Gulliver's Travels (miniseries)
Gulliver's Travels | |
---|---|
Channel 4 (United Kingdom) | |
Release | February 4 February 5, 1996 | –
Gulliver's Travels (known in some markets as Ted Danson's Gulliver's Travels) is an American-British TV
The series was nominated for eleven Primetime Emmy Awards, and won five (including for Outstanding Miniseries).
Premise
In this version, Dr. Gulliver has returned to his family after a long absence. The action shifts back and forth between
Production
It took years to find the financial backing for the miniseries. Regarding Jim Henson's involvement in the early stages of development, producer Duncan Kenworthy said, "It [Gulliver's Travels] was something I'd been developing while Jim was still alive. ... We wanted to do the whole book, and that was what interested Jim."[1]
The film was shot in England and Portugal. It required a good deal of special effects work, with
Plot
Part 1
Long missing and believed dead, Lemuel Gulliver is found in the stables of his own home one morning by his wife Mary and son Tom. He narrates what is received as a tall tale that begins with being shipwrecked on an island of tiny people called Lilliput, shown as flashbacks, while Gulliver also hallucinates some of the persons and events he witnessed.
Gulliver explains the strange customs of Lilliput, such as selecting government officials by jumping over and going under a stick held by the Emperor of Lilliput. Gulliver is presented to the Empress of Lilliput and is asked to fight a war against the enemy country of Blefuscu. To show his gratitude, Gulliver accepts and wins the war by disabling the Belfuscu Navy. During celebrations, a fire begins at the palace in the Empress's chambers; Gulliver puts out the fire with his own urine, leaving the Empress humiliated and demanding his execution. The country's leading generals also want him killed, for refusing to further decimate Blefuscu. Fleeing from the Emperor's army, Gulliver's Lilliputian friends hide him and help build a raft to escape on.
Meanwhile, Gulliver's wife Mary asks for the help of Dr. Bates, who had taken over both Gulliver's position and house, allowing Mary and Tom to live there. Bates, who wishes to wed Mary, conspires to have Gulliver detained at a mental institution, suggesting Gulliver has dementia. Mary goes to visit Gulliver there; on one of these visits Tom enters Bates' home office and finds Gulliver's travel satchel, containing his journal and a Lilliputian sheep, corroborating his story. Bates attempts to burn the journal. Over time Bates exerts enough influence over Mary to stop her hospital visits; Tom, on the other hand, recovers the damaged journal and hides it in his room.
At the mental institution, Gulliver continues to spin his tale. His Lilliputian raft crashes in
While awaiting a feast, Grildrig sends some giant wasps to kill Gulliver, but Gulliver is swift enough to kill them. He then extracts a wasp's sting and makes a dagger from it. To restore his standing with the queen, Gulliver has arranged for a gunpowder demonstration, which the scientists increase tenfold without his knowledge; the resulting explosion puts him more out of favor. Meanwhile, Glumdalclitch has fallen in love with Gulliver and wishes to marry him. Gulliver softly rejects her advances and asks her to free him. Glum takes Gulliver to the beach to search for ships that might take him home, but are unsuccessful. An eagle makes off with Gulliver's travel box, dropping it at sea. With no supplies, Gulliver believes his life at an end when he sees a gigantic floating rock in the sky.
Part 2
Continuing his tale, Gulliver is rescued by the people of the flying land of Laputa. He befriends the Rajah and his "idiot" son Prince Munodi. The prince shows Gulliver how the island is controlled, by a massive lodestone repelling them from the planet. Laputa is supplied by taking tribute from the lands they pass over; one of these lands is ruled by the prince's mother Empress Munodi, who refuses to give tribute. The Rajah demands a bombing attack, to which the Empress responds with a giant lodestone of her own, causing Laputa great turbulence. The prince suggests reversing the lodestone to stop the interference. Gulliver makes this happen, but falls off the island into the Empress' palace for his troubles.
Empress Munodi directs Gulliver to The Academy, a place suggested by the Rajah where he may find a path back to England, where he encounters many scientists lacking in common sense. Leaving that place, Gulliver encounters a magician in Glubbdubdrib. He stays at the magician's palace with the promise of being taken to a port to go to England, but each day the magician puts him off, saying "tomorrow." Gulliver later discovers the magician is drugging him and using his blood to summon the ghosts of great figures such as Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. Gulliver later summons more spirits by his own will, and uses this power to overwhelm the palace and gain freedom.
Meanwhile, as Bates will not allow Mary to see Gulliver, telling both that the other refuses to see them, she writes letters to her husband, which Bates intercepts and stashes on his office bookshelves. Some time later, Tom reveals to Mary that Bates has been hiding the letters. She confronts Bates, intending to take her husband home.
Gulliver tells his fellow inmates about meeting the immortal
Gulliver encounters the mud-covered, savage Yahoos and the intelligent, graceful Houyhnhnm horses. He talks to the Houyhnhnm Mistress and explains his costumes and lifestyle, and begins to admire more their culture. He studies the customs of Yahoos and Houyhnhnms and decides to prove to the Houyhnhnms that he's more like them. He even rejects the diamonds he finds in a quarry. After a savage encounter with a female Yahoo, the Houyhnhnms, even though they recognize his virtues, form a council and decide that Gulliver must leave. With sadness, Gulliver departs the island and is rescued by a Portuguese ship, against his will.
Gulliver is subjected to a medical evaluation while he relates his Houyhnhnm experience. Mary, having witnessed the hearing, supports her husband against Bates' accusations and questions his motives for keeping Gulliver in the hospital.
Gulliver's son enters the court room showing the small Lilliputian sheep Gulliver took care of. With this proof of his story, Gulliver is released. Bates goes abroad soon after and is not heard from again. Gulliver struggles against re-becoming like a Yahoo, and shares what he is now as a person.
Cast and characters
Main
- Ted Danson as Lemuel Gulliver
- Mary Steenburgen as Mary Gulliver
- Tom Sturridge as Tom Gulliver
- James Fox as Dr. Bates
- Peter O'Toole as Emperor of Lilliput
- Omar Sharif as Sorcerer
- Alfre Woodard as Queen of Brobdingnag
- John Gielgud as Professor of Sunlight
Guest
- Ned Beatty as Farmer Grultrud
- Annette Badland as Farmer Grultrud's Wife
- Kate Maberly as Glumdalclitch
- Shashi Kapoor as Rajah of Laputa
- Geraldine Chaplin as Empress Munodi
- Navin Chowdhry as Prince Munodi
- Edward Fox as General Limtoc
- Warwick Davis as Grildrig
- Edward Woodward as Drunlo
- Nicholas Lyndhurst as Clustril
- Phoebe Nicholls as Empress of Lilliput
- Robert Hardy as Dr Parnell
- Kristin Scott Thomas as Immortal Gatekeeper
- Isabelle Huppert as Houyhnhnm Mistress (voice)
- John Standing as Admiral Bolgolam
- John Wells as Flimnap the Treasurer
- Graham Crowden as Professor of Politics
- Richard Wilson as Professor of Language
- Edward Petherbridge as Dr. Pritchard
- Karyn Parsons as Lady-In-Waiting
- George Harris as Brobdingnag Scientist
Reception
The miniseries was generally well received by critics. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote that, "Everything about this production is surprising, from its choice of Gulliver—Cheers' Ted Danson in an excellent wig—to its startling fidelity to Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel," and called it "a big, gaudy, funny production that feels free to give full reign to Swift's blithe vulgarity."[2]
Awards and nominations
Television/Home Media
The miniseries aired on
A
Artisan Home Entertainment and Family Home Entertainment released the miniseries on DVD to the US in 1999.
Hallmark released the 171-minute DVD in Australia in 2002, branded VideoEzy in 2003.
A German 2013 DVD release was handled by
The complete mini-series was released in the US by Mill Creek Entertainment in 2015 on DVD.
NHK handled the 1997 Japanese TV release.
References
- ISBN 0-02-862008-9.
- ^ Tucker, Ken (2 February 1996). "A Man for all Sizes". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
- ^ "1996 Artios Awards". Casting Society of America. 15 October 1996. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ "Past Winners & Nominees". Humanitas Prize. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ "Gulliver's Travels". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ "BAFTA Awards: Television in 1997". British Academy Television Awards. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ "BAFTA Awards: Television Craft in 1997". British Academy Television Craft Awards. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ "Nominees/Winners". IMDb. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
- ^ "International Press Academy website – 1997 1st Annual SATELLITE Awards". Archived from the original on 1 February 2008.
- ^ "Past Saturn Awards". Saturn Awards. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved May 7, 2008.
- ^ "18th Youth In Film Awards". Young Artist Awards. Archived from the original on 2 April 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
External links
- Gulliver's Travels at IMDb