Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers

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Babylon 5:The Legend Of The Rangers
Sci-Fi Promotional Poster for Babylon 5:The Legend Of The Rangers
Genre	Science Fiction
Running time	90 minutes
Creator	J. Michael Straczynski
Written by	J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by	Michael Vejar
Produced by	Ron McLeod
Starring	Dylan Neal Andreas Katsulas Alex Zahara Myriam Sirois Dean Marshall Warren Takeuchi
Music by	Christopher Franke
Country of origin	United States
Language	English
Original channel	Sci-Fi
Release date(s)	January 19, 2002
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers (episodic title: "To Live and Die in Starlight") was the fifth feature-length film set in the Babylon 5 universe (not including the pilot, The Gathering).

It originally aired on January 19, 2002 on the Sci Fi Channel, and was intended to be the pilot of a new series entitled The Legend of the Rangers. It was written by J. Michael Straczynski and directed by Mike Vejar.

The film's initial airing in the US was opposite the NFL AFC Divisional Championship game; as such, the movie received poor ratings on the east coast (although west coast ratings were above expectations), and the SFC decided not to pursue a series. Straczynski posted the following to Usenet on January 27, 2002:

The east coast ratings got hammered by the football game, which was the highest rated such game in something like 5 years. The B5 male demos are pretty much the same as for sports, and we lost heavily to football. So there we did not do well. By contrast, on the west coast, where the show aired *after* the game had finished, we not only met but *exceeded* SFC's expectations, getting a 3.2 or 3.6 in many markets, which is actually pretty unheard of for a basic cable network. The problem is that the average, 1.7, is still what's used for advertising.

[edit] Plot synopsis

As the Shadow War ended, hundreds of civilizations were devastated. It is up to the Interstellar Alliance, with the help of the Rangers, to rebuild what the great war destroyed and to hold peace among the worlds of the ISA.

In the year 2265, David Martel (Dylan Neal), a Ranger, is given the command of a twenty-year-old Ranger starship, the Liandra, and is asked to escort a Valen-class cruiser to a secret location carrying several diplomats, including Ambassador G'Kar (Andreas Katsulas). However, upon arrival, the two craft are attacked on behalf of an unknown, mysterious, and ancient force known only as The Hand whose lethal power is far greater than any previously known to Earth or any other world in the Interstellar Alliance.

[edit] Cast

Dylan Neal: David Martell
Andreas Katsulas: G'Kar
Alex Zahara: Dulann
Myriam Sirois: Sarah Cantrell
Dean Marshall: Malcolm Bridges
Warren Takeuchi: Kitaro 'Kit' Sasaki
Jennie Rebecca Hogan: Na'Feel
Mackenzie Gray: Kafta
David Storch: Tafeek
Enid-Raye Adams: Firell
Gus Lynch: Tirk

[edit] External links

The Babylon Project has information related to: Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers

Babylon 5 TV seasons and movies 1993—2007
In order of series chronology: 2245-48 • In the Beginning (1st movie^†) 2256 • Babylon 5 is commissioned 2257 • The Gathering (Pilot) 2258 • Signs and Portents (Season 1) 2259 • The Coming of Shadows (Season 2) 2260 • Point of No Return (Season 3) 2261 • No Surrender, No Retreat (Season 4) 2261 • Thirdspace (2nd movie) 2262 • Wheel of Fire (Season 5) 2263 • The River of Souls (3rd movie) 2265 • *The Legend of the Rangers* (5th movie) 2266 • A Call to Arms (4th movie) 2267 • Crusade (Spin-off series) 2271 • The Lost Tales: Voices in the Dark 2278 • In the Beginning (1st movie^†) 2281 • Babylon 5 is decommissioned ^† The framing story is set in 2278.