Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers

It's not that bad for a pilot and something could've come from it if the powers that be had been more kind; with J. Michael Straczynski you can't really know until you've given him a chance to write a proper story. Unfortunately in the end it failed to start a new B5 spin-off and it also bears the cross of being the worst of the B5 movies.

Babylon 5 was pretty amazing in many ways, but it certainly had its problems in regard to acting, dialogue and action. LotR is a combination of these flaws, with none of the charm. It rehashes the "ancient enemy returns" story arc in a way that detracts from B5. The plot is boring and dumb. The Rangers are idiots here. The infamous 'shoot by punching' scene is both the best and the worst one. Unintentionally it may be the funniest thing in all of Babylon 5.

Top badass moment? “We live for the One, we die for the One”. Really? It all sounds a bit jihadist to me. Yet more totally-unknown-and-even-more-dangerous-aliens-than-the-last-lot-of-the-most-dangerous-aliens-ever turn up, G'Kar wonders about spouting deep thoughts, entirely pointless ghosts float about and (I'm extrapolating here) throwing a toddler down a rubbish chute when he/she is having a tantrum is the most powerful weapons system in the universe. No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.

I'm overrating this, but as a pilot for a new show it's well above average. Just like B5 before it, it was breaking new ground in terms of what a TV show could realise on-screen. All the elements for a good show are in there, even if they do rely on viewers having some knowledge of the B5 world. Those elements must be OK, because years later JJ Abrams took the same concept and applied it to the Star Trek universe.

Failed pilot for a new B5 show. Worst of the B5 movies.