Riverworld

** - This three-hour long Sci-Fi Channel (excuse me… “SyFy”) production set in acclaimed science fiction writer Philip Jose Farmer’s “Riverworld” universe seems very much like an attempt to start up a new series. Not having a TV anymore, I don’t know if it was successful in spawning said series, but I would highly doubt it. The events of the film very clearly occur on the ‘Riverworld’ from Farmer’s novels, but it doesn’t seem to be based on any actual events from the books (a few of which I read some years ago), although many of the characters are used in varying degrees of accuracy. Being a relatively low budget made-for-TV production it doesn’t appear that a whole lot of artistry went into making this, as the direction was nothing out of the ordinary, the special effects and design work were middling, and the cast was a bunch of nobodies (with the exception of gay Scotsman Alan Cumming). And while I won’t go into any minute detail in order to maintain some brevity, there was a lot of stuff going on without explanation that anybody not familiar with the Riverworld concept would be very confused by. Add to that the fact that there was a great deal of maudlin schlockiness and failed attempts at humor and the result is a pretty poor movie.