Riverworld (Syfy Miniseries)

[Madwelshboy]

SCI FI Casts Riverworld

Battlestar Galactica veteran and Dollhouse co-star Tahmoh Penikett and Smallville supergirl Laura Vandervoort will star in Riverworld

Penikett will play war correspondent Matt Ellman, who is killed along with his fiancee (Vandervoort) but awakens in a mysterious world populated by everyone who has lived on Earth. Alan Cumming is set to guest star as the Caretaker; Jeananne Goossen and Mark Deklin also have been cast. The movie is based on the book series by Philip Jose Farmer.

Riverworld will air next year as four-hour movies.

http://scifiwire.com/2009/04/sci-fi-...verworld-p.php

[Espeon1962]

I was just about to start a thread and you beat me to it Madwelshboy.

This is great news as I think Tahmoh has the right stuff to play Matt. Time to drag out my old copy of Riverworld and reread it. This is great news that it is coming to the screen. Has all the right stuff to be a great series, which is the intent of the 2 part movies - if it is successful it will go into production as a tv series just like BSG.

[Espeon1962]

BTW, on March 6, in the thread on fav sci-fi books, I listed "To your Scattered Bodies Go" which is book one of the Riverword series, as one of my all time fav sci-fi books (I read the original release in 1971, which had quite the emotional impact on me at the time as I was just a young lad).

It seems to me that Sci-fi is taking a page from BSG, and going to recast the story in a diff light, as the original main protagonist was Sir Richard Francis Burton, whereas it seems that the Scifi version will use a new protagonist, since it seems like Tahmoh is cast as the lead.

REST IN PEACE PHILLIP JOSE FARMER - I very much enjoyed your work.

[Madwelshboy]

Get an exclusive look at concept art for SCI FI's upcoming Riverworld

http://scifiwire.com/2009/04/get-an-...ve-look-at.php

[knowles2]

BTW, on March 6, in the thread on fav sci-fi books, I listed "To your Scattered Bodies Go" which is book one of the Riverword series, as one of my all time fav sci-fi books (I read the original release in 1971, which had quite the emotional impact on me at the time as I was just a young lad).

It seems to me that Sci-fi is taking a page from BSG, and going to recast the story in a diff light, as the original main protagonist was Sir Richard Francis Burton, whereas it seems that the Scifi version will use a new protagonist, since it seems like Tahmoh is cast as the lead.

REST IN PEACE PHILLIP JOSE FARMER - I very much enjoyed your work.

And let me guest the new protagonist will be American.

[Espeon1962]

And let me guest the new protagonist will be American.

No idea. I am not American, but it would not bother me were it so. I recall there were lots of Americans in the original book. Also an alien as well so it will be interesting to see if they recreate that aspect.

I am just excited to see what happens with this, It has the potential to be very good, although I definitely do not see it being material for anything other then the scifi crowd.

[lunarleviathan]

I can't really see Tahmoh playing a journalist. He's way to buff.

[Espeon1962]

I see the production is currently listed as filming, and also that another BSG alumni Alessandro Juliani is showing in the cast as "Daniel".

Robert Hewitt Wolfe is listed as doing the screenplay -his work was good on Andromeda prior to the takeover of productino by Kevin Sorbo (who wanted everything to be focused on himself and that is when the series took a total dive).

[Angela V]

Get an exclusive look at concept art for SCI FI's upcoming Riverworld

http://scifiwire.com/2009/04/get-an-...ve-look-at.php

Thanks bunches for the link! I am almost done book 1. Looks like new characters will be used. Don't know what to think of that since I'm very intrigued by the ones in the first book at least. Though if they keep the concept of the novels, should be fine with other characters. I hope.

[Madwelshboy]

How the Riverworld movie event will meander from the books

Robert Hewitt Wolfe, who wrote the upcoming SCI FI Channel four-hour movie event Riverworld, told SCI FI Wire that the film—based on Philip Jose Farmer's series of books—similarly deals with life and how we live in the face of death, but changes the details.

"What I love about the books are they are basically about what happens after we die, and, more to the point, how do we live our lives in the face of death, and what does life mean?" Wolfe (Andromeda) said in an exclusive interview. "The other great thing about the books is the way it throws together people from all over history. It has the famous and not-so-famous from different periods meeting each other. I always found that to be a real exciting concept."

continues:-
http://scifiwire.com/2009/06/how-the...orld-movie.php

[Espeon1962]

Thanks for the interview link Madwelshboy!

[Espeon1962]

Here are some recent links on the series, including pictures, and a video promo. Enjoy.

http://www.scificool.com/first-promo...rld-tv-series/

http://mydisguises.com/2009/07/31/ph...rworld-series/

[Angela V]

Almost done book 3.

Glad they are keeping Mark Twain and Sir Richard Francis Burton. So did not picture Peter Wingdfield as Burton though! I recognize more actor names than I thought I would. Hope Canada's Space picks it up early than Tin Man which I just RECENTLY got to see on Space.

[Madwelshboy]

Check out the first trailer for the Riverworld miniseries

Tahmoh Penikett dies! And that's just the beginning of Syfy's Riverworld, in which everyone who has ever lived on Earth is resurrected simultaneously in an unusual afterlife.

The miniseries, based on the books by Philip José Farmer, won't air until next year, but you can check it out today.

http://scifiwire.com/2009/09/get-you...look-at-th.php

[Captain Obvious]

yeah, I think I have to find the copy of riverworld I never got a chance to read 8 years or so back when I got it for $1.99 at building 19 wholesalers.

I wish everyone else could get literature brand new, in hardcover for so cheap.