20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1997 miniseries)

1997 two-part television miniseries directed by Rod Hardy

For the 1997 CBS television film from Hallmark, see 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1997 film).

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

DVD Cover

Genre|

* Adventure
* Romance
* Sci-Fi

Based on| Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
by Jules Verne
Screenplay by| Brian Nelson
Directed by| Rod Hardy
Starring|

* Michael Caine
* Patrick Dempsey
* Mia Sara
* Bryan Brown

Theme music composer| Mark Snow
Country of origin|

* United States
* Australia

Original language| English
No. of episodes| 2
Production
Executive producers|

* Jeffrey M. Hayes
* Keith Pierce
* Richard Pierce

Producer| Dean Barnes
Production locations|

* Village Roadshow Studios, Oxenford, Queensland, Australia
* Point Cook, Victoria, Australia
* Movieworld Studios, Australia

Cinematography|

* James Bartle
* Ron Hagen
* Bruce Phillips

Editor| Drake Silliman
Running time| 158 minutes
Production companies|

* Frederick S. Pierce Company
* Village Roadshow Pictures Television

Original release
Network| ABC
Release| 11 May (1997-05-11) –
12 May 1997 (1997-05-12)

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a 1997 two-part television miniseries[1] produced by Village Roadshow Pictures, based on the 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne. It was written by Brian Nelson and directed by Rod Hardy.

## Plot[edit]

The Nautilus has been sinking and damaging ships and is at first thought to be a giant narwhal. The USS Abraham Lincoln, with marine biologist Pierre Aronnax, harpooner Ned Land and escaped slave Cabe Attucks aboard, is sent to pursue and destroy the threat. After the ship is attacked by the Nautilus, Pierre, Ned and Cabe are knocked overboard and are picked up by the Nautilus.

With the three men presumed dead, the Abraham Lincoln makes it back to port and is repaired. Pierre's widowed father, Thierry Aronnax, joins the naval party. Thierry, also a marine biologist, has always been hateful and bitter toward his son because the boy's mother died while giving birth to him and because the elder Aronnax's mistress had come to prefer Pierre to his father.

Nemo is setting up an underwater domed city under the Atlantic south of West Africa. To avoid earthquake risks to it, he is first setting up a network of underwater explosives to release all Earth's geotectonic tensions at once and thus ensure that no more build up for a long while. During this, a Chinese-looking pearl diving girl accidentally activates one of these devices and the Nautilus rescues her in time.

Nemo's daughter Mara and Pierre become mutually attracted to each other. An accident destroys Pierre's right hand, and Nemo replaces it with a mechanical hand similar to his own.

The US Navy locates Nemo's base by a concentrated area of sightings of the Nautilus. The Abraham Lincoln, with Thierry Aronnax aboard, sails there.

Damage caused by Ned Land (killing him in the process) and torpedoes fired downwards by the Abraham Lincoln, force the Nautilus to surface. The Nautilus's crew come out on deck and are summarily machine-gunned by the Abraham Lincoln's deck-mounted Gatling guns. Mara and some others escape in one of the Nautilus's diving bells, but Mara is picked up and held prisoner aboard the Abraham Lincoln. A US naval man, accompanied by Thierry Aronnax, boards the Nautilus and shoots Nemo and another survivor on sight. After a final confrontation between Pierre and his father on the deck of the Nautilus, Nemo, before dying, activates a switch in his mechanical hand causing the Nautilus to explode, destroying the Abraham Lincoln as well.

Pierre is rescued by Cabe and the pearl diver, who have escaped in a Nautilus diving bell. Pierre's account of these events finds its way to Jules Verne, who uses it as a basis for his novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

## Cast[edit]

* Michael Caine as Captain Nemo
* Patrick Dempsey as Pierre Arronax
* Mia Sara as Mara
* Bryan Brown as Ned Land
* Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Cabe Attucks
* John Bach as Thierry Arronax
* Nicholas Hammond as Saxon
* Peter McCauley as Admiral McCutcheon
* Kerry Armstrong as Lydia
* Cecily Chun as Imei
* Ken Senga as Shimoda
* Damian Monk as Denison
* Steven Grives as Garfield
* Gerry Day as Nitongu
* Boe Kaan as Ivanda

## Differences from the novel[edit]

The Nautilus gets its power by extracting the sun's heat from the sea water: this is impossible technology, and the movie wrongly calls it hydroelectricity.

## Reception[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2015)

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DVD Verdict wrote the miniseries "comes off as incomplete", but praised Michael Caine's performance as Captain Nemo.[2] David Cornelius of DVD Talk called the adaptation "dreadfully dull", disapproving of director Hardy's and screenwriter Nelson's work.[1]

## See also[edit]

* List of underwater science fiction works

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b Cornelius, David (25 April 2006). "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". DVD Talk. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
2. ^ McEntire, Mac (24 May 2006). "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1997)". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on 25 November 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2015.

## External links[edit]

* 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas

Characters|

* David Farragut
* Captain Nemo

Films|

* Under the Seas (1907)
* 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)
* 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
* Mysterious Island (1961)
* Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969)
* 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1985)
* 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Village Roadshow) (1997)
* 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Hallmark) (1997)
* The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
* 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea (2007)

Television|

* Tales of Adventure (1952)
* Captain Nemo (1975)
* The Undersea Adventures of Captain Nemo (1975)
* The Return of Captain Nemo (1978)
* Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990)
* Willy Fog 2 (1993)
* Space Strikers (1995)
* The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne (2000)
* Nautilus (2024)

Other|

* Nautilus
* The Mysterious Island
* Journey Through the Impossible (play)
* 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage (attraction)
* Tokyo DisneySea attraction
* The Secret of the Nautilus (video game)
* Captain Nemo (manga)
* The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (graphic novel)
* The Wreck of the Titan (audio)
* Legend of the Cybermen (audio)
* "Captain Nemo" (song)
* "A Whale of a Tale" (song)
* List of adaptations

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Rod Hardy

* Thirst (1979)
* Sara Dane (1982)
* Under Capricorn (1983)
* Eureka Stockade (1984)
* Shadows of the Heart (1990)
* Rio Diablo (1993)
* Between Love and Hate (1993)
* Lies and Lullabies (1993)
* The Only Way Out (1993)
* My Name Is Kate (1994)
* The Yearling (1994)
* Buffalo Girls (1995)
* An Unfinished Affair (1996)
* 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1997)
* Robinson Crusoe (1997)
* Two for Texas (1998)
* Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (1998)
* High Noon (2000)
* Route 52 (2002)
* December Boys (2007)

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