Gulliver's Travels (miniseries)

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Gulliver's Travels
Gullivers travels dvd cover.jpg
DVD cover (special edition)
Based on
Gulliver's Travels
by
Written by Simon Moore
Directed by Charles Sturridge
Starring Ted Danson
Mary Steenburgen
James Fox
Omar Sharif
Peter O'Toole
Alfre Woodard
Kristin Scott Thomas
John Gielgud
Voices of Isabelle Huppert
Narrated by Ted Danson
Composer Trevor Jones
Country of originUnited States
United Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes2
Production
Executive producers Robert Halmi Sr.
Brian Henson
Producer Duncan Kenworthy
Production locationsEngland
Portugal
Running time186 minutes
Production companies Jim Henson Productions
Hallmark Entertainment
Original release
Network NBC (United States)
Channel 4 (United Kingdom)
ReleaseFebruary 4 (1996-02-04) –
February 5, 1996 (1996-02-05)

Gulliver's Travels (known in some markets as Ted Danson's Gulliver's Travels) is an American-British TV miniseries based on Jonathan Swift's 1726 satirical novel of the same name, produced by Jim Henson Productions and Hallmark Entertainment. This miniseries is notable for being one of the very few adaptations of Swift's novel to feature all four voyages. The miniseries aired in the United Kingdom on Channel 4, and in the United States on NBC in February 1996. The miniseries stars Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Tom Sturridge, James Fox, Omar Sharif, Peter O'Toole, Alfre Woodard, Kristin Scott Thomas, and John Gielgud.

Contents

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 flashbacks of his travels and the present where he is telling the story of his travels and has been committed to an insane asylum (the flashback framework and the incarceration in the asylum are not in the novel). While the miniseries remains faithful to the novel, the ending has been changed to have a more upbeat conclusion. In the book, Gulliver is so impressed with the Utopian country of the Houyhnhnms that when he returns to England he eventually chooses to live out his life among the horses in his barn, rather than with his family. In the miniseries, he recovers from this obsession and returns to his wife and child.

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 Jim Henson's Creature Shop creating several CGI wasps and some prosthetic make-up for the Yahoos. The animals seen in this film were provided by A1 Animals.

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 Brobdingnag, a land populated by Giants. He is found by Farmer Grultrud, who exhibits him as a crop guardian. Gulliver is later sold to a lady of the royal court, along with the farmer's daughter Glumdalclitch as his caretaker, and presented to the Queen of Brobdingnag. For being the smallest creature, Gulliver displaces court dwarf Grildrig, who comes to despise him and later attempts to kill him. Gulliver is examined by doctors who ridicule him for his size. To ingratiate himself, Gulliver discusses many aspects of English culture and politics with the Queen, which she ultimately finds repugnant in comparison to the fair-sharing system of Brobdingnag.

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 Struldbrugs, who imprison him for trespassing. He gives his wasp-sting dagger to the Gatekeeper to enter, but rejects their offer to gain immortality by drinking their water – the price being continuing to age on the inside, suffering ailments like blindness. Gulliver makes it to a port and joins a ship, but a mutiny en route leads to him swimming to another strange land.

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

Guest

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

YearAwardCategoryNominee(s)ResultRef.
1996
 Artios Awards Outstanding Achievement in Mini-Series CastingLynn KresselNominated [3]
Humanitas Prize 90 Minute or Longer Network or Syndicated Television Simon Moore (for "Part 2")Won [4]
Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Miniseries Robert Halmi Sr., Brian Henson, and
Duncan Kenworthy 		Won [5]
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special Alfre Woodard Nominated
Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries or a Special Charles Sturridge Nominated
Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries or a Special Simon MooreWon
Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or a Special Roger Hall, John Fenner, Alan Tomkins,
Frederic Evard, and Rosalind Shingleton		Won
Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or a Special Howard Atherton Nominated
Outstanding Costume Design for a Miniseries or a Special Shirley Ann Russell Nominated
Outstanding Editing for a Miniseries or a Special – Single Camera Production Peter CoulsonNominated
Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Special Aileen SeatonWon
Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Miniseries or a Special Simon Kaye, Paul Hamblin, and Clive PendryNominated
Outstanding Special Visual Effects Tim Webber Won
Royal Television Society Awards Production Design – DramaRoger HallWon
Visual EffectsTim WebberWon
Television Critics Association Awards Program of the Year Nominated
1997
 British Academy Television Awards Best Drama Serial Duncan Kenworthy, Charles Sturridge, and
Simon Moore		Nominated [6]
British Academy Television Craft Awards Best Costume Design Shirley RussellWon [7]
Best Design Roger HallWon
Best Editing – Fiction/Entertainment Peter CoulsonNominated
Cinema Audio Society Awards Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television – Movie of the Week,
Mini-Series or Specials 		Simon Kaye, Paul Hamblin,
and Clive Pendry (for "Part 1")		Nominated [8]
Satellite Awards Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television Won [9]
Best Actor in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television Ted Danson Nominated
Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television Alfre WoodardNominated
Saturn Awards Best Single Genre Television Presentation Nominated [10]
Young Artist Awards Best Family TV Movie or Mini-Series – NetworkNominated [11]

Television/Home Media

The miniseries aired on NBC in 1996. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment handled the Australia and Italy VHS release, and Hallmark Entertainment handled the US VHS release.

A Laserdisc release was handled by Image Entertainment (no year of release given).

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 Koch Media.

The complete mini-series was released in the US by Mill Creek Entertainment in 2015 on DVD.

NHK handled the 1997 Japanese TV release.

Related Research Articles

Yahoo (<i>Gullivers Travels</i>) Fictional being

Yahoos are legendary human beings in the 1726 satirical novel Gulliver's Travels written by Jonathan Swift. Their behaviour and character representation is meant to comment on the state of Europe from Swift's point of view. The word "yahoo" was coined by Jonathan Swift in the fourth section of Gulliver's Travels and has since entered the English language more broadly.

<i>Gullivers Travels</i> 1726 novel by Jonathan Swift

Gulliver's Travels, or Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, satirising both human nature and the "travellers' tales" literary subgenre. It is Swift's best-known full-length work and a classic of English literature. Swift claimed that he wrote Gulliver's Travels "to vex the world rather than divert it".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houyhnhnm</span> Fictional race of horses

Houyhnhnms are a fictional race of intelligent horses described in the last part of Jonathan Swift's satirical 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels. The name is pronounced either or. Swift apparently intended all words of the Houyhnhnm language to echo the neighing of horses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laputa</span> Flying Fictional Island

Laputa is a flying island described in the 1726 book Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. It is about 4+1⁄2 miles in diameter, with an adamantine base, which its inhabitants can manoeuvre in any direction using magnetic levitation. The island is the home of the king of Balnibarbi and his court, and is used by the king to enforce his rule over the lands below.

Adamant in classical mythology is an archaic form of diamond. In fact, the English word diamond is ultimately derived from adamas, via Late Latin diamas and Old French diamant. In ancient Greek ἀδάμας, genitive ἀδάμαντος, literally 'unconquerable, untameable'. In those days, the qualities of hard metal were attributed to it, and adamant became as a result an independent concept.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Danson</span> American actor (born 1947)

Edward BridgeDanson III is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom Cheers, for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He was nominated for more Emmy Awards for roles in the legal drama Damages (2007–2010) and the NBC dramedy The Good Place (2016–2020). He was awarded a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lilliput and Blefuscu</span> Fictional island states in Gullivers Travels

Lilliput and Blefuscu are two fictional island nations that appear in the first part of the 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. The two islands are neighbours in the South Indian Ocean, separated by a channel 800 yards (730 m) wide. Both are inhabited by tiny people who are about one-twelfth the height of ordinary human beings. Both are empires, i.e. realms ruled by an emperor. The capital of Lilliput is Mildendo. In some pictures, the islands are arranged like an egg, as a reference to their egg-dominated histories and cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brobdingnag</span> Fictional land in Gullivers Travels

Brobdingnag is a fictional land, which is occupied by giants, in Jonathan Swift's 1726 satirical novel Gulliver's Travels. The story's main character, Lemuel Gulliver, visits the land after the ship on which he is travelling is blown off course. As a result, he becomes separated from a party exploring the unknown land. In the second preface to the book, Gulliver laments that the publisher misspelled the land's name, which Gulliver asserts is actually called Brobdingrag.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lemuel Gulliver</span> Protagonist of Gullivers Travels

Lemuel Gulliver is the fictional protagonist and narrator of Gulliver's Travels, a novel written by Jonathan Swift, first published in 1726.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glumdalclitch</span> Fictional character from Gullivers Travels

Glumdalclitch is the name Gulliver gives his "nurse" in Book II of Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels. In Book I, Gulliver travels to the land of Lilliput. Leaving there, he travels to the land of Brobdingnag. In Lilliput, Gulliver was a giant, and in Brobdingnag, he is a dwarf, with the proportions reversed.

<i>The Adventures of Gulliver</i> American TV series or program

The Adventures of Gulliver is a 1968 television cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The show is loosely based on the 1726 satirical novel Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. The show aired Saturday mornings on ABC-TV and lasted for one season in its original broadcast.

The 3 Worlds of Gulliver is a 1960 American Eastmancolor fantasy adventure film loosely based upon the 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. The film stars Kerwin Mathews as the title character, June Thorburn as his fiancée Elizabeth, and child actress Sherry Alberoni as Glumdalclitch.

<i>Gullivers Travels</i> (1939 film) 1939 film by Max Fleischer, Dave Fleischer, Willard Bowsky

Gulliver's Travels is an American animated musical fantasy film produced by Max Fleischer and directed by Dave Fleischer for Fleischer Studios. Released to cinemas in the United States on December 22, 1939, by Paramount Pictures, the story is a very loose adaptation of Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel of the same name, specifically only the first part of four, which tells the story of Lilliput and Blefuscu, and centers around an explorer who helps a small kingdom who declared war after an argument over a wedding song. The film was Fleischer Studios' first feature-length animated film, as well as the second animated feature film produced by an American studio after Walt Disney Productions' Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as Paramount had commissioned the feature in response to the success of that film. The sequences for the film were directed by Seymour Kneitel, Willard Bowsky, Tom Palmer, Grim Natwick, William Henning, Roland Crandall, Thomas Johnson, Robert Leffingwell, Frank Kelling, Winfield Hoskins, and Orestes Calpini.

<i>Gullivers Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants</i> 1902 French silent film by Georges Méliès

Le Voyage de Gulliver à Lilliput et chez les Géants, released in the United States as Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants and in the United Kingdom as Gulliver's Travels—In the land of the Lilliputians and the Giants, is a 1902 French short silent film directed by Georges Méliès, based on Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels.

<i>Gullivers Travels</i> (1977 film) 1977 film by Peter R. Hunt

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<i>Gullivers Travels</i> (2010 film) 2010 film by Rob Letterman

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balnibarbi</span> Fictional land in Jonathan Swifts 1726 novel Gullivers Travels

Balnibarbi is a fictional land in Jonathan Swift's 1726 satirical novel Gulliver's Travels. it was visited by Lemuel Gulliver after he was rescued by the people of the flying island of Laputa.

Cultural influence of <i>Gullivers Travels</i>

The cultural influence of Gulliver's Travels has spanned centuries.

Lilliput is a townland in County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located five miles south of Mullingar and lies at the southern end of Lough Ennell. Lilliput covers an area of 244 acres and was recorded with a population of 22.

Gulliver Returns is a 2021 animated comedy film produced by 95 Animation Studio and Gulliver Films. Based on an original idea by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Borys and Serhiy Shefir, and Andriy Yakovlev, it is directed by Ilya Maksimov, with a screenplay by Michael Ryan. The film is a loose adaptation of Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift.

References

  1. ↑ Bacon, Matt (1997). No Strings Attached: The Inside Story of Jim Henson's Creature Shop . Macmillan. pp.  150–151. ISBN   0-02-862008-9.
  2. ↑ Tucker, Ken (2 February 1996). "A Man for all Sizes". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
  3. ↑ "1996 Artios Awards". Casting Society of America. 15 October 1996. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  4. ↑ "Past Winners & Nominees". Humanitas Prize . Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  5. ↑ "Gulliver's Travels". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences . Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  6. ↑ "BAFTA Awards: Television in 1997". British Academy Television Awards . Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  7. ↑ "BAFTA Awards: Television Craft in 1997". British Academy Television Craft Awards . Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  8. ↑ "Nominees/Winners". IMDb . Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  9. ↑ "International Press Academy website – 1997 1st Annual SATELLITE Awards". Archived from the original on 1 February 2008.
  10. ↑ "Past Saturn Awards". Saturn Awards. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved May 7, 2008.
  11. ↑ "18th Youth In Film Awards". Young Artist Awards. Archived from the original on 2 April 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
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