Reiner Schöne Movies

The long-awaited "backstory" for the popular syndicated science-fiction saga Babylon 5 was provided some five years after the series premiered, courtesy of the two-hour movie special Babylon Five: In the Beginning. Set in the year 2278, the film takes a backward glance at the Earth-Minbari war, as seen through the eyes of Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik), now the emperor of Centauri. Detailed for the first time are the tragic beginnings of the war, the involvement of the Minbari Delenn (Mira Furlan), and the death of Dukaht (Raynor Scheine). In addition to featuring most of the series' current regulars, the film also brings back such early defectors as Lt. Cmdr. Jeffrey Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) and Ambassador Kosh (Ardwright Chamberlain). As a bonus, Claudia Christian appears unbilled in her familiar role of Lt. Cmdr. Susan Ivanova, here depicted as an 18-year-old civilian. The film was written by series producer J. Michael Straczynski, and later novelized by Peter David. First telecast on January 4, 1978, Babylon 5: In the Beginning launched the two-year association between Babylon 5 and the TNT cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Delenn returns to her home world of Minbar, hoping to convince the people to accept her relationship with Captain Sheridan. Upon arrival, she is required to undergo The Dreaming, a ritual that literally burrows into her soul. And in another development, Marcus and Franklin are sent to Mars, there to link up with the Resistance forces. Written by J. Michael Straczynski, "Atonement" was first telecast in the US during the week of February 24, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Ann-Margret stars in the made-for-cable movie Nobody's Children, filmed on-location in Bucharest, Romania, and based on a true story. Ann-Margret and Jay O. Sanders star as the real-life Carol and Joe Stevens, a married couple from Detroit who are unable to conceive a child of their own. They travel to Bucharest in 1990, just following the end of Ceausescu's regime, where a secret police controls the populace and state institutions are filled with abandoned children. The Stevenses bear witness to the deplorable conditions under which the unwanted babies must live as well as the extreme poverty and illness of the other Romanian children. French doctor Stephanie Vaugier (Dominique Sanda) helps Carol wade through the bureaucracy so she is able to adopt two children and return to the States. Originally aired on the USA television network in March of 1994. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

In this dystopian fable, a librarian wife and mother becomes the childbearing pawn of a Christian theocracy. In the near future, as war rages across the fictional North American Republic of Gilead and pollution has rendered 99 percent of the female population sterile, Kate (Natasha Richardson) sees her husband killed and her daughter kidnapped while trying to escape across the border. Kate herself is transformed into a handmaid -- a surrogate mother for one of the privileged but barren couples who run the country's fundamentalist regime. Although she resists being indoctrinated into the bizarre cult of the handmaids, which mixes Old Testament orthodoxy and misogynist cant with 12-step gospel and ritualized violence, Kate soon finds herself ensconced at the home of the Commander (Robert Duvall) and his frosty wife, Serena Joy (Faye Dunaway). Forced to lie between Serena Joy's legs and be penetrated impersonally each month by the Commander, Kate longs for her vanished earlier life; she soon learns that since many of the nation's powerful men are as sterile as their wives, she may have to risk the punishment for fornication -- death by hanging -- in order to sleep with another man who can provide her with the pregnancy that has become her sole raison d'être. When that other man turns out to be Nick (Aidan Quinn), the Commander's handsome, sympathetic driver, Kate grows attached to him -- and eventually pregnant with his child. Only the mysterious rebel affiliations of her fellow handmaid, Ofglen (Blanche Baker), seem to offer any chance of giving her unborn child a life of freedom -- or finding the daughter she already lost. Loosely adapted by Harold Pinter from the novel by Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale also features Elizabeth McGovern in a small but pivotal role as Moira, a "gender traitor" who befriends Kate at the handmaids' reprogramming center. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Denise (Lisa Bonet) has trouble understanding why Sondra (Sabrina LeBeauf) is so worn out taking care of her twins Nelson and Winnie--or at least, she HAD trouble understanding until she herself volunteers to spend an evening as babysitter. Our heroine soon gets a clue to what she's in for when the power fails and the twins start screaming uncontrollably. because they can't watch their favorite video. But the situation doesn't really spiral out of control until Denise forgets about baby Winnie's food allergy. With this episode, twins Christopher Griggs and Clayton Griggs take over from Everett Wilson and Ronald Wilson in the role of Nelson Tibideaux. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Here's another spin-off adventure from the classic Treasure Island story. Volume 4 contains two episodes: "Fugitives" and "In Chains," where the hero Jim Hawkins finds himself in jail with none other than his old pal, Long John Silver. ~ Rovi

This spin-off of the classic Treasure Island story contains two episodes. In "The Island of the Damned" and "Jamaica." Together Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver encounter adventures galore as they go back to the famed island. ~ Rovi

In this last volume from the Treasure Island series, the young Mr. Hawkins and his cohort Long John Silver flee their prison captivity to return to Treasure Island, again searching for the long-lost pirate treasure. ~ Rovi