Gulliver's Travels miniseries starring Ted Danson
The two-part Gulliver’s Travels, a co-production of The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment, aired Feb. 4 and 5 on NBC in the U.S. and Channel 4 in England. At the 1996 Emmys it won Outstanding Miniseries and received additional awards for writing, art direction, hairstyling and visual effects.
Critics singled out its ambition: unlike most adaptations, this version told all four of Jonathan Swift’s voyages. Producer Duncan Kenworthy traces the project to the late 1980s, when David Puttnam and Uberto Pasolini first conceived it and Simon Moore began adapting the novel.
Jim Henson’s direct involvement was limited, but he urged the team to vary the points of view, which led to a framing device of Gulliver returning home and being seen as mad. The project stalled after Henson’s death but was revived after Kenworthy’s success producing Four Weddings and a Funeral.
United States; England