Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight (2002) (TV)

Director:

Michael Vejar

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski (written by)

Release Date:

19 January 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

A new kind of evil demands a new kind of courage.

Plot:

A disgraced Ranger takes command of an old, possibly haunted, ship on an escort mission that encounters deadly peril from a new enemy civilization.

Plot Keywords:

Ranger | Space | CGI | TV Series Pilot | Warrior

Cast

Dylan Neal	...	David Martell
Andreas Katsulas	...	Citizen G'Kar
Alex Zahara	...	Dulann
Myriam Sirois	...	Sarah Cantrell
Dean Marshall	...	Malcolm Bridges
Warren Takeuchi	...	Kitaro Sasaki (as Warren T. Takeuchi)
Jennie Rebecca Hogan	...	Na'Feel
Mackenzie Gray	...	Minister Kafta
David Storch	...	Tafeek
Enid-Raye Adams	...	Firell
Gus Lynch	...	Tirk
Todd Sandomirsky	...	Tannier
Andrew Kavadas	...	Captain Bart Gregg (as Andrew A. Kavadas)
Simon Egan	...	Minbari Crewman
Bernard Cuffling	...	Sindell

Also Known As:

Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers (USA) (working title)
Legend of the Rangers: Babylon 5 (USA) (promotional title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:PG | Germany:12 | USA:Not Rated | UK:PG | Ireland:PG | Netherlands:6 | Finland:K-11 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Babylonian Productions

Trivia:

Minister Kafta claims to serve an organization called The Hand. The Hand is a fictional villainous organization in the Marvel Comics universe. The Hand first appeared in Daredevil volume 1 #168 (January, 1981).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When David is thrown against a bulkhead during his fight with Minister Kafta the metal wall wrinkles on impact, revealing it to be a cushioned barrier.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Captain Bart Gregg: Status?
Dulann: Engine's damaged. 20% capacity. Automatic weapons tracking system disabled.
Captain Bart Gregg: David, how many left?
David Martel: Six. Lead ship's coming around for another pass.

Movie Connections:

Follows Babylon 5: Thirdspace (1998) (TV)

They should know when to stop

The best thing about B5 was that it was all planned from the beginning : all five seasons. That made it good. That made log story--archs possible. That created wonderful intrigues that could never be concieved in the regular kind of show (read: Star Trek) where the plot is always the same: "bust the alien-of-the-week for the mystery-of-the-week, or defeat the microbe-of-the-week with a stream-of-technobabble".

Rangers seems to be dangerously near falling into this trap. The crew was more Star-Trek-all-american-hotshots than the seasoned, competent people of a B5 crew.

The battle interface was an outright stupid idea. Let's just leave it at that.

The dialog was bad. Good lines were overused, like "we live for the one, we die for the one".

And for the love of all that's good and true... the Rangers are NOT kamikaze pilots! The original rangers were never some suicidal freaks ready to die pointless deaths just to save face. They fought in their own ways, but they were intelligent enough to realise when there was a need for retreat, to return to fight another day.

Marcus was a true ranger. He was a gentleman and a warrior of honor, dedicated to a great philosophy. This new bunch seemed more his opposits than his equals.

They were not rangers. This was not worthy of the great label B5. This is a story that might as well have been stolen from the Star Trek files.

The only thing that I really, really liked was a single line (reference to Lord of the Rings): "We stand on the bridge none may pass".

/Auryn