(OT) B5: Legend of the Rangers (spoilers)

[LightPhoenix]

Well, I thought I'd share my opinions while I'm still thinking about them Turn back now if you don't want spoilers.

First, this was SO written as a pilot, and I hope that it doesn't affect how the show does ratings-wise.

Am I the only one that can't stand Sarah? I thought out of everyone, she was by far the weakest link.

I was also very unhappy with the whole weapons system/combat thing. It was a good idea, but to me it just came out very, very poorly, and personally I don't think the actress who played Sarah helped.

On good cast notes - G'Kar was fun, and Andreas Katsulas is great as always, although certainly not as contemplative as he was at the end of B5. I loved the Healer Minbari - for some reason I just really liked her. It was great to see the Narn Ranger too, she was great. I really enjoyed the dialogue between David and Tulann. Hopefully if there is a series there will be much more of this.

I like the new jump point effect a lot. I was also suitably impressed with the Council - the Minbari are such a stubborn people.

The storyline was okay. To me, it was nothing special - I liked Crusade's premise a lot more. I found it really hard to believe that "the Hand" would fall for such rediculously obvious ploys, especially since they "make the Shadows look like insects". I'm also wondering if the crew of the Liandra has problems - I figured David's ploy easily, and I can't see how everyone else couldn't have. But maybe that's just me.

I'm also disappointed in the "more powerful enemy than the Shadows" story. I find it neither menacing nor suspenseful, especially since we know already the Alliance survives. Maybe I'm just a little biased, but I would like to see something more political than a B5: Part II. Especially given G'Kar's presence and the ending, it really made it seem like it was standing on B5's legs, instead of it's own.

And damnit, I so want to know what happened to Lyta!!! Well, I know she dies in the Telepath War (that's what G'Kar's line about her was referencing), but argh!!!

Personally, I preferred Crusade more I think - they had a more interesting cast, a better premise for a story, more suspence, and less of a need to use B5 to hold it together. But then, I know more about the Crusade story and where it was supposed to go, so I could be biased. But these were my thoughts.

LightPhoenix

 

[TBoarder]

I thought it wasn't bad. I expected better, but wasn't really disappointed too much.

Unlike you, I liked Sarah, except for 2 things... First is exactly what you mentioned, the combat system. It looked like she was some sorta Power Ranger or something. The only redeeming factor is that the actress looked like she was in good enough shape to be pulling off what she was doing. Her constant screaming while she fought thought was annoying to say the least. Second was a line of clunky dialogue in the beginning... the "As a wise man once said..." line.

I'm really getting sick of the whole "The only way out is to ram my ship into the bad guy" tactic. This is the 3rd time B5 has used this and each time and it's lost emotional impact after each one.

I also preferred Crusade's story arc. Maybe once we learn more about these bad guys, my feelings will change, but for now, they're just a dumber but more powerful version of the Shadows and Drakh.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the captain. In all the promos I've seen, I thought he looked too much like a "generic leading character". He turned out to have some very good comic timing and was much more likable than I expected.

Love the new jumpgate effects.

It was great to see G'kar again too... unfortunately some of his more comedic scenes fell REALLY flat (something that JMS's comedy tends to do on occasion).

Glad you caught the plan that they used at the very end. I was more expecting them to blow up the jumpgate. Would've meant the death of the first officer character, but since when has ANY life been safe in JMS's hands?

Overall, I liked it enough to hope for an eventual series. At least if the series happens we might find out how Eath is saved from the Drakh plague. In the meantime though, at least we KNOW Farscape starts up new episodes at last in April.

 

[Hatchling Dragon]

Firstly, those weren't "The Hand", they're a lesser race (much like that spy) that were granted 'toys' to aid them in thier work. That work is bringing about the return of "The Hand" to our space-time.

I liked the fire-control idea, it's very intuitive, something we ourselfs are striving for. Make it simple and instinctive, and you've made it easier to use and learn, not to mention shaving off those potentially crusial seconds. Granted this was what I was thinking before that (in my opinion over-done) final scene where we see them. They could also have been borrowing ideas from Earth: Final Conflict in way of user interfaces. Pitty they didn't do a better job.

I'm certainly glad they didn't get 'the other ship'. Christ that thing was big 'n ugly as sin. I don't care how new 'n modern it was. I admit to expecting White Stars, but I figure those were too tied up in licensing or something. Just when I'd gotten to liking that design too.

I think the other ambasador (drazi?) summed up the 'new G'kar' with his "Been with the humans too long, he's gone nuts" line. And God only knows what he saw when he and Lyta were out 'n about. He had a bit of a habbit for understating things near the end of B5, and he called what he saw something like "More amazing than I could imagine, and I have a pretty good imagination!" This would make me both curious and a bit nervous.

As to "The Hand" being bigger 'n nastier than the Shadows or Vorlons, nobody said they were the end-all and be-all of creation, just that they were the last of the "Old Ones", what I'd understood to mean the last 'batch' of races to achieve transcendance and 'go beyond the rim'. They were thousands of years old, whereas "The Hand" is supposedly at least Billions. Quite a difference in scale there. And who's to say that the Shadows didn't get a few hints for thier technology from "The Hand". You'd noticed no doubt that those enemy ships had at least a slighty resemblance to Shadow vessels.

Then again mabye it's just that I have more skill ranks in Suspend Dissbelief than you do, or the feat Greater Rationalising. Maybe when you a few more Sci-Fi Geek levels can get them too.

[Edit] Oh yes, nearly forgot. "The Hand" seem to admire one thing above all: Loyalty. Remember that the brighter a life-form is, the more likely they are to question the actions/motives of thier 'masters', I'm sure "The Hand" took that into account.

Hatchling Dragon - See I told you I wouldn't post on the icky new boards.... doh!

 

[LightPhoenix]

But they cancelled Invisible Man!!!

And the Brits get the last four episodes of Farscape over the next two weeks, starting Monday

*sigh*

As for Crusade... I'd prefer not to spoil the entire plotline, so just in case there's a miracle and someone picks it up, I won't spoil any. If only TNT would have let a full season run... the last two episodes of the season (not produced) looked great in the script. A shame they're not still available

As a side note, the lady who played Sarah (Myriam Sirois) reminded me a whole ton of a cross between Lyta and Dodger when I first saw her. As for her character, I think I figured out what bothers me so much about her. It seems as if she's just trying too hard, and the character is coming off very strongly. She really needs to be toned down a bit.

I was impressed with the captain, but he didn't particularly blow my skirt up. Well, if I was wearing a skirt... which would be odd, being male, but I have seen stranger things. There wasn't a whole lot of room for him to stretch his wings, and hopefully with a series we'll be able to see him do so. I think that he'd be very good in the long run.

Another comment - was it just me, or did both G'Kar and the ghosts seem like Deus Ex Machina? David's going to be kicked out... oh wait, there's G'Kar suddenly, championing him for no reason! Hey, we have no weapons, no plan... wait, the ghosts are telling us what to do!

Suffice to say, I was a little disappointed. Maybe with more time (crossed-fingers) everything will come together. I really hope so, because it'd be a shame if this didn't get picked up. But I've been really unhappy with the SciFi Channel lately. But that's another rant.

(EDIT: Fixed Myriam's name)

LightPhoenix

 

[uv23]

Ok I haven't read the above posts because I don't want to be spoiled. But I don't think we got this in Canada. Does anyone have any info on when it will be licensed and subsequently aired here?

 

[LightPhoenix]

As far as I know, it hasn't been picked up by the Canadian station (whose name I forget ). They were looking it to it though, so I would guess sometime in the next few months.

LightPhoenix

 

[Voneth]

I thought the movie overall was okay. Here are some comments in no particular order:

The whole VR/Martial Arts gunnery system: I saw this more of an off shoot from the discovery that human telepaths were used as "weapon systems" for the Shadows. Perhaps a little stereotyping that humans were created as warriors for the Shadow war by both sides.

On the other hand, The Shadows, the Hand, etc, etc. It seems to be getting a little old that there is always something older, bigger and badder coming for us in the B5 world.

The banter between human captain and his Mimbari First Mate was great. It seemed in some way to fall across cultural lines though, but still good natured. Like two humans from different races who are friends enough, but still fall back on making jokes off their racial stereotypes to each other. Oh wait, they did make the size joke didn't they.

Did they make a refence that the old ship had been the one to spot the bad guys? With the ghosts on board, it seemed likely, but then thier storyline is just dropped.

Is that it? Scope wise, I expected something bigger than the "race for the hyperspace gate" plot. I had been expecting some sort of huge battle at the end.

Only humans would write "BOOM" on duct tape and then booby trap the hatch when it opened. I thought the low-tech spin on their last trick was quite apt, why? How many times do you run over the same piece of trash with a vacum cleaner before picking it up. How many times do you flip a light switch before deciding it's broke? And how long will you look for something on the Internet before breaking down and checking out a dictionary or encyclopidea? We get set in our ways, especialy when it comes to using technology. And there are more times than we like to admit that our modern means of warfare got us into more trouble than out. I tend to think that Desert Storm was the first war where we used technology successfuly, and it was in a time of relative peace. ... so where was I going with all that? ... Uhh, oh yeah.

I figured those high-tech hood wearing ring wraiths would fall for a low-tech trick.

And I liked the holo display.

 

[Hand of Vecna]

"Tirk, Drazzi. I lift heavy things...."

heeheehee

I gotta throw my lot in with the "didn't like Sarah" group. In fact, when I saw the ads for it, I thought it was Lyta Alexander, with god-like TK powers that allowed her to fly around in space and blast ships. Ah, well...

Wonder if we'll see any other B5 characters in further episodes? (Anyone know when the actual series will start?)


Oh, and I'm highly upset that Invisible Man is being cancelled, and that we've got a long wait for Farscape. But at least new eps of LEXX start next Friday...

 

[TBoarder]

(Anyone know when the actual series will start?)

It hasn't been officially okayed as a series yet. Once the rating are released, SciFi will make their decision. Chances are good though. B5 has been doing really well for the station since they picked it up. If it's okayed, I'd think it will premier either in September or next January, depending on how long it takes to develope.

 

[trancejeremy]

I liked it well enough, but really thought the VR style gunnery system was lame. Very lame.

I mean, which is quicker, hitting a button a joystick, or throwing a punch?

Plus, if todays targetting systems can highlight ships and such with boxes (on the HUD of a plane or whatever), why can't a spaceships?

Rather than having to throw a fit to destroy all those mines, they should have been targeted automatically by the HUD.

There used to be a glove/VR style controller for video game systems (The Power Glove, I think it was called). Yet in practice, it's better to use a gamepad/joystick...