MovieChat Forums > Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight (2002) Discussion > Crusade V B5:LOTR

Crusade V B5:LOTR

posted 18 years ago by cjeamccdrtc
6 replies | jump to latest

If they had both continued which do you think would have turned out to be the better series? Personally I like the way that Legend of the Rangers was going. It had potential. I thought Crusade was a bit slow and some of the characters never really took form. In time I’m sure it would have got better but I still think it needed more action. Crusade also suffered from the Titanic syndrome where by we all knew what would happen in the end, Earth would be saved as we had seen the future several times in B5.

[–] purple_dave 18 years ago

The cure for the Drakh plague would have been to Crusade what the raider ships were to Babylon 5 proper: a way to help draw you in during the early seasons while the main story arc builds up enough steam to take the series forward on its own. What they would have done with the Rangers series is anyone's guess.

[–] nurvingiel 17 years ago

Had this series been launched, I bet it would have some ties with Thirdspace. I thought that the mysterious aliens would have Thirdspace connections. It's too bad this didn't get off the ground, because we only get a small taste about what the Rangers do in Babylon 5, it would have been really interesting to see what the day to day operations are like.

[–] KoshNaranek 17 years ago

If they had both continued which do you think would have turned out to be the better series?

Crusade. No doubt about it. Crusade had better characters. The Rangers idea was second string that came to the fore when The Sci-Fi Channel wouldn't go for a re-start of Crusade (because Warner Brothers wouldn't let them own a piece of it.). Rangers was the backup plan, not the A-plan, and it doesn't look to me like it was properly thought out. Then, late in the game, they found out that Warner Brothers had lost all of the B5 & Crusade CGI files and they had to scramble to get back the low-res stuff they'd given Sierra-Havas for the aborted video game. That's why we saw so few familiar ships (especially up close) in Rangers. That's why B5 was seen for so short a time and it barely rotated.

Personally I like the way that Legend of the Rangers was going. It had potential.

I liked fewer of the characters in Legend of the Rangers, couldn't stand more of the characters in Legend of the Rangers, thought the script was awful, and was disappointed in the changes in the look between B5 Season 5/Crusade and the Rangers pilot. I also think the Rangers "No retreat, no matter what the reason." policy was lunacy.

I thought Crusade was a bit slow and some of the characters never really took form. In time I’m sure it would have got better but I still think it needed more action.

They only had 13 episodes, 12 really since "War Zone" never should have been made. We never got to see the Bester episode "Value Judgements" or the two JMS whoppers "To the Ends of the Earth" and "End of the Line." For the latter, picture some of the stuff that Galen saw on Z'ha'dum (e.g. how certain types of shadowthech is made). That's what we would have SEEN in that Crusade episode. Ever read those scripts? I have. Chilling and powerful stuff. Thanks to the suits at TNT, we never got to see any of that. On top of that, they threw monkey wrenches into Crusade's gears left and right with the purpously egregious notes and the mandatory mid-season uniform change.

If TNT hadn't been calling for more exposition and then complaining about the lack of action (which they caused), you might have gotten more action. Personally, I'm fine with the amount of action we got in Crusade's 13 episodes. You have to realize though, that those episodes were never meant to be seen back-to-back in any order, so there may have been more action oriented episodes in the first 13 episodes if Crusade Season 1 had been allowed to go on unhindered by the spiteful nitwts at TNT-Atlanta.

KoshN - Brimstone [Stone lights a candle for the dead.] Gina: Who's that for? Ezekiel Stone: Me.

[–] dragon_x 12 years ago

Definitely Crusade. Crusade may have started slow, like the original BSG, but it had potential and I liked the tie in with TOS.... the characters may not have been as good, but then in TOS the characters were not perfect either - not until the second season - though there were hints, accusations and innuendo.

Also, in B5 the Rangers, "Lived for the One and died for the One."
In this sequel, the Rangers simply died... or if the captain did the smart thing to keep most of his crew alive and gain some important intel, he was nearly castrated. In short, the Rangers were smart in B5, covert and did a lot of things you never saw. In this mess, they were simply ordered to stand and die in they ran into anything too big to handle. I think this may have been Straczynski, "G Lucas" moment...

I mostly blame the studios.

They only had 13 episodes, 12 really since "War Zone" never should have been made. We never got to see the Bester episode "Value Judgements" or the two JMS whoppers "To the Ends of the Earth" and "End of the Line." For the latter, picture some of the stuff that Galen saw on Z'ha'dum (e.g. how certain types of shadowthech is made). That's what we would have SEEN in that Crusade episode. Ever read those scripts? I have. Chilling and powerful stuff. Thanks to the suits at TNT, we never got to see any of that. On top of that, they threw monkey wrenches into Crusade's gears left and right with the purpously egregious notes and the mandatory mid-season uniform change.

Damn, I'm guessing those last eps would have been the best and setup Season 2 nicely. Yeah, they could have fixed the Drahk plague in Season 2 (maybe) and then found some other issues to attend to... maybe even a menace from beyond the rim. Farscape had a nice change up of villians/enemies in Season 2.

If TNT hadn't been calling for more exposition and then complaining about the lack of action (which they caused), you might have gotten more action. Personally, I'm fine with the amount of action we got in Crusade's 13 episodes. You have to realize though, that those episodes were never meant to be seen back-to-back in any order, so there may have been more action oriented episodes in the first 13 episodes if Crusade Season 1 had been allowed to go on unhindered by the spiteful nitwts at TNT-Atlanta.

Crusade did feel more like Trek in that ... hey's it a different week (or episode) and they are now on a different planet looking at a different possible cure or something. Planets of the week - yeah - kind of a regression, but then I think Straczynski probably would have added a bit more to it.

I have not seen these eps in many years... maybe I'll just get the "series" - if I can find it.

[–] my_boomstick 14 years ago

This movie was crap. That is all.

[–] Fenris Fil 12 years ago

Crusade was already looking pretty good, for a first season anyway (I remember not being that impressed with B5's first season, certainly the jump in quality from season 1 to season 2 was huge). One of the most important things I think is that Cole is a good actor capable of both the serious (Midnight Caller) and the silly (Harvey Birdman) and pretty much perfect for the B5 universe. Assuming G'Kar wasn't going to be a regular, Legend was going to have to rely on a far less experienced group and first impressions were not good.

Secondly, the story to Crusade ties in directly to the B5 story (especially the final season), while the LOTR story seems like it is from some kind of parallel Universe.

I really thought that Crusade, by it's second season, could turn out as good (or almost) as B5 was by it's second. The fact that they'd almost certainly have replaced the theme tune would have gone a long way just in itself. LOTR however is hard to see how it would dig itself out of the hole it started in.

True, Crusade had the advantage of following on directly from Call to Arms, so we were already introduced to the ship and the basic premise and it's pilot only needed to introduce us to the characters. I'm sure had LOTR had more episodes it would have improved (could hardly get worse), but the trouble is it would have require too many drastic changes to fix. The quality of the whole thing was just far too poor. Indeed if G'Kar had been absent I would have been convinced this was a fan production (and not an especially good one either). For the show to have any chance it would have needed a second pilot so that some of the worst elements could be completely replaced (such as the targeting system) and some characters could have been recast (or removed). By that stage, it may be nearing on the quality of the B5 pilot (i.e. not good but with potential) and there may have been a chance for it to develop. If it had merely been picked up and built only upon what was already in the pilot, it would have continued to be a really horrible joke and insult to the franchise.

That's my opinion anyway.

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