Did
that ruin anything for anybody? Much to the contrary, as we learned the
process that led up to, and following, that incident. If anything, knowing
that in advance added a whole new layer and subtext to the show.

I've always looked for ways to experiment and turn viewers preconceptions
upside down and back on themselves. Crusade will let me take this a step
further.

Bottom line...I didn't turn suddenly stupid. I know exactly what I'm doing
with this.

jms

From: (jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com