Moby Dick (2011 miniseries)

Cast

• William Hurt as Captain Ahab
• Ethan Hawke as Starbuck
• Charlie Cox as Ishmael
• Eddie Marsan as Stubb
• Gillian Anderson as Elizabeth, Ahab's wife
• Billy Boyd as Elijah
• Raoul Trujillo as Queequeg
• James Gilbert as Steelkilt
• Daniel Gordon as Pip
• Matt Lemche as Flask
• Billy Merasty as Tashtego
• Onyekachi Lucky Ejim as Dagoo
• Gary Levert as Perth
• Richard Donat as Inn Landlord
• Sandy MacLean as Quaker Preacher
• Glen Matthews as Tom
• Stephen McHattie as Rachel Captain
• Donald Sutherland as Father Mapple

Production

A "reimagined" version of Melville's book, Moby Dick was shot primarily in Lunenburg and Shelburne, Nova Scotia respectively as well as Malta during late 2009. Costing US$25 million, it is Tele München's most expensive production to date.

Release

Moby Dick aired on the U.S. pay-television network Encore on August 1 and 2, 2011. It is the first program to air under the Encore Originals brand, Prior to this airing, it was broadcast in Australia and some other countries.

Critical reception

The miniseries received fairly positive reviews, with an average score of 68/100 assigned by Metacritic. Linda Stasi of the New York Post gave the miniseries three stars out of four; Nancy DeWolf Smith of The Wall Street Journal also gave it a positive review, but warned that "Purists [of the novel] may go wild" over changes from the original story. Likewise, Hank Stuever of The Washington Post called it "a lavish, exciting, well-acted and admirably thorough movie adaptation". The New York Daily News' David Hinckley awarded it three stars out of five, remarking: "The action will hold your attention, though [the miniseries] is really more a drama of character and flaws and faith. At times, in fact, it lapses into melodrama." Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times wrote that while "[it] is not entirely silly or even half bad", "it’s an ambitious, beautifully made adventure tale that seeks to be respectful of the book while still making the characters and story accessible to modern viewers." She called the creation of scenes involving Captain Ahab's wife the "most startling" change to Melville's story, noting that the wife was "only fleetingly mentioned" in the original book. Stanley further commented on a few modernized lines in the script, and added, "Some shortcuts and substitutions are useful. Too often, however, the improvisations fall back on clichés that don’t visually distill Melville’s words as much as they forcibly remind viewers of other books and movies."

Home media

The miniseries was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in October 2011.

References

References

1. "Program information for ''Moby Dick''". [[Liberty Starz.
2. Staff. (July 13, 2011). "Encore Dives Into Original Programming With Miniseries 'Moby Dick' And 'The Take'". PMC.
3. Kenneally, Tim. (July 13, 2011). "Encore Goes Original With 'Moby Dick' Adaptation, Jerry Lewis Doc". The Wrap.
4. Stanley, Stanley. (July 31, 2011). "Ahab Has a Wife and a Heart. Oh, and a Whale.". The New York Times.
5. Fischer, Russ. (September 28, 2009). "Donald Sutherland and Gillian Anderson Join William Hurt for TV Moby Dick". [[/Film]].
6. Lloyd, Robert. (August 1, 2011). "Television review: 'Moby Dick' / William Hurt stars as Captain Ahab in the new version on Encore, but Herman Melville seems to be missing.". [[Los Angeles Times]].
7. Russo, Tom. (March 13, 1998). "Captain My Captain: Patrick Stewart takes the helm of a new ship in 'Moby Dick'". [[Time Warner]].
8. Pennington, Gail. (July 30, 2011). "Encore sneaks 'Moby Dick' onto schedule". [[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]].
9. "Reviews for ''Moby Dick'' (2011)". [[CBS Interactive]].
10. Stasi, Linda. (July 30, 2011). "Whale war: Hurt, Hawke lead assault on [Moby] Dick". New York Post.
11. Smith, Nancy DeWolf. (July 29, 2011). "Adventures on the Seas of Life". The Wall Street Journal.
12. Stuever, Hank. (July 31, 2011). "Encore's lavish new 'Moby Dick': There whale be blood". The Washington Post.
13. (October 4, 2011). "Moby Dick (DVD)".
14. (October 4, 2011). "Moby Dick (Blu-ray)".