I think Babylon 5: River of Souls is probably the weakest of the Babylon 5 spin offs. The idea behind River of Souls is good, but that movie feels unpolished and just not as well put together as all of the others. And yet it is The Legend of the Rangers that has the lowest score on IMDb.I think perhaps people don't like this one because it doesn't do very much. It's really just a film about "events behind the scenes". It is about what happens to one group of Rangers on a mission to escort some diplomats. It doesn't deal with the bigger picture at all really. I think this is just fine though, and although it doesn't deal with the bigger picture it does deal with some of the fundamental philosophical ideas and goals of the Alliance. That is what G'Kar's role is all about here, and as always Andreas Katsulas plays G'Kar brilliantly.In some ways The Legend of the Rangers feels a bit like an episode of Star Trek. It's simply the crew of a ship facing a situation that has developed. They then have to use their combined talents to figure out how to deal with it as best they can. Once again this is not a bad thing.One other aspect I like is the way combat is dealt with. In almost all the space battles I've watched there is usually some shooting and then a pause while the commanders decide what to do next. Then there is some more shooting, often followed by another pause (usually when the shields are down to almost nothing). This is of course completely unrealistic. It's one of the reasons why I think the Borg would have wiped out the federation. You never see the Borg having a conversation about what to do next! In Legend of the Rangers the weapons officer is given complete control of the weapons and she doesn't press buttons or wait for commands from the Captain to fire. Instead she enters a form of virtual reality where she becomes one with the ship. This allows her to use the weapons to attack and defend just as you would use your arms and legs if you were physically fighting someone. It is completely realistic and convincing.Overall The Legend of the Rangers is a really good addition to the Babylon 5 universe and I would encourage the doubters to re-visit it. You just have to approach it with different expectations.

This film contains some very good dialogue, excellent special effects and a fine performance from the late Andreas Katsulas as G'Kar. However one particular scene in the film lets it all down- the way in which the Liandra fires its weapons in battle. The idea of someone holographically floating in space and punching and kicking to fire weapons is somewhat out of place in an otherwise excellent addition to the Babylon 5 universe.The performance of all the actors in this film is good in my opinion. The film should in my opinion definitely have been made into a series and the only reason it didn't attract large enough audiences was its being shown alongside a very popular and one-off football game, which was the last thing it needed.

When I was younger I had only one show I watched every time it was on the TV; Babylon 5. I came to love that show and now, many years later, I've begun to watch it anew. So when one of the channels showed this movie I recorded it and watched in the following day. The first reaction was ; Why? What? How? For those of you that have watched Babylon 5 I don't need to describe the Rangers, to those of you who haven't; The Rangers are an organization that gathers information and sometimes fight the great enemy in preparation of the coming war. They are mystical, smart, skilled and shrouded in layers of mystery. That's in Babylon 5. The Rangers here are your run-o-the-mill space marines with less IQ than shoe-size. The captain of the ship is for some reason punished for not giving the life of his crew up without reason. THus he's given command of a ship that's supposedly ancient but to me seems to be ten times More advanced than any other ship in the B5 universe. But more on that later. His motley crew is made up of a rough-n-sexy( I think that was what they intended anyway..Didn't work) weapons officer, a Minbari best friend, a Narn who I don't really know what the heck she's supposed to be doing, a Drazi brute/cargo loader. After a big and ugly ship(manned by some other Rangers) is destroyed the crew of the ship is forced to take aboard a bunch of ambassadors, of which one is the legendary G'Kar(brilliantly portrayed by Andreas Katsulas, as always). Then too many long long minutes of boring silliness ensue, the best of which being the completely over-the-top combat scenes with the weapons officer doing some silly martial arts in 3D while the ship spits balls of badly animate plasma at even worse animated pixels. And let's not forget the ghost-subplot..Which isn't a subplot but some kind of awkward "What if". Oh, and gotta love the ending..Instead of having a nice shootout or something we get to see the captain do the same stupid thing he did to blow up the first enemy ship. Original? No. Smart? No. Fun? Nope. Welcome? Yes, only to see this crap end. Beside the things mentioned above the movie has terrible acting, lousy effects, messed up facts about the B5 universe and no real storyline. And for God's sake...Why VR-combat?

I have seen B5 and enjoyed it immensely, this movie has almost no connection to it. It is set in the same universe, but the only recognizable link is G'Kar, played well, as usual, by Andreas Katsulas.The plot looks a lot like the premiere of a spin-off. You have the charismatic captain, the loyal specialized crew, the promise of a dark enemy, all the ingredients that start a sci-fi series. The movie is not bad, but it is certainly not exceptional. I have read a review here that compared this to the original Babylon 5 series which was so much better, brilliant and all that. Come on! Babylon 5 was a good idea, but the lack of funds and experience did provide, along with good scripts and depth in characters, really stupid scenes and dumb fill-the-season episodes. So in comparison, the "Legend of the Rangers", is not so different. Same low budget effects, same geeky humanoid aliens and the stark contrast between "dark" and "light" that annoyed me in Babylon 5 (after such a gray beginning).In conclusion, it is worth a watch for any sci-fi fan, even a Babylon 5 zealot. Oh, I almost forgot: casting the sidekick of Chuck Norris in a movie about rangers? Puh-lease! Some casting people should be shot.