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Title:
Babylon 5: The Legend Of The Rangers
Region:
One
Genre:
Sci-Fi
Stars:
Dylan Neal, Alex Zahara, Myriam Sirois, Mackenzie Gray, and Andreas Katsulas
Writer:
J. Michael Straczynski
Created
By J. Michael Straczynski
Director:
Mike Vejar
Executive
Producers: Douglas Netter and J. Michael Straczynski
Feature
length: 90 minutes
Languages:
English Stereo Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions and English, French, and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 22
Sound:
Stereo Sound
Year
of Television Broadcast: 2002/DVD Release: 2006
Home
Video Distributor: Warner Home Video
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Following
the 13 episodes of the television series “CRUSADE,” which had originally
aired on TNT during the summer of 1999, there was a second attempt to launch a
new television series set in the Babylon 5 universe. The television movie
“Babylon 5: The Legend Of The Rangers” premiered on the SCI FI Channel in
early 2002. The channel had great success with airing syndicated reruns of all
five seasons of “Babylon 5” and the four TV movies “In The Beginning”,
“The Gathering”, “The River Of Souls”, and “A Call To Arms”
letterboxed for the first time in the United States. The network even aired the
thirteen episodes of “CRUSADE” though only in their original (1.33:1)
broadcast aspect ratio. Since “Babylon 5” was shot with high definition
widescreen televisions in mind, I can’t imagine “CRUSADE” not being shot
with a 16 by 9 widescreen aspect ratio consideration too, but for whatever the
reason, even now on Region One DVD, “CRUSADE” set is presented in a four by
three (1.33:1) aspect ratio. “Babylon 5” is arguably the best sci-fi TV
series of the 1990s in part because it had a well thought out five-year story
arc mapped out with an elaborate backstory and was intended to be a novel for
television by the show’s creator J. Michael Straczynski, who placed influences
from best science fiction films and novels as well as J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy
epic “The Lord Of The Rings” into the series wide creative canvass. While
“CRUSADE” was cut short with only thirteen episodes and “Babylon 5”
purposely ended with certain story points open-ended, Straczynski authorized
novels and comics as well as a few short stories to help fill in the blanks, but
the franchise still had a lot of unanswered questions.
I
remember reading on the Internet that a feature film was in the works and would
possibly come to fruition after the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy had run
it’s course, but as far as I am aware, there is no formal announcement as to
whether or not the feature film will happen. So for a brief time, “Babylon
5” fans had the hope that “Babylon 5: The Legend Of The Rangers” would get
picked up as a TV series. It did not happen and while I can speculate what the
reasons were, I prefer not to if only because television has changed so much in
the few years that have passed since SCI FI first aired “Babylon 5: The Legend
Of The Rangers” that right now maybe having the franchise as a whole be
dormant is a good thing. It seems to me that every successful program is in
itself a time capsule regardless of what genre it is and when it comes to sci-fi
programs, one never can be sure when interest and excitement over a franchise
can re-ignite the creative fires most had believed had long been extinguished.
The highly successful reimagined “Battlestar Galactica” on SCI FI as well as
the new BBC “Doctor Who” series are two examples of franchises given new
life after a long hiatus. So much like “Star Trek” through various
incarnations enjoyed nearly two decades of original programming on both the big
and the small screens after two decades of syndicated reruns of the original
“Star Trek” series and four feature films, I have faith that “Babylon 5”
will some day return in some form and fans will once again be able to thank the
“Great Maker” J. Michael Straczynski for giving us all an exciting universe
to allow our imaginations to run freely in.
Had
the series been picked up, this feature length movie would be referred to as
“To Live And Die In Starlight” much like the original “Babylon 5” TV
pilot film is referred to as “The Gathering.” In terms of the timeline, this
story takes place after “Babylon 5: The River Of Souls” and before
“Babylon 5: A Call To Arms.” Like the original series, a five-year story arc
was planned and had the series run it’s course, the possibility of resolving
the “CRUSADE” storyline related to finding a cure to the Drakh plague on
Earth was open to being dramatized. Unless a book or graphic novel authorized by
Straczynski has been published, I imagine the resolution is still open as is the
“Telepath War” that was rumored to be the storyline setting for a possible
“Babylon 5” feature film. Two things stick out while watching “The Legend
Of The Rangers” on DVD. One is the fact that despite the fact that the film is
a little more than four years old, the trend in sci-fi television of having
humanoid alien races has largely changed to a humans only drama such as in Joss
Whedon’s “Firefly/Serenity” universe and the new “Battlestar Galactica.”
Even the two “Stargate” television series feature more human civilizations
than anything as exotically extraterrestrial as franchises like “Babylon 5”
and “Farscape” had offered for years. So in a strange way the presence of
aliens in a TV movie pilot seemed dated though not unwelcomed. The second thing
that sticks out right away while watching the movie is Straczynski’s style of
writing, which echoes the epic storytelling and themes from the original series
beautifully throughout. To the film’s credit, “Babylon 5: The Legend Of The
Rangers” feels more akin to the original series if only because composer
Christopher Franke was brought back to do the score for the TV movie. Evan H.
Chen had scored “A Call To Arms” and “CRUSADE,” which distinctly
different. The CGI effects have improved greatly since the original series pilot
first aired in 1993 and the appearance of Andreas Katsulas as Citizen G’Kar in
the film greatly elevates the drama and humor of every scene he appears in and
sadly it reminds fans how much Katsulas will be missed now that he has “passed
beyond the veil” as they might say in the Babylon 5 universe leaving this film
as his last new acting appearance playing G’Kar. The Minbari Ranger character
named Tannier first appeared in the season 5 episode “Learning Curve” though
Brendan Ford played him there. Todd Sandomirsky portrays the character in “The
Legend Of The Rangers – To Live And Die In Starlight.”
Given
the fact that “Babylon 5” successfully completed it’s five-year run, the
original series pilot “The Gathering,” which was recut and rescored for
broadcast in 1998 seems better than it did in hindsight back in 1993. So I guess
if the movie had spawned a TV series, “To Live And Die In Starlight” might
have seemed far more interesting now than it did back in 2002 however the whole
introduction of an alien force referred to as “The Hand” that supposedly
could dwarf the threat the Shadows had created, feels rather tired because one
can only have so many super villains before they start to lose their allure. Now
the aliens depicted in “Legend Of The Rangers” are not “The Hand,” but
merely representatives following their will, but one wonders if “The Hand,”
who are from another dimension, were more powerful than the Shadows, why
didn’t they begin to move sooner? Are they the same alien race the Vorlons had
discovered in “Third Space” or were they merely waiting for the last of the
“First Ones” to leave the galaxy? Maybe the aliens were lying when it came
to the strength of “The Hand” and simply were using stolen ancient
technology. The only person who can answer any of these questions is Mr.
Straczynski, but I remember feeling like I had already been there and done that
in Straczynski’s universe with the other “Babylon 5” TV series and movies
so as it is I think a storyline that fit in obviously closer to the situations
already set up in “Babylon 5.”
With
the exception of the original 1993 version of “The Gathering,” Warner Home
Video’s DVD release of “Babylon 5: The Legend Of The Rangers” concludes
the entire “Babylon 5” franchise on DVD for now… Presented in a matted
widescreen (1.78:1) aspect ratio enhanced for 16 by 9 TVs, the picture quality
is at times a bit grainy or uneven though overall, the TV movie still looks
better than it ever has in letterboxed NTSC American broadcasts on standard
definition television. The English Stereo Soundtrack is clear, but largely
unimpressive. A Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack mix would have been
preferred. English Closed Captions for the deaf and hearing impaired and
English, French, and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded onto the disc as
options, but there are no extra values materials included on this DVD release at
all. The menus are standard interactive still frames that are easy to navigate.
While it would have been nice to see this film packaged as a part of the
“Babylon 5: The Movie Collection: 5-Disc Collector’s Set” at least the DVD
is packaged in a keep case and not the cardboard snapper cases Warner Home Video
used for the original “Babylon 5” double feature DVD that contained the 1998
version of “The Gathering” as well as the prequel “In The Beginning.”
“Babylon 5: The Legend Of The Rangers” is available on DVD-Video now at
retailers on and offline courtesy of Warner Home Video.
©
Copyright 2006 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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