Yes … I’ll admit: I was instantly attracted to the idea of watching Encore’s Moby Dick by the mere fact Gillian Anderson played part in it.
Curious, I asked myself: “Self? Wasn’t there but the mere mention of an Ahab partner in Melville’s tome? How much of a show could Gillian extract from that?” The answer, it turns out, was just a few percentage points of the overall 2-night telling of the story.
Gillian was quiet and subdued and a welcome breath of fresh air in the tale. She was meant to mitigate the wild-eyed insanity of William Hurt’s Captain Ahab and it translated well. This was just the tip of the iceberg in the interesting interplay the remainder of the cast pulled out of their characters from Encore’s narrative.
The Ahab Hurt played wasn’t the irrational, senseless protagonist Melville originally set him out to be. His was stern, powerful, everything-a-captain-should-be, but it was an interesting twist to see him become the madman as things progressed. I watched him degrade from a family man who questions what a beautiful wife sees in an old sea dog and a conscientious father querying his son right on down to the unsettling single-minded figure ultimately possessed by his heart’s desire, bent on revenge.
This version could have gone on forever. Writer Nigel Williams trimmed the book and modernized it to include a few pop references and not-so-dour dialog that still remained true to Melville, but at the same time kept our interest throughout. And director Mike Barker saw through that vision well.
For example, there was an interesting friendship along with the sense of duty in the relationship between Ahab and Ethan Hawke’s Starbuck. Both butted heads often, but this Starbuck knew just how much to push his captain, often injecting off-handed comments in a manner such that it wasn’t enough to stick the knife in, but to twist it a bit, too. It was just this side of insubordination with enough *umph* to make things eyebrow-raising.
Ishmael was Ishmael, but Charlie Cox brought out a puppy dog version of him with wide-eyed qualities I simply don’t remember in the book. (This was a vastly different “re-imagining” of the story, remember, complete with items such as an almost comical scene of Starbuck and company in “formation” — ala Space Cowboys, The Right Stuff and others — marching toward the awaiting ready-to-set-sail Pequod.)
This was neither a boring Moby Dick nor a junked up cheesy version, either. It was a better interpretation containing many more pluses than minuses than its predecessors. Encore did a terrific job in doing this piece and I was not disappointed.
If you missed it, catch it on a rerun. I know I’ll be going back to it from time to time, Gillian’s 5 minutes of air time notwithstanding.
Clacked by Michael Noble 
on Aug 03, 2011 @ 21:38 EST5EDT
In a Space Cowboys world, it’s refreshing to know there are still people who have read Melville. Could there possibly be hope for Dickens? [A Christmas Carol doesn’t count.]