Riverworld

TV Movie
2003
1h 26m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Emily Lloyd, Cameron Daddo, Karen Holness, and Brad Johnson in Riverworld (2003)

Hale, an American astronaut dies and is reincarnated with other persons who have lived throughout all of human history and end up on a mysterious planet called 'Riverworld'. The humans are l... Read allHale, an American astronaut dies and is reincarnated with other persons who have lived throughout all of human history and end up on a mysterious planet called 'Riverworld'. The humans are left to their own devices and create tribal fiefdoms and succumb to brutal wars and raids. ... Read allHale, an American astronaut dies and is reincarnated with other persons who have lived throughout all of human history and end up on a mysterious planet called 'Riverworld'. The humans are left to their own devices and create tribal fiefdoms and succumb to brutal wars and raids. A mysterious race of hooded 'beings' oversee them - sometimes intervening, but their motiv... Read all

Director
- Kari Skogland
Writers
- Philip Jose Farmer
- Stuart Hazeldine
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.1/10

2.8K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Kari Skogland
Writers
- Philip Jose Farmer
- Stuart Hazeldine
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination total

Photos28

+ 25

User reviews70

5.12.7K

Featured reviews

PBDogs

Stab out your eyes before you watch this travesty!

Not surprising that Sci-Fi would produce such a horrible tv/F- movie. Whoever greenlights a project over there outta be taken out back and put out of his/her misery. Riverworld is a noble and daring project to undertake, but it ends there as soon as you see the space shuttle hurdling through space in the opening sequence(I can just see the crew shaking and rattling the ersatz-shuttle cockpit in some huge studio, most likely in New Zealand.) These hack producers and writers take such liberties with Philip Jose Farmer's original material, which was brilliant! The first thing to do is get the script right, we will forgive the bad production values, and the bad fight scenes.

There are so many horrible movies out there, why add to the list.

Read the books by Philp Jose Farmer instead!

6sculptagain-1

Quaint and cute -

An obvious "Made For SciFi Channel" movie. Although completely controlled by clichés and incongruous chances, it is a quaint and cute movie. Many of the famous/successful sci-fi writers have used many of the ideas here for basis for their works. Riverworld is a conglomeration of many good stories. It is some what of a shame that many of the main characters (good and bad) had to be formed in such a hurry at the beginning. Most of the characters were performed well by the actors. Some were a bit silly - which only takes from a good story. Luckily the script was OK, scenery was super-excellent (New Zealand I guess), and very good 'store bought' props.

4hillglass

it ain't the book

Oh yeah, you know if you have read the very creative series of books by Mr. Farmer, that there are ideas and story snipets from the book, but I couldn't of imagined that the creators of the TV movie would make it so unwatchable to anyone not looking for a squared jaw man or exotic native women. There is so much imagination in the books, I was hoping that this show being on a Science Fiction Channel would try to appeal to a "sharper" audience. There was nothing memorable about the show. I suggest turning off the TV and reading this in the book.

3notmicro

Horrible travesty of the books

I was looking forward to this one, and was totally disgusted by the results; its like yet another pseudo-scifi "product" extruded from the studios of New Zealand. Except that compared to this thing, Hercules and Xena are highbrow entertainment! Sci-fi for the McDonald's generation. The script includes a jumble of maybe about 15% of the entire original lively and inventive story from the first two books, tosses the other 85%, and replaces it with childish claptrap like evil warlords pursing the virtuous blonde maiden -- and will she escape their clutches??? Yeah, really had me on the edge of my seat. I was expecting the villain to grow a mustache he could twirl, and tie her to some railroad tracks -- spare me! I'd give it a '2' for story, and a '6' for production-values.

3Asteri-Atypical

I thought it was decent...

... that is, until I read the novel.

While not a great film or a stunning film, it had seemed OK and had potential for sequels. The story seemed interesting enough to prompt me to read the book.

After the book I realized just how far off the mark this adaptation was. I took with a grain of salt the other comments which stated such opinions. I wished to read for myself.

And now I agree. I thought of it as a 5/10 movie before, but in light of how poorly it reflected on the novels, I now give it a 2/10.

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Kevin Smith, who played Valdemar, died shortly after finishing this film. The film is dedicated to his memory.

Goofs
Alice is portrayed as a blonde. The real Alice Liddell-Hargreaves (1852-1934) had dark hair.

Quotes
Monat: My name is Monat.
[other prisoners gasp]
Alice: What is it? What are you?
Monat: I am not human, as you can see, but neither am I dangerous, I assure you.
Jeff Hale: [to the others] It's all right.
[turns back to Monat]
Jeff Hale: Incredible.
Monat: I am from a star system your astronomers named Tau Ceti.
Jeff Hale: Yes, Tau Ceti. Are there other extraterrestrials here?
Monat: Alas, I am the only one.
Jeff Hale: You died on Earth... You were on Earth.
Monat: You are 20th Century?
Jeff Hale: Yes, early 21st. I was an astronaut, just like you.
Monat: My ship charted a large asteroid approaching your planet. We hastened to warn your authorities, but your intentions were misread and we were shot down. I alone survived the crash. I tried my best under interrogation, but your scientists were skeptical of our advanced projections.
Jeff Hale: Chaos theory.
Monat: For your people, it was just that, a theory. For mine, it was a practice. As we predicted, the asteroid's course was deflected when it passed through the Jovian Belt. By then, it was too late to stop it. The impact would have equaled the detonation of 100 million of your hydrogen bombs. No life form could have survived.
Alice: Well, this is more preposterous than H.G. Wells.
Monat: Believe me. Ask around. Find someone who claims to have lived on Earth after June 18, 2039 AD.
Alice: What is it saying?
Monat: Use of masculine gender would be appropriate when addressing me.
Jeff Hale: He's saying the Earth, as we know it, is gone.