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

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

If I could give this garbage less than zero I would. I waited like a lot of space movie junkies for this to come out only to be staring at the screen in awe of how stupid this was. Like most everyone else, for me the ridiculous way they chose to fire the ship's weapons was really lame. Who in their right mind went along with this? They had to know that this was going to kill the show. Granted they are all Canadian, and let's face it what passes for talent and entertainment up there shows why this kind of crap gets across the border. I wish there were a way to keep them and their products above the line. Just terrible and a complete waste of time. The only people that gave this a favorable rating were either studio lackeys or relatives of the director or cast. If I had eighty thumbs they would all be pointing down.

I love Babylon 5. I have seen every episode of the series and the movies as well--so it's obvious that I really care about this show. Heck, I even saw the spin-off series, CRUSADE--that's how much I love the show!! And, in light of this love, it really hurt to watch such a seriously flawed and inferior product as THE LEGEND OF THE RANGERS. I guess that after having written so much that the series creator, writer and executive producer J. Michael Straczynski finally was due for a fall as this is easily the worst of the Babylon pantheon.So why was it so bad? Well, the fundamental idea of a new spin-off series wasn't the problem--this movie could have led to a decent series. However, the characters and writing just weren't up to snuff. Particular problems were a very, very predictable plot through at least the first half in which time and again I found myself guessing exactly what would happen next. In fact, my wife and I were both very accurately telling what would happen next because it all seemed so unoriginal and clichéd. Fortunately, it did improve later and I did like the escape pod sequences. In addition, the weapons officer and her gimmicky way of fighting was just embarrassingly bad and silly. She was completely one-dimensional and the fighting sequences made me cringe--they were THAT bad.So what you have left wasn't without some merit and I guess it is a passable 90 minutes of entertainment--but just barely. My advice is that if you are a Babylon 5 geek (like me), then by all means watch it. Otherwise--skip it and watch the series.By the way--take a look at all the ratings for this film. Like many popular sci-fi TV shows or movies (such as Star Trek or Star Wars), there are a small number of mindless zombies who declare that EVERY episode and EVERY movie is an artistic masterpiece--giving ALL OF THEM 10s!!! Now if you liked this movie, I have no argument with you. But, to take an obviously flawed movie that is clearly inferior to the previous series and films and STILL give it a 10 is just ludicrous. These zombies, I assume, are like cult members who CANNOT objectively rate anything from the series and think by giving EVERYTHING a 10 that they are somehow "helping" the show or being loyal. I am sure my harsh words will draw many "not helpful" ratings, but I don't care--the casual viewer needs to know that some reviews can't be trusted.

We all know Thirdspace is by far the worst of the B5 films. LotR was not exactly mind- blowingly great - but neither was it entirely without its charms. Legend of the Rangers a fairly decent story told in the B5 universe. The problem for me is that afterwards, I just didn't give a crap. Not about the story, or the characters. It almost had the feeling of fan fiction.As a potential series, I don't see much here that would compel me to keep viewing. Crusade had the benefit of the amazing Gary Cole - no such presence here. It also had the benefit of following directly and clearly from the events of B5 and revealing more of that story than we thought we knew. LotR, through The Hand, seems to subvert much of what we knew.But hey. This was only a pilot. It was the "who." The what, where, why and how were yet to come. It's impossible to judge without knowing the context. I wasn't overly fond of The Gathering (or indeed, most of the first season of Babylon 5 itself) until I could watch it knowing what was yet to come. We don't know what JMS had in mind for Legend of the Rangers. But I think it's safe to say that he probably was going to take this story someplace interesting. Nothing in B5 is exactly what it appears to be. And I doubt this would be a story about a bunch of space cowboys fighting freaky aliens week after week. I will concede that the "virtual space fighting thing" was incredibly stupid. I bet it looked great on paper.-Cazorp

OK this film was created as a pilot but that does not give it an excuse!!! OK as a bit of sci-fi it was not that bad if you pay no attention to the B5 series. The major problem i had with this was the ships,anyone who has seen the series would know that the WHITESTAR's were the ultimate ship so why did the rangers not have them? They were created for the alliance and the rangers were the special ops of the alliance! It was nice to see G'Kar back at his best. I think the film would have a better reception if they had gone ahead with the show and people would look back with a better understanding but thats TV for you.Now for a bit of intelligent thought! If you want to make a new B5 series or film you have the perfect opening in the first shadow war,even if you want to be lame stick in a time warp (whoops they did that) and have some B5 regular turn up (maybe delenn as that would be cool with sinclair). But all in all this film was a bit of an insult to the B5 name that for once showed the American TV exec's that people will watch a programme with a story arc and do not need the throw away things such as (ready for the grinding of teeth) star trek next generation (DS9 was better).