Jack Pitman

HBO aired “The Animated Odyssey” as a four-part miniseries in the US in 2000. It was originally produced by Vilanima Studios of Lithuania and first aired in Russia as a feature-length film in 1998 under the title The Destruction of Troy and the Adventures of Odysseus (Разрушение Трои и путешествие Одиссея). As a series it was divided into half-hour episodes including “The Trojan Horse,” “The Cyclops,” “Circe, Hades and the Sirens,” and “Odysseus Returns.” The production was supervised by original Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz & took three years to complete, was lavish & ambitious, & was intended to appeal to a wide audience that included school-age children and young adults. The narrative presented was more detailed than other animated treatments of the Odyssey and stayed closer to traditional storyline. The English-dubbed version of the film is nowhere to be found online or streaming, only the Russian version and a modern Greek version are available.

An animated feature film, later re-released as a mini-series, is an adaptation of Homer's Odyssey, a classic of world literature, tells a story of love, sacrifice, loyalty, journeys, and the heroic adventures of Greek warriors at sea and on magical islands.