DESCRIPTION:
Jeremiah and Kurdy, survivors of a pandemic, form an unlikely alliance and encounter the
beautiful but dangerous female leader (Theo) of a small-minded town chafing under her
autocratic leadership. Meanwhile, Simon, an information gatherer for the "End of the World,"
tells Jeremiah where to find the mysterious organization.
Full episode
summary and viewer comments >>>
STARRING:
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ADDITIONAL INFO:
- Nathaniel Reed is Kurdy's father and his last name was changed in City of Roses to
"Malloy". Our guess is that JMS might not have realized that Kurdy already had a last name
from the comics and changed the last name in order to stay true to the original work by
Hermann Huppen.
- Theo's original last name was "Drake" but it was changed later on in A Means to an End to
"Coleridge".
- The last stanza of Tennyson's "Ulysses" was supposed to be read at the end of this
episode.
- The German title for this episode is "The Long Road - Pilot" so it seems they didn't
translate the title into German at all.
- This episode was originally written on Sep.26.2001.
MONICA'S REVIEW:
I thought it was an excellent introduction. Great characters and the story has time to
develop. Knowing how JMS works, he is just taking his time getting everything set up. That
way he will lull us into a sense of security and -bam!-, he will pull the carpet from under
us. I am anxious to see the next installment and see where the road takes us.
I admit that I have
not been big fans of Perry or Warner, however, they truely shined in this episode. They
conveyed their characters with great energy and depth and I look forward to seeing their
characters develop and grow in future episodes.
It was also interesting to see how JMS did when the shackles of normal television were taken
off. It seems to suit him well. The bar scene was a little surprising since there were quite
a few nipples. Still, it wasn't so much that it interfered with the enjoyment of the show. In
fact, Kurdy's sex scene was really humorous and sad at the same time which was great. It was
actually refreshing to watch a show without boundries (and commercials).
THEO RATING: 8
Read Channe's review on
B5LR's
message board.
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QUESTIONS RAISED:
- Who is Ezekiel and what does his prophecy mean?
- Who was "Max" that Devon was talking on the phone to?
- Why did Jeremiah's parents not come back "in a hour" to get their children?
- Is Thunder Mountain the only installation like that to have survived?
- What and where is Valhalla Sector?
- When will we see Theo again and how does she plan on retaliating?
- How long were those people waiting for a phone call? Did they ever receive one?
- How did Ezekiel follow Jeremiah and Kurdy to Thunder Mountain?
- Who was Ezekiel talking to at the end of the episode?
- Why were Jeremiah's eyes blue (or some other light color) as a child but brown as an
adult? ;)
RELATED INFO:
See all photos from this episode and read
our collection of favorite quotes as well.
JMS AT SCI FI MAGAZINE SAID:
APR.1.2002
The main thing was testing out directors, testing the storyline, and
finding what worked and didn't work. And I found some approaches that worked very well for us
in the tone and tenor of shows like Firewall and ... And the Ground, Sown With Salt and the two parters.
JMS AT RASTB5M SAID:
FEB.18.2002
The two-hour premiere follows [Jeremiah and Kurdy's] lives, the
dangers they encounter, establishes the world of our series, and sets the stage for a new
dawn.
DEC.29.2001
"The Long Road," which I picked because a) it's very appropos to the
story, and b) it's a bit of nice closure to the hassle over Crusade.
PERRY AT CULT TIMES SAID:
DEC.1.2002
I arrived on location and they told me I had to jump buck naked into
this pool. I swear, the last time this pool had seen flowing water was in eh prehistoric times.
It was very, very cold.
PERRY AT SCIFI WIRE SAID:
FEB.21.2002
[T]hey purposely made this one a little tame, I think. I'm not
exactly sure why. We shot a much edgier, riskier show than what I saw tonight.
STEBBINGS AT CULT TIMES SAID:
JAN.1.2003
It was a lot of hard work, but at the same time a really positive
experience. I loved working with the director, Russell Mulcahy. He had a lovely joie de
vivre [joy in life] in his approach to the work. We were laying down a lot of "pipeline" in
that episode and establishing the guidelines for the world in which these characters live. So
there was a ton of heavy expository dialogue. I found in filming the pilot that the show's
writing staff is very precise about their words. Joe [Michael Straczynski] doesn't like you
taking liberties with his language. You have to follow it specifically. So what you see me
saying on-screen is exactly what he wrote. It's not the first time I've experience that type
of work ethic, so I was prepared for it. Sometimes it's nice to have a little bit of
flexibility, but at the same time I can understand the need not to stray from the written
word.
