The film is a masterpiece of literature, and while this film is inferior to the book, which is of no surprise really, for a TV film it wasn't that bad at all. I have to admit and this is probably blasphemy to some people here I am not a fan of the 1956 film, though I am a fan of the director John Huston, but I found it too slow for my liking and Gregory Peck I found dull as Captain Ahab. This TV version is no masterpiece in any shape or form, but it is a worthy re-make. It does start off slow, but picks up at the end, and while I found Moby Dick adequately menacing in the 1956 film this whale I didn't care for as much. Flaws aside, it is competently made, yes with some uneven effects on occasions, but the scenery, cinematography and ship are impressively rendered, while the score and script are good. And I was surprised at how faithful in general the film was in terms of story to the book. Along the way there are some improvements too, Patrick Stewart is wonderful in the title role, actually capturing the demonic presence of Captain Ahab much better than Gregory Peck, who gives a confident performance as Father Mapple in a role that suits him better I feel. Overall, a worthy re-make if inferior to the brilliant book. 7/10 Bethany Cox

For some strange reason Texas-born Henry Thomas affects an Irish brogue in his portrayal of Ishmael, the narrator in Melville's towering novel written in the second person. It is this young schoolmaster's first experience with the sea but former child actor Thomas takes the wide-eyed innocent thing too far. But this time at least the part went to an actor of appropriate age.Patrick Stewart is best known to American audiences as Capt. Luc Picard in the syndicated TV series "Star Trek--The Next Generation". As Captain Ahab, speaking in accents midway between British and American, he really does seem like a Nantucket man out of the 1840's. He is diabolic, obsessed, yet sea-wise and with considerable personal magnetism. As first mate Starbuck, husky, stolid Ted Levine gives the performance of his career. He plays the part in an understated fashion, does not try for any period accent, yet there is real conviction in his portrayal of a man of conscience who knows he is serving a captain who will lead the ship and crew to destruction yet is bound by his oath of fealty.A genuine South Pacific Islander, Piripi a New Zealender of Maori descent, plays the harpooner Quequeg in this production. He has a fine speaking voice and turns in a creditable performance despite some occasional over the top routines.The scene where the two, Quequeg and Ishmael, go aboard the **Pequod** at its berth in Nantucket harbor and are questioned by the owners is particularly well acted. It is evident that these are sharp businessmen for all their Quaker dress and speech.As this was a made-for-television production, the special effects are less spectacular than even the Hollywood filming forty years earlier.

This television film is a mix of good intentions and missed opportunities, that results in an acceptable but not brilliant version of Melville's book. Patrick Stewart is fine as Ahab, and gets to deliver some of Melville's best lines wonderfully. Ted Levine is a terrific Starbuck, with a real emotional depth to his performance that is probably the best thing in the movie. The ship looks good, the street scenes and the Spouter Inn, are all well done, and there is a grimy, grungy realism about the look of the clothing and the buildings and everything that makes up the day to day world of Nantucket.The acting generally is good and it's not at all a bad adaptation of a classic.However, it does miss most of the eerie, overwhelming sense of strangeness and mystery of the book. Moby Dick is simply not as majestic and terrifying as he should be, with the sense of awe he inspires in the superstitious seamen. Ahab's mad rage at the whale should be stronger, as well as his hypnotic hold over his crew. The biggest loss in a film that otherwise gives us more of Melville's characters and incidents than any other film adaptation, is the inexplicable omission of Fedallah's spooky prophecies to Captain Ahab. At least the character is included, and he is shown to have some sort of special relationship to Ahab, which is never fully explained in the novel, either. But the dramatic scenes near the end of the book, with Ahab listening to the fatalistic prophecies of Fedallah, concerning the outcome of the hunt for the White Whale, are excluded, and what could have been a truly inspired adaptation becomes a pretty good version, but not the great work it could have been.Overall, a good adaptation worth seeing, but the 1956 John Huston version, though not as detailed, captures more of the awesome, wild tone of the original.

What an awful film. Geez. I watched this in a film class and just plain hated it. As I watched this I couldn't help but think what Franc Roddam and Anton Diether thinking. I usually don't base a film on one specific thing and I didn't with this. The visual effects were terrible, the acting terrible and the story was nothing as the classic book or '56 adaption. Even Patrick Stewart couldn't bring the film out of the huge hole it dug . Everything for a bad film is used in this mini-series and it really shouldn't be seen by anyone. Nothing is explained and nothing really happens except a bunch of guys talking about a whale.Moby Dick. Starring: Patrick Stewart, Henry Thomas, Piripi Waretini, and Bruce Spence. 1 out of 5 Stars.