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								<!-- TITLE The River of Souls -->


								<h2><a name="OV">Overview</a></h2>


								<blockquote><cite>

								A group of Soul Hunters come to the station demanding the return of something

								that was stolen from them.

								</cite>


								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Name?McShane,+Ian">Ian McShane</a>.

								<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Name?Sheen,+Martin">Martin Sheen</a> as Soul Hunter.

								</blockquote>


								<pre><a href="/lurk/p5/intro.html">P5 Rating</a>: <a href="/lurk/p5/114">7.77</a>


								Production number: TNT MoW3

								Original air date: November 8, 1998

								<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002B15UQ/thelurkersguidet">DVD release date</a>: August 17, 2004


								Written by J. Michael Straczynski

								Directed by Janet Greek

								Novelization by Yvonne Navarro

								</pre>


								<p>

								<hr size=3>


								<h2><a name="BP">Plot Points</a></h2>

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@910698649 Ten thousand years ago, the Soul Hunters were drawn to

									Ralga, a world whose inhabitants were apparently about to die en masse.

									Deviating from their usual practice of capturing individual souls,

									the Soul Hunters placed all 1 billion Ralgans in a soul globe.

									But they were wrong about the impending mass extinction, and

									inadvertently captured the race as it was about to transcend its

									physical form and become pure energy.  Over the course of the ten

									thousand years they've been in captivity, half have gone insane.


								   <li>@@@910698649 The Minbari are the only race to have stopped the Soul

									Hunters from collecting a soul

									(<a href="002.html">"Soul Hunter"</a>).


								   <li>@@@910698649 Soul Hunters never capture each other's souls; they

									believe themselves unworthy of preservation.


								   <li>@@@910698649 Soul Hunters store their captured souls in "whisper

									galleries," immense halls in which the souls can communicate with

									one another.


								</ul>


								<h2><a name="UQ">Unanswered Questions</a></h2>

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@910698649 Which other two races did the Soul Hunters capture

									en masse?  Were those legitimate extinctions, or have the Soul Hunters

									made the same mistake twice?


								</ul>


								<h2><a name="AN">Analysis</a></h2>

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@910698649 The two storylines shared a thematic link: both the

									brothel operator and the Soul Hunters captured some aspect of people

									without permission and used the simulacra for their own purposes.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@910698649 <a href="004.html">"Infection"</a>

									and

									<a href="112.html">"Thirdspace"</a>

									shared several plot elements with this story: an ancient artifact is

									probed by a scientist funded by a major corporation; it's brought

									to Babylon 5 and activated with deadly results.  The scientist is

									motivated by greed or power.  The artifact was created by a powerful

									race due to their belief that they were the most pure, the smartest,

									or knew better than others.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@910698649 Transcending of physical bodies seems to be a common

									evolutionary path for races who survive long enough; even humanity is

									destined to take that step sometime in the next million years

									(<a href="088.html">"The Deconstruction of Falling Stars"</a>).

									Other examples of transcendence: Lorien

									(<a href="072.html">"Into the Fire"</a>),

									Ironheart

									(<a href="006.html">"Mind War"</a>),

									and arguably the Vorlons

									(<a href="070.html">"Falling Toward Apotheosis"</a>)

									though they retained at least some physical form and could be poisoned

									(<a href="000.html">"The Gathering"</a>).


								<p>

								   <li>@@@915470841 One of the other two races captured by the Soul Hunters

									might have been the Markab, who died suddenly from a virulent disease

									(<a href="040.html">"Confessions and Lamentations"</a>).


								</ul>


								<h2><a name="NO">Notes</a></h2>

								<ul>


								   <li>@@@910696690 Soul Hunters are very long-lived; a four-thousand-year-old

									is considered young and naive.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@910859445 Soul Hunter ships all have the ability to attach to

									other ships and burn through, a capability they need since they're

									rarely welcomed by other races.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@890719726 The following press release is dated March 23, 1998.

									It contains some spoilers.


									<p>

									RIVER OF SOULS -- The Next TNT Movie!


									<p>

									An ancient vault filled with relics believed to hold the secret

									to eternal life is the centerpiece of the Turner Network

									Television (TNT) Original Film BABYLON 5: The River of Souls.

									Julie Weitz, executive vice president of original programming

									for TNT, today confirmed that series stars Tracy Scoggins,

									Jerry Doyle, Richard Biggs and Jeff Conaway will headline TNT's

									next BABYLON 5 full-length movie. Douglas Netter and series

									creator J.  Michael Straczynski will executive-produce the

									two-hour film from the script by Straczynski. The film is a

									co-production of TNT and Babylonian Productions.


									<p>

									After a brief absence from Babylon 5, Michael Garibaldi (Doyle)

									returns to the station as a harbinger of doom. An archeologist

									in his employ has stolen an ancient relic he believes to be the

									key to eternal life from the Soul Hunters, immortal creatures

									who capture and preserve souls throughout the galaxy. With the

									station under siege from the Soul Hunters, the explorer

									releases thousands of enraged souls from the relic who merge

									with others, attempting to taste life one more time. Captain

									Elizabeth Lochley (Scoggins) must save Babylon 5 from an

									impending attack of the Soul Hunters and the wrathful entities

									looking for retribution.


									<p>

									TNT is the exclusive home of the BABYLON 5 franchise, featuring

									the eagerly anticipated fifth season of 22 all-new episodes

									(Wednesday at 10 PM ET)and a Monday-through-Friday airing of

									the series' award-winning first four seasons. Building on the

									success of BABYLON 5: In the Beginning, TNT's first full-length

									BABYLON 5 movie, the network will premiere BABYLON 5:

									Thirdspace this summer.


									<p>

									Turner Network Television, the number one-rated cable network

									in prime time and currently seen in more than 72 million homes,

									is Turner Broadcasting System, Inc's 24-hour,

									advertiser-supported service offering original motion pictures

									and miniseries; contemporary films from the world's largest

									film library, the combined Turner and Warner Bros. film

									libraries; exciting NBA sports action; popular television

									series; and timeless cartoons.


									<p>

									Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a subsidiary of Time Warner

									Inc., is a major producer of news and entertainment product

									around the world and the leading provider of programming for

									the basic cable industry.


								</ul>


								<h2><a name="JS">jms speaks</a></h2>

								<ul>


								<p>

								   <li>@@@886335088 <em>Is there a title yet?</em><br>

									Yes.


									<p>

									<em>Is there an air date yet?</em><br>

									Under discussion.


									<p>

									<em>Who will be in it?</em><br>

									Ditto.


									<p>

									<em>Will it involve the Telepath War?</em><br>

									Negative.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@886335088 Actually, no, it isn't written yet.  I won't be able to

									have a clear field to write it until after I've finished writing the

									5th season.  I know in general what I want to do with it, have fleshed

									out a lot, but until I've run the premise past TNT and WB officially,

									I can't comment.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@889490633 Just got clarification and verification:

									Thirdspace does indeed air July 19th, and another B5 TV movie airs

									November 23rd, and one more on January 3rd.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@895441655 TNT has moved up the airdate for "The River of Souls" to

									November 8th (from November 22nd) so that a) B5 fans won't have so long

									to wait, and b) to make sure both that and Sleeping in Light both get

									equal promotion, and one doesn't get lost in the other.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@890717935 "River" is a heck of a movie, I think...now we just have

									to film the darned thing.  (Janet Greek is directing.)


								<p>

								   <li>@@@896746067 <em>When does it take place?</em><br>

									It takes place six months into 2263.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@898571834 Because we have only $3 million on which to make these movies,

									we have to rotate the cast because we can't afford to have them all in

									any one of them. Bruce and Mira were in the first two, so we gave Tracy

									a shot and put in Jerry as well as Corwin (his first), Zack and

									Franklin.


									<p>

									We're just looking for ways to be fair to the maximum number of cast

									with the resources we have.


								<p>

								   <li>@@@911284786 <em>Why did Martin Sheen's soul hunter

								          speak so oddly at first?</em><br>

									What we had discussed (actor, director and me) was that soul

									hunters don't generally get much chance to hang out and talk to people;

									they can empathically sense the language, however, when they encounter

									others.  At first, he didn't know the language very well, and gradually

									became more able to express himself.


								</ul>