Excalibur (Crusade) - History

History

The first commander of the Excalibur was President John Sheridan. Along with Captain Leonard Anderson, who commanded the Victory, the two ships were instrumental in discovering Drakh plans to destroy Earth with the Shadow Planet Killer left behind by the Shadows when they left the galaxy. Captain Elizabeth Lochley of Babylon 5 was able to convince Earth's government to mobilize a large fleet to protect Earth, Excalibur and Victory were able to join this fleet. Sheridan and Anderson were able to destroy the planet killer, however Victory was destroyed in the process. Destroying the planet killer distracted the fleet, and the Drakh were able to get close enough to seed Earth's atmosphere with a plague. On their withdrawal, the Drakh destroyed the construction dock - which prevented any further Victory type ships from being built in the near future.

The Interstellar Alliance turned the Excalibur into a research ship, loaning it to Earthforce in the process. Captain Matthew Gideon took command of the ship, and with his crew set out to find a cure to the plague before the plague activated five years later. The beginning of this quest to discover a cure was shown on the Crusade television series.

It is known from other Babylon 5 episodes set further along the time-line than Crusade, that Excalibur succeeds after around 18 months (half-way through what would have been the second season) in finding a cure to the plague. This discovery, however, would lead to the grand revelation of a deeper story line in classic Babylon 5 style: the attack on earth is just a single battle in a larger war. The ship's future has not been documented. It remains to be seen if the ship will make any future television or movie appearances.

However, only 13 episodes were shown - creative differences between the series creator and TNT led to the show being canceled. The Sci Fi Channel had expressed interest in continuing the show, but did not have the budget to do so.