This made-for-TV version of Moby Dick is certainly a colorful one. It's rich with the taste of salty seas, hard labor, and the embittered passion that drives Captain Ahab to his doom. Patrick Stewart plays Ahab and does an exquisite job of it, permitting moments of Ahab's humanity to show through his obsessiveness.

Other than his presence in the lead role, there's nothing terribly special about this particular adaptation of Melville's novel. But, save for some plodding moments in the beginning, there's a remarkable sense of freedom, of being out on the open sea in the wind and the weather -- in spite of the fact that we know the mission to be doomed.