timshehan Star Trek, B5 was not, nor was it supposed to be. Star Trek tended to have spaceships full of spit and polish, except for DS9, and crews that were fully dedicated to duty. B5, for the most part also had an Earth Alliance crew that knew it's duty, but as we all know Earthers are very slack in strict military bearing. This is one of the charms of the B5 Universe. It wasn't so different in TLotR since it profiled a somewhat undisciplined crew in a force of highly disciplined troops. This shows a new light to the Rangers that would have been interesting to see as the series unfolded. It's really a shame that it was not to be.The basic story was somewhat lackluster, but in the long run would have held promise just like the original Babylon 5 movie did. As B5 worked out the character development and story arch, it became an extremely good show, but it did take time. I think as this show continued with new episodes, it may have been as good a show as B5 was. As the saying goes, you can't judge a book by it's cover, and that was basically what this movie was, a cover and a first chapter that was to introduce a new look at the B5 universe. I really would have liked to see what that planet that was being investigated held secret, other than what G'Kar mentioned. It's just too bad that the book itself will never be completed. I applaud JMS for his attempt to open up this part of the Universe.

John_Warwick I have noticed some criticisms of this film which I don't agree with like...The Hand' don't come off at all either. We are told they are billions of years old, and only their servants show themselves in this movie. Despite their superiority though, their technologically superior ships (which tear the Valen to pieces in seconds) have a really hard time taking out a damaged patrol vessel and its escape pod slinging captain. Their leader, glimpsed in transmissions is hardly menacing: he simply wears a horned hood and speaks in a vaguely legalistic sense. The Hand are a carrot dangled before us we should want to watch the rest of the series to see them. The Minions of the hand are not supposed to be menacing they are races of aliens who are far more primitive than humans yet have been given 'Toys' by the hand to do their bidding, as explained in the film.I believe the idea was to make the minions appear to be defeatable and believe that there was some hope until we saw their masters. If so it would have been more relevant to what we saw here. Sometimes the bigger picture reveals the hidden brilliance.

hishamtwal I read what D-J-Phillips wrote and I have to agree with him This pilot is not that bad, and actually let me dare say that David Martail has a huge potential to be the next John Sheridan, he even shines more confidence than Mathew Gorden in Crusade, B5 needs more fans to support any new production that comes, the legend of the rangers can be a good pilot for something better, this new aliens (the hand) need not to be another shadow, may be the story will twist and they end up to be bluffing, or that new race has found those old ships and is using them to frighten everyone else.I always said that if B5 is to be revived then new story lines have to be developed and they need not be around the B5 universe itself, give the station a rest, and explore new options.It is as londo said "a very big universe" and lots can be discovered and done

rogue9000 OK this film was created as a pilot but that does not give it an excuse!!! OK as a bit of sci-fi it was not that bad if you pay no attention to the B5 series. The major problem i had with this was the ships,anyone who has seen the series would know that the WHITESTAR's were the ultimate ship so why did the rangers not have them? They were created for the alliance and the rangers were the special ops of the alliance! It was nice to see G'Kar back at his best. I think the film would have a better reception if they had gone ahead with the show and people would look back with a better understanding but thats TV for you.Now for a bit of intelligent thought! If you want to make a new B5 series or film you have the perfect opening in the first shadow war,even if you want to be lame stick in a time warp (whoops they did that) and have some B5 regular turn up (maybe delenn as that would be cool with sinclair). But all in all this film was a bit of an insult to the B5 name that for once showed the American TV exec's that people will watch a programme with a story arc and do not need the throw away things such as (ready for the grinding of teeth) star trek next generation (DS9 was better).