Babylon 5: The River of Souls

One billion souls, ready to escape and wreak revenge upon their captors. Of course, they don't actually escape, at least not all of them. And they don't even scratch the Soulhunter (played fairly by Martin Sheen) until the very end, when he willingly sacrifices his soul to build a bridge to peace.

The special effects were nice, as always with Babylon 5, but the plot I thought was lacking. When the highlight of a film is seeing Tracy Scoggins in hot pink lingerie, you can't say much about the storyline.

Well I gave this movie a 7. It was better than "Thirdspace" but not as good as "In the Beginning" as far as the B5 movies go. I really think the television series did a much better job overall with the special effects and character portrayal. Let's hope the producers and cast get the next series "Crusade" up to the standards of B5.

I'm a big fan of Babylon 5, which I thought was probably the best example of serial Space Opera ever put to film- even better than Star Wars or any of the ubiquitous Star Treks.

This film features two very good guest stars- Ian McShane and Martin Sheen. Fans of McShane from Deadwood or Kings are probably going to be disappointed here. His performance is relatively understated. Sheen portrays a "Soul Hunter" tasked with recovering a race memory that the hunters stole, only to discover the race was on the verge of reaching a higher plain of existence.

This is mostly a showcase for Tracy Scoggins as Captain Lochley, and she does a really good job here. She was considered and rejected for the role of Janeway in Star Trek Voyager, and you can see where it was truly their loss.

The problem was, with this as well as "Thirdspace", that the purpose was to create a Babylon 5 story outside the Five year Story arc. Sheridan and Delenn and G'Kar and Londo are the big players, this is the bit players having a bit of fun, but it's not crucial to the story.

Still, there is just enough fun here to make it enjoyable.

Strong first half especially scenes on Soul Hunter's planet but plot involving Babylon 5 blowing up is routine. Holo brothel sup plot is unfortunate as is writer/creator Strazynski's dialogue. In particular, scene where characters are discussing the soul, the word "afterlife" should have been used instead of "Heaven." But worth watching for any Bab 5 fan.

The Soul Hunter plot to this movie was excellent. That brothel sub plot was a little funny, but totally unnecessary. Martin Sheen gives an excellent performance. I also like how they make good use of Garabaldi. The special effects were great as usual. This an okay entry to the B5 story.