The Odyssey (TV miniseries)

The Odyssey is a 1997 Emmy Awardwinning and Golden Globenominated BritishAmerican fantasyadventure television miniseries based on the ancient Greek epic poem by Homer, The Odyssey. Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, the miniseries aired in twoparts beginning on May 18, 1997 on NBC. The series won the award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries or a Special. It was filmed in Malta, Turkey, parts of England, and many other places around the Mediterranean, where the story takes place. The international allstar cast includes Armand Assante, Greta Scacchi, Irene Papas, Isabella Rossellini, Bernadette Peters, Christopher Lee, and Vanessa L. Williams.

Odysseus and his men initially stop on an island dominated by oneeyed giants, the Cyclopes. A Cyclops named Polyphemus Reid Asato traps them in his cave intending to eat them, but Odysseus gets him drunk on wine, causing him to pass out. Then, he sharpens a tree branch into a stake and blinds the Cyclops, allowing them to escape by hiding under sheep skins when he removes the heavy stone door. Polyphemus screams for help, but Odysseus had tricked him into stating that his name was Nobody, so the Cyclops is shouting that nobody has tricked him, arousing no suspicion. Odysseus and his men escape, but Odysseus taunts the Cyclops who asks his father Poseidon to avenge him. This makes Odysseus journey home harder.Odysseus travels to an island where Aeolus Michael J. Pollard provides him with a bag of wind to help him home, instructing him to open it when he gets close to Ithaca. One of his men opens it prematurely blowing them off course. Next, they stop at the island of Circe Bernadette Peters, a beautiful witch, who turns his men into animals and blackmails him into sleeping with her. Odysseus is told of Circes magic by Hermes Freddy Douglas, who helps him avoid being transformed as well. Circe tells him to go to the Underworld next, and only then does Odysseus realize that he has actually been tricked by Circe, who put a spell on him so he stayed on the island for five years instead of five days. Odysseus digs his ship out of the sand and tide and sails to the Underworld. ........

Source: Wikipedia