''The Odyssey'' is a Canadian-produced half-hour adventure fantasy television series for children, originally broadcast from 1992 to 1994 on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

Plot

In the series

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

, 11-year-old Jay ( Illya Woloshyn) tries to join a tree-fort club, led by the tough Keith (

Tony Sampson Tony Sampson is a Canadian musician, oiler and retired actor. From 1999 to 2009, he voiced Eddy in the Cartoon Network animated series ''Ed, Edd n Eddy''. Biography Tony Sampson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He has played ...

). As per the prearranged agreement, Jay has brought something of value to contribute to the club: a telescope that belonged to his father (

Robert Wisden Robert Charles Wisden (Brighton, 2 June 1958) is an English actor who has an extensive career in Canadian and American film and television, for which he has won a Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a ...

) who has been missing for several years and is presumed dead. Keith double-crosses Jay and takes the telescope, denying him admission into the club. Jay tries to retrieve the telescope with the help of his

physically disabled A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as respiratory disorders, blindness, epilepsy ...

friend Donna ( Ashley Rogers), who uses a crutch and a leg brace in order to walk. Jay falls from the tree fort and striking his head against a rock, lapses into a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

. In the coma, Jay finds himself in a fantasy world called Downworld where no one reaches the age of 16. Not having heard of adults, the children here have shaped society in their own ways, forming mostly

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

s in the form of Clubs, such as the Pool Club and the Library Club. The biggest and most powerful Club is the Tower, a brutal despotic

police state A police state describes a state whose government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the exec ...

run by the oldest kids, with Brad as the absolute ruler because he is 15, and "knows everything". Jay, not knowing how he has got here and aided by his friends Alpha and Flash (who are identical to Donna and Keith), embarks on a journey to return home — a place that he cannot remember. The journey becomes a quest to find his long-lost father, whose name happens to be Brad, who fell overboard from a small boat into a lake while they were on a fishing trip together and has not been seen since. Meanwhile, Jay's mother and a coma therapist try to get Jay to regain consciousness, with the help of his friends. A turning point is reached when Jay's father appears to him as he is regaining consciousness, which Jay is forced to keep a secret from his mother. As Jay struggles to re-orient himself to the waking world and the many changes that have occurred, he finds that he is still dealing with issues through the world from his subconscious.

Cast

Main

* Illya Woloshyn as Jay Ziegler * Ashley Rogers as Donna/Alpha *

as Keith/Flash * Janet Hodgkinson as Valerie "Val" Ziegler, Jay's mother * Dwight Koss as Dr. Max Oswald (main season 1; recurring season 2) * Andrea Nemeth (recurring seasons 1–2; main season 3) as Medea/Sierra Jones

Recurring

* Mark Hildreth as Finger/Mic *

Ryan Reynolds Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian and American actor, producer and businessman. Known for starring in comedic and superhero films, he was the List of highest-paid film actors, world's second-highest-paid actor in 202 ...

as Macro/Lee * Austin Basile as Teen Brad *

(season 2) as Bradley "Brad" Ziegler, Jay's father * Jeremy Radick as Fractal/Nathan * Amber Warnat as Lila/Keith's girlfriend *

Garwin Sanford Garwin Sanford (born 14 March 1955) is a Canadian film and television actor known for his roles on ''Stargate SG-1'' and ''Stargate Atlantis''. Career Sanford's most notable roles are Narim in ''Stargate SG-1'' and Simon Wallace in ''Stargat ...

as Arthur Bourne, Val's lawyer and first boyfriend/Iceface *

Andrew Airlie Andrew Airlie (born September 18, 1961) is a Scottish-born Canadian actor. Early life Andrew Airlie was born in Glasgow, Scotland on September 18, 1961. Career Airlie has starred in television series including '' Breaker High'' and his TV credi ...

as Val's second boyfriend *

Jay Brazeau Jay Brazeau is a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Sam Fisher in '' Cold Squad'', Harlan in ''Stargate SG-1'' (1998, 2001), and for voicing Uncle Quigley in '' Sabrina: The Animated Series''. He is also known for his role as Bobby in ''D ...

as Sy, Jay's psychiatrist * Jorge Vargas as Savage

Notable guests

Devon Sawa Devon Edward Sawa (born September 7, 1978) is a Canadian actor. Born and raised in Vancouver, Sawa began his career as a children's action toy spokesman. He made his film debut with a supporting role in '' Little Giants'' (1994) and received wi ...

as Yudo *

Jewel Staite Jewel Belair Staite (born June 2, 1982) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles as Kaylee Frye in the series ''Firefly'' (2002–2003) and its follow-up movie '' Serenity'' (2005), and as Jennifer Keller on science fiction television ...

as Labelia *

Jai West Jai West (ジェイ・ウェスト; born October 24, 1976) is an actor and poet of French Canadian and Japanese descent born in Vancouver, British Columbia and currently based in Tokyo, Japan. He is best known for his work on screen as manic Jap ...

as Feelgood (season 1) and Spook (season 3)

Production

The series, created by Paul Vitols and Warren Easton, was produced in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

by Water Street Pictures. Over the three years of production, 39

episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a serial (radio and television), series intended for radio, television or Streaming media, streaming consumption. Etymology The noun ''episode'' is ...

s were made. Due to a decreased viewership for season 3, the series was cancelled before reaching its intended conclusion, ending the last season with cliffhangers both in the Upworld and Downworld.

Episodes

Season 1 (1992–93)

Season 2 (1994)

Season 3 (1994)

Release

Broadcast

The pilot episode was originally aired in Canada on March 9, 1992, as ''The Jellybean Odyssey''. The series was shown on Network 2 in Ireland as part of their children's strand of programming

The Den The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in Bermondsey, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club. The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at , and a quarter-of-a-mile from the Old Den, whic ...

in 1994. The show was broadcast in the U.S. by the Sci-Fi Channel, in the UK by

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

in 1995 (repeated in 1998), in France by M6 (first season only) and then by

France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air Public broadcasting, public television network. The second flagship network of France Télévisions, it broadcasts a wide range of general and specialized programming. France 3 is structured as a Region ...

(whole series), and in a number of other countries. The series aired in Hong Kong on

ATV World ATV World, was one of two free-to-air Hong Kong English, English language television channels in Hong Kong, the other being its arch-rival TVB Pearl. Its sister station, ATV Home, broadcast in the Hong Kong Cantonese, Cantonese language. It ...

. The first 26 episodes aired in French Canada on

Radio-Canada Radio-Canada may refer to: * CBC/Radio-Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation *Ici Radio-Canada Télé, the CBC's main French-language television network *Ici Radio-Canada Première Ici Radio-Canada Première (formerly Première Chaîne) i ...

during the 1994-95 season, under the title "L'odyssée fantastique". It re-aired in 1996 and 1998.

Home media

A special edition DVD of the complete series was made in limited quantities and is sold through

Omni Film Productions Omnifilm Entertainment is a Canadian television and film production company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Omnifilm produces content in a variety of genres including drama, factual, and lifestyle series and documentaries for Canada and in ...

Streaming

''The Odyssey'' can also be purchased digitally from Vimeo. From May 25, 2018 to January 9, 2019, the series was uploaded to

Canada Media Fund The Canada Media Fund (CMF, ) is a public–private partnership founded on April 1, 2010, by the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canadian cable industry. It is used to fund the creation of original Canadian content and support the Canadi ...

’s YouTube channel Encore+. However the channel was shut down in 2022. It can currently be streamed on the services Plex and Tubi in Canada.

Accolades

Awards won by the series include the Top Ten World Program at the Cologne Conference and a Canadian Gemini for Best Youth Program.

Potential reboot

In June 2016, Marblemedia and

Omnifilm Entertainment Omnifilm Entertainment is a Canadian television and film production company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Omnifilm produces content in a variety of genres including drama, factual, and lifestyle series and documentaries for Canada and in ...

announced that they had joined forces to update and reboot ''The Odyssey''. The reboot was to be adapted by showrunners Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott.

References

External links

* *
Archive of the SciFi Channel's web site dedicated to the show during its run on the network''The Odyssey odyssey'', the episodic story of the show's development and production, as told by its co-creator Paul Vitols
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odyssey, The (Tv series) 1990s Canadian children's television series 1992 Canadian television series debuts 1994 Canadian television series endings Canadian children's fantasy television series CBC Television original programming Television series about children Television shows filmed in Vancouver Television series by Alliance Atlantis