BPP – Legend of the Rangers

This is our fourth movie review of five for your hosts. “Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight” takes place in 2265, between the end of Season 5 (2263) and A Call to Arms (2266). It originally aired on January 19th, 2002 on the Sci Fi Channel. Written by JMS, it was intended to be a pilot for a new series, although it did not go to series due to low ratings.

The consensus from your hosts going in was this may be the least favorite of the movies we’ve looked at. As we’ve seen with other movies in the set, the volume of content in the movie probably warranted an episode-length effort, but it was drawn out to fill the time required of a feature-length film. There was so much promise for some incredible Ranger-focused story, providing real depth to a very interesting character set in the B5 universe. We were a little disappointed. The movie opens with some boom, and with a new ship, a new threat, and a mystery that the Interstellar Alliance has discovered: or perhaps awakened.

The storyline for the movie begins when we see a Ranger (David Martel), who chooses to withdraw and survive a lost battle to fight again another day, being reprimanded and punished for staying alive. At this time in the history of the Rangers, with the Shadow War behind them and so far from a credible interstellar threat, there is emphasis on the Ranger’s motto—an oath—that obligates them to “live for the one, and die for the one.” G’Kar, still a delegate for his world, is present on Minbar and takes the opportunity to add his thoughts (wisdom) to the debate about the Ranger’s fate, resulting in some softer options for how to punish Martel for surviving.

We learn the new ship we saw is called the Valen: a first-of-a-kind cruiser class Ranger vessel, with capabilities different from the White Stars. Another ship is also brought into the story: an old Ranger attack ship called the “Liandra”, supposedly haunted by its former crew who died onboard. As a result of the discussions about Martel’s future, he is detailed to command the old and under-maintained Liandra, along with a small, rag-tag crew. The little bit of background we get about this diverse crew could have been (should have been?) a much more significant and interesting part of the story, but this is one of the places movie fell short. The Liandra and Valen launch on mission to take an Alliance delegation to a secret conference on Beta Durani 7.

They arrive to discover the colony destroyed, and they’re attacked by three vessels sent from a previously unknown entity called The Hand. Both ships end up disabled, the dignitaries are moved to the Liandra (living for the one), and in a heroic effort the Valen is destroyed when it rams one of the threat ships (dying for the one) to allow the survival of the dignitaries.

The last half of the movie revolves around learning more about The Hand, and how to deal with the threat. The Hand appears to be another old race (never mentioned in the original series or other movies) who have arrived from another space (but not Thirdspace)—a place of apparent total darkness. We also learn there’s a traitor onboard the Liandra and among the Alliance ambassadorial delegation, further frustrating the effort to defeat the threat.

When it’s all said and done, The Hand is defeated through a plan involving a minefield, selectively shooting mines, the use of grenades, and a race back to the nearest Jump Gate. When the battle is over, our heroes have destroyed The Hand’s capital ship with 50 grenades, making this whole part of the storyline almost comical. The known universe is saved, and as things begin to wrap up back on Minbar, the Council seems apologetic for its earlier philosophical stubbornness, closing the loop on what may be a more balanced approach to the motto: to live for the one and die for the one; and attempting to make it clear why the movie’s subtitle was “To Live and Die in Starlight”.

Was it hideous? No. Was it good? Not really. There was a lot of promise with what the story was built around, but if the movie was intended to sell someone on the production of a new series, it miserably failed. Frankly, it was surprising to us that it was written by JMS, and left us with the impression the movie may have actually convinced producers that he wasn’t really serious about this concept as a new series.

Please join us next time as we review the final movie of the set: A Call to Arms.

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