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

[William Ronald]

Overall, I was pleased with the movie.

I suspect that the Hand is actually ... the race that was seen in the B5 movie Thirdspace. (Banished to another dimension. Even the architecture looked alike. Ironically, Andreas Katsulas was not in that movie.) If this is the case, perhaps it was Lorien's people who fought them originally. The Vorlons, who are millions of years old, encountered them once -- and were nearly beat. Also, I suspect that the traitor on board the Liandra was not told the whole truth. The enemy may be trying to make itself seem more threatening than it actually is. (Do I expect someone bent on conquest to lie and spread fear? Yes.)

I thought that Myriam Sirois was trying a little too hard, although I think the character has possibilities. The weapons control system was interesting. Mind you, I thought of a few funny alternate ways to control the system. However, a VR interface might be useful. (I would suggest a mind/machine interface that would have a faster reaction time than moving human limbs. Mind you, you could still have someone visualize the action that way. Or take another approach. A master chess player might see things VERY differently. Hopefully, Martha Stewart would NEVER be let near such a combat system.)

Andreas Katsulas was good, as usual. There was a wonderful mix of humor and seriousness to his character.

Overall, I have hopes for a series. It would likely be more action oriented than political. (However, they do have a diplomat/first contact expert on board.)

 

[Hand of Vecna]

Actually, The Hand is.... ME! MWAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!!!!!

 

[William Ronald]

Perhaps we should not speculate too closely on what the Hand is doing.

 

[Jamdin]

To be honest, I could care less about the Hand plot but I was more interested in the Ghost Ship subplot. I do like Dulann, Tirk & Na'Feel the best. I kept waiting for Sarah to shoot fireballs out of her butt after seeing her shooting them with her feet. G'Kar was, as always, a delight. I could take or leave Captian David Martel and Malcom Bridges

Would I watch this as a series? Yes. Would it be as good as the original series or Crusade? No.

For those who would like more info about the cast & crew, check out http://www.scifi.com/b5rangers/

 

[Zerovoid]

Sarah throwing fireballs was just really terrible looking. If this gets made into a series, I hope to never see that again.

I also don't understand why the Drazi has to be a retard. They seemed a little war like and gung ho in B5, but this guy is just a step above a rock. "I carry heavy things." wtf was that? He's so outrageously dumb, I am reminded of Jar Jar.

The Hand aka Shadows 2. I don't like that. I would rather a more politically focused show, instead of another big bad guy race.

I like G'Kar alot, he was probably the highlight of the episode. I also think the ghost ship is pretty cool, although it could have been done better. It can fill the strange role of a wierd mystery that B4 did in B5, maybe.

I hope this gets made into a series. Although I found the pilot a little lacking, its a pretty good start, and B5 was best at the story arc level anyway. Individual episodes weren't always that great.

 

[LightPhoenix]

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.

Since the SciFi Channel's season starts in June, I would look for it to start sometime next summer. My guess would be April to June 2003. They could start it next January though... their schedule is a little odd.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was picked up, seeing as how they just cancelled their #2 rated show.

I was thinking more of a pelvic thrust in the weapon system to shoot stuff.

I've said a lot of negative stuff about the movie, so I'd like to say some positive things, because I didn't think the movie was horrible.

I really liked all of the special effects, especially the jump gate (which I mentioned before) and the mine field. I also liked it when the enemy ships were shooting, that was pretty cool. And the weapon system did look impressive, it just didn't work IMO. All of the shots of Minbar were cool - it looks a lot darker than it did in the series, and I like that. In fact, the whole look of the movie was darker than the looks of B5 or Crusade. In my opinion this was a plus.

I also liked the alien species, I thought they did a really good job with all of them. I especially liked seeing the detail on G'Kar, Na'Feel and Turk's close-ups. Oh, and Minister Kafta (the white, tentacled one) looked very nice. Especially after David roughed him up, the green blood and broken head-tentacle-things were a nice touch.

Then music was much better than Crusade's was, even though I did get used to Evan Chen's score. Yes, yes, Evan's music did grow on me, you read that right. I don't think LotR's music was as memorable as some of Franke's music, but it wasn't as obtrusive as Chen's was. That was very nice.

LightPhoenix

 

[Aaron L]

Wow, when I saw the commercials I thought the lady throwing fireballs was Lyta with godlike psionic powers flying in space too. (wouldn't THAT have been cool!)

I liked it, but it didn't blow me away. As people have said, the elder races crawling out of the woodword is getting a bit much, unless they tie some things together and make these the same race as was in Thirdspace.

BTW: LONG LIVE I-MAN!!!!!! Why is it being cancelled??? And why is The Chronicle is still going???

 

[LightPhoenix]

BTW: LONG LIVE I-MAN!!!!!! Why is it being cancelled??? And why is The Chronicle is still going???

Well, SciFi has given no official reason why. My guess is that since it costs a million an episode to make, that they just can't afford keeping the show going. But again, that's only a guess.

As for The Chronicle... no comment. Because I'll start ranting about SFC.

LightPhoenix

 

[Wolf72]

yet again ... I thought it was lyta as well!

does anyone know the stinkin year(movie) is anyway?

quite dissappointed for the various reasons already said,

I liked their ship though.

sigh, just wasn't that good ...

 

[Maxwell's Demon]

I would say that in general I like B5:LoTR. The special effects were quite good, and I liked the new jump sequence much better than the one used in Crusade, but less well than the original.

I can say that I very mixed reactions about the ghosts. My first reaction was that such things didn't belong in the B5 universe. Then I remembered "Day of the Dead." So I guess that ghosts of some sort do exist in this universe.

As others have already stated, the weapons control system is interesting and well conceived but poorly executed. B5 still insists on using weapons that are limited by human reactions. At the speeds these ships are moving the computer would be the logical one to control target and weapon selection. Screw the human jumping into the special control room. What that should have been was the ship's AI, an independant character in its own right, and it's view of the battle. This I would have been much happier with.

G'Kar was a delight as always. My favorite character from the origianl show. I hope he remains with the cast in and when they make the leap to series.

I also like the idea of showing that the Rangers organization is far from perfect. The fact that political infighting and racial prejudice exist with the organization makes it seem far more real. People are never as perfect as the Rangers seemed to be during the original series. I'm glad they're getting a few warts.

Can't say I care for the new Ranger uniforms though. I hope they return to the originals.

As for the main plotline, I remain unsure. A race billions of years old that are so powerful that they make the Shadows look like insects seems a bit over the top. Of course this could be propaganda that they are spreading in order to make themselves appear more powerful. But if it is true then the Rangers are going to be on the road searching for a new Deus Ex Machina to take care of the problem. Afterall the Shadows were only beatable because of the use of telepaths and the help of the other ancient races. And even then they were not really beaten so much as convinced that they were now longer following the path that they thought they were. How in the world will the Alliance beat a race even more powerful? I just don't see it. But then again that why JMS writes these things and I watch them. Because he can see the how and why.

Here's looking forward to a new adventure in B5land.