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About the Album
"Babylon 5: The River Of Souls"

Written by J. Michael Straczynski - Directed by Janet Greek

Archeologist Robert Bryson arrives on Babylon 5 carrying what he believes is the secret to immortality: a globe containing the souls of countless beings. When Bryson tries to contact the souls within the globe, he accidentally unleashes the rage of the trapped entities. As phantom images begin to pop up around the station, an alien Soul Hunter shows up to reclaim the globe, which has been stolen from his people. It contains the souls of a billion Ralgans imprisoned for a thousand years, who now hunger for revenge. A mass of energy meant for the Soul Hunter strikes Lochley instead. Caught between life and death, Lochley meets one of the Ralgans entities who explains that their race had been in the process of evolving when their souls were captured by Soul Hunters. Some souls have now gone mad from captivity and using Bryson as a conduit, plan to blow up the station, destroying themselves and the Soul Hunter in the process. With time running out, the Soul Hunter saved by Lochley tries to make amends to the Ralgans, offering his own soul as proof. The disaster is averted, and the Soul Hunter fleet departs, honoring their companion's promise to a billion souls...

With the Babylon 5 TV movie, 'The River Of Souls,' writer J. Michael Straczynski decided to re-explore one of the show's most fascinating race of characters, namely the alien Soul Hunters. He also wanted to create a series of events that would, in the words of producer John Copeland, 'start on another world and come to the station 'bringing calamity on their heels.' Despite the philosophical questions raised in 'The River Of Souls,' Straczynski still managed to add a healthy dose of humor to his story, including a running subplot about a sleazy holobrothel on the station. It also provided B5 fans with a Captain Lochley they had never seen before! Two of the major casting coups in 'The River Of Souls" were film legend Martin Sheen who played the Soul Hunter, and British actor Ian McShane as archeologist, Dr. Bryson. Ironically, the roles were originally meant to be reversed, but when Sheen read the script, he asked to play the Soul Hunter instead of Bryson. As for McShane, the actor happened to be rehearsing a play in L.A., which meant he was able to juggle his schedule to shoot 'The River Of Souls' at the same time.

Joe Nazzaro


STARRING:
Jerry Doyle as Michael Garibaldi
Tracy Scoggins as Elizabeth Lochley
Jeff Conaway as Security Chief Zack Allan
Richard Biggs as Dr. Stephen Franklin
with Ian McShane as Dr. Robert Bryson
and Martin Sheen as the Soul Hunter


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