The Epic 90s Version Of The Odyssey Is Free To Stream Right Now

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 25 seconds ago

Prior to Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster The Odyssey, Hollywood had never attempted a feature film adaptation of Homer’s classic epic poem. There’s been countless television episodes that have adapted it, including Ducktales and Wishbone, while the Coen Brothers O Brother, Where Art Thou is a retelling of the story. Until Nolan, the closest Hollywood came was the 1997 NBC miniseries developed by Hallmark and starring Armand Assante as Odysseus. For a generation, this was the defining adaptation of The Odyssey. 

A Generation Defining Television Event

The 1997 series, like Nolan’s version, cuts out parts of Odysseus’ journey home to Ithaca. Notably, the sirens are left on the cutting room floor, Helio’s cattle are left out, there’s no cannibals, and the Lotus-Eaters are combined with Circe’s island. Even with a runtime approaching four hours, something had to give. What remains behind, is the pinnacle of 90s made-for-tv movies and a staple of classrooms every time the teacher wheels in the AV cart. 

It starts with Odysseus fighting in the Trojan War, taunting the cyclops with “Nobody,” spending five years with Circe (Bernadette Peters), trekking to the underworld to counsel with the sage Tiresias (Christopher Lee), losing his entire crew to Scylla and Charybdis, washing up on the shore of Calypso’s (Vanessa Williams) island prison, spending two years with her before finally making it home. There you go. That’s The Odyssey. It’s the foundational myth for all Western literature. And even on a TV budget, it’s incredible.

A Visual Spectacular On A Television Budget

Armand Assante was derided by critics for his performance of Odysseus as being “stiff,” but watching it now, and instead he’s chewing up every bit of scenery and picking his teeth with it. That didn’t stop the series from becoming a cultural event with nearly 40 million viewers across both nights. The Odyssey was such a huge success, it kicked off a new era of television miniseries events that included Merlin, Dinotopia, and Jason and the Argonauts.

The Odyssey set a new bar for television during a time when it was considered to be “inferior” to feature films. The look of the boat scenes, the cyclops, and the sacking of Troy are among the greatest television visuals of the decade. It pales in comparison to Nolan’s vision of ancient Greece in IMAX, but even today, 30 years later, there’s gorgeous shots a whole new generation can appreciate. 

The Odyssey Is Impossible To Fully Adapt

Adapting the epic poem has always been a challenge due to the sheer size, scope, and frankly, weirdness, of the story. Odysseus wanders around the ocean, meets different mythological beings, all of whom could by themselves anchor a film, and then he goes home to kill every single of his wife’s suitors. When even Nolan has to cut material out, you know there’s too much there for any one film to contain. 

1997’s The Odyssey was a risky gamble. It came out before Gladiator briefly revived the swords and sandal epics, and in the 90s, culture had shifted to grounded, reality-based stories or “extreme” reinterpretations. A straight, mythological adventure should not have been a hit. Yet it was. 

Today you can stream 1997’s The Odyssey for free on YouTube, Tubi, Amazon Prime Video, and The Roku Channel.