The Odyssey | |
---|---|
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]
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. [6]
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.
Fraggle Rock is a children's musical fantasy comedy puppet television series about interconnected societies of Muppet creatures, created by Jim Henson.
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling under his production company Spelling Television. The series ran for ten seasons on Fox from October 4, 1990, to May 17, 2000, and is the first of six television series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise. The series follows the lives of a group of friends living in Beverly Hills, California, as they transition from high school to college and into the adult world. "90210" refers to one of the city's five ZIP codes.
Unsolved Mysteries is an American mystery documentary television series, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Karl Malden, and Robert Stack, beginning on NBC on January 20, 1987, becoming a full-fledged series on October 5, 1988, hosted by Stack. After nine seasons on NBC, the series moved to CBS for its 10th season on November 13, 1997. After adding Virginia Madsen as a co-host during season 11 failed to boost slipping ratings, CBS canceled the series after only a two-season, 12-episode run on June 11, 1999. The series was revived by Lifetime in 2000, with season 12 beginning on July 2, 2001. Unsolved Mysteries aired 103 episodes on Lifetime, before ending on September 20, 2002, an end that coincided with Stack's illness and eventual death.
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).
The Facts of Life is an American television sitcom created by Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon and a spin-off of Diff'rent Strokes that originally aired on NBC from August 24, 1979, to May 7, 1988, making it one of the longest-running sitcoms of the 1980s. The series focuses on Edna Garrett, as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, an all-girls boarding school in Peekskill, New York.
Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series created by William Gaines and Steven Dodd that ran for seven seasons on the premium cable channel HBO, from June 10, 1989, to July 19, 1996, with a total of 93 episodes. The show's title is based on the 1950s EC Comics series of the same name, published by William Gaines and edited by Al Feldstein. Most of the program's episodes are based on stories that originally appeared in that comic or other EC Comics of the time, The Haunt of Fear, The Vault of Horror, Crime SuspenStories, Shock SuspenStories, and Two-Fisted Tales.
Kenan & Kel is an American sitcom created by Kim Bass that originally aired on Nickelodeon from August 17, 1996, to January 14, 2001. Set in Chicago, the series follows mischievous Kenan Rockmore and his happy-go-lucky best friend Kel Kimble, who get involved with zany hijinks on a number of misadventures. The show was one of three spin-offs from All That, in which Thompson and Mitchell had co-starred for several years.
Tutenstein is an American animated television series, produced by Porchlight Entertainment for Discovery Kids based on the comics by Jay Stephens. The series was first premiered on Discovery Kids' Saturday morning block on NBC on November 1, 2003. It ended on October 11, 2008. The series features young mummy Tutankhensetamun who is awakened about 3,000 years after his accidental death and now must face the fact that his kingdom is gone. The name is a portmanteau of Tutankhamun and Frankenstein.
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.
Heathcliff is a children's animated television series that debuted on September 3, 1984. Produced by DIC Audiovisuel, it was the second animated series based on the Heathcliff comic strip. 65 half-hour episodes aired in first-run syndication in the fall of 1984, followed by a second season of 21 episodes in 1985 ran in syndication until it ended in 1988. The Catillac Cats characters were created by Jean Chalopin and Bruno Bianchi.
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).
Robert Charles Wisden is an English-born, Canadian actor who has an extensive career in Canadian and American film and television, for which he has won a Gemini Award. Best known for playing U.S. President Richard Nixon in the 2009 American neo-noir superhero film Watchmen, he has acted on many series, including Da Vinci's Inquest, Smallville, The X-Files, Battlestar Galactica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Highlander and Jeremiah.
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.
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.
DuckTales is an American animated television series, developed by Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones, and produced by Disney Television Animation. The series is a reboot of the original 1987 series of the same name, itself an adaptation of Uncle Scrooge and other Duck universe comic books created by Carl Barks, which focused on the lives of Scrooge McDuck and his family as they engaged in a variety of adventures around the world, as well as in the fictional city of Duckburg. The reboot itself focuses on newer elements and deeper character stories, including a greater involvement of Donald Duck.
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is a 2019 American satirical buddy stoner comedy film written, directed, edited by, and starring Kevin Smith. A sequel to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, it is the eighth film in the View Askewniverse. The film also stars Jason Mewes, and features cameos from Brian O'Halloran, Jason Lee, Justin Long, Shannon Elizabeth, Rosario Dawson, Val Kilmer, Melissa Benoist, Craig Robinson, Tommy Chong, Chris Hemsworth, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck.
During the 1979–80 and 1980–81 seasons, four more Canadian teams, the Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets, and Calgary Flames, joined the NHL. The Oilers and Flames were featured frequently as the two teams were contenders the 1980s; in contrast, as the Nordiques were owned by Carling-O'Keefe, a rival to the show's sponsor Molson and whose English-speaking fanbase was very small, the Nords were rarely broadcast, and never from Quebec City during the regular-season.