| The Odyssey | |
|---|---|
 Main Title Card | |
| Starring |
|
| Country of origin | Canada |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 39 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Michael Chechik |
| Running time | 30 min. |
| Production companies | Omni Film Productions Water Street Pictures |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBC Television |
| Release | March 9, 1992 – December 26, 1994 |
The Odyssey is a Canadian-produced half-hour adventure-fantasy television series for children, originally broadcast from 1992 to 1994 on CBC Television.
In the series pilot, 11-year-old Jay (Illya Woloshyn) tries to join a tree-fort club, led by the tough Keith (Tony Sampson). As per the prearranged agreement, Jay has brought something of value to contribute to the club: a telescope that belonged to his father (Robert Wisden) who has been missing for several years and is presumed dead. Keith double-crosses Jay and takes the telescope, denying him admission into the club. Jay tries to retrieve the telescope with the help of his physically disabled friend Donna (Ashley Rogers), who uses a crutch and a leg brace in order to walk. Jay falls from the tree fort, striking his head against a rock and lapsing into a coma.
In the coma, Jay finds himself in a fantasy world called Downworld where no one reaches the age of 16. Not having heard of adults, the children here have shaped society in their own ways, forming mostly tribal clans in the form of Clubs, such as the Pool Club and the Library Club. The biggest and most powerful Club is the Tower, a brutal despotic police state run by the oldest kids, with Brad as the absolute ruler because he is 15, and "knows everything". Jay, not knowing how he has got here and aided by his friends Alpha and Flash (who are identical to Donna and Keith), embarks on a journey to return home — a place that he cannot remember. The journey becomes a quest to find his long-lost father, whose name happens to be Brad, who fell overboard from a small boat into a lake while they were on a fishing trip together and has not been seen since.
Meanwhile, Jay's mother and a coma therapist try to get Jay to regain consciousness, with the help of his friends.
A turning point is reached when Jay's father appears to him as he is regaining consciousness, which Jay is forced to keep a secret from his mother. As Jay struggles to re-orient himself in the waking world and the many changes that have occurred, he finds that he is still dealing with issues through the world from his subconscious.
The series, created by Paul Vitols and Warren Easton, was produced in Vancouver by Water Street Pictures. Over the three years of production, 39 episodes were made. Due to a decreased viewership for season 3, the series was cancelled before reaching its intended conclusion, ending the last season with cliffhangers both in the Upworld and Downworld. [1] [2]
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Fall" | Jorge Montesi | Paul Vitols & Warren Easton | November 2, 1992 |
| 2 | 2 | "No Fair" | Unknown | Unknown | November 9, 1992 |
| 3 | 3 | "Out of the Woods" | Unknown | Unknown | November 16, 1992 |
| 4 | 4 | "By the Book" | Unknown | Unknown | November 23, 1992 |
| 5 | 5 | "Checkpoint Eagle" | Unknown | Unknown | November 30, 1992 |
| 6 | 6 | "The Believers" | Unknown | Unknown | December 7, 1992 |
| 7 | 7 | "A Place Called Nowhere" | Unknown | Unknown | December 14, 1992 |
| 8 | 8 | "Wanted" | Unknown | Unknown | December 21, 1992 |
| 9 | 9 | "Galileo & the Gypsies" | Unknown | Unknown | December 28, 1992 |
| 10 | 10 | "In the Dark" | Unknown | Unknown | January 4, 1993 |
| 11 | 11 | "The Brad Exchange" | Unknown | Unknown | January 11, 1993 |
| 12 | 12 | "Welcome to the Tower" | Unknown | Unknown | January 18, 1993 |
| 13 | 13 | "The One Called Brad" | Unknown | Unknown | January 25, 1993 |
The pilot episode was originally aired in Canada on March 9, 1992, as The Jellybean Odyssey.
The series was shown on Network 2 in Ireland as part of their children's strand of programming The Den in 1994. The show was broadcast in the U.S. by the Sci-Fi Channel, in the UK by Nickelodeon and Channel 4 in 1995 (repeated in 1998), in France by M6 (first season only) and then by France 3 (whole series), and in a number of other countries.[ citation needed ]
The series aired in Hong Kong on ATV World.[ citation needed ]
The first 26 episodes aired in French Canada on Radio-Canada during the 1994-95 season, under the title "L'odyssée fantastique". It re-aired in 1996 and 1998.
A special edition DVD of the complete series was made in limited quantities and is sold through Omni Film Productions.
The Odyssey can also be purchased digitally from Vimeo. [3] From May 25, 2018 to January 9, 2019, the series was uploaded to Canada Media Fund’s YouTube channel Encore+. [4] However the channel was shut down in 2022. [5] It can currently be streamed on the services Plex and Tubi in Canada [6]
Awards won by the series include the Top Ten World Program at the Cologne Conference and a Canadian Gemini for Best Youth Program.[ citation needed ]
In June 2016, Marblemedia and Omnifilm Entertainment announced that they had joined forces to update and reboot The Odyssey. The reboot was to be adapted by showrunners Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott. [7]
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents Napoleon Solo, played by Robert Vaughn, and Illya Kuryakin, played by David McCallum, who work for a secret international counterespionage and law-enforcement agency called U.N.C.L.E.. The series premiered on September 22, 1964, and completed its run on January 15, 1968. The program was part of the spy-fiction craze on television, and by 1966 there were nearly a dozen imitators. Several episodes were successfully released to theaters as B movies or double features. There was also a spin-off series, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., a series of novels and comic books, and merchandising.
Stargate SG-1 is a military science fiction adventure television series within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 science fiction film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich. The television series was filmed in and around the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The series premiered on Showtime on July 27, 1997, and moved to the Sci Fi Channel on June 7, 2002; the series finale aired on Sky1 on March 13, 2007.
David Keith McCallum was a Scottish actor and musician, based in the United States. He gained wide recognition in the 1960s for playing secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E (1964–1968). His other notable television roles include Simon Carter in Colditz (1972–1974) and Steel in Sapphire & Steel (1979–1982). Beginning in 2003, McCallum gained renewed international popularity for his role as NCIS chief medical examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard in the American CBS television series NCIS, which he played for 20 seasons until his death in 2023. In film roles, McCallum notably appeared in The Great Escape (1963), and as Judas Iscariot in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).
Due South is a Canadian crime comedy-drama television series created by Paul Haggis, and produced by Alliance Communications from its premiere on April 23, 1994, to its conclusion after four seasons on March 14, 1999. The series starred Paul Gross, David Marciano, Gordon Pinsent, Beau Starr, Catherine Bruhier, Camilla Scott, Ramona Milano, and Callum Keith Rennie. The show follows the adventures of Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Constable Benton Fraser, who first came to Chicago on the trail of the killers of his father, and has remained, attached as liaison with the Canadian Consulate. He works alongside a detective of the Chicago Police Department to solve crimes. Both are aided at times by Fraser's deaf white wolf, Diefenbaker.
The Critic is an American primetime adult animated sitcom revolving around the life of New York film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by Jon Lovitz. It was created by writing partners Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who had previously worked as writers and showrunners on seasons 3 and 4 of The Simpsons. The Critic had 23 episodes produced, first broadcast on ABC in 1994, and finishing its original run on Fox in 1995.
The Raccoons is a Canadian animated television series that ran on CBC from November 11, 1985, to March 19, 1991, in Canada and on Disney Channel from July 4, 1985, to August 28, 1992, in the U.S., with three preceding television specials from its inception in 1980, and one direct-to-video special in 1984. The franchise was created by Kevin Gillis with the co-operation of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the middle-class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz co-stars as her pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children, Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1958, to March 19, 1966.
Noah's Arc is an American cable television comedy-drama series that aired for two seasons on the Logo network from October 19, 2005 to October 4, 2006. The show centered on the lives of four African-American gay friends who share personal and professional experiences while living in Los Angeles.
Angie is an American sitcom television series that aired on ABC from February 8, 1979, to September 4, 1980. The series was created by Garry Marshall and Dale McRaven, and produced by Miller-Milkis Productions in association with Paramount Television.
Mayday is a Canadian documentary television program examining air crashes, near-crashes, hijackings, bombings, and other disasters. Mayday uses re-enactments and computer-generated imagery to reconstruct the sequence of events leading up to each disaster. In addition, survivors, aviation experts, retired pilots, and crash investigators are interviewed, to explain how the emergencies came about, how they were investigated, and how they might have been prevented.
The Drew Carey Show is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995, to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the comedian.
Deafplanet is a Canadian television series for children in American Sign Language (ASL). It was created by marblemedia in collaboration with TVOntario and the Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf. A French-language version of the show was also produced, using Quebec Sign Language (LSQ).
Ghost Lab is a weekly American paranormal television series that premiered on October 6, 2009, on the Discovery Channel. Produced by Paper Route Productions and Go Go Luckey Entertainment, the program is narrated by Mike Rowe. It follows ghost-hunting brothers Brad and Barry Klinge, who founded Everyday Paranormal (EP) in October 2007.
Call Me Fitz is a Canadian television series produced by E1 Entertainment, Amaze Film & Television, and Big Motion Pictures. The half-hour comedy stars Jason Priestley as Richard "Fitz" Fitzpatrick, a morally bankrupt used-car salesman whose consequence-free life is complicated by the arrival of do-gooder Larry, another salesman who claims he is Fitz's conscience.
Splatalot! is a medieval-themed physical game show which premiered in Canada on Corus Entertainment's YTV on 14 March 2011, hosted by Jason Agnew and Matt Chin. It premiered in the United Kingdom on CBBC on 13 June 2011 with Dick and Dom as hosts and in Australia on ABC3 on 5 November 2011 with Kayne Tremills and Scott Tweedie as hosts. The series was inspired by the game show Wipeout, designed for a younger demographic. The British and Australian CBBC and ABC3 broadcasts of the show used the same filmed footage as the original Canadian YTV version, but with local presenters providing commentary.
Greatest Tank Battles is a military documentary series currently airing on History Television and National Geographic Channel in Canada, where it premiered on 4 January 2010. The series was subsequently picked up in the United States by the Military Channel, where it premiered on 5 January 2011. The second season premiered in Canada on 17 January 2011. The show is also broadcast on Discovery Networks throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Other countries where the show has signed broadcast deals include India and China, with a DVD deal in Australia.
Spoilers with Kevin Smith is a film review television talk show that premiered June 4, 2012 on Hulu. The show, described as an "anti-movie review" show, is hosted by Kevin Smith and produced by Smith's SModcast Pictures. A second season of Spoilers aired on The Comedy Network in Canada. Ten new half-hour episodes were shot in Los Angeles. The first series was filmed at "SModCo Studios", the upper floor of The Jon Lovitz Podcast Theatre at CityWalk in Universal Studios Hollywood. The second series was filmed at Raleigh Studios.
The Dating Guy is a Canadian adult animated series and sitcom that originally aired on Teletoon at Night starting on September 17, 2008 and ending on May 8, 2010.
Incognito Cinema Warriors XP is a post-apocalyptic zombie comedy DVD and web series created by Rikk Wolf and produced by Agonywolf Media. The show premiered on Myspace and was meant to be a one-time homage to Mystery Science Theater 3000, but after Wolf was contacted by the producers of RiffTrax to participate in the launch of their new site iRiffs, he decided to produce more episodes. The first season of the show follows the same "host segment-movie segment" format that MST3K established, while featuring completely original characters and plot. The second season is more plot-driven and riffs short films as opposed to full-length movies.