Gulliver's Travels (film)

Gulliver's Travels was a two-part 1996 miniseries adaptation of the Jonathan Swift novel. A co-production between Channel Four Television, Jim Henson Productions, and Hallmark Entertainment, Gulliver's Travels starred Ted Danson as Gulliver and featured an international all-star cast. It aired on NBC over two consecutive nights, on February 4 and February 5. 
The production had been in the works since 1989, shortly after the cancellation of The Jim Henson Hour, when it was intended as a four hour miniseries combining animatronics and live actors, initially scheduled for Easter 1990. Jim Henson was set to executive produce."Elsewhere in Television." Associate Press wire. July 29, 1989. Producer Duncan Kenworthy recalled the situation: 
The project remained on the schedule following Henson's death and the dissolution of the Disney deal,Kolson, Ann. Knight-Ridder new service. June 9, 1990. but actual filming did not begin until 1995. As Kenworthy recalled, "I thought that after four years of trying to find the financing, it was never going to get made... I was so thrilled that the project finally got off the ground." While the final production was co-produced by the Jim Henson Company, the involvement of Jim Henson's Creature Shop was limited to the construction of a rod-puppet giant wasp.
Gulliver's Travels included all four voyages from Jonathan Swift's novel. The film added a new parallel frame story, however, in which Gulliver, returned to England, is placed in Bedlam by a designing doctor, and must prove his sanity. Other alterations include a more malevolent conceptualization of the governor of Glubbdubdrib (rechristened "The Sorcerer") and a softened ending, regarding Gulliver's reunion with his family. The production itself was a family affair; apart from Ted Danson's teaming with wife Mary Steenburgen, director Charles Sturridge's wife Phoebe Nicholls played the Empress of Lilliput and their son Thomas Sturridge played Tom Gulliver, while brothers James Fox and Edward Fox played Dr. Bates and General Limtoc respectively.
==Notes==
*The production was referenced in the Sesame Street computer game Grover's Travels. During the credits, a vocal outtake of the Twiddleputian Governor has him remarking about the giant Grover, "Funny, it doesn't look like Ted Danson."
==Additional credits==
*Executive Producers: Robert Halmi Sr. and Brian Henson
*Producer: Duncan Kenworthy
*Production Designer: Roger Hall
*Visual Effects Supervisor: Tim Webber
*Animatronic Wasp: Jim Henson's Creature Shop
*Project Supervisor: Neal Scanlan
*Visual Artist: Jeremy Hunt
*Animatronic Designer: Andy Roberts
*Yahoo Consultant: Ailsa Berk 
==Cast==
*Ted Danson as Lemuel Gulliver
*Mary Steenburgen as Mary Gulliver
*James Fox as Dr. Bates
*Ned Beatty as Farmer Grultrud
*Geraldine Chaplin as Empress Munodi
*Graham Crowden as Professor of Politics
*Edward Fox as General Limtoc
*John Gielgud as Professor of Sunlight
*Robert Hardy as Dr. Parnell
*Isabelle Huppert as the voice of Mistress
*Shashi Kapoor as the Rajah of Laputa
*Nicholas Lyndhurst as Clustril
*Phoebe Nicholls as the Empress of Lilliput
*Karyn Parsons as Lady-in-Waiting
*Edward Petherbridge as Dr. Pritchard
*Kristin Scott Thomas as the Immortal Gatekeeper
*Omar Sharif as the Sorcerer
*John Standing as Admiral Bolgolam
*John Wells as Flimnap the treasurer
*Richard Wilson as Professor of Languages
*Alfre Woodard as the Queen of Brobdingnag
*Edward Woodward as Drunlo
*Peter O'Toole as the Emperor of Lilliput
*Warwick Davis as Grildrig
*Kate Maberly as Glumdalclitch
*Thomas Sturridge as Tom Gulliver
*Annette Badland as Farmer Grultrud's Wife
*Mac MacDonald as Farmer
*George Harris as Brobdingnag Scientist 
*Ricco Ross as Brobdingnag Scientist 
*Gordon Sterne as Brobdingnag Scientist 
*Navin Chowdhry as Prince Munodi
*Badi Uzzaman as Flapper
*Anne Lambton as Visiting Lady - Bedlam
*Cyril Shaps as Mad Old Man - Bedlam
*Sylvester Morand as Archimedes
*Philip McGough as Plato
==See also==
*Gulliver's Travels (soundtrack)
*Gulliver's Travels (video)
==Sources==
__NOWYSIWYG__
Category:Henson Company Movies
Category:Creature Shop Movies