Last night's Syfy Re-make of RiverWorld turned out to be pretty decent. Better than their first attempt a couple of years ago anyway. Based on Science Fiction author, Philip Jose' Farmer's series of books, the story poses the question; What if everyone who had ever lived on Earth were thrown together on a world at the same time? Five books tried to answer this question, but Syfy thought they could do it in a 4 hour television movie. Ambitious to say the least. Of course, they left it open for a possible series if they feel the viewership is there. The pacing was good through the first three quarters of the movie but the ending felt rushed and convenient. The acting was decent featuring former cast members of such shows as Battlestar Galactica, Highlander: The Series, Smallville and the X-Men. The on-location scenes were refreshing after so many 'green-screen' environments. One word to Syfy, though, everything is really starting to look like Canada ;-)
Characters and storylines have been thrown about to accommodate a TV audience I suppose. The main 'hero' of the first book, To Your Scattered Bodies Go, ended up being the bad guy and a brand new hero was introduced. While the basic story was based on the first 2 books, elements of all were thrown in.If they do try to make this into a series, they may have already given away too much information. Part of the 'mystery' was the Caretakers of RiverWorld. What were they doing and why? The movie revealed much of this. I'm not sure where they can go with a possible series now.
At any rate, if you get the chance check it out, I'm sure Syfy will repeat it many times for your viewing pleasure.
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