# Moby Dick (1998)

> The lone survivor of a doomed whaling ship recounts his captain's ruinous obsession with hunting the white whale Moby Dick.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/28585

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 2
- Episode runtime: 90 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, adventure
- Created by: Franc Roddam
- Network: USA Network
- Cast: Henry Thomas, Bruce Spence, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Robin Cuming, Shane Connor, Patrick Stewart, Piripi Waretini, Vivianne Benton
- TMDB rating: 6.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120756/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: brooding, elegiac, intense, melancholic

## What critics say

Critics broadly acclaimed this miniseries as a striking, ambitious reimagining of Melville's novel, with Patrick Stewart's Captain Ahab at its center.

## Synopsis

Moby Dick (1998) is an Australian and American miniseries created by Franc Roddam for USA Network, a two-part adaptation of Herman Melville's classic novel. Ishmael (Henry Thomas), the sole survivor of a lost whaling ship, relates the story of Captain Ahab (Patrick Stewart), a man consumed by a self-destructive obsession to hunt the enormous white whale of the title. Alongside Ishmael, the crew includes the harpooner Queequeg (Piripi Waretini), the shantyman, and the ship's officers, whose loyalty is tested as the voyage grows more reckless. The engine of the story is the long, dangerous chase across open ocean, with each episode built from the grinding labor of a whaling voyage, storm-tossed nights, and the simmering dread of a captain who will not turn back. The ninety-minute episodes unfold in a period maritime setting in the nineteenth century, with weathered wooden decks and vast grey seas. The tone is brooding, elegiac and intense, a meditation on fixation, fate and the cost of revenge. Fans of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and the 1956 film Moby Dick will find resonance here, along with those who love sea epics that favour character over spectacle. It is a compact, literary, adult adventure built for viewers who enjoy tragic classic stories.

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