Babylon 5: The River of Souls

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.

I wonder whether Ian McShane's long-running role as antiques dealer Lovejoy on BBC TV influenced in any way his casting here. You'd think he'd be a bit more comfortable in the role, anyway.

However, the one role that always seems to get overlooked is Richard Biggs' near-cameo as Dr. Stephen Franklin - or at least someone who looks like him. Speaking in a bizarre "Kobayashi-from-The-Usual-Suspects" accent, and with a completely different set of mannerisms, you feel the hair on the back of your neck rise as you realise this isn't the Dr. Franklin we all know and love.

For me, that is the most memorable scene of this film, it beats Tracy Scoggins in lingerie anytime. This IS the Internet, remember - it's possible to see her with a lot less on!

Usually, JMS and his crew do a great job. There is no argument that Babylon 5 may have been the finest science fiction series ever to come to television. In this entry in the long series of good films, however, things become a little more slack, and the result is an uninvolving, mildly amusing detour. A Dumb subplot involving the fight with a virtual brothel does nothing to help this film; it is, in a sense, weighted down by the inability of the producers to add anything new into the Babylon 5 universe. Instead of generating a strong storyline, the creators have opted for a plot about a lost "river" of souls and the claimant who arrives unexpectedly to collect his stolen property. Martin Sheen as the alien "soul hunter" is one of the most ludicrous examples of miscasting since Tom Selleck as King Ferdinand in Christopher Columbus: The Discovery.

The obsessed Professor Robert Bryson (Ian McShane) is in a planet looking for the eternal life and soon he is hunted down by the owners, the Soul Hunters. Meanwhile, Capt. Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins) is sued by the lawyer of the shyster Jacob Mayhew (Joel Brooks). When a soul hunter (Martin Sheen) visits her, she has another problem to resolve in the station.

"Babylon 5: The River of Souls" is a good film about Babylon 5. The plot is very tense and well resolved in the end. Martin Sheen has a good performance. The conclusion is excellent and is worthwhile watching this movie. . My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Babylon 5 - O Rio das Almas" ("Babylon 5: The River of Souls")

I'm an admitted Babylon 5 fanatic, so I looked forward to seeing this film with some anticipation. And imagine my surprise when Martin Sheen waltzed into the screen! I thought he did a very good job. The film was pretty good - for some reason the films seem weaker than the series, most likely because they don't really fit into the web-like plot structure of the series.