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Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Free Moby

Following the ecstatic reaction of Ursula Le Guin to the Wizard of Earthsea miniseries on the Sci-Fi channel, its producers are branching out with an adaptation of Herman Melville's timeless classic in Free Moby; in which kindly-but-crusty Cap'n Ahab is taught the true meaning of friendship by the white whale he comes to love.

"We've been very, very honest to the book," explains director Rob Lieberman. "We've tried to capture all the levels of spiritualism, emotional content and metaphorical messages. Throughout the whole piece, I saw it as the story of a man who has forgotten what it means to be close to people. He's closed himself off, even to the beautiful and feisty First Mate Jessica Starbuck, whom he secretly loves. But in pursuing the white whale Moby Dick, he learns a new respect for the great beast, remembers his own humanity, and in the end turns on the evil harpoon crew. Those guys put in a great performance, by the way, especially Edward Fox as St John Fawkes-Queequeg and Tony Hopkins as Sir Benedict Fedallah-Smyth."

Lieberman defended himself from critics who charged the Sci-Fi channel with disregard for Melville's classic story.

"Hey, if Mel was alive today, I think he'd like what we did with his book. I bet if we showed him the new ending, where Moby saves Ahab from Fedallah by impaling him on the Captain's skeletal leg, he'd be out of his seat cheering with the rest of the preview audience."