one-nine-eighty Maybe the book this was based on is better, maybe it's just as dire as this straight to TV movie which in reality should have gone straight in the bin. An astronaut dies and reawakens under water on a mysterious planet. It's not actually that mysterious as it looks Earth like still and the atmosphere is evidently breathable. After breaking free of his binding and swimming for safety he finds a capsule on the beach which has all the clothing he needs to survive on the baron landscape, a few cotton clothes which when unfolded make nice trousers and a shirt. He turns around to face the sea and all of a sudden a wave of people are swimming for shore too. They each have a capsule of clothing too. Disturbingly the clothes all fit the people perfectly and they aren't all the standard shape and cut, some of the woman manage to find capsules with skirts in, some of them have strapless tops in them. I noticed none of the capsules have underwear in them but all the people somehow have flesh coloured pants and bras. It becomes evident that people from all ages of Earth's like are on the beach together, people from the American civil war, Neanderthal's from the stone age, modern people… it's a who's who of people who lived and died on earth - including an alien who died on Earth in the future. This is not heaven nor Hell, it's like a purgatory where anyone who died on earth eventually goes. It seems Earth is no longer, these people are the surviving children of Earth and they have been reborn on Riverworld. This fresh crop of people are soon hunted down and trapped by existing inhabitants on Riverworld. The premise of the film from here is that the Astronaut leads a revolt to rescue the people who then set about travelling the river on a big boat looking for adventure and answers. I really can't say many good things about this. Perhaps the novel by Philip Jose Farmer was really good but this film adaptation, directed by Kari Skogland really isn't. The film was filmed in New Zealand and this was about the only saving grace as it offered lush landscapes and backdrops. The acting was wooden and laughable, the effects were poor, and the flow of the film was bad. Like the universal but unique clothing no answers to why everyone speaks a universal language is explored, nobody seems really to care that much that they are all dead but still alive - I'd want to celebrate that. The ending was left wide open, presumably for a TV series branch off or a follow up film but I really hope nothing comes of it. As this was made super cheap and broadcast on the Sy-Fy channel I can't see much coming of the open ending. I'm giving this 1 out of 10 and I'm thankful that I won't have to watch this ever again.

Emmanuel Sorry for my English (It's my 2nd language)Of course, we are not talking about a masterpiece. I really like the story and I am sad that this Pilot did not end up as a TV series. The actors are very average but the story is not affected. What's very interesting is the idea of something different than Hell or Paradise when we die. I personally don't believe in Hell but I think there something after life. But enough about religious beliefs...It's also very cool to see different historical characters interacting together. Visually, the effects are good if we go back to 1993 and with probably little budget. After watching this movie, I will definitely buy the book to see that happens at the end...

sculptagain-1 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.

leonidus1956 Absolutely one of the worst book-to-film adaptations I have ever seen. Alex Proyas has been involved in some works ( Dark City, The Crow ) that I really enjoyed but this was awful...there was so much potential in the novels and perhaps even the attempt to condense them into a 2 hour movie was doomed to fail but, seriously, horses ?!?!? There were no animals (other than fish and worms) mentioned in the books but the addition of horses obviously dramatically changed the dynamics of the human societies that evolved after the "resurrections" and not in ways that are even remotely faithful to Mr. Farmers original vision. I always admired the concept of the Riverworld both from the point of view of the author, being able to script interactions between all my favorite characters from all of human history, as well as the pure joy of reading these works and unraveling the mysteries of the Riverworld.