The first season cast of BABYLON 5
© 1995 Warner Brothers

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JMS Talks about B5 Rangers

J. Michael Straczynski, creator of BABYLON 5 has been talking about his upcoming BABYLON 5: THE LEGEND OF THE RANGERS: TO LIVE AND DIE IN STARLIGHT TV movie for the Sci Fi cable network.

While talking to SCIFI.COM, JMS spoke of the coming film, saying, "I did want a darker, more serious look to this. I've always felt that we should learn from the B5 tradition, but not be bound by it. We can take it in another direction and expand and improve it--I'm all for that. I just don't want to go backwards."

The film will take place in the year 2265, years after the events of the B5 episode "Objects at Rest." Regarding the use of the Rangers as the movie and potential series focus, JMS says, "We've had the Rangers as part of the BABYLON 5 universe ever since season three. I've always been fascinated by them, and the fans have been pretty intrigued by them for a long time. And the creation of the Interstellar Alliance is something that was also dramatized in the series. The nearest point of comparison [for them] would be King Arthur and his knights, because this is about empire building. It's a variety of stories. The thing about the Rangers is that they go everywhere, and therefore the entire B5 universe is open to us, and will definitely be involved [in the stories]."

While the political angle has been important to B5, and will still be a part of RANGERS, Straczynski adds, "The political stuff will be there to inform [the Rangers'] missions, in terms of trying to make new alliances and to steady problems as they come up out there. But I want this to be more action-oriented. Plus, this is a small ship; we've put these characters into a very small, confined situation--a tin bucket in space--and they have to live with each other on a daily basis."