"the legend of the rangers"

[TR_3]

Finally I am able to own and watch the B5 movies.. i had already seen them all but "in the beginning" and "the legend of the rangers". "In the beginning" was ok.. i've already knew everything that happened, only the doubt of why sheridan was not at the battle of the line.. But then I watched "The legend of the rangers". I've read at forums and such that was the seed of a posible new series etc.. I love crusade, all the movies, and everything around the b5 universe. But the legend was just horrible.. except g'kar of course.. I still have not seen the end... It was just plain cheesy.. it reminded me of stargate or startrek... was jms responsible for this? well.. the worst episode of b5 the worst anything of b5 is the legend of the rangers.. I just can't take it.. then they have this "new race" in weird ships.. c'mon! enough is enough!

[Jan]

Surely you didn't think that we'd met every race there was to meet in the B5 universe, did you? JMS has said that there are many we havent' met yet, likening it to the Europeans meeting the native folks in the Americas when they went exploring.

Yeah, there were some things wrong with Rangers but IMO, the chemistry between the characters was great right off the bat which is a vast improvement over 'The Gathering' right there. I'd've liked very much to see what would have happened.

But If I never hear a Ranger say "We live for the One...etc." again, that'll be just fine!

Jan

Edit to add: Oh, how I wish we might have gotten a commentary from JMS on this one!

[Laiden]

Yeah, there were some things wrong with Rangers but IMO, the chemistry between the characters was great right off the bat which is a vast improvement over 'The Gathering' right there. I'd've liked very much to see what would have happened.

But If I never hear a Ranger say "We live for the One...etc." again, that'll be just fine!

Jan

Edit to add: Oh, how I wish we might have gotten a commentary from JMS on this one!

I thought the chemistry was horribly mechanical. no feeling from the characters at all. yes, I believe this Tv Movie has ruined the Ranger 'motto' and after the first half of this movie, I thought, as I do so many times "why couldn't we have 5 years of crusade *tear*"

I can almost hear the opening to the commentary "Hello, I'm Joe Strazynski writer and creator for Legend of the Rangers. I want to appologize in advance . . ." still would've been nice for a bit of commentary.

[Joseph DeMartino]

Rangers DVD delayed

Amazon.com e-mailed me earlier today to say that the R1 (U.S./Canada) release of Legend of the Rangers on DVD has been pushed back a week from March 7th to March 14th. It appears this may have something to do with the re-release on the 14th of the earlier B5 sets at reduced prices. (See my other thread on that topic for details.)

Regards,

Joe

[TR_3]

The new race is the example of a lack of originality, like another war, another gathering of all aliens...crusade was completely different.. humans on their own, breakthrough characters such as gideon or galen..well, yes, what's wrong with it are the characters.. everytime g'kar walked in he would eat them alive.. b5 has very strong powerful people and legends is just plain weak. The main character.. i just hate him.. But maybe i'll watch it until i like it.. b5 deserves another chance..

[vacantlook]

The new race is the example of a lack of originality

Because we know oh! so much about The Hand and their minions solely on Rangers. It's like judging the Shadows based solely on seeing season one's "Signs And Portents."

like another war

Lots of wars throughout history, lots more in the future too.

crusade was completely different.. humans on their own, breakthrough characters such as gideon or galen..

Rangers didn't have enough time even begin to develop the individuality of characters that Crusade (even limitedly) had. I saw lots of room to find out about the new characters of Rangers. "I come to the stars by a difficult road," says Tafeek. I'll always be wondering what it was, especially since he had such a small part in the Rangers. I love the way Firell looks at Malcolm when he says that he never sees his face in his dreams. Makes me wonder if some form of relationship might have developed there. Firell in general really got my interest. The way she starts to speak her personal insight into Minbari to Martell until Malcolm comes bursting into the medbay and how she just so quickly fades into the background. I can see her character growing a great deal over the course of the show (had it happened). I could see us getting a great deal new stuff about Drazi from Tirk's presence, which I would have loved.

There just wasn't enough time to develop the characters into what they would have been.

b5 has very strong powerful people

And the question becomes, are the B5 characters so strong after ONLY "The Gathering." Or does one's vision of the characters being so strong require seeing a good sizable chunk of B5 episodes. I'd say that as of "The Gathering" and quite into season one, the B5 characters were still very much finding their footing, but it's what they are as a whole across the whole series that makes them so amazing. And that makes me unwilling to judge what the characters of Rangers would have been in whole had they had the same opportunity to grow as the B5 characters had.

[Ranger1]

The reason that The Gathering was a successful pilot to start a series in the first place was that there was nothing interesting on TV (sci-fi related of course) beside the boring Star-Trek (well, and it was also a good freaking pilot).

Rangers didn't justify a new series, it was boring, nothing new beside the karate moves (which were lame).... they should have called it "Ghost ship in Babylon 5 universe".

The only interesting part about that movie was Andreas! ... oh and that last shot of the B5 station.

[Jan]

they should have called it "Ghost ship in Babylon 5 universe".

I'm always puzzled by the folks who object so much to the Liandra being haunted when, as far as I can tell, nobody's ever complained about other mystical/mysterious/supernatural phenomena in the B5 universe.

-Aliens who can sense death and harvest souls? No problem.
-An enhanced telepath becoming a being of light? Yeppers.
-Matched pairs of telepaths who can communicate over interstellar distances? Handy, huh?
-An order that melds technology and carnival tricks to create 'magic'? Sure, why not?
-Delenn having a psychic bond with Sheridan? Absolutely.

But a haunted ship? Suddenly they lose all suspension of disbelief. Is it possible that the idea of ghosts is too mundane an idea? Even though what Dulann was sensing was more psychometry than actual communication with the dead. How many people have quoted this passage:

"I believe that when we leave a place, part of it goes with us and part of us remains. Go anywhere in the station, when it is quiet, and just listen. After a while, you will hear the echoes of all our conversations, every thought and word we've exchanged. Long after we are gone .. our voices will linger in these walls for as long as this place remains. But I will admit .. that the part of me that is going .. will very much miss the part of you that is staying."

...recently? Zack comments to Sheridan in his last visit that the echos of everything they'd did could still be heard. So the idea of experiences lingering is hardly a new one to the B5 universe.

Just a thought...

Jan

[Whyruss]

Ok perhaps it wasn't unmitigated logically but I liked it. As Jan said the chemistry between the characters was great... the only thing I found a little ridiculous was this "new" combat system... screaming and behaving like having an epilaptic attack doesn't look cool *lol* ^^

[Jan]

That fighting system wasn't what was described in the script at all, btw. What was described was a mobile seat similar to a gunner's chair in an old warplane.

Though JMS has posted that he was informed by those who know that a VR sort of system is actually being experimented with. Anyway, I always thought that what we saw was what Sarah felt rather than what she was actually doing in the pod. I was paying less attention to her than I was the space shots. They were gorgeous.

Jan

[frulad]

Look, for whatever flaws one my find for themselves in Rangers, I think we can all agree that given JMS's track record, things on the show would have developed to allay any of those misgivings.

Also, IIRC, JMS stated that the series timeline was set so that about its (hypothetical) third season, it would have interescted with the Crusade timeline, allowing a backdoor way to resolve some of the plot elements from that series...

[Bonehead]

-Aliens who can sense death and harvest souls? No problem.
-An enhanced telepath becoming a being of light? Yeppers.
-Matched pairs of telepaths who can communicate over interstellar distances? Handy, huh?
-An order that melds technology and carnival tricks to create 'magic'? Sure, why not?
-Delenn having a psychic bond with Sheridan? Absolutely.

And dont forget the Brakiri 'Day of the dead'

First impressions for me of LOTR were mixed also. The gunner station being the main problem. I also disliked most of the ship designs (especially the Valen)
However, on my 2nd viewing (months later) I enjoyed it much more, I was even left wanting more.

The problem is that to be a successful pilot, it must grab you imediately. This is where it falls short.

[Ranger1]

I'm always puzzled by the folks who object so much to the Liandra being haunted when, as far as I can tell, nobody's ever complained about other mystical/mysterious/supernatural phenomena in the B5 universe.

That's because all the stuff you mentioned, were actually DAMN good episodes, the Liandra even as a ship was pretty boring, and "I see dead people - The Minbari version" was veeeeery boring.

I did like the makeup tho, but not the movie as a pilot for a new series.

[Harrdy]

The "Valen" was ugly, yes... but that was part of the story, so not a flaw but a feature 9-)

I already said I liked LOTR, even more than "Crusade"... I never got "warm" with "Crusade", I always was like disconnected and woundered when I would start to like what I saw... didn't happen. Same with Firefly, oh I tried so very hard to like it, but it just stayed "cool", without any "connection". (sorry if I use the wrong words, I try to express my feelings, which is hard in my original language, but even more so in a foreign tounge).

Strange thing is with LOTR I was entertained from the beginning. A underdog captain who doesn't kiss the "we die for the one"-feet. It is - by the way and for me - stupid to die for something, so it resonated with my inner moral compass. I must say G'Kar was a BIG part of my entertainment, but keep in mind that Andreas *knew* his role, he played it again and again. The new crew needed to get a feeling for their parts, compare first season acting with LOTR, that would be more fair.

And - to my shame *g* - I liked the combat system. Something *intiutive*, not something where man forms himself to the machine but the machine if formed after our acting. Kicking and hitting something/-one is more "natural" than pressing a button, and while you can be trained that "pressing button A" means "hitting the enemy hard" it would be easier to *hit* the enemy (virtually). Anyway, stranger was the second time I watched I didn't like the combat system, so I guessed I was so very happy about the *idea* that I didn't look for the acting, which was medicore (at best). Anyway, fire away the heat and hate *g*

Edit add: By the way, the only character I liked in "Crusade" was the telephatic second in command... now I've done it (i liked a telepathy story), now you can really burn me at the stake *g*

PeAcE

[Ranger1]

The "Valen" was ugly, yes... but that was part of the story, so not a flaw but a feature 9-)

I didnt say the that The Valen was ugly (even when i said The Liandra), i said it was boring as a ship.

Sorry, if it was any good it would get a show, it didn't, rest my case.