Product Details

• Actors: Tahmoh Penikett, Laura Vandervoort, Mark Deklin, Peter Wingfireld, Jeananne Goossen
• Directors: Stuart Gillard
• Format: AC-3, Dolby, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Vivendi
• DVD Release Date: June 22, 2010
• Run Time: 178 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003BI7718
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,984 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Riverworld [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 06/22/2010 Run time: 178 minutes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Journey into a Mysterious World, May 2, 2010

By 

Phoenix Child (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Riverworld (DVD)

What is Riverworld? That was one of many questions swirling through the epic, emotive Syfy miniseries "Riverworld," an adaptation of Philip Jose Farmer's epic science fiction masterpiece. "Riverworld" tells the story of Matt Ellerman (Tahmoh Penikett, "Battlestar Galactica", "Dollhouse"), a war zone journalist, as he wakes from death along the banks of a seemingly endless river where everyone who lived and died on the earth has been reborn into their youthful bodies. But what is the purpose of this place? Why has Matt been "chosen" by the blue-skinned alien Caretakers? Is it an afterlife or a purgatory? What *is* Riverworld?

These questions and more fuel this strange journey along the banks of an endless river, populated with a lively cast of characters each with their own agenda. As Matt begins the search for his missing fiance, Jesse (Laura Vandervoort, "V", "Smallville"), he runs afoul of Sir Richard Burton (Peter Wingfield) and Francisco Pizzaro, joins forces with Samuel Clemins, a.k.a. Mark Twain (Mark Deklin), and begins an epic journey along the mighty and endless river to find the source of Riverworld and find answers to his many questions.

"Riverworld" raises many questions over the course of its four hours, and not all of them are answerable. While questioning the very purpose of humanity on an alien world, "Riverworld" neatly dodges overloading the viewers with existential angst while providing thrilling action and fascinating glimpses into the microcosms of history that have developed along the banks of the titular river: Francisco Pizarro's conquering Spanish army and the slave camps they've set up as part of their empire, and Mark Twain's riverboat and its memorable crew draw polar opposites of the good and the bad arising in the Riverworld.

The characters populating "Riverworld" are well-developed and flawed enough to be human. Characters darkly discuss the "suicide express" -- killing oneself and seeing where one ends up along the river -- and the lively slave trade that has come into existence in the forests, while Matt finds himself caught in a deadly chess game between the Caretakers as those who wish to destroy Riverworld and those who wish to save it begin a civil war fought through the human champions they've chosen, leading to a fairly disturbing torture sequence that forces Matt to question everything he knows about himself, his purpose, and his love for Jesse.

All of this isn't to say that "Riverworld" is without fault -- while it is an original and intriguing story, many fans of Farmer's novels will be frustrated with the changes made to modernize the story. The Caretakers themselves are never satsifactorily explained, and Matt's continued quest to reunite with Jesse despite the discoveries of her dark side rearing its admittedly ugly head is fairly inexplicable. In fact, there are several aspects of "Riverworld" that are never truly explained, and the miniseries itself was left far too open -- while it is a possiblity that "Riverworld" will be developed for series, if it is not, fans of the miniseries will never recieve closure on some of the issues raised within the miniseries. Also, certain mea culpas are required: While Tamoe, a Japanese female warrior, was played rather well by Jeananne Goossen, the historical liklihood of her existence is rather slim. The deus ex machina explanation of why everyone in the Riverworld spoke English was also a bit of a "gimme," though it's overlookable after a while. This incarnation of "Riverworld" was certainly a vast improvement over the campy 2003 production, at least.

Still, Penikett capably carries much of the weight of "Riverworld" on his shoulders as he turns Matt into an everyman, representing all of us within himself as he is forced to question everything around him when he awakes to this strange planet. Peter Wingfield once more masterfully plays the villain of the piece, but where Burton could have been a simple "bad guy" he is instead a human being with motivations not entirely unsympathetic. Mark Deklin, of course, steals nearly every scene he is in as he deliciously plays Mark Twain to the hilt, and Alan Cumming is suitably mysterious as the leader of the dark side of the civil war being fought between the Caretakers.

Ultimately, "Riverworld" was an enjoyable exploration of an intriguing world, introducing viewers to a likeable cast of characters, and the climactic and somewhat troubling finale was suitably explosive, to say the least. Never sparing on excitement and mysterious enough to keep viewers questioning, the open-ended nature of "Riverworld" will undoubtedly have many viewers wishing for a fully developed television series. As "Riverworld" doubled Syfy's viewership and broke records for miniseries premieres on weekends, it might not be a far-fetched idea.

While "Riverworld" can, at times, be as meandering as the titular river, it is never dull, and always as flowing and exciting as any journey down the vast, mystical river can be.

Four out of five stars.

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars If you stand by the river long enough the bodies of your enemies my float by - and get up?, May 20, 2010

By 

TastyBabySyndrome "Matthew Lewis, author of M... ("Daddy Dagon's Daycare" - Proud Sponsor of the Little Tendril Baseball Team, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Riverworld (DVD)

When you die, you don't always go away. You sometimes end up in a place beyond places, where a gargantuan river flows. There, loved ones roam with Roman ans other civilizations of the past, walking along the banks of a place that no one seems to understand. There are secrets here, too, some involving struggles for power and some involving the reason the place is here.
Thank goodness the person we are following is a reporter (sarcasm here)

When Riverworld began, I was really interested in what was going on. You could see the people coming back and you couldn't help but wonder how. Then the movie went into the power struggle part of it, trying to pull out surprises and names, and it seemed like a stretch. The objects they used to get up and down the river, the people they employed to make the show interesting - I don't know if i would call them great in life or death.
And then there were the other pieces - the things that made this place up - and it really seemed to stretch.

I have known people to like this show, and i thought I would be one of them at first. I've read the thing it was based off of and, for a little while, I thought it was going to be interesting. Then it took a U-turn, dropped the story off by the river, and I think it fell in an drown.
Sadly, I can say 3 stars because i liked some of it, but I cannot say I liked it enough to say "go watch it for yourself."

24 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yo People, this is not the Brad Johnson version., April 18, 2010

By 

M. Furphy (Lancaster, Ca.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Riverworld (DVD)

Today the SyFy channel showed this updated 4-hour version of this movie. It is not the one with Brad Johnson. I have seen that one and it is not even close to being as good as this version. I just hope that if I pre-order this one I don't get the older one. Okay, there are some actors/actresses in here whom I don't know by name. I had to go to the SyFy channel web-site to find the names. The main actors are, Alan Cumming, Tahmoh Penikett, Laura Vandervoort, Peter Wingfield and Jeananne Goossen who plays this fine Japanese female Samurai warrior. Also from the SyFy site, the DVD movie is 178 minutes long. From what I remember from the first movie, there are more female lead characters in this one. Old people come back in their prime years, around 25-35 years old and there are no children. Yes, we have Sir Richard Burton, but no Nero, thank god. There is a gay male couple and a male lip-lock is shown on TV. The alien caretakers of this world are shown as well as a conflict between factions in the alien race. And, characters come back if they are killed either by suicide or other causes, but others don't for some reason. More is learned about the aliens and about the background of the story. The Riverworld planet is said to be @ 100 times bigger than Earth and the Earth was destroyed about 6 years after our main character died. I couldn't see this as a full blown series though. Maybe a 10 hour mini-series. Yes, they could stretch this movie a little longer to put an end that makes sense. You will see when you watch this one. The story is better told than the first version. Way to go SyFy channel.