The miniseries stars Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Tom Sturridge, James Fox, Omar Sharif, Peter O'Toole, Alfre Woodard, Kristin Scott Thomas, and John Gielgud.

In the book, Gulliver is so impressed with the Utopian country of the Houyhnhnms that when he returns to England he eventually chooses to live out his life among the horses in his barn, rather than with his family.

It required a good deal of special effects work, with Jim Henson's Creature Shop creating several CGI wasps and some prosthetic make-up for the Yahoos.

Long missing and believed dead, Lemuel Gulliver is found in the stables of his own home one morning by his wife Mary and son Tom.

He narrates what is received as a tall tale that begins with being shipwrecked on an island of tiny people called Lilliput, shown as flashbacks, while Gulliver also hallucinates some of the persons and events he witnessed.

Over time Bates exerts enough influence over Mary to stop her hospital visits; Tom, on the other hand, recovers the damaged journal and hides it in his room.

Gulliver is later sold to a lady of the royal court, along with the farmer's daughter Glumdalclitch as his caretaker, and presented to the Queen of Brobdingnag.

To ingratiate himself, Gulliver discusses many aspects of English culture and politics with the Queen, which she ultimately finds repugnant in comparison to the fair-sharing system of Brobdingnag.

To restore his standing with the queen, Gulliver has arranged for a gunpowder demonstration, which the scientists increase tenfold without his knowledge; the resulting explosion puts him more out of favor.

The Rajah demands a bombing attack, to which the Empress responds with a giant lodestone of her own, causing Laputa great turbulence.

Empress Munodi directs Gulliver to The academy, a place suggested by the Rajah where he may find a path back to England, where he encounters many scientists lacking in common sense.

He gives his wasp-sting dagger to the Gatekeeper to enter, but rejects their offer to gain immortality by drinking their water – the price being continuing to age on the inside, suffering ailments like blindness.

Gulliver makes it to a port and joins a Dutch ship, but a mutiny en route leads to him swimming to another strange land.

After a savage encounter with a female Yahoo, the Houyhnhnms, even though they recognize his virtues, form a council and decide that Gulliver must leave.

Mary, having witnessed the hearing, supports her husband against Bates' accusations and questions his motives for keeping Gulliver in the hospital.

Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote that, "Everything about this production is surprising, from its choice of Gulliver—Cheers' Ted Danson in an excellent wig—to its startling fidelity to Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel," and called it "a big, gaudy, funny production that feels free to give full reign to Swift's blithe vulgarity.