Fantastic Voyage is a 1966 American science fiction film directed by Richard Fleischer and written by Harry Kleiner, based on stories by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby. The film tells the story of a submarine crew shrinking to microscopic size and into the body of an injured scientist to repair damage to his brain. The original story took place in the 19th century and was intended to be a Jules Verne-style adventure with a sense of wonder. Kleiner left everything except the concept of miniaturization and added a Cold War element. The film stars Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Edmond O'Brien, Donald Pleasence, and Arthur Kennedy.
Bantam Books obtained the right to novelize the novel based on the scenario and approached Isaac Asimov to write it. Since the novelization was released six months before the film, many people mistakenly believed the film was based on Asimov's book.
The film inspired the animated television series.
Video Fantastic Voyage
Plot
The United States and the Soviet Union have developed a technology that can shrink the material by shrinking individual atoms, but only for an hour.
Scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val), who works behind the Iron Curtain, has found a way to make the process work indefinitely. With the help of American intelligence agents, he fled to the West, but attempted murder made him comatose with a blood clot in his brain.
To save his life, the agent of Grant (Stephen Boyd), pilot Captain Bill Owens (William Redfield), Dr. Michaels (Donald Pleasence), surgeon Dr Peter Duval (Arthur Kennedy), and his assistant Cora Peterson (Raquel Welch) Sea (originally built to study deep sea fish breeding habits) at CMDF (Joint Miniature Jera Facility). The submarine, named Proteus, is then diminiatur and injected into Benes. The vessel was reduced to "around the size of the microbe," giving the team an hour (60 minutes) to remove the clot. After 60 minutes have passed, Proteus and its crew will begin to return to normal size, become vulnerable to Benes' immune system, and (in the words of Asimov novelization) "kill Benes regardless of the success of the operation."
The crew faced many obstacles during the mission. Arteriovenous fistulas force them to rotate through the heart, where cardiac arrest should be induced to avoid turbulence. They must replenish their oxygen supply in the lungs, and then pass through the inner ear (all outside personnel must remain silent to prevent turbulence). When the surgical laser needed to destroy the damaged clot, it becomes clear there are saboteurs on the mission. They were forced to cancel their wireless telegraphs to fix the device. By the time they finally reach the clot, they only have six minutes left to operate and then out of the body.
Prior to the mission, Grant had been told that Duval was the prime suspect as a potential surgical killer. But as the mission progressed, he gathered evidence together and began to suspect Michaels. During the critical phase of surgery, Dr. Michaels knocks out Owens and takes over Proteus while the rest of the crew is out for surgery. Duval successfully removes the clot with a laser, but Michaels tries to hit the sub to the clot area to kill Benes. Grant fired the laser into the ship, causing it to bend and crash. Michaels is trapped in ruins and killed when white blood cells attack and destroy Proteus. Grant saved Owens from the ship, and the remaining crew swam desperately into one of Benes' eyes, where they escaped through tears. duct seconds before returning to normal size.
The original scenario included a follow-up scene where it was disclosed that, due to brain damage caused by the submarine, Benes no longer remembers the formula for unlimited miniaturization. Surviving stills show that this scene was filmed but never used.
Maps Fantastic Voyage
Cast
- Stephen Boyd as Grant
- Raquel Welch as Cora Peterson
- Edmond O'Brien as General Carter
- Donald Pleasence as Dr. Michaels
- Arthur O'Connell as Colonel Donald Reid.
- William Redfield as Captain Bill Owens
- Arthur Kennedy as Dr. Peter Duval
- Jean Del Val as Dr. Jan Benes
- Barry Coe as a communications assistant
- Ken Scott as Secret Service agent
- Shelby Grant as nurse
- James Brolin as a technician
Production
The film is an original idea of ​​Otto Klement and Lewis Bixby. They sold it to Fox who announced it would be "the most expensive science fiction movie ever made." Richard Fleischer was assigned to lead and Saul David to produce; the two men had worked in the studio before. Fleischer initially studied medicine and human anatomy in college before choosing to become a film director.
Harry Kleiner was brought in to work on his manuscript.
The budget is set at $ 5 million. The budget rose to $ 6 million, $ 3 million of which went on the set and $ 1 million on trial footage.
The film stars Stephen Boyd, making his first film in Hollywood for five years. It was the first role in Fox for Raquel Welch who was placed under contract to the studio after being seen in a beauty contest by David's wife.
For the technical and artistic elaboration of the subject, Richard Fleischer requested a collaboration of two people from the crew who had worked with him on the production of <20,000 Leagues Under the Sea the film he directed for Walt Disney. in 1954. The Nautilus designer of the Jules Verne adaptation, Harper Goff, also designed Proteus; the same technical advisor, Fred Zendar, collaborated in both productions.
Military headquarters are 100ÃÆ'â € "30 meters, Proteus 14ÃÆ' â €" 8. Arteries, in resin and fiberglass, length 33 meters and width 7 meters; heart is 45ÃÆ' â € "10; brain 70ÃÆ' â € "33. The plasma effect is produced by the chief operator Ernest Laszlo through the use of colorful turning lights, placed on the outside of translucent decorations.
"There is no precedent so we have to continue with trial and error," David said.
Frederick Schodt's Books Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and Manga/Anime Revolution claim that Fox wants to use the ideas of the Japanese animator episode, Osamu Tezuka Astro Boy in movies, but never credited to him.
Isaac Asimov, asked to write a novelization of the manuscript, stated that the script was full of hollow plots, and got permission to write the book as he wished. This novel came out first because he wrote quickly and because of the delay in filming.
Biological issues and accuracy
In the film, the crew (apart from saboteurs) successfully leave Benes' body safely before returning to normal size, but Proteus remains inside, as do the remains of saboteur body (though it is digested by white blood cells ), and several gallons (full scale) of the carrier solution (possibly salt) used in the syringe. Isaac Asimov points out that this is a serious logical flaw in the plot, because the submarine (even if reduced to pieces of debris) will also return to normal size, killing Benes in the process. Therefore, in his novel, Asimov directed the crew to provoke white cells to follow them, thus dragging the submarine into the tear ducts, and his debris expanding outside Benes' body. Asimov solves the problem of needle syringe by asking staff to inject only a small amount of miniature fluid into Benes, minimizing its effect on it when it expands.
Music
Scores prepared and performed by Leonard Rosenman. The composer deliberately did not write music for the first four film rolls, before the protagonist enters the human body. Rosenman writes that "the alignment for the whole score is almost completely un-personal except for the end when our hero grows to normal".
Reception
The film received mostly positive reviews and some criticism. The weekly entertainment trade magazine Variety gives a positive pre-release review movie, stating, "The fancy production, offering some brilliant special effects and superior creative effort, is an entertaining and enlightening journey through the inner space - the body of a man. " Bosley Crowther of the New York Times concluded, "Yessir, for direct science fiction, this is quite a movie - the most colorful and imaginative since Destination Moon " (1950)).
Richard Schickel of Life Magazine writes that rewards will be "overwhelming" for viewers who get more than a "real big lie" of unintended mistrust necessary. She finds that although special effects and excellent sets can distract from the scientific objectives within the story, the "familiar old science fiction music" in the lush new setting is "true pleasure," and seriousness with screenwriter Kleiner and director Fleischer treats the story makes it more trustworthy and fun. Schickel made notes, but refused, accusing other critics of "camp."
In 2012, the film holds a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes' review aggregator website, with a consensus: "The special effects may be a bit dated today, but the Fantastic Voyage still survives well as an imaginative journey to the human body. "
Awards and honor
The film won two Academy Awards and was nominated for three more:
- Academy Awards (1966)
- Won: Best Art Direction - Color (Jack Martin Smith, Dale Hennesy, Walter M. Scott, Stuart A. Reiss)
- Win: Best Special Effect (Art Cruickshank)
- Nominated: Best Cinematography (Ernest Laszlo)
- Nominated: Best Movie Editing (William B. Murphy)
- Nominated: Best Sound Editing (Walter Rossi)
Novelization
After obtaining the novelization rights of paperback novels, Bantam Books approached Isaac Asimov to write a novelization, offering him a sum of $ 5,000 without the royalties involved. In his autobiography In Joy Still Felt, Asimov writes, "I rejected the proposal out of hand. Hacking, I say. Below my self-esteem." However, Bantam Books survived, and at a meeting with Marc Jaffe and Marcia Nassiter on 21 April 1965, Asimov agreed to read the scenario.
In his introduction to novelization, Asimov states that he is rather reluctant to write a book because he believes that the miniaturization of matter is physically impossible. But he decided that it was a good food for storytelling and that it could still make some intelligent reading. In addition, 20th Century Fox is known to want someone with some science fiction influence to help promote the movie. To his credit, apart from the "impossibility" of the beginning of the shrinking of machines, Asimov used his background extensively in harsh science and tried desperately to describe very accurately what would actually be like shrinking to that scale, like as a lamp on a sub deeply penetrating into normal matter, time distortion, and other side effects that are completely ignored in the film.
As mentioned above, Asimov is distracted by Proteus's abandoned way at Benes, and in his subsequent encounter with Jaffe, he insists that he must change the end so the submarine was ejected. Asimov also felt the need to get permission from his usual science fiction publisher, Doubleday, to write a novel. Doubleday did not mind, and had suggested his name to Banten in the first place. Asimov began working on the novel on May 31, and completed it on July 23rd.
Asimov did not want the books, even novelisasi movie, only appears in the novel, so in August he persuaded Austin Olney of Houghton Mifflin to publish the hardcover edition, assured him that the book will be sold at least eight thousand copies, which was true. However, because the right to the story is held by Otto Klement, who has written in writing the original story treatment, Asimov will not be entitled to any royalties. By the time the hardcover edition was published in March 1966, Houghton Mifflin had persuaded Klement to allow Asimov to have a quarter of the royalties. Klement is also negotiating to The Saturday Evening Post to make serialization shortened version of the novel, and he agreed to give half Asimov payment for it. Fantastic Voyage appeared on February 26 and March 12, 1966 issues of Posting.
Bantam Books released a novel novel edition in September 1966 to coincide with the release of the film.
Harry Harrison, reviewing Asimov's novelization, calls it a "monstrosity built by Jerry", praising the description of science fiction as "Asimov in his best condition" while condemning the narrative framework as "crazy bullshit".
Comic adaptation
- Golden Key: Fantastic Voyage (February 1967)
Next adaptation
Novels and related comics
Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain was written by Isaac Asimov in an attempt to develop and present his own story apart from the 1966 scenario. This novel is not a sequel to the original, but instead is a separate story that took place in the Soviet Union with character which is completely different.
Fantastic Voyage: Microcosm is the third interpretation, written by Kevin J. Anderson, published in 2001. This version has a crew Proteus that explores the dead alien body that crashes-the ground in earth, and update the story with modern concepts like nanotechnology (replacing the killer white cells).
A comic book adaptation of the film was released by Gold Key Comics in 1967. Taken by Wally Wood, the book follows the plot of the film with general accuracy, but many scenes are depicted differently and/or directly dropped, and are finally given an epilogue similar to which is seen in some of the earliest draft texts for the film.
A parody of the movie titled Fantastecch Voyage was published in Mad Magazine. Illustrated by Mort Drucker and written by Larry Siegel, two members of "The Usual Gang Of Idiots", in the regular edition # 110, April 1967. Spoof advertising-themed business has a crew - from L.S.M.F.T. (Laboratory Sector for Making Tiny People) - sent to inject decongestants into clogged noses.
1968 animated television series
Two years after the movie was released, ABC aired an animated series of the same name on Saturday morning. The series is produced by Filmasi. Gold Key publishes a comic book based on the series.
In this series, different team of experts perform their mission in a ship called Voyager, a submarine featuring a wedge-shaped wing and a large and swept T-tail, capable of flying. The model kit from Voyager is offered by the Aurora Model Company for several years, and has been the collector's item sought since.
In June 2008, the
Works with similar themes
Doctor Who: The Invisible Enemy (1977)
The 4-part series of the British TV series Doctor Who is said to be inspired by this film. In it, the Doctor's body is possessed by an evil virus; so a doctor creates clones of himself and his companion Leela to enter his head to search for the virus and destroy it. Wonder Beat Scramble (1986)
Japanese anime series which runs from 16 April to 19 November 1986 in Tokyo.
Innerspace (1987)
Osmosis Jones (2001)Antibodies (2002)
The antibodies, a film based on the Fantastic Voyage, were released on the SciFi channel in 2002. In this film the submarine with its crew is diminished and injected into the body of a terrorist, to prevent attacks against Washington DC
The sequel/remake series
Plans for the sequel or remake have been in discussions since at least 1984, but in early July 2015, the project remains trapped in a development hell. In 1984, Isaac Asimov was approached to write Fantastic Voyage II, where a movie would be made. Asimov "sent the suggested outline" that reflects the film Innerspace and involves two ships in the bloodstream, one American and one Soviet, and what follows is a kind of submicroscopic version of World War III. Asimov opposed such an approach. After a dispute between the publishers, the original novel commissioner approached Philip Josà ©  © Farmer, who "wrote the novel and sent [the] manuscript" which was rejected though "sticking closely to the outline [which was sent to Asimov.]" "It deals with the World War III in the bloodstream, and it's full of action and excitement. " Although Asimov urged publishers to accept the Farmer script, he insisted that Asimov wrote the novel. So Asimov eventually wrote the book in his own way (completely different in the plot of what [the Farmer] wrote), which Doubleday finally published in 1987 as Fantastic Voyage II and was not handled by competing a submarine in the bloodstream, but with one submarine, with [an American] hero working together (not entirely voluntary) with four members of the Soviet crew. "The novel was not made into a movie, however.
James Cameron is also interested in re-creating (at least since 1997), but decides to devote his efforts to his Avatar project. He still remains open to the idea of ​​producing features based on his own scenario, and in 2007, 20th Century Fox announced that the pre-production on the project was finally underway. Roland Emmerich agrees to direct, but rejects the manuscript written by Cameron. Marianne and Cormac Wibberley were hired to write new scripts, but the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America plot delayed filming, and Emmerich started working on 2012 instead.
In the spring of 2010, Paul Greengrass was considering directing a remake of a script written by Shane Salerno and produced by James Cameron, but then came out to be replaced by Shawn Levy. This is so that the film is recorded in the original 3D stereoscopic.
In January 2016, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Guillermo del Toro was in talks to steer a reboot with reteaming with David S. Goyer, who wrote a screenplay with Justin Rhodes with Cameron still in the film by his production company, Lightstorm Entertainment.
In August 2017, it was reported that del Toro had postponed work on the film to fully focus on his film The Shape of Water, due to release the same year, and he would start pre-production in the spring. 2018 and will begin filming in the fall of the same year for release in 2020.
See also
- List of American films of 1966
- Microbiology
References
External links
- Fantastic Voyage on IMDb
- Fantastic Voyage in the TCM Movie Database
- Fantastic Voyage at AllMovie List of titles
- Fantastic Voyage on the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Fantastic Voyage in the Open Library in Internet Archive
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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