Moby Dick (2011 miniseries)

Moby Dick is a Canadian-German television miniseries based on Herman Melville's 1851 novel of the same name, produced by Tele München Gruppe, with Gate Film, In association with RTH/ORF. Starring William Hurt as Captain Ahab, it was directed by Mike Barker with a screenplay by Nigel Williams. The cast also includes Ethan Hawke as Starbuck, Charlie Cox as Ishmael, Eddie Marsan as Stubb, Gillian Anderson as Ahab's wife, Elizabeth and Donald Sutherland as Father Mapple. This version of Moby Dick is fairly faithful to the novel as written by Herman Melville, despite inventing a wife for him.


 * Billing Displacement: Ethan Hawke was billed over William Hurt for playing Starbuck.
 * Composite Character: Fedallah's part is filled early on by Elijah.
 * Compressed Adaptation: The even-numbered chapters (the "whaling encyclopedia") are omitted.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: While the earlier versions kept Ahab accidentally getting tangled in the rope of the harpoon he uses, here he inexplicably wraps as much rope as he can around his own body, leaving little tension to his inevitable demise.
 * Politically-Correct History: While the Multinational Crew was not commented upon in the early versions, here there exists a new character whose sole purpose is to belittle the minorities, only to be told off by all the white characters.
 * One-Scene Wonder: Father Mapple, as played by Donald Sutherland.
 * The Smurfette Principle: Ahab's wife (Gillian Anderson) is given a small part early on -- even though in the book, Ahab hasn't seen his family in years.