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I'm trying to figure out what TV show or movie I saw from one scene I watched as a kid. All I saw were some pods landing in a body of water, which then opened. A person inside had to swim to the surface and then to the shore of an island or something. I have no idea where the pods were from (space? air?). They were spherical or maybe oval. There were around 20 people. It was on the space channel, I think. I saw it as a kid, about 12 years ago, and always wondered what happened.

Cath adds:

I am trying to find about the same thing. Only something was making the people who lived on this island into pods who would them come out of the lake and those who had not been 'changed' would just think it was still the person they knew and they acted themselves around them. It was a TV series at night that ran about two seasons and the network just left it hanging. Did not bring it back for another season.

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    Except for the number of people, it sounds like it could be the original Planet of the Apes. Were the other people on the ship or on land? Was it an airship or spaceship? Any other clues you can give us?
    – Tango
    Commented Nov 4, 2011 at 5:28
  • ugh! i have no idea where the pods came from they were spherical or maybe oval though. the people were either coming out of pods, it water or on a beach. no idea if it was space or air. tough one eh?
    – Matt
    Commented Nov 4, 2011 at 6:44
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    There's really not enough information here to do more than take a random guess.
    – thedaian
    Commented Nov 4, 2011 at 12:29
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    @Matt You should add those details to your question by editing it.
    – user1027
    Commented Nov 4, 2011 at 15:32
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    I am trying to find about the same thing. Only something was making the people who lived on this island into pods who would them come out of the lake and those who had not been 'changed' would just think it was still the person they knew and they acted themselves around them. It was a TV series at night that ran about two seasons and the network just left it hanging. Did not bring it back for another season.
    – user8892
    Commented Sep 20, 2012 at 3:52

7 Answers 7

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It sounds like it could be the aborted or botched pilot for a Riverworld series, but that would be 2003, not 12 years ago (more like 8 years ago). Here's a trailer of the pilot. It shows pods under water (which is completely different than in the book) and shows the people coming out of the water. While this shows more than 20 people, it could be there were shots of different areas where people emerged and there might have been some with fewer people.

Do the pods in this trailer look at all like the pods you remember? They didn't land, they would have been released from underwater, but if you turned the show on in the middle of the scene, that might have seemed like a landing.

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    I immediately thought of this when I read the title.
    – Travis Christian
    Commented Nov 4, 2011 at 19:17
  • I was thinking of it, but wasn't sure, since my memory of the book is so strong (compared to the poor quality of the pilot, which led me to try to forget it) and I was thrown by the "landing" part until I checked the trailer.
    – Tango
    Commented Nov 4, 2011 at 19:18
  • If this answer is correct, the question is a duplicate of scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/145822/…, which is newer but has an accepted answer
    – Otis
    Commented Apr 14, 2019 at 15:51
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You may be referring to a Ron Howard film from 1985 called Cocoon.

From Wikipedia summary: A group of peaceful alien lifeforms from the planet Antarea formed an outpost on Earth, on an island known as Atlantis which sank. Twenty members of the group remained behind in cocoons to ensure that the rest had sufficient lifeforce to return to their home planet. Eventually a group of four Antareans returns to pick them up. After disguising themselves as humans they rent a house with a swimming pool, which they charge with lifeforce, to give the cocooned Antareans enough energy to survive the trip home. They then charter a boat to retrieve the cocoons.

Three local residents from a retirement home swim in the pool secretly and take in some of the life force, which causes them to feel younger, stronger, and happier. They are caught, but are eventually given permission to use the pool by the Antarean leader, Bernie, one of the other elderly people from the home refuses to use the healing power that he and his dying spouse need, believing it to be unnatural. One night, he reveals the secret of the pool's rejuvenating power. The other elderly residents barge into the pool, draining the life force

The power of the pool is gone so the cocoons cannot survive the trip back to Antarea. The Antareans return the cocoons to the ruins of Atlantis, planning to attempt a second rescue in another 10,000 years. Unable to take the cocoons, the Antareans offer the space aboard their ship to the old people.

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Escape to Witch Mountain maybe? The aliens got separated after crash-landing in water, though I don't recall a scene exactly like that in the original film. Maybe in one of the sequels or the 1995 remake?

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As I recall, there were two seperate "Riverworld" movies over several years, and both started with multiple characters emerging from a river and swimming to shore -- a kind of afterlife world where everyone there had died on Earth at some point in history before emerging alive and healthy from the river in this new world.

Another movie/TV series dealing with "pods" was "Body Snatchers"/"Invasion of the Body Snatchers"/"Invasion" (the last being a short-lived TV series based on the earlier movies). The "pod people" would look identical to the people they replaced, but without emotions.

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  • The OP isn't looking for a list of movies with pods or people emerging from a river; they want a specific work with both elements. Did the people in the "Riverworld" movies emerge from pods?
    – Niall C.
    Commented Jan 10, 2015 at 16:40
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I think the series should probably be Invasion 2005-2006.

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    Can you provide any more details that suggest they're similar. You should know by now how to link and write up an answer. We all know you're not a new user.
    – Edlothiad
    Commented Oct 31, 2017 at 21:55
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Not an old Film but it happens in Pandorum (2006). At the end all the escape pods blow out and they are right in front of a island. I can't comment just yet and would have preferred to leave this as a comment :/

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I do believe you are referring to a TV Series "Surface". The "people, if I recall correctly would eventually take over the citizens, a la the "Invaders". The show was canceled without an ending, but can be found on DVD.

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  • TV show was entitled "Invasion." "Surface" was on NBC concurrently and was about huge sea creatures appearing around the world.
    – Terry Steele
    Commented Jul 4, 2013 at 19:55

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