Gulliver's Travels (TV miniseries)

Infobox Television
show_name = Gulliver's Travels


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writer = Simon Moore, Jonathan Swift
director = Charles Sturridge
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starring = Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, James Fox, Omar Sharif, Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud
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composer = Trevor Jones
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language = English
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executive_producer = Robert Halmi Sr., Brian Henson
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producer =Duncan Kenworthy
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"Gulliver's Travels" is a TV miniseries based on Jonathan Swift's 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 UK on channel 4, and in USA on NBC in February 1996. The miniseries stars Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud, Omar Sharif, Shashi Kapoor, Warwick Davis, Kristin Scott Thomas, Kate Maberly, Tom Sturridge and Nicholas Lyndhurst. It was shot in England (where Swift's mother originated) and Portugal.

In this version, Dr. Gulliver has returned to his family from 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 travel and has been committed to an insane asylum.

The series won 5 Emmys.

Production

It took years to find the financial backing for the the miniseries. The project required a good deal of Special Effects work. Jim Henson's Creature Shop created several CGI wasps and some prosthetic make-up for the Yahoos of Guliver's fourth voyage. Producer Duncan Kenworthy said that, "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." [cite book| last = Bacon| first = Matt| title = No Strings Attached: The Inside Story of Jim Henson's Creature Shop| publisher = Macmillan| date = 1997| pages = 150-151| isbn = 0-02-862008-9]

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." [cite web |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,291218,00.html |title=A Man for all Sizes |accessdate=2008-06-25 |last=Tucker |first=Ken |coauthors= |date=1996-02-02 |work= |publisher=Entertainment Weekly ]

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