Riverworld on SyFi, Worth a Series?

[Nomad V]

Well, since nobody else has posted about this I assume that it wasn't liked or nobody watched it. I thought it was worth a B. The only thing is that SyFi movies look like they were made on a shoestring budget.
However, if they are thinking about making it into a series I'd much rather watch it than the "ghost detectives" that are constatntly scaring themselves.
I did have to wonder why nuclear powered riverboats have a working smoke stack, or why nuclear powered dirigibles have in line piston engines. Oh well, like I said shoestring.

 

[Mistral]

saw first half-felt no urge to watch part 2. Read the books-and ScyFy slaughtered the original plot(s), the Riverboat design, and even changed key characters for no reason. Pizarro? Seriously?

 

[Lt. Trull]

they apparently couldn't afford a neanderthal bodyguard for sam....

 

[Nerys Myk]

It was okay. A real mishmash of the plots and characters from the books. Didn't care much for the lead character played by Tahmoh Penikett and his "ripped from the headlines" backstory. An un-needed attempt to make the story "edgy" and "current." I'd rather have seen Peter Jarius Frigate as the character from our time and Burton as our protagonist.

 

[Mr Light]

I watched an hour of it before turning it off. Just found it uninteresting. Also, as I dimly recall, it was the same story as the TV movie from ?5? years ago.

 

[Lt. Trull]

I watched an hour of it before turning it off. Just found it uninteresting. Also, as I dimly recall, it was the same story as the TV movie from ?5? years ago.

well then.... don't bother reading the book... it's a lot like the movie(s) and you'd not like that either....
:PpPpPpPp

 

[bryce]

I watched an hour of it before turning it off. Just found it uninteresting. Also, as I dimly recall, it was the same story as the TV movie from ?5? years ago.

Yeah, there was another failed-pilot version of Riverworld aired on Scifi around 2000, 2001...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfs-BotdsVw

To be honest, while that one was kinda cheesy, I enjoyed it more.

This new version of Riverworld actually borrowed more from that first TV movie/series attempt than it did from the novels...

But it (the 2000 version), IMHO, had better sets & effects and less plot holes than this new attempt...and aside for the actor who played the lead, it had a lot better acting, IMHO (especially the actor who played Twain...)

Everything about this version screamed "low rent"...

And like you, I got about an hour into this version, and turned it off...I still have a copy of it saved, but have yet to muster up enough interest to finishing watching it...

And that's too bad, because I really enjoyed the novels when I was younger...and I'd love to see a more faithful version of "To Your Scattered Bodies Go"...

 

[ProtoAvatar]

For a moment, I thought this thread was about Ringworld.
That would have been a much better choice for a series.

 

[Skywalker]

I only had time to watch the first half. It was cool to see Peter Wingfield again (go Methos!), but what I saw was pretty meh.

 

[Vendikarr]

Since most people here don't seem to like it, it will probably be made into a series just people have something to complain about.

 

[Lt. Trull]

if it was a choice between this (riverworld) and another CSI I'd pick this riverworld....
any scifi is better then anything other then scifi....

 

[UncleRogi]

saw first half-felt no urge to watch part 2. Read the books-and ScyFy slaughtered the original plot(s), the Riverboat design, and even changed key characters for no reason. Pizarro? Seriously?

This is the reason for my distaste. It wasn't even the same story. Yeah, they were on a big river, everyone was there. That's about it.

I don't seem to recall Nero in the books either.

Want a great story, read the books.

(By the By, "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" has got to be one of the book titles ever! IMHO)

 

[The Comedian]

Sam Clemens in this one had a rather Malcolm Reynolds vibe to him (complete with "Ambassador") - even to the point where after he shot Pizarro I was thinking "Mercy is the mark of a great man"...the Clemens shoots him again and I said, "Well, I guess I'm all right."

But Burton as the bad guy? Fer fuck's sake...

Also, I'm pretty sure they were resurrected real close to the Gaius Baltar/Daniel Greystone estate.

 

[Mistral]

I watched an hour of it before turning it off. Just found it uninteresting. Also, as I dimly recall, it was the same story as the TV movie from ?5? years ago.

well then.... don't bother reading the book... it's a lot like the movie(s) and you'd not like that either....
:PpPpPpPp

BAD ADVICE! The show sucked-but the books are so much more than the scraps the movie writers took from them. A spectacular Tetrology, The Riverworld novels offer a tale so vast the mind boggles while giving you characters interesting enough to stand out as individuals. Go read the books-you will enjoy yourself thoroughly.

 

[Professor Zoom]

I watched an hour of it before turning it off. Just found it uninteresting. Also, as I dimly recall, it was the same story as the TV movie from ?5? years ago.

well then.... don't bother reading the book... it's a lot like the movie(s) and you'd not like that either....
:PpPpPpPp

BAD ADVICE! The show sucked-but the books are so much more than the scraps the movie writers took from them. A spectacular Tetrology, The Riverworld novels offer a tale so vast the mind boggles while giving you characters interesting enough to stand out as individuals. Go read the books-you will enjoy yourself thoroughly.

Oddly, I just finished the 5th one last night. I think the first three are the best. The fourth one is ok. The fifth one left me a little bored.

I do think the first one would be a great basis for a TV series...that said, I didn't bother with the TV movie. Fool me once, SyFy.

 

[broberfett]

It was bland. It didn't taste good and it wasn't good for us either.

In the books do they have more than crappy, waterlogged, Stargate village level crap hole structures? I feel like they come out of the water and everything sucks and then they are just beating sticks into the mud like the peasants in Monty Pythons and the Holy Grail.

 

[Silvercrest]

Actually, no they don't. It's practically stone age. Effectively the only tools and building materials are rocks and the local bamboo. There is no native metal, but a few people get a limited supply of metal from meteorites.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yes and everyone is reborn naked and hairless. All the "defects" are fixed to. So guy in the movie wearing glasses. WRONG!!!!!!

 

[Mistral]

And there is a distinct lack of horses, although leather is easy to make. Just skin one human...

 

[Lt. Trull]

if i remember... it was not a horse. it was a mechanical device.