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Review: Babylon 5 "The Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight"
by
Carl Lefler
July 30, 2002
Spoiler-free quick review: A below average installment in the Babylon 5 saga. With great special effects and enough action, but, unfortunately, also a group of really below par actors (except for Andreas Katsulas and Alex Zahara). An unusually poorly crafted story by Straczynski and a terribly conceived and executed holographic weapons system that is just painful to watch in operation.
Spoiler- Heavy Point-by-point Review:
Sometimes
people just have a tendency to bite off more than they can chew. This is true in
many walks of life. It's true in Hollywood, especially in television. When you
have a successful series, before long you have the desire to start expanding.
Whether it's spinning off your hit series while the original is still on the air,
or trying to produce two or three shows at once. It's rare that anyone can
pull these things off. Usually the pool of talent is spread too thin. Add to it
the desire for writers and actors moving on and you've got problems.
In season five of Babylon 5 J. Michael Straczynski was juggling many things at the same time. A full season in which he had to tie most all the loose ends for his series in which he wrote 20 of the episodes himself (2 of these with help from Harlan Ellison). Four TV movies all of which he wrote. And was at work jumpstarting the B5 spin-off series Crusade for the dimwits at TNT, probably a full time job on its own... um, lets not get into that bit of history.
That's an awful lot of work for one guy.
And the quality suffered.
Two and a half years after the last Crusade episode aired we finally get a new B5 movie. At that time JMS was busy writing some comic books, and getting the TV movie done, and trying to get the Rangers TV series developed, and working on the Jeremiah series for Showtime.
And the quality suffered again.
At least in the case of Legend of the Rangers it did. It just wasn't that good a movie on so many different levels. The effects in this movie however are gorgeous. The writing is uneven. The direction is very good. The acting is by a group of unknown actors and I hope they stay that way. Alex Zahara stands way out above all the others as the clairvoyant Minbari Ranger Dulann. He was really good, as was Andreas Katsulas as G'Kar. At the far end of the spectrum was Myriam Sirois as Sarah Cantrell. She was really awful and the worst actor in a group of bad actors.
Keep in mind that I was surprised after having seen this movie and then sitting down and analyzing it further just how much of it didn't work for me. Also, understand that I love the Babylon 5 series, but I'm really going to be very tough on this movie. And I'm going to be very harsh on actress Myriam Sirois who plays a main character in this movie.
Let's get to the specifics of what happens in the story.
The movie opens with the Rangers battling a group of enemy raiders. This is a new type of Ranger vessel never seen on the B5 series. David Martel is the ship's first officer and is played by actor Dylan Neal. Like Bruce Boxleitner he has a tendency to smile too much and isn't even as good an actor as BB.
The ranger ship is badly damaged with no weapons and 20% engine power and the Captain is dying. Martel makes decision to protect the crew and retreat, which goes against against Ranger code. Rangers aren't supposed to back down, never retreat, apparently under any circumstances. I wonder though what exactly are they supposed to do chasing after the fleeing raiders in a ship without any weapons? Oh, wait! Being Babylon 5 they're probably supposed to follow the fighters back to the mothership and them ram it killing themselves in the process. A maneuver used too many times to count within the five years and six movies of Babylon 5.
And we've seen a number of Rangers in action over the years and never were they under orders never to retreat. Why wasn't Marcus reprimanded for escaping the Centauri blockaded planet Zagros 7 to get help in "Matters of Honor"? Or for when he left G'Kar behind when he knew he was in danger in "Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?"? Why didn't the Ranger crew object to Delenn's orders to go into hyperspace to avoid the Drakh ships in "Lines of Communication"? Why wasn't the dying Ranger chastised for not staying behind on the planet and dying in a fruitless battle against overwhelming odds in "The Paragon of Animals"? Why wasn't Lennier kicked out for remaining hidden and not defending the unarmed victims of the Centauri ships in "Meditations on the Abyss"? It seems a very silly rule and it's a wonder the Rangers lasted 1000 years going by that directive.
The Rangers to me, by their very purpose, are meant to watch and gather information. To be stealthy and to sneak in and out of places undetected. That's the way they've always seemed to be in the past. The very idea that they blindly pursue an enemy no matter how outnumbered or outgunned they might be against them. Even if they have no weapons is just a completely moronic edict to follow.
Anyway, back on Minbar the leader of the Grey Council is concerned about a mysterious new race they know nothing about. He warns a visiting G'Kar about this unknown race and asks him to investigate and to consider any closed door he might encounter an open one.
When we rejoin Ranger Martel he has been given the menial job of providing water for Tannier as Tannier trains with other Rangers in martial arts. There's a great deal of snappy banter between Martel & his good friend Dulann, the dialogue tends to be a bit too clever at times. Sirois goes into overacting hyperdrive even gritting her teeth against the arrogant Tannier at one point. She would however make a pretty good Klingon, she's just in the wrong show. There's a fight between Martel & Tannier just to prove what a badass Martel is.
Martel is soon after out on a balcony overlooking a landing platform and we have to suffer through more of Sirois acting. We get to know a bit about Martel's background and his love for mythology and how that led him to join the Rangers. The two of them watch as a newly built Ranger ship, the Valen, lands. The Valen is butt ugly but its supposed to be since they complain about how awful it looks. "A brick with an engine." It seems that Martel was the next up for command but he's doubtful that he would've gotten the Valen.
It's
then when he notices a smaller ship on the landing platform. It's a small but
apparently notorious little ship called the Liandra. They mention that the ship
is rumored to be cursed, the ship had recently gone missing and when
they had finally found it, the crew was nowhere to be found. The class of ship
the Liandra belongs to have been compared to PT boats in space. Like the Ranger
ship at the beginning of the movie it hasn't been seen previously in the B5
series.
It's then finally time for Martel to receive his punishment for violating the most sacred and goofiest of Ranger laws. And so Martel goes to stand before they Grey Council. Dulann shows up and says that he will stand with his friend. And says that if Martel is to be kicked out that he too will leave as will Sara Cantrell (Sirois) and Malcolm Bridges (Dean Marshall). Zahara does a fine job in these scenes and it's mentioned offhand that his character is slightly telepathic. Apparently this foursome has not excelled enough as to really impress the Council that much with the ultimatum because they're about to all get booted out when G'Kar shows up.
G'Kar uses the previous statement of ignoring closed doors as a means of entry into a Grey Council meeting. G'Kar points out that the Ranger mantra is "we live for the one, we die for the one". And that is it not just as honorable to live for the one as it is to die for the one? He has one of his patented great G'Kar speeches and Katsulas is great here just as he always is.
Obviously the Council was also impressed because not only don't they kick Martel out but they promote him! Yes, within hours he goes from the waterboy of a pompous Minbari to Captain of his own vessel. G'Kar comes to personally deliver the news to Martel but in this scene G'Kar comes off too much like a bad stand up comedian. And he tells Martel that he is now the Captain of the cursed ship the Liandra.
And so Martle becomes the Catain of the 20-year-old Ranger ship. The snappy banter between Martel and Dulann continues but is starting to become more tiresome. There's a scene where Dulann senses ghost voices aboard the ship but can't quite pick up on very much. The new crew can find no records of what happened to Liandra and its former crew but Dulann informs them that the crew had run out of air.
Tannier requests that the Liandra serve as an escort ship for him as he has received command of the Valen. There's a bit more tension between them but it's not very interesting or important. Back aboard the Liandra the newly recruited Rangers arrive. Most of them are human or Minbari but there's also a Narn and a Drazi. There's a rather boring naming of names ceremony so that we can become acquainted with these new guys. Most of the introductions are rather corny and again I have to pick on Sara Cantrell for her silly little motto, "I live to serve, I serve to live". The Drazi made me chuckle because he sounds a lot like the Hulk. We get to hear the Rangers say they live for the one, they die for the one for at least the tenth time so far. But don't worry, we get to hear it several more times before the movie is over.
I
have to say that I didn't get to see a lot of Jennie Rebecca Hogan who plays the
Narn engineer Na'Feel. I liked some of the scenes with her, although it's hard
to tell since she really doesn't get much to do. The crew is scrambling to get
the Liandra ready to go. Sara bets Martel that the ship will blow up on the launch
platform, which is stupid because it's a no-win bet if you've been blown up. Then Sirois delivers what has to be the
worst line in the movie,
"today is a good day to die." Good Lord, not only does she act like a
Klingon but she talks like one too. Well the ship launches successfully and the
Valen and Liandra go into hyperspace where they are followed by the mysterious
ships that had the Grey Council guy and G'Kar so spooked earlier. And the enemy ships
follow after the Valen and Liandra through hyperspace.
It's finally mentioned what the mission is, having been kept secret from Martel up until now. The Valen is escorting a group of alien dignitaries on a diplomatic mission to Beta Durani 7. There's an archaeological dig on the planet that's important for some unexplained reason. It's at this point that the 3 enemy ships jump in and start firing on the Valen & the Liandra.
At this point Sara Cantrell jumps into some sort of tube and enters her silly holographic weapons system. Within this holographic chamber in which she floats, space is projected all around her so that it appears as if she's floating in space. But actually her body is used to symbolize the ship and she punches and even kicks at the enemy vessels with energy blasts seemingly coming from her fists & feet. In theory it might have sounded like a good idea, taking the Minbari penchant for martial arts and extending it to the weapons system of the ship, but it looks dumb. Real dumb. I actually know of a person that was confused by this and thought she was in space and had some sort of energy powers. I suppose it doesn't help that she stays in a stance that looks like Superman when he's flying with both hands clenched into fists, one pulled back and the other fist extended out in front of her. Up, up and away!
The alien ships destroy the colony on the planet and they concentrate their attack on the Ranger vessels. The Valen is badly damaged in the attack. The enemy ships look very similar to shadow ships in that they're black and have a sort of living ship sort of look to them. Instead of the Shadow ships long starfish or spidery-limbed design, these have many mechanical-looking extremities jutting out from the circular base of the ship. After pretty much having finished off the Valen and left the Liandra with only enough power for one more shot, two of the enemy ships jump into hyperspace leaving one behind to finish the job.
Dulann
sustains a head injury in the attack, though it's hard to imagine how, with so much bone around
the head. The diplomats aboard the Valen are jettisoned out in escape pods.
Tannier survives long enough to get one last message out. "We live for the
one... blah blah". Actually, that could have been a scene with greater
emotional impact had they not already used that line about a dozen times
already. The Valen then rams the enemy ship in a scene not unlike the dozens of
other ships that have rammed into other ships on B5 over the years.
The Liandra recovers the escape pods and rescues the Ambassadors. But the ship has no weapons, communications or jump engines. Tafeek, the political officer is completely ineffective in trying to calm the panicked Ambassadors. C'mon, you know these guys from the B5 series, they're a problem whenever the slightest situation arises much less after they've almost been killed.
Dulann regains consciousness in the medlab or whatever they call it on the Ranger ship. Oh wait it's called the MedBay. He informs Martel that something is disturbing the ship's ghost crew. Then a jump point opens and the two remaining enemy ships return and scan the wreckage.
As
all this is going on Dulann is still stuck recovering in the MedBay. There is a
sequence I like to think of as the 'Dulann sees dead people' sequence (referring
to the scenes in The Sixth Sense of course). Now I've heard a lot of criticism on
the Internet about the haunted ship plot being tired or cliché. I actually
liked these parts of the movie and found them more interesting than the overall
storyline. The ghosts of the previous crew were sufficiently creepy, especially
a scene where one of them appeared and opened his even larger than Steve Tyler mouth and we hear the whispers
of the former crew. I liked the little bit of acting done as he proceeded to
inspect his bloodied hands and quietly warn that his crew had been betrayed.
The alien diplomats are bitching to G'Kar about the terrible conditions on the ship, and might they be put off on a habitable planet, etc etc. G'Kar is then called to talk with Martel and he leaves with a strangely out of character "kiss kiss love love" line. The Drazi ambassador has some humorous dialog with the Drazi Ranger Tirk regarding the great meaning of his name and then there's a bit of Three Stooges style humor where they proceed to whack each other.
Martel & G'kar discuss the enemy ships tactics. Apparently the enemy ships were attacking weaker races, almost the same sort of tactic used by the Shadows. G'Kar tells of old legends of a time when ancient dark forces prowled the universe and were cast down by a greater force of light. There was a city discovered on Beta Durani buried 8 miles below the planet's surface and supposed to be billions of years old. This city was presumably built by one of the ancient races that defeated the enemy and drove them from normal space into a place of darkness. The archaeologists had discovered a door into another space and a probe sent there was returned distorted, changed.
Much of this seems similar to the unnamed enemy from the B5 movie Thirdspace. Though the environment seen through the doorway in this movie and that seen in Thirdspace both look different. The pyramid structure in this movie looked Egyptian whereas the dark tower in Thirdspace had a much more unusual design.
As G'Kar leaves the meeting with Martel he discovers that the Ranger Malcom Bridges, aka: 'The guy in the holosuit', was using the suit to impersonate G'Kar to calm the dignitaries. Of course this angers G'Kar, and Malcom leaves very quickly.
As the Liandra spots the two enemy ships they decide it's best to hide within the tail of a nearby comet. This provides for a nicely done effects sequence but almost identical to a similar sequence from the film Armageddon. Still, it's one of the more impressive scenes in the movie.
After the big hoopla with the comet is over, Dulann crosses over to get another message from the dead guys onboard. The Minbari healer Firell contacts Martel to tell him that Dulann is missing. But really he just wandered off into some sort of engineering section.
When Martel and the others finally find Dulann he's delirious and talking about the ghosts of the crew. Martel tries to talk him down and get him back to the MedBay. Dulann warns Martel of betrayal and tells of a secret encrypted file hidden in the system. The file was made by one of the ship's previous crewmembers before he died but the computer system files were all erased. Nevertheless, Martel finds the file recording of the betrayal of the ghost crew. Holosuit-guy Malcolm doesn't know what that has to do with their current situation since none of the people currently aboard were on the Liandra when the other crew was betrayed. But Martel speculates that maybe it's not warning of the same traitor but of a different traitor, or something like that.
The two of them run through the enemy tactics from when they and the Valen were attacked. They realize that the enemy pulled back in its attack until after the escape pods were launched. Malcom has the sensor records from the attack analyzed to see if they can find anything suspicious in them.
As
that's going on Tirk, the Drazi, discovers the alien ambassador Kafta fiddling
around with the power connections. Tirk warns the ambassador away from the
hazardous area but Kafta shoots Tirk and begins broadcasting a signal. At the
same time the sensor readings from the attack on the Valen reveal the hidden
signal and they find the same signal being broadcast as they speak. They hunt
down the source of the signal and find the injured Tirk and are able to jam the
signal being sent to the enemy. Martel fights Kafta, who was trying to get to an
escape pod and kicks his ass. But the signal got to the enemy, and the
enemy ships start coming after the Liandra.
With their ship
still between two to three hours from the nearest jumpgate, the Liandra hauls
ass with the enemy hot on their trail. The enemy ships close in just on the edge
of weapons range but the blasts are only 10% effective. They then fire a globe-like device that
overtakes the Liandra and shoots mines at them. Sarah jumps back into her
weapons pod and goes to town on the mines. She's gritting her teeth and
screaming, shooting energy out of her fists and feet. Flailing around almost
uncontrollably at her targets. Here's a thought: If you want a weapons system to
seem like an extension of Minbari martial arts, why not hire an actor that is
really good at martial arts to do the job? Where they will project power and
grace and not just flail around like a maniac shooting energy out of their feet.
By the way I am now done with my bashing of Myriam Sirois and her character. There are a couple other bad moments for her later in the movie but I figure enough is enough.
With the enemy closing in, Martel launches an escape pod with Kafta's signal device and a bomb. The enemy ship grabs the pod and boom! One enemy ship down, one to go. However the weapons system are now out again, this time permanently. Martel goes to see Kafta to find out what's going on. Kafta's people had recently joined the Interstellar Alliance, basically to spy on them. Kafta explains the enemy has no name but is called The Hand, or Hand of God, also known as The Hand of Death, etc. For an enemy with no name they sure seem to have a lot of them. The Hand has been outcast for millions of years, the enemy ships that they now face are only toys given to the races that serve the hand. Compared to the hand the shadows were insects, blah blah yadda yadda...
Finally, the Liandra has the jumpgate in sight and they start to approach it. Then they notice the third enemy ship is blocking the way.
Dulann provides the key for Martel to win when he is visited by his friend in the MedBay. Martel, having been contacted by "the Followers of the bad guys with no name but are called a half dozen different things" and agrees to return Kafta to them in an escape pod. They are suspicious of him but they and Martel both realize that they won't be falling for the same mistake twice.
Martel launches the pod with Kafta in it. The enemy ship scans the pod for
Kafta and to make sure there are no remote detonation devices. Martel keeps the
pod between the enemy and the Liandra as Kafta sends a message saying how lame
the Rangers are. Sarah complains to Martel about his giving in to the enemy's
demands. As the enemy retrieves the escape pod, the pod doors open. Kafta is in the pod
hogtied with his mouth taped shut and the pod door is wired to about 50 grenades.
So that, when the door has opened completely, the final ship goes boom.
Kafta then enters the command center of the Liandra, but surprise... it's Malcom in the holosuit. See by keeping the pod between the enemy and the Liandra Malcom was able to fool the enemy into thinking Kafta was free and unencumbered in the pod.
With the three enemy ships destroyed the Liandra is able to return to Minbar. Later, after they've returned, Martel tells Sarah that he's been given command of the Liandra, which should be in top condition when they've gotten her ready. And they've got a mission to finish. The Liandra transports G'Kar and the rest of the dignitaries to their final destination for an important security conference.
G'Kar talks about how he had spent a few years wandering the galaxy with a friend, but that she's gone now. Obviously he's talking about Lyta Alexander, the telepath that plotted an uprising against the Psi Corps. The final destination for the conference turns out to be Babylon 5, we finally see the station as the movie comes to an end.
Final thoughts on the movie: As JMS has said, pilots are created to see what works and what doesn't and this movie was planned as a pilot for a potential new series. First of all it ended up airing opposite an important football game which killed it in the ratings. Secondly, the Sci Fi Channel was deciding around that time to move away from big space battle shows. Thirdly, I really don't think it was a strong enough vehicle to convince anyone to make a series out of it.
The Rangers all seemed out of character for Rangers. They seemed too unpredictable. Too hotheaded. Rangers in the past all seemed to be more restrained, subtle and not so much the loose cannons these Rangers all seem to be. I know that's the point. But I think almost all of them, except Dulann, would still be stuck as Ranger trainees until they learned more discipline than to hold such high positions on even an insignificant Ranger ship.
I'm not at all bothered by the ghost crew. And I find their story more interesting than the Hand of God characters. It made me curious about who betrayed the crew and why? Is it connected to The Hand in some way? Did the ghost crew see something they shouldn't and were killed to keep that knowledge out of the hands of the Alliance? That would explain the erased data banks. Or was it an altogether different storyline that would've developed over the course of the series?
With the failures of Crusade and now Legend of the Rangers,
that's two strikes against them now for expanding the B5 universe. I hope JMS is
able to one day create another Babylon 5 movie. I hope he thinks long and hard
about making something that a B5 fan would really like to see. Hopefully the
Telepath War with a lot of the original cast involved. I hope he takes a long
time to carefully plan it out and to make sure he's got a strong script. And
that making Jeremiah and whatever else he may have going at the same time does
not distract him.
All in all better than The Gathering and River of Souls. Not as good as Thirdspace or A Call to Arms. And nowhere near as good as In the Beginning.
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