D
**DONOTDELETE**
Guest
My initial response was that I generally liked it, but I would rather have seen Crusade started up again. I was fine with the VR weapons pod, generally liked most of the characters, and had a few concerns about series continuity (the Hand, the ships, the way the rangers were acting, etc.). However, the more I read discussions about it, the more I'd like to see it become a series to see what else develops.
If the show goes to a series, my thoughts:
- I think everything that was said at the naming of names will be important to the individual character arcs ("In my dreams, I never see my own face?", "I come to the Rangers by a difficult road", "I carry heavy things").
- As far as the crew that died on the Liandra, they said that the survivor was the traitor. May I point out that the SHIP survived whatever happened, not that I know what that means. We may not see this ship for long ...
- Somebody on-line discovered that there was a historical figure named Martel that held off an advancing army by holding a bridge (similar to Horatius in the Roman myths). I think the "no retreat" theme of the pilot will culminate some part of his arc, where the ship has to "hold the line" against insurmountable odds (the hand?), but this time he stays and sacrifices the ship.
- I don't think the Hand will amount to much. May I point out in the B5 episode "Deconstruction of Falling Stars" (the one where they skip a million years into the future), Delenn mentions the telepath war, the Drakh war, etc. Never mentions the Hand. I have several theories on why this is:
*** Theory A: The Hand is a ruse. It's some former shadow ally or something else that's trying to make people think the Hand is all-powerful, but they really aren't. They are uncovered without much of a fuss.
*** Theory B: The Hand is an extradimensional power (related to the Thirdspace aliens???), that are prevented from entering our galaxy by David Martel and crew. This might be something tragic, where the ship is destroyed and most of the crew killed, hence adding to the "Legend of the Rangers" in the title.
*** Theory C: The Hand will be held in the background until the Crusade timeline picks up, then introduced to the story.
*** Theory D: JMS is getting senile, and pulled this stuff out of his arse.
My theory B makes me think that there's no reason to assume the ship and characters in the pilot will be around for the entire series. "Legend" sure sounds like it would lend itself to an anthology type show, or maybe feature a different group of rangers each season. Remember JMS said he had plans to resolve Crusade in LOTR in the second or third season if it wasn't picked up. One way to do this is to destroy the Liandra and some of the crew members, and reassign the survivors to the Excalibur (i.e. picking up the best actors from both shows). JMS has been known to have a sadistic side ...
- I think it's likely we might see a flashback or a couple of episodes that show Valen in the past, forming the grey council and the rangers. Maybe even his return??? Given my statement above about an "anthology" by season, you could have an entire season set in the past. Alternatively, you could have an entire season set in the distant future, around the time of the "Deconstruction" B5 episode.
- Hopefully we get some frequent cameos from Sheridan, Delenn, and Garibaldi. G'kar is supposed to be a recurring character, but Andreas Katsulas said he would prefer a more consistant role (i.e. weekly). Londo is pretty limited based on his future history, but the others should be available.
Either way, I'm stoked to be talking B5 again.
If the show goes to a series, my thoughts:
- I think everything that was said at the naming of names will be important to the individual character arcs ("In my dreams, I never see my own face?", "I come to the Rangers by a difficult road", "I carry heavy things").
- As far as the crew that died on the Liandra, they said that the survivor was the traitor. May I point out that the SHIP survived whatever happened, not that I know what that means. We may not see this ship for long ...
- Somebody on-line discovered that there was a historical figure named Martel that held off an advancing army by holding a bridge (similar to Horatius in the Roman myths). I think the "no retreat" theme of the pilot will culminate some part of his arc, where the ship has to "hold the line" against insurmountable odds (the hand?), but this time he stays and sacrifices the ship.
- I don't think the Hand will amount to much. May I point out in the B5 episode "Deconstruction of Falling Stars" (the one where they skip a million years into the future), Delenn mentions the telepath war, the Drakh war, etc. Never mentions the Hand. I have several theories on why this is:
*** Theory A: The Hand is a ruse. It's some former shadow ally or something else that's trying to make people think the Hand is all-powerful, but they really aren't. They are uncovered without much of a fuss.
*** Theory B: The Hand is an extradimensional power (related to the Thirdspace aliens???), that are prevented from entering our galaxy by David Martel and crew. This might be something tragic, where the ship is destroyed and most of the crew killed, hence adding to the "Legend of the Rangers" in the title.
*** Theory C: The Hand will be held in the background until the Crusade timeline picks up, then introduced to the story.
*** Theory D: JMS is getting senile, and pulled this stuff out of his arse.
My theory B makes me think that there's no reason to assume the ship and characters in the pilot will be around for the entire series. "Legend" sure sounds like it would lend itself to an anthology type show, or maybe feature a different group of rangers each season. Remember JMS said he had plans to resolve Crusade in LOTR in the second or third season if it wasn't picked up. One way to do this is to destroy the Liandra and some of the crew members, and reassign the survivors to the Excalibur (i.e. picking up the best actors from both shows). JMS has been known to have a sadistic side ...
- I think it's likely we might see a flashback or a couple of episodes that show Valen in the past, forming the grey council and the rangers. Maybe even his return??? Given my statement above about an "anthology" by season, you could have an entire season set in the past. Alternatively, you could have an entire season set in the distant future, around the time of the "Deconstruction" B5 episode.
- Hopefully we get some frequent cameos from Sheridan, Delenn, and Garibaldi. G'kar is supposed to be a recurring character, but Andreas Katsulas said he would prefer a more consistant role (i.e. weekly). Londo is pretty limited based on his future history, but the others should be available.
Either way, I'm stoked to be talking B5 again.
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