Yea, I liked most of the characters, and I thought it was great they got sidled with a crappy old dilapedated ship and with a misfit crew, and I enjoyed the mystery of The Hand (I suspect "The Hand" was likely someone we already know trying to pose as some new Big Bad). Pilots are often pretty rough, so, I took it for what it was, and would've liked to see the Series develop. Yea, the weapons system was awful. If I remember correctly, the original idea didn't fit into the budget, so, that was a last minute change, that sounded cool on paper, but, didn't look so cool onscreen. I also believe JMS said it would been changed, if Legend of the Rangers went to Series.
I must admit I haven't seen Legend of the Rangers in Years. I've maybe seen it twice once at a convention and maybe once on TV.
I liked Thirdspace and Call- the best. Thirdspace gave us the Terran Trade Authority type ships on screen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terran_Trade_Authority
Almost did that. The original concept was fine, the forced change could have worked but the idea that eventually won out was ludicrous. There’s a good explanation by the concept artist who worked on the show over here. http://www.themadgoner.com/B5/B5Scrolls/B5Scrolls.htm#Screen1_06_2
Here's my take on the B5 movies: In the Beginning - Excellent, something every Babylon 5 fan has to see. Thirdspace - Entertaining but inessential. The River of Souls - Let's be honest, not a lot happens in this one. A Call to Arms - You should see it if you want to watch Crusade. It's nothing special though. I haven't seen Legend of the Rangers
Okay, may as well give my two cents: The Gathering - Essential, though I prefer the revised version they did when B5 went over to TNT. Mostly because of the music. The music of the original was very annoying. In itself, also a good little movie. In the Beginning - Nice, but it's not really that important. Has the fantastic Reiner Schöne, though. Thirdspace - Nice, self-contained movie. River of Souls - Better than most people say, it's a nice little movie. With Martin Sheen, though admittedly not at his best. A Call to Arms - Essential for CRUSADE. The music is weird, and the technique of having the commanding officers shouting with the sound off during the battles is not used as well as it was on B5 (maybe because B5 did it only rarely). Tony Todd was great. Legend of the Rangers - Again, better than its reputation. I would very much have liked to see what the series would have been like. Lost Tales - The low budget shows, a fact JMS even made fun of in the bonus material (sock puppets). The CGI, unsurprisingly, is very good. The stories themselves are what they are: short stories. Although, you never know, had JMS had gotten the green light for several further volumes, he may have picked up some of the pieces. Anyway, I never leave out any of the movies (or CRUSADE) when I do my occasional run of B5, but I rarely watch them independently.
I like Thirdspace because of it's weird mix of STTMP and Lifeforce. In the Beginning is probably the best one, but A Call to Arms would have made the best cinematic movie.