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

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Michael Vejar

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski (written by)

Release Date:

19 January 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

A new kind of evil demands a new kind of courage.

Plot:

A disgraced Ranger takes command of an old, possibly haunted, ship on an escort mission that encounters deadly peril from a new enemy civilization.

Plot Keywords:

Ranger | Space | CGI | TV Series Pilot | Warrior

Cast

Dylan Neal	...	David Martell
Andreas Katsulas	...	Citizen G'Kar
Alex Zahara	...	Dulann
Myriam Sirois	...	Sarah Cantrell
Dean Marshall	...	Malcolm Bridges
Warren Takeuchi	...	Kitaro Sasaki (as Warren T. Takeuchi)
Jennie Rebecca Hogan	...	Na'Feel
Mackenzie Gray	...	Minister Kafta
David Storch	...	Tafeek
Enid-Raye Adams	...	Firell
Gus Lynch	...	Tirk
Todd Sandomirsky	...	Tannier
Andrew Kavadas	...	Captain Bart Gregg (as Andrew A. Kavadas)
Simon Egan	...	Minbari Crewman
Bernard Cuffling	...	Sindell

Also Known As:

Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers (USA) (working title)
Legend of the Rangers: Babylon 5 (USA) (promotional title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:PG | Germany:12 | USA:Not Rated | UK:PG | Ireland:PG | Netherlands:6 | Finland:K-11 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Babylonian Productions

Trivia:

This is Andreas Katsulas' final portrayal of G'Kar in the Babylon 5 pantheon of TV series and TV movies.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When David is thrown against a bulkhead during his fight with Minister Kafta the metal wall wrinkles on impact, revealing it to be a cushioned barrier.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Captain Bart Gregg: Status?
Dulann: Engine's damaged. 20% capacity. Automatic weapons tracking system disabled.
Captain Bart Gregg: David, how many left?
David Martel: Six. Lead ship's coming around for another pass.

Movie Connections:

Follows Babylon 5: The River of Souls (1998) (TV)

What a Waste

For someone who can come up with the concept of B5, and write most of the episodes, JMS sure can't write a movie to save his life. At a time when the B5 franchise needed a masterpiece, JMS gave us bad rip-offs of his own work. Take "Thirdspace," add some ancient shadow-like enemy and throw in a dash of young James T. Kirk and you basically got this pilot. I'm not sure why JMS threw out such tripe like "The Hand" when he knew that every B5 fan in america would call him out on it, but he did it anyway. All of the reviews, except for those that live only to praise JMS, have said that this "pilot" "telemovie" or what have you, sucks. They are right. Due to the ignorant mismanagement on the part of the Sci-Fi channel, it aired opposite an NFL playoff game. Due to hackneyed writing, however, it virtually sealed the deal of no series.