The cast of BABYLON 5: LEGEND OF THE RANGERS
© 2001 SCI FI Channel

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BABYLON 5: THE LEGEND OF THE RANGERS

BABYLON 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski must still be reeling from the out-of-the-gate cancellation of his last B5 series, CRUSADE. This new property, THE LEGEND OF THE RANGERS, is quite clearly crafted as a pilot for a new series (it even has an episode title, for heaven's sake), but it's being sold to viewers as a one time made-for-TV movie. That way, presumably, if the Sci Fi Channel decides it doesn't want any more episodes, the B5 guys can always avoid saying that the show wasn't picked up. "What do you mean not picked up? It wasn't even a pilot!"

That's a cunning spin doctor-style strategy. But, if the producers really wanted to ensure that RANGERS doesn't get cancelled they should have just made a better show.

Tonight's episode opens on the deck of a spaceship helmed by a crew of Rangers. The Rangers, for those of you not in the know, are an elite group of space marshals whose two great loves are first, protecting the innocent, and second, spouting off nonsense bits of ritualistic pseudo-philosophy like "We come from the stars, and to the stars we shall return."

When human Ranger captain David Martel's ship is hit badly, he decides not to pursue a fleet of high powered warships. This decision is later deemed as treason by the druid-like council that rules the Rangers. They're about to throw Martel out of the organization, but at the last minute they change their minds and instead give him command of a small ship, called the Liandra.

As far as disciplinary measures go it seems like there should be some kind of middle-ground punishment between giving a man a sentence of exile, and giving him command of his own starship... but whatever.

Anyway, Martel's first mission, flying escort to a group of diplomats, ends in disaster when "mysterious" aliens appear out of nowhere and begin killing everyone. Who are these aliens? "They do not," remarks one character, "have a name... they are called 'The Hand.'" (Though last time I checked, "having a name" was the same thing as being "called" something.)

Martel and his crew rescue the diplomats and escape, badly damaged. They must spend the rest of the episode trying to reach a safe haven before more aliens attack.

As if that weren't enough to deal with, Martel's right-hand man discovers that ghosts haunt the ship. Yeah, you heard rightghosts.

The specters are apparently the spirits of the last crew to fly the ship, who were, to a man, killed under unknown circumstances. You'd think that the Ranger fleet might be hesitant to send a ship back into combat without first finding out why everyone on board died... but apparently not.

Dylan Neal as David Martel leads the cast of BABYLON 5: LEGEND OF THE RANGERS

© USA Network

To those who can see them, the ghosts are terrifying, but to those who can't, they're only a weird sub-plot. It's the ghosts that give Martel the clue he needs to figure out that there's a traitor aboard his ship.

It must have been very comforting for Martel's crew when they realized that, after an ambush at a supposedly secret location, it took communication from beyond the veil of death for their captain to consider the idea that someone on the ship might have betrayed them.

But random, clashing plot points aside, the single worst enemy of RANGERS isn't an unnamable cosmic foe; it's a cast of summer stock reject "actors." The ensemble clearly puts their collective heart into it, with sadly little result.

Dean Marshall, who plays supporting character Malcolm Bridges, is a great example. He delivers lines of dialogue with the kind of over-earnestness of a high school drama queen, without ever reaching even standard levels of believability.

However, the most egregious offender is Myriam Sirois who plays weapons officer Sarah Cantrell as if she were in a constant overacting competition. Dylan Neal, who plays Martel, must have gotten sick of having to play opposite Cantrell, who seems to be trying to upstage him in every scene they share.

Neal, after all, has enough problems to deal with on his own. While clearly a better trained thespian, he can't seem to find the rudder on his character. At various times he's an action hero, a thoughtful detective, a self-doubting loser and an egotistical commander. If Neal could fit shades of all of those elements into his performance at the same time, he would have an interestingly complex character. But instead the actor goes through each new persona, one after another, like trying on hats.

Still, we should give the cast some latitude given that the dialogue they have to work with lacks all credibility. You try coming off naturally while saying lines like, "A wise man once said, 'Live for the one, die for the one,' but as another wise man said, 'It ain't over till it's over."

There is one thing about RANGERS that won't disappoint fan expectations: the horribly garish computer special effects. Yes, just like in every incarnation of B5, all the CGI in RANGERS looks so different from the live-action footage that it's jarring when they're edited together.

Of course everything in RANGERS isn't that grim. Compliments to the creature effects designers, who have created some excellent new alien races. Also, the ship's weapons interface, which is designed kind of like a virtual reality cockpit, is an interesting idea. And to be fair, the talent-challenged cast is augmented by a well-acted, subtle performance on the part of Alex Zahara as Dulann.

These details don't do enough to wash over all the casting and writing missteps. However, story-starved BABYLON 5 junkies might wind up appeased if they approach RANGERS with a "beggars can't be choosers" attitude. Besides, if the pilot gets picked up, maybe the staff will have time to let the show grow into something more satisfying. Such growth would be RANGERS's "last, best hope."