''Riverworld'' is a television film that had been intended to be a four-hour television miniseries released on the

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

channel on April 18, 2010. Based on the ''

Riverworld Riverworld is a fictional planet and the setting for a series of science fiction books written by Philip José Farmer (1918–2009). Riverworld is an artificial "Super-Earth" environment where all humans (and pre-humans) are reconstructed. The b ...

'' books by

Philip José Farmer Philip José Farmer (January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009) was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. Obituary. Farmer is best known for his sequences of novels, especially the ''World of Tiers ...

, this miniseries is a

reboot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

of the cancelled

Sci-Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launc ...

'' television series, of which only the pilot episode was produced. ''Riverworld'' stars

Tahmoh Penikett Tahmoh Penikett (; ; born May 20, 1975) is a Canadian actor. He is known for playing Karl "Helo" Agathon on SyFy's 2004 television series ''Battlestar Galactica''. He has appeared in TV series ''Supernatural'', ''Dollhouse'', the Showcase time ...

Laura Vandervoort Laura Dianne Vandervoort (born September 22, 1984) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles as Sadie Harrison in the CTV teen drama series ''Instant Star'', Arla "The Bolt-Gun Killer" Cogan in the Syfy supernatural drama series '' ...

Jeananne Goossen Jeananne Goossen (born January 3, 1985) is a Canadian actress. Early life Goossen was born on January 3, 1985, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Goossen was raised in a middle-class family, to a Chinese mother and a Canadian father. Goossen studied b ...

Alan Cumming Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a British actor. His London stage appearances include ''Hamlet'', the Maniac in ''Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' (for which he received an Olivier Award), the lead in '' Bent'', The National Theatre o ...

Mark Deklin Mark Deklin (born December 3, 1967) is an American actor and fight coordinator. He starred in the Fox primetime drama '' Lone Star'', the ABC comedy-drama '' GCB'', the Lifetime comedy-drama ''Devious Maids'', and in 2017 joined the ABC politica ...

, and

Peter Wingfield Dr Peter Wingfield (born 5 September 1962) is a Welsh-born television actor, well known for his television roles as Dan Clifford in '' Holby City'', Dr. Robert Helm in ''Queen of Swords'' and Inspector Simon Ross in ''Cold Squad'' but he is in ...

. It is produced by

Reunion Pictures Reunion Pacific Entertainment Inc. is a Vancouver-based studio formed in 2004, producing movies and television series such as the limited series Tin Man (which was nominated for nine Primetime Emmy Awards in 2008 including the Outstanding Mini- ...

, an award-winning Canadian-based production company. It is written by

Robert Hewitt Wolfe Robert Hewitt Wolfe (born 1964 in Waterbury, Connecticut) is an American television producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as a writer on ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' and for developing and producing the series ''Gene Rodden ...

and directed by

Stuart Gillard Stuart Thomas Gillard (born April 28, 1950) is a Canadian film, writer, producer and television director. He is best known for directing the films ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III'' (1993) and ''RocketMan'' (1997). He also wrote and directed ...

Plot

War reporter Matt Ellman is in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

with his girlfriend Jessie, to whom he is about to propose marriage. However, before he proposes, both of them are killed in a

terrorist attack Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

by a

suicide bomber A suicide attack is any violent Strike (attack), attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has suicide, accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have oc ...

. Afterwards, they find themselves on a strange planet called Riverworld, where everyone who has ever lived on Earth has been reborn along the banks of a seemingly endless river. Riverworld functions as a sort of

purgatory Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...

for deceased human beings to get a second chance. In this world, Matt finds several of his deceased friends as well as historical figures, some of whom are his allies and others who are antagonistic. The antagonists include explorer

Richard Francis Burton Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary kn ...

(who in the books was the main protagonist) and

Francisco Pizarro Francisco Pizarro González, Marquess of the Atabillos (; ; – 26 June 1541) was a Spanish conquistador, best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of Peru. Born in Trujillo, Spain to a poor family, Pizarro chose ...

, the

Conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

who conquered the

Incas The Inca Empire (also Quechuan and Aymaran spelling shift, known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechuan languages, Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) wa ...

. The friendlier people include American author

Samuel Clemens Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...

(also known as Mark Twain) and

Tomoe Gozen Tomoe Gozen (, ) was an onna-musha from the late Heian period of Japanese history. She served Minamoto no Yoshinaka during the Genpei War and was a part of the conflict that led to the first shogunate. Her family had strong affiliations with Yos ...

, a 12th-century Japanese warrior from the time of the

Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himself ...

married to

Minamoto no Yoshinaka , , or Lord Kiso was a general from the late Heian period of Japanese history. A member of the Minamoto clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo was his cousin and rival during the Genpei War between the Minamoto and the Taira clans. Yoshinaka was born in Musas ...

. Along with the other heroes, Matt soon discovers that Riverworld has a deeper purpose and is controlled by otherworldly caretakers who are engaged in a

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

Cast

Caretakers

The caretakers appear as blue-skinned robe-clad figures who watch over the humans. They were the beings who created Riverworld and are occasionally described as "

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...

s". The caretakers are mostly divided between two separate factions: the Salvationists (those who wish to destroy Riverworld to move on to bigger and better things) and the Second Chancers (those who wish to protect Riverworld). There is a civil war between these two groups and their leaders. The leader of the Salvationists thinks that his opponent is weak and does not see the bigger picture, while the leader of the Second Chancers views her enemy as a selfish traitor who only wishes to benefit himself. Both groups seek out their own champions to accomplish their goals, although it is strictly forbidden to do so because their laws state that they are not allowed to directly interfere with humans.

Nature of the river

Riverworld consists of an endless, or seemingly endless, river. In Riverworld, every human is effectively immortal as they are forever young and healthy (regardless of their age at the time of their Earthly death), can recover very fast from wounds, and are resistant to diseases. However, they ''can'' die, although they will always be resurrected somewhere else along the river at various different times. Some people use this for travel, calling it the "suicide express". Every person is also given a solid metal bracelet called a "

grail The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) was an American lunar science mission in NASA's Discovery Program which used high-quality gravitational field mapping of the Moon to determine its interior structure. The two small spacecraf ...

band" for food and drinks, with the exception of champions who are sent into Riverworld without them as sort of a sign of being free from the bonds of Riverworld. It is later revealed that this also keeps the caretakers from tracking them, keeping the humans involved in the civil war more mobile and invisible to the opposing side. The river also has a "source" which is not only the start of the river, but also the entirety of Riverworld; it appears as The Dark Tower, which is similar to the name of one of the books in the Riverworld novels, ''The Dark Design''.

Transportation

The two main forms of transportation are the

riverboat A riverboat is a watercraft designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury un ...

and the

zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

. The riverboat ''Not-for-Hire'' was built by Samuel Clemens, while the zeppelin was built by the man who built the Hindenburg and is called ''Herumfurzeln'' (which means in German to fart around). Both use what is suspected by one of the characters to be a

fusion power Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion, nuclear fusion reactions. In a fusion process, two lighter atomic nucleus, atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, whi ...

source.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Riverworld Syfy original programming 2010s American television miniseries Riverworld Fiction about purgatory 2010s Canadian television miniseries