Babylon 5: The River of Souls (1998) (TV)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Janet Greek

Writers:

J. Michael Straczynski (creator)
J. Michael Straczynski (written by)

Release Date:

8 November 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A group of Soul Hunters come to Babylon 5 demanding the return of something that was stolen from them.

Plot Keywords:

Sequel | Space | Futuristic | Space Station | Cult Favorite

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jerry Doyle	...	Michael Alfredo Garibaldi
Tracy Scoggins	...	Capt. Elizabeth Lochley
Jeff Conaway	...	Zack Allen
Richard Biggs	...	Stephen Franklin, M.D.
Ian McShane	...	Robert Bryson, Ph.D.
Martin Sheen	...	Soul Hunter
Jeff Doucette	...	2nd Man
Wayne Alexander	...	Soul One
Bob Amaral	...	Customer
Beege Barkette	...	Woman (as Beece Barkett)
Joel Brooks	...	Jacob Mayhew
Joshua Cox	...	Lt. David Corwin
T.J. Hoban	...	Male Hologram
Stuart Pankin	...	James Riley
Ray Proscia	...	Klaus

Also Known As:

The River of Souls

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Netherlands:6 | Australia:PG | Germany:12 | Iceland:L

Company:

Babylonian Productions

Trivia:

The Soul Hunter make-up, first seen in the "Babylon 5" episode "Soul Hunter", was altered to make Martin Sheen's face more recognizable.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Robert Bryson, Ph.D.: I'm sure it's only a little further to the main vault.
Klaus: You've been saying that for two days. This is foolish. There were other vaults we could have tried. Smaller ones. Easier to get into.
Robert Bryson, Ph.D.: Exactly. They were easier to get into. It's a good bet somebody's been there already...

Movie Connections:

Follows Babylon 5: The Gathering (1993) (TV)

This drek is worst than any of the regular season episodes.

I'm a big fan of B5, having caught on only at the end of season three. I faithfully watched all the previous seasons when it was syndicated, concluding that it was one of the most well-thought out story arcs to ever hit television. Even the filler episodes were interesting. The movies, also, were well produced and as entertaining as anything to hit the theaters.

Which brings us to 'River of Souls'. Naturally, after seeing everything else, I had high expectations. Martin Sheen appears to be acting in an Ed Wood movie rather than a serious Sci-Fi story. The story itself, might have looked good in outline form, even made it to the story board. However, it suffers obviously when it came time to filling this notion out into a two hour movie. There are no special effects to keep us entertained in the total absence of a compelling story. There are places where they were obviously short of time and just improvised the dialog to fill the story out. Had this made the regular season, it would have rated among the worst of the episodes.