"the legend of the rangers"

[Garibaldi's Hair]

*Shakes fist in air* No good WB making JMS mad with the Crusade DVD commentary.

That's another one of those issues where they should have just been honest and said "Sorry, we ain't gonna let that onto the disk." in the first place. So much ill-feeling could have been avoided ... and we might even have got a commentary on LotR.

[DGTWoodward]

So not a single extra. Bummer. Even worse bummer about the sound. At least the entire thing will be on DVD now, though.

Jan

Now I don't want to start anything but when got the R2 version DVD, I am sure that I noticed that it had 5.1 audio.

mmmm, I'll check and let you know for sure

[Ranger1]

The R2 version indeed has 5.1 audio track, at least on paper, can anyone confirm that by playing the DVD please?

[DeMonk]

The R2 version indeed has 5.1 audio track, at least on paper, can anyone confirm that by playing the DVD please?

Nope, not a 5.1 audio track (not my version anyway).
The technical lingo says: 25 L/R Stereo.

[Ranger1]

Ok, on amazon.co.uk it says:
DVD Features:
ò Aspect Ratio: 1.33 Full Screen
ò Available Audio Tracks: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
ò Main Language: English

[DGTWoodward]

On my PANASONIC and my SONY DVD players (which both show if 5.1 is being played, in their main displays) the disk does indeed seem to deliver DD5.1 audio.

Also...

Now where on earth does the odd 1.33:1 screen ratio come into it, because mine is in glorious 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen?

I suppose it is just the usual thing of WB treating B5 (despite being a very valuable cash cow) as if any old peace of information is good enough, even if it's wrong, It's only BABYLON 5 so it doesn't really matter.

As an aside the other day, I heard that WB wants to make a film version of FRIENDS. YOU WHAT???! Why help to prop up the flagging and mainly already dead careers of a buch of neurotic ego-maniacs with an idea that is already well past its sell-by date? With the rediculously high per-episode wages of each actor during the final season almost totally and singlehandedly killing the show dead in its tracks, just how expensive would it be to get them all back together again?

A B5 movie would cost SOOOOOOOOOO much less and deliver SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much more return for the investment. Is it just me but does it make more sense to spend a fairly small amount of money and making a HUGE amount of money in return...rather than spend a HUGE amount of money (most of which would go in covering the wage demands of said neurotic ego-maniacs) in the hope of making a lot of money? I know what I'd rather do if it were up to me.....

Now back to LotR....

[DeMonk]

Now where on earth does the odd 1.33:1 screen ratio come into it, because mine is in glorious 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen?

That is odd: mine says: 1.77:1.
Am I getting less?

[Laiden]

I guess I, as well as many of us, will find out Tuesday Cant Wait!

[grumbler]

Not necessarily. The whole "Bonnie Hammer won't allow any space-based stuff on the Sci-Fi Channel" has been bandied about too often and too long. Sure, Joe might have worded it more politely but I don't blame him for getting impatient with people who insist on perpetuating false information.

Are you absolutely sure, in reading back on the posts in this thread, that anyone actually said that?

Joe DeM demolished the strawman he set up, but did not advance the conversation at all.

My theory is simple: JMS did not write well for action/adventure series, pilots or not. He should not have done the script for Rangers if he wanted a series about action/advanture. In other words, Rangers failed for the same reasons Crusade did: JMS stepped out of his sphere of genius at the time.

He is a genius at reflective writing, but that kind of writing was death to AA series.

I would note that he has gotten a lot better with AA scripts, especially on focusing dialogue. Comics are clearly AA-driven, and he has done well there. I would bet cash money that the script for TMoS was great AA writing.

[Joe Nazzaro]

Grumbler, I have to agree to a certain extent about what you said regarding an action-adventure series, and it made me think of something that sort of crystallized this subject in my own mind. I remember being on the Crusade set during one of the later episodes-Tony Dow I think was directing- and as they were setting up a particularly long dialogue scene, one of the department heads (who should remain nameless here) leaned over to me and said, 'I thought this was supposed to be an action-adventure series. So where's the f**king action-adventure?'

[Laiden]

I just Picked my copy up at 12am at Walmart for $14.44 the opening title sequence is different than the Scifi one. my copy says 5.1 . . . but the audio still is pretty bland. the sound moves from one speaker to the other as the object moves, but it's not great. just happy to have it anyway

[white_star25]

Interesting, but...

I saw LOTR yesterday and my feelings are mixed.

I liked it. Heck, I liked it better than the first episodes of Crusade, I was hooked faster. But... it doesn't feel like part of Babylon 5! It's a nice action movie, but there's no continuity with B5! I mean, all those characters are okay, but "Rangers"?? There's no spirituality to them, no training, nothing that Marcus and the other Rangers seen in B5 showed! I'd accept them as "Starfleet Academy" graduates, but Rangers? No. Unless there are so many trainees now that they cut down on training sessions and give them the brooch earlier! And just why would Na'Feel not be welcomed anywhere else? Or Tirk? I remember Narn and Drazi helping Rangers before, so why go racist now?

I didin't like the special effects either. Good or bad, I'm used to hyperspace looking red and black and the jump points blue and orange. Those advanced graphics are nice, but they are not what has sat with us for so many years.

So... if I forget that this in Babylon 5 universe, then I see an acceptable action movie, with characters that show promise. The acting is generally okay (some good, some bad, so okay in general), the dialogs are generally okay (some nice lines, some cheesy ones, okay in whole), the music is wonderful (Christopher Franke is BACK, yyyyyeeeeeesssss!!!!!!) and it's still the beginning! Heck, it took me 3-4 episodes to get the feel of Crusade, while LOTR is ready to go! But... it's not the Rangers we know. And yes, I was prepared to hear "we live for the one, we die for the one" many times, I had read other reviews, but I just didn't expect this to be sooo bad! It became irritating and then down right funny after the 5th time!

Bottom line, it's not bad, but it's not "Babylon 5". It's better than a couple of Babylon 5 movies as an action movie, but it's not the Rangers. Take is as it is and enjoy it. Just.... try to ignore poor Marcus spinning in his cryogenic chamber!

Best moment: "Love to stay. Can't. Have to go. Kiss, kiss. Love, love. Bye." When I read it in the transcript, I couldn't imagine how G'Kar would say this, it seemed out of character. But Andreas Katsulas nailed it! Absolutely hilarious! -sigh- We'll miss him...

[Harrdy]

... the music is wonderful (Christopher Franke is BACK, yyyyyeeeeeesssss!!!!!!) ...

Now as I think about it, maybe the music is the main reason that I like LOTR more than Crusade... could be. I *really* like the score from Christopher Franke (anybody knows that Perry Rhodan game on the PC? I *only* liked it becaus of Frankes score, and there was (sadly) only one track...).

PeAcE

[vacantlook]

And just why would Na'Feel not be welcomed anywhere else? Or Tirk? I remember Narn and Drazi helping Rangers before, so why go racist now?

From what we've seen, there weren't any Narn or Drazi members of crews of ships before. Various Rangers might have worked with Narn and Drazi before (the Drazi colony hosting a Ranger training center in "Matters Of Honor," for example), but that doesn't then necessitate that all that many Rangers would want to have one of such a species alongside them as a member of their ship's crew.

With Tirk, I have little doubt that there'd be a lot of Rangers that'd look on him with considerable judgement that he was insufficient for their cause based solely on his lack of proficiency with English. They could very easily hear him speak and think that he was just too unintelligent to make a part of their crew.

Na'Feel's comment of no one else would take her could very well be from a standpoint of Ranger ship captains chosing a ship's engineer. The Narn are particularly open with their passions, while the Minbari are passionate as well, but seek to cloak that passion under a guise of control and superiority. Maybe too many were erroniously afraid Na'Feel wouldn't be able to control her emotions, and thus they passed on her whenever they picked their crews in the past. Or maybe it was just a simple case of a captain having multiple applicants and they always chose a Human or Minbari over the lone Narn applicant because that's who they had had interaction with most, and thus were more comfortable personally with; racism doesn't have to necessarily follow any lines of logic.

And it's not like we haven't seen Rangers being racist before. Take one of the high-up Rangers seen in "Learning Curve," whose racism toward Pak'ma'ra prevented him from seeing, like Delenn did, a place within the Ranger organization for Pak'ma'ra to be considerably useful.

[Sigma]

I think its average movie. I liked Crusade much better.

Ghost plot is good, most of the ship scenes are very good. Naming of the Names ceremony is my favorite, great scene. But main plot is just boring, only good parts were G'Kar scenes. It was just too simple. Main plot keeps this movie down.

I liked how they used Sierra B5 game music. I'm glad that Franke didn't waste it.