Riverworld (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Riverworld is a sci-fi/fantasy feature-length pilot episode for a series that was never produced. It aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2003. It was loosely based on the Riverworld saga by Philip José Farmer. Production began in 2001.
[edit] Plot
In the year 2009, a meteor shower above Earth claims the life of American astronaut Jeff Hale (Brad Johnson). He awakens inside a jade-green geodesic bubble beneath the surface of a body of water filled with them. A mysterious cloaked figure pierces his bubble with a pike, injuring him. Dazed and in pain, he soon finds himself crawling nude onto a beach littered with metal canisters; the canisters contain unisex outfits of clothing. Soon dozens of people from different lands and historical eras emerge from the water, also nude, and they begin distributing the mysterious canisters. Remarkably, they understand each other's language, all except for a lone Neanderthal man, who lacks the capacity for speech.
Hale learns that the "known world" is the bank of a massive river. Anyone who has ever lived on Earth at any time in history is qualified to start life anew on Riverworld (even if that person is a space alien who just happened to be Earth-bound at the time of his demise) although it is not immediately clear whether Riverworld is Heaven, an extraterrestrial planet, or some other dimension. Other cloaked figures are seen fleetingly, but their purpose is unknown. Food is provided, and the climate is clement. The need for shelter is easy provided by available resources and simple manual labor.
The Neanderthal is later killed by a man introducing himself as Lucius Domitus Ahenobarbus (Jonathan Cake). Lucius is the historical Nero, although he initially pretends to be a common Roman soldier. Nero's ruthlessness enables him to rise to power over the region; his fame as a Roman Emperor gives him considerable sway among the apparently Roman majority of this immediate part of Riverworld.
Hale meets dozens of other historical "celebrities", like the aloof and cocky Samuel Clemens (Cameron Daddo) who has built a riverboat to explore the river.
Nero, a potential ally turned dangerous enemy, intends to use Clemens' riverboat to extend his dominion downriver. He imprisons Hale and his comrades, forcing Clemens to show him how to operate it. Hale and the others eventually overcome Nero and his men, reclaiming the riverboat. They head upstream to explore the mysteries of Riverworld.
[edit] Differences from the Riverworld books
A number of liberties are taken in the film with regards to the source material. The original hero and villain are replaced by other characters, the timeline of events is compressed (including the learning of languages which is eliminated entirely), and the nature of the resurrection process and food and clothing production are altered. Instead of a single meteor of iron, a "valley of meteors" with a constant stream of small falling objects provides the metals used by the characters. The Riverboat is powered by fusion rather than being recharged by Grailstones. The character Loghu is apparently replaced with another female warrior named Mali, and the alien Monat is radically different in appearance and behavior from that described in the books.
