Fantastic Voyage (1966)

Despite some stolid acting performances and a rather dull script, “Fantastic Voyage” is a lavish production with brilliant special effects for the time. Overall, the film presents the viewer with an entertaining and imaginative journey into the human body.

Directed by Richard Fleischer
Produced by Saul David
Screenplay by Harry Kleiner
Story by Jerome Bixby, Otto Klement
Adaptation: David Duncan
Music by Leonard Rosenman
Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
Edited by William B. Murphy
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Running time: 100 minutes
Budget: $5.1 million
Box office: $12 million

Cast


Stephen Boyd: Grant
Raquel Welch: Cora
Edmond O'Brien: General Carter
Donald Pleasence: Dr. Michaels
Arthur O'Connell: Col. Donald Reid
William Redfield: Capt. Bill Owens
Arthur Kennedy: Dr. Duval
Jean Del Val : Jan Benes
Barry Coe: Communications Aide
Ken Scott: Secret Service
Shelby Grant: Nurse
James Brolin: Technician
Brendan Fitzgerald: Wireless Operator

(1966 Trailer)

An assassination attempt on a scientist!

A desperate bid to save his life!

A miniaturized sub and its crew injected into his body?

See what happens as they embark on a……

Fantastic Voyage! 

“This film will take you where no one has ever been before; no eye witness has actually seen what you are about to see. But in this world of ours where going to the moon will soon be upon us and where the most incredible things are happening all around us, somebody, perhaps tomorrow, the fantastic events you are about to see can and will take place.”

Read on for more......

(Spoilers follow below.....)

The film opens with a TWA jet in flight at night over Los Angeles. As the plane lands, troop carriers containing armed soldiers are lined up before a hangar together with secret service men, four motorcycle policemen and several limousines

As a motorized stairway approaches the door of the plane, armed soldiers exit the troop carriers and form a cordon around the plane while the secret service men assemble and wait for the door to open.

The jet’s door opens onto a stern scene of seriousness and CIA agent Grant helps scientist, Jan Benes out of the plane. Benes has been helped to escape from behind the Iron Curtain

At the end of the steps, Benes is greeted by the Chief of the Secret Service who shakes his hand, introduces him to several of his associates and leads him to a limousine. Suddenly, Benes turns and moves back quickly to Grant to shake his hand in obvious gratitude before moving back toward the limousine.

The convoy of limos and their motorcycle escort race through an area of dark warehouses. A bit later as they travel down a street, a light from a house is seen to turn on and off – a signal to alert the occupant of a car waiting in an alleyway.

As the convoy approaches the entrance to the alley, the car in the alleyway moves forward before accelerating at full speed on a collision course with the convoy. Suddenly the onrushing car strikes one of the motorcycles that has come from the rear and is deflected from its intended target.

The car collides with the rear of the limo containing Benes before smashing into a pole and then a wall on the other side of the street, while Benes sustains a head injury.

While the attacking car bursts into flames, the secret service men quickly hustle Benes into the rear of another car. As they speed off, shots are fired and the secret service chief tries to shield the scientist’s body from harm.

As the credits roll, we are presented with a series of shots featuring an unconscious Jan Benes undergoing a medical examination using the latest technology. We are about to enter a brave new world – computerized and transistorized complete with integrated circuits and miniaturized components. Gone are the days of cumbersome vacuum tubes and big levers and enormous dials!

(Fans of the 1960 sci-fi series, “Lost In Space” will recognize the sound effects used in the credit sequence which also featured in some episodes of the series.)

We next see a car into which Grant has probably been hurriedly hustled after having been roused from sleep. The driver soon pulls up at a parking area of a deserted warehouse while the man next to Grant exits the car and tells Grant to stay where he is and wait.

While alone in the car, Grant becomes aware that the ground is starting to sink taking the the car with it. Having been taken down some kind of a shaft, the car comes to a halt outside two big doors that suddenly open to reveal an electric buggy driven by an M.P.

As Grant is being driven away, it appears that he is traversing a veritable vast subterranean city within a city. Prominent is the emblem / insignia:

CMDF

The over-arching military nature (replete with efficiency and secrecy) of the facility is quite obvious and begs the question as to how many such facilities exist throughout the world under the very noses of the populations of various ‘democratic’ and non-democratic countries?

The ever-present obsession with security presents itself at the check-in point where an officer requests Grant’s I.D. card – a process that’s computerized and one that’s currently being extended throughout our own world in the 21st Century with our compliance and at times even without our consent.

When the vehicle pulls up at the Medical Division, Lieut. General Alan Carter greets Grant. In an observation room they both move to a viewing window that overlooks the operating room where they see an unconscious Benes being prepped for surgery.

Gen Carter informs Grant that “the other side (we know who!) got to him” and that he received a brain injury “before he could breathe a word.” This is a problem as “he's the only scientist who knows the answer to what we're after” and that's why they have to operate. However, Grant has trouble figuring out why Carter needs him.

At a panel containing several TV monitors, Dr Duval the “top brain man in the country” appears in his office on one of them along with his attractive technical assistant, Cora Peterson. To Grant’s surprise, he is informed that he is to be working with them.

On another monitor appears Dr Michaels, Chief of the Medical Section. During an exchange between Carter, Michaels and himself, Grant learns that he will be needed for “security purposes” as it is believed that another attempt will be made on Benes’ life in the form of “medical sabotage or surgical assassination.” It is feared that the latter method could involve Dr Duval who’ll be operating on Benes and if he proves to be disloyal, Grant is to take his cue from Dr Michaels.

On the way back to the electric vehicle, Grant learns what the letters CMFD stands for: Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces, the meaning and implications of which he is yet to understand!

While traveling down a corridor, Carter enlightens Grant as to the work that is being performed at the facility whereby they are able to “reduce anything down to any size…..People, ships, tanks, planes…” They could conceivably “shrink an army with all its equipment and put it in a bottle cap.”

Rather disconcertingly, Grant learns that “the other side” (we know who!) has manged to get “hold of a thing like that.” However, both sides in the Cold War game of lunacy (one which we seem to be returning to in our own times) have “the same problem: lack or control” in that they “can only keep things miniaturized for exactly sixty minutes. After that, everything starts growing back to its original size.”

From this point it is pretty clear what direction the plot is going to take and the kind of complicating factor that will arise.

Benes fits into the scheme of things in that he possesses the secret of control of the miniaturization process and that the designated bad guys tried to kill him because he wanted to give the designated good guys the secret instead of them. If at first they didn’t succeed, you can be sure they’ll try, try again, the Commie bastards!

Grant now understands why his presence is required…..except for one slight detail: he will need to take “a little trip” with the egg heads in order to reach a clot inside of Benes’ brain. In short, Grant is to form part of a crew together with the surgical team who will all be contained within a submarine that will be reduced down in size and injected into an artery from where they will voyage to the damaged area of Benes’ brain and repair it.

At this point we would blame Grant if he had soiled his pants before protesting to Carter that he is “just not the right man for a mission of this kind.”

The Mission Briefing

When Grant and Carter arrive at the conference room, they walk into the middle of a heated argument between Colonel Donald Reid and Dr Duval over the old chestnut of the time: namely whether or not a woman (in this case, Cora) should have a “place on a mission of this kind.” Clearly Reid does not want a woman to go along on such a hazardous mission. ‘GGRR! Boo! Chauvinist bastard!’ shout the feminists in the audience.

Dr Michaels diplomatically intervenes in the disagreement by pointing out that “Dr. Duval has relied on Miss Peterson for years” and that since she’s volunteered for the mission, it would all be for the best. Of course, every film needs some kind of love interest and eye-candy which is just another reason why this attractive “technical assistant” is on the mission.

The mission briefing begins with a view of a large anatomical map of a brain projected on a large central screen: “Benes' brain...near as we can map it stereotaxically.” The location of the clot is identified - “Impossible to get at without damage to the intervening tissue which would prove fatal to Benes.”

During the briefing, Lt. Gen Carter does his best impersonation of a walking - talking peptic ulcer and lights up one of the numerous cigars he goes through during the course of the film.

Next we have an overlay depicting the blood vessels of the head and neck where it is pointed out that the only way to reach the clot “is via the arterial system.” The first phase of the mission “calls for miniaturizing a submarine, with crew and surgical team, and injecting it into the carotid artery.” They will need to be reduced to the size of a microbe.

In the meantime, Benes will be placed in “deep hypothermia – that is, freezing him as low as compatible with human life. It'll slow down his heartbeat, circulation, and all other physical processes.”

Once in the carotid artery, the team will remain in the arterial system until they reach the point of damage “where Dr. Duval will attempt to dissolve the clot with a laser beam.” After the operation, they will return by way of the venous system until they reach the base of the neck where they’ll be removed with a hypodermic. Easy Peezy!

The sub’s location can be monitored by their circulatory specialist Dr Michaels who will serve as their navigator. There’s also wireless communication and as the sub is nuclear powered, their progress can be readily tracked.

As backup insurance, there is to be a team of surgeons who will remove them should anything go wrong. The one major caveat being that the team must be out within 60 minutes or they’ll be in danger from attack by “Benes' natural defenses: White corpuscles - antibodies.”

Preparations

Now it is time for the team to proceed to the “Sterilization Section” where Grant quips, “How much can a man give to his country?” On their way out when Grant goes to help Cora, she snaps at him, “Don't touch me. I'm sterile!” OK!

Shortly, final preparations are being made with shots of technicians doing technical stuff; banks of monitors monitoring; computers beeping and the prone body of Benes being made ready.

In the Main Ops Room there is a floor-to-ceiling detailed map of the entire arterial and venus system representing the body of Benes. Technicians flit about while we are inundated with shots of computers, oscilloscopes, X-rays of Benes’ heart, EKG charts, closed circuit TV images, dials, more charts and on and on…….

Miniaturization

In the Miniaturization Room is situated the central Zero Module over which stands the Proteus (USS Proteus, U-91035), a sleek craft with a transparent plastic bubble located on top of its structure. The experimental sub was as Owens later explains, “designed for piscatorial research - the spawning habits of deep sea fish.” The sub is supported by cradles, allowing it to stand free of the module.

After Captain owens is handed a small lead box, the team enter the craft. Once inside, Owens and Grant work to install a tiny reactor containing a microscopic radioactive particle that will power the sub once they are shrunk. The particle is minuscule as radioactive material cannot be miniaturized. As Owens explains, “they can't reduce nuclear fuel, but once the reactor's miniaturized, along with the submarine, a microscopic particle should emit enough energy to activate it.”

Grant then tests the ship's wireless, while Owens tells Michaels how he will be able to read his navigation charts of Benes' circulatory and lymphatic systems. Michaels seems to take quite an interest in the subs operating systems…..

Cora begins assembling and testing the laser, while Grant jokes around with her seeming to check out the nature of her relationship with the older Dr Duval. Cora soon puts him in his place and shows how devoted she is to her work, to Duval and to the scientific exploration of the unknown and unseen. Grant wont admit it, but his bowels are starting to turn to water at the real prospect of actually being shrunk down to microscopic size.

It is soon time for the crew to strap into their seats in preparation for the start of their mission. The miniaturization process proceeds in stages with great precision and efficiency. At first all goes well until Dr Michaels due to the close confines of the sub and lack of ventilation, suffers an attack of claustrophobia and frantically attempts to exit the hatch despite the sub being submerged in a (from their perspective) giant ampule / hypodermic syringe. Dr Duval and Grant are forced to restrain Michaels and try to calm him down. Eventually Michaels does calm down and explains that he has claustrophobia as a result of having been “buried alive...two days... air raid….England” and thought he had gotten over it.

The passage of time in minutes is being counted down beginning with “60” from the start of the mission and throughout the course of the film it will be a recurring feature. This is indeed a race against time and it will add to the mounting tension.

By the time the countdown minute recorder hits “59” the Proteus is at full reduction and can now generate its own power permitting the ventilators to function and allowing the crew to breathe freely.

In the operating room, we see Benes lying under a thermal blanket, his body monitored by a series of tiny tracking devices resembling radar antennae.

By minute “57” the crew of the Proteus are injected within the saline solution into Benes’ carotid artery, beginning what for them will be a roller coaster ride of their lives as they embark on their…...

Fantastic Voyage!

In the Operations Room, the minute countdown recorder flips over to “56” and an overlay map of the head and neck placed over the radar-scope shows the Proteus represented by a blip traveling up the carotid artery.

The awe-inspiring sight and experience of entering a universe no-one else has seen before is evident by the expression on the faces of the Proteus crew. It appears as a liquid wonderland stream of color consisting of huge red corpuscles, globules and platelets.

Duval attempts to encapsulate the significance of what they are beholding by (not for last time) gazing dreamily off into the distance and philosophically speculating that “the medieval philosophers were right: Man is the center of the universe. We stand in the middle of Infinity, between outer and inner space, and there's no limit to either.” At this point I'd be giving him a wide berth!

Wild Ride

Suddenly, their fascination is interrupted by the first of several emergencies when they encounter an extremely strong current, followed by a whirlpool, while the arterial wall looms closer and closer. The whirlpool’s strength can be gauged by the centrifugal force being exerted on the crew of the Proteus whereby Michaels and Cora are forced out of their seats but are prevented from being plastered all over the ship’s bulkhead by the restraining hands of their crew-mates.

At last after a desperate struggle, the Proteus emerges unscathed from the whirlpool but the crew discover that now the blood cells around the ship are colored blue instead of red. It appears that the Proteus has “crossed over into the jugular vein” through an arteriole-venous fistula from the carotid artery. This suggests that there had been a “forced joining of an artery and vein” which “must've happened when Benes was hurt.” This means that they are headed toward the superior vena cava, and will have to go through the heart which will result in the destruction of the Proteus.

Interestingly enough it is Michaels who quickly urges the ending of the mission with their immediate removal. However, back in the Control Room with about 50 minutes remaining, Carter comes up with a plan to put Benes into cardiac arrest allowing the Proteus to travel through within a time frame of only 57 seconds.

Matters Of The Heart

Carter’s plan is soon relayed to the Proteus. From the crew's perspective, Benes’ heart will sound “like heavy artillery” and according to Michael’s learned and clinical observation, it is capable of laying “down quite a barrage in a lifetime, Forty million beats.” In contrast, once again the scientist philosopher Duval gazes off into the distance and comments that “every beat separates a man from eternity.” Think about that cheery thought for a moment, if you will! What a guy to be stuck on a mission with!

The plan is quickly and decisively put into action and the Proteus (during the course of a tense countdown of seconds) shoots into the right ventricle before progressing out through the pulmonic valve, with just three seconds to spare during which Benes’ heart is revived after a brief scare that it would not start beating again.

Now, Take A Deep Breath

While on their way to Benes’ lungs, the Proteus enters a capillary and the crew is fascinated at witnessing the process of oxygenation in which corpuscles turn from blue to bright red. Moved at the sight, Duval declares in awe, “we're the very first to see the living process.” Duval is almost Alexander Humboldt-like in his appreciation of the ascetics of the process and the effect on human consciousness and psyche that just one of the many “miracles of the Universe” can have.

In contrast, we have Michael’s post-Darwinian view which seeks to explain natural phenomena in terms of categorization and scientific rationalism. Hence, what is unfolding before his eyes is “nothing miraculous” and is instead “just an interchange of gases; the end product of five hundred million years of evolution.” Nah, miracles are more sexy-sounding.

Just before a discussion can ensue of a more theological nature concerning whether or not there is evidence of a “creative Intelligence at work,” a warning buzzer sounds. A pressure gauge indicator shows that the Proteus is losing pressure in the flotation tanks. At the manual control panel, Owens opens the circuit panel and quickly locates the problem. He determines that they have lost too much air to continue with their mission.

With the prospect of having to cancel the mission, Duval comments on the irony of being so close to “a vast air chamber, one of the countless alvioli of the lung” and yet they “can't get enough to fill a microscopic tank.”

Duval’s comment gives Grant an idea for a possible solution: to use the Proteus’ snorkel and enter an alveolus to extract the air that Benes breathes. Everyone except Owens are to take part in this endeavor for safety reasons.

As the crew put on their Scuba gear, they discover that the laser has broken loose from its mounting and has suffered damage. Cora cannot account for it having become detached while Michaels suggests that the laser “must have been jarred loose during the whirlpool.” Note the expressions on the faces of both Michaels and Grant when the former says this. Dots beginning to be joined?

Back in the control room, Reid and Carter discover that the Proteus has “stopped on the outer limits of the right lung” with, as indicated by the countdown recorder, just 42 minutes remaining.

While trying to figure out the reason behind the holdup, Carter adds to his potential health woes by including diabetes to possible mouth, throat or lung cancer. Armed with his ever-present cigar he proceeds to empty the contents of a sugar shaker into his cup of coffee. What’s next: amphetamines? crack cocaine?

Carter: “I can't help it. I'm just weak, I guess!”

Grant and the others are now outside of the ship and have succeeded using the snorkel to pull in the air from Benes’ lung. As luck would have it, Grant’s safety-line suddenly snaps and he is quickly sucked into a bronchiole as Benes' exhales. When Benes next inhales, Grant locates the original alveolus and makes his way to safety, and with Duval’s assistance he is pulled back out into the bloodstream.

Carter, who will probably need a course of prescribed medication for his blood-pressure, receives the report with 37 minutes to go that the Proteus is “putting in to refuel air” and is “proceeding through the pleural cavity.”

Incommunicado

As the Proteus heads into the ‘calm waters’ of the pleural cavity, Cora disassembles the laser and discovers a smashed transistor and a broken trigger wire. Grant hits on the idea of cannibalizing the wireless for the required transistor and before doing so it is decided that the crew will send one last message to Carter and the team. 

The transistor turns out to be suitable, but the trigger wire is too large so Duval sets about scraping the wire down to size by using a No.11 scalpel. During all this time Michaels has acted like a bit of a naysayer and only reluctantly agrees to the proposal to continue with the mission when firm courses of action are decided on by the others.

Interestingly enough, Grant confides to Michaels his belief that someone has been attempting to sabotage the mission with the unfastening of the laser and the snapping of Grant’s safety line. Michaels (he doth protesteth too much?) seems to recoil at the notion of Duval, the prime suspect as being responsible. Is Grant doing this on purpose to test Michaels’ reaction? As a security guy you’d think he’d keep his cards closer to his chest and not accept things at face value. After all, as Grant observes, “you still never know what's going on in anyone's mind...”

Proteus now enters the lymphatic system and as it proceeds through a lymph node, it encounters reticular fibers that have the appearance of seaweed. If they manage to block the ship’s water jet intakes, the engines will overheat. Just then, the body’s antibodies decide to put on a show by swiftly attacking a bacterium, enveloping it and squeezing it to death. (If only they could do that as quickly and efficiently to the Covid-19 virus!)

As the ship’s progress is far too slow, Duval proposes the more hazardous route to the inner ear. The danger lies in the fact that the slightest noise being hugely amplified will kill them, and they have no way to warn Carter’s team. Their only hope is that the surgical team will keep absolutely quiet once they figure out where the Proteus is headed. Not surprisingly, Michaels is unhappy with this plan but once again reluctantly agrees to navigate to Benes' left ear.

Meanwhile, ‘topside’ Carter is determined to be a candidate for a stroke as he comments, “something told me I got into the wrong end of the business – Inner Space!” Yet another cigar goes up in smoke! As the team prepares for what is to transpire, the countdown recorder reveals that there is now only 27 minutes to go……..

Lend Me Your Ear

Once inside Benes’ ear, Proteus must come to a stop as the seaweed-like fibers have “clogged the intake vents” and they’re “not getting any propulsion.” It is now up to Grant, Cora, and Michaels to make a dive to pull the reticular fibers out of the intake valves.

Meanwhile back in the control room with 24 minutes remaining, Carter notices the amount of time that’s left and exclaims, “this is just what we need - another delay!”

The nature of the mission and its associated stress may have awakened more than a need for glucose, caffeine and other stimulants within Carter as he spots an ant crawling along the table making its way toward a few spilled grains of sugar. Just before he brings his thumb down on the ant to crush it out of existence he stops, picks the tiny creature up and places it out of harm’s way. At seeing this, Reid observes, “you'll wind up a Hindu, respecting all forms of life, however small.”

In the silent operating room the tension is palpable while the sweat flows freely as the countdown minute recorder begins to register 21 minutes. Suddenly, a nurse accidentally drops a pair of scissors to the floor. The resulting sound within Benes’ ear pounds the Proteus and its crew to their very core with cataclysmic reverberations while Cora sinks down into the organ of corti and winds up trapped among the (hair) cells of Hensen.

Michaels and Grant race to rescue Cora but Michaels cannot go further and is ordered by Grant to return to the Proteus. Grant manages to free Cora from the hair cells, and they both make their way back to the ship’s airlock.

Attack Of The Antibodies!

While waiting for the airlock to re-flood, antibodies attack Cora and fasten themselves onto her body as if she were bacteria. Grant and the others hurriedly and frantically get Cora through the airlock and into the ship where it is apparent that Cora cannot breathe. Grant and the other men find themselves performing the highly enviable task of pulling antibody molecules off strategically affected areas of Cora’s (Raquel Welch’s) body! The structures detach rather quickly as soon they begin crystallizing and Cora is finally extricated from their deathly grasp.

Proteus is once again under way where its passage lies through the middle ear then through the endolymphatic duct and back into the vascular system, before penetrating into the brain and the location of the clot.

With 12 minutes remaining, Carter with coffee in hand reaches for the empty sugar container for his sugar fix but is disappointed to find it empty, protesting in frustration, “of all the time to run out of sugar!” I can’t help thinking of Loyd Bridges’ character in “Flying High” muttering in frustration about what a time it was to give up amphetamines.

Back aboard the Proteus while passing through the inner ear, Cora and Grant discuss Duval with Cora pointing out that “he's much too innocent, much too involved with his work, to realize what's going on around him” and that “he believes in an absolutely free interchange of information between scientists of different countries” which of itself in the context of the Cold War would be enough to make him be viewed with suspicion.

Just as Grant raises the possibility that Cora’s perception of Duval might be influenced by her fondness or even love for him, Michaels and Duval can be heard arguing loudly about whether Duval, having repaired the laser, should test it. Duval wishes to use the laser at the time of the operation as he does not “want to put any extra strain on the connections by running unnecessary tests.” Michaels puts Duval’s stubborn insistence down to him only wishing to satisfy his “damned ego.”

Final Destination

With only 8 minutes remaining, the crew of the Proteus has entered the base of the brain, the realm of “the human mind.” Grant, Cora and Duval are fascinated by what they are witnessing while Michaels true to form remains at the chart. Duval then goes off into one of his glassy-eyed mystical reveries proclaiming, “yet all the suns that light the corridors of the universe shine dim, before the blazing of a single thought…” which is surprisingly completed by Grant: “proclaiming in incandescent glory the myriad mind of man." Michaels, not one given to appreciating matters of a philosophical and spiritual nature, sarcastically retorts, “let me know when we pass the soul.”

Hollywood just loves these Judaeo-Christian ruminations and homilies concerning the existence and importance of the human soul and the character of Duval doesn’t disappoint by providing the expected trite observation about how “the finite mind cannot comprehend infinity, and the soul which comes from God is infinite.” Michaels, who obviously missed out on Sunday school points out to Duval, “take a close look at your soul, and your infinity, and your God out there and you'll find it's nothing but a combination of atoms, molecules and certain chemicals involving proteins.” In answer to Michael’s rational mechanistic and materialistic view of the universe, Duval points out that he left out one important thing: “The Breath of God!” Well, thanks for clearing that up for us! We’re completely convinced now.

It certainly cleared things up for Grant who by the time they have reached the clot is firmly convinced that someone like Duval does not fit the profile of a fanatic. Someone possessing religious convictions, a deep faith and belief in a supreme God being turning into some kind of a dangerous fanatic? Perish the thought! Never! Couldn’t happen!

Grant now has enough faith in Duval to insist that he and Cora exit the ship and perform the operation with the laser. With 6 minutes to go, Michaels is not surprisingly all for them taking the Proteus and high-tailing it out of there to the “removal point.”

Time is now definitely of the essence because if they overstay, the process of miniaturization will start and if they grow big enough to pose a danger to the body’s system the white corpuscles will swarm to destroy them as they would any invader.

With only two minutes to get to removal point, there will only be four minutes in which to operate.

Grant settles the matter by cutting the ship’s power while Michaels becomes more and more hysterical ranting that he is in charge and that Grant has supposedly allowed Duval the opportunity to carry out his nefarious plan to murder Benes.

Rather than remain on board the ship, Grant decides to venture out to see if he can assist Duval and Cora. Duval successfully manages to activate the laser and begins to clear the clot to allow the blood to flow again and hopefully relieve the pressure on a few key vessels.

Meanwhile, back aboard the Proteus, Michaels convinces Owens to come below to inspect the escape hatch through which he says fluid is seeping. As Owens inspects the hatch and discovers nothing wrong, Michaels knocks him out with a winch crank. Michaels then restores power to the ship and takes the helm.

With time about to run out, Duval is managing to clear an area around the large central nerve, unaware that in the distance the Proteus is maneuvering into a position that will line it up with the central nerve.

Suddenly, with full power and full speed, Michaels directs the Proteus on a collision course with the central nerve. Just at that point the three crew mates outside the ship notice what’s happening and are dumbstruck, but Grant quickly springs into action and calls for the laser. Grant uses the laser now as a weapon (wide beam and full power) with which to rake one side of the Proteus’ hull propelling her away from the nerve and into an area of dendrites.

Time has now run out with the minute recorder registering “0” minutes, with white corpuscles responding to the impact and with Michaels now physically trapped within the mortally wounded Proteus.

Back in the control and operating rooms, the insistent and urgent sound of a warning siren signals the end of the countdown’s march to “0”, the time at which the crew of the Proteus must be immediately extracted even if “it means killing Benes.” No amount of caffeine, glucose or nicotine can quell Carter’s frustration as he thumps the table and exclaims, “Damn it to hell!”

Realizing that they’ll have to make it out on their own, Duval, Grant and Cora will have to exit Benes’ body via the optic nerve to the corner of the eye. The gravity of their situation is becoming apparent as they witness the stricken Proteus growing visibly larger before their very eyes.

The trio then notice the presence of huge monstrous white corpuscles starting to ooze toward the Proteus where “they'll ingest the ship and everything in it!”

Grant decides to go back aboard the ship by entering through the tear in the hull, to hopefully rescue Michaels and Owens. Owens is only now regaining consciousness, so Grant tells him to suit up as fast as he can. The pinned and trapped Michaels is frantically trying to disengage himself in the bubble helm section of the ship. It is to no avail, however as a white corpuscle (macrophage) engulfs the bubble, breaks through and suffocates Michaels, “the one who's been sabotaging the mission.” (as if we didn’t know!)

Grant and Owens then attempt to abandon ship before the white corpuscles engulf, crush and dissolve it. All the while, Duval and Cora have been employing the power unit and laser to target the white corpuscles and keep them off the sub, but without success.

As Grant struggles against a monstrous white corpuscle, Duval aims the laser and strikes with a direct hit allowing Grant to be released to swim away. Duval then manages to zap another monster when the laser finally gives up the ghost and dies.

While white corpuscles are swarming all over the ship’s hull and are ingesting its remains, back in the operating room preparations are being made for a trephination procedure. Suddenly, Carter is struck with a moment of inspiration by considering what he would do if he “were in their place” and had run out of time. He goes on to explain that “I’d abandon the ship before I grew to dangerous size and use the few extra minutes to get out the quickest way possible, on my own.” With quick realization, Reid completes the thought with, “along the optic nerve to the eye.”

Shortly through a large magnifier Reid looks into Benes' right eye, where he is able to make out the four members of the crew swimming in Benes' tears. He then uses a microscope slide to lift out a teardrop containing the crew. Reid quickly and carefully makes his way to the miniaturization room and sets the slide gently down on the center hexagon.

Carter, from above looks down into the miniaturization room, and observes the four specs on the glass slide continuing to grow until they return to their normal size, if a bit worse for wear after the ordeal and successful completion of their…..

Fantastic Voyage!

Points of interest

Having the rights for a paperback novelization based on the screenplay, Bantam Books approached Isaac Asimov to write it. Due to delays in filming, the novelization was released six months before the movie. Asimov felt that the script was full of plot holes and received the go-ahead to write the book the way he wanted.

Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby came up with the idea for the film and sold it to Fox, which claimed that the film would be "the most expensive science-fiction film ever made."

Bixby delivered several scripts for movies which are featured in this blog such as, “Curse of the Faceless Man” (1958), “It! The Terror from Beyond Space” (1958), “The Lost Missile” (1958)

Director Richard Fleischer also directed Disney's first science fiction movie, “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1954) which also is featured in this blog. Interestingly enough, Fleischer had also been a pre-med college student for a time.

The film’s budget was set at $5 million but rose to $6 million, with $3 million going to the sets and $1 million on test footage.

“Fantastic Voyage” was Raquel Welch’s first role at Fox, and she was put under contract to the studio after being spotted in a beauty contest. Raquel Welch is said to have claimed in her 2013 book that she was infatuated with Stephen Boyd in making this movie, but he apparently declined her advances.

The film's score was composed and conducted by Leonard Rosenman who deliberately wrote no music for the first four reels of the film, before the crew of Proteus enter Benes’ body. “Fantastic Voyage” is reportedly the first American feature film with no musical score for the opening credits, which featured only electronic pulse and sound effects.

The film won two Academy Awards and was nominated for three more:

• Won: Best Art Direction – Color (Jack Martin Smith, Dale Hennesy, Walter M. Scott, Stuart A. Reiss)
• Won: Best Special Effects (Art Cruickshank)
• Nominated: Best Cinematography (Ernest Laszlo)
• Nominated: Best Film Editing (William B. Murphy)
• Nominated: Best Sound Editing (Walter Rossi)

“Fantastic Voyage” is included among the American Film Institute's 1998 list of the four hundred movies nominated for the Top 100 Greatest American Movies.

Who can forget the scene where the male crew members remove attacking antibodies from Raquel Welch! Director Fleischer at first allowed the actors to grab whatever they liked. However, the men exercised sufficient self-control and refrained from removing the offending antibodies from Welch's breasts. After a second try during which they all focused their efforts this time at liberating Welch’s breasts, Fleischer decided to resort to a bit of careful choreography with the result that appears in the film’s final cut. 

In a move that would surely have sparked many a medical student’s interest in medicine and biology, medical schools showed clips from the movie to illustrate concepts in human anatomy, physiology, and immunology.

The scenes of crew members swimming outside the sub were shot on dry sound-stages with the actors suspended from wires. To create the impression of swimming in a fluid-like environment, the scenes were shot at fifty percent greater speed than normal, then played back at normal speed.

Of course, the real star of the "Fantastic Voyage" would have to be its special effects. Despite not having the benefit of today’s computerized digital effects, the scenes depicting the internal functioning of the human body from the microscopic perspective appear believable.

The special effects were also in keeping with the times in which “Fantastic Voyage” was released: 1960s hippy-groovy-far out man-what a trip-psychedelia.

Of particular note is the fact that “Fantastic Voyage” is punctuated by a series of dramatic and suspenseful events in which something inevitably goes wrong such as the scenes involving the temporarily stopped heart, the excursion into the lungs, the passage through the inner ear, the need to remain completely silent and still in the operating room and so on…..

Unfortunately, the characters are somewhat stereotypical and rather wooden and stodgy. For instance, we have the true-to-type hero, his love-interest token female whose presence is invariably questioned at some point, and the inevitable morally weak and cowardly traitor.

Let’s not also forget the usual simplistic mix of politics and religion that mainstream Hollywood likes to indulge in. Take for instance, Duval’s constant babbling on about “the miracle of life” complementing his glassy-eyed stare of wonder and awe at the miraculous nature of what he is witnessing. This is in contrast to the godless, defeatist, traitorous atheism (ie., Communist) of Michaels. Well, such black and white distinctions might these days appeal to many at something like a Trump rally.

“Fantastic Voyage” is one of those films with which some viewers just love to demonstrate their cleverness by gleefully and seriously pointing out the evident plot or logic holes. They’ll crap on about the size of air molecules, time limits, objects left behind in Benes’ body and so on and so on……Hey, it’s just a bloody film! Enjoy it as entertainment - as a piece of “What If?”

I really shudder at the thought of “Fantastic Voyage” actually being remade in today’s times. You can probably be sure that the fun and sense of adventure will be quashed and replaced with a politically correct and opportunistic ‘tick the box’ approach in terms of gender roles, racial and ethnic inclusion and diversity, sexual orientation and on and on and on. Add to that required crammed-full forced layer of virtuous goodies, a extra layer of CGI extravaganza to dazzle the senses and utterly overwhelm the story. Of course, we’ll have all the usual back-stories of all of the characters whether or not we want it or care. Just keep the box of Kleenex handy for those inevitable syrupy soap-opera moments. As for the morally weak and evil crew member? It’ll be a guy (among a bunch of limp wishy-washy token guys) for sure. Fear not, for all will be well under the leadership of a determined, strong female captain steering a vessel propelled along by outraged feminist currents. And there you’ll have it: another ruined streaming service modern sci-fi film! I guess every stupid action eventually results in an equally stupid and opposite reaction – even after nearly 55 years.

Finally, ignoring the unlikely possibility of shrinking human beings, “Fantastic Voyage” raises some interesting considerations concerning the miniaturization of medical technology. I don’t think many of us would be surprised to learn that pills containing cameras and other sensors might one day be routinely used to monitor the internal functioning and condition of patients’ bodies. Nor would it be considered as outlandish to expect tiny molecular-sized nano-bots to enter our systems to perform various procedures or to assist our immune systems by targeting and destroying viruses and bacteria.

It would also be a pretty safe bet that our descendants will be born with micro-chips or implants that will record and contain a life-time’s worth of an individual’s medical information. This will have implications for society in terms of how the personal information will be stored, who will have access to it and the purposes that information could be put to. Would people face the prospect of being judged or assessed or even discriminated against based on such information resulting in them being excluded from certain activities and benefits that others enjoy? 

These are serious matters with potentially harmful consequences. Worth thinking about as technology seeps from our smart watches that monitor our activities, movements, location and the electrical activity of our bodies and eventually leeches and works its way into our very bodies in the form of microscopic implants and nano-chips – all with our unwitting consent!

Do you think this just sounds like a load of science fiction? Well, check out the following video which presents Elon Musk's Neuralink venture that involves connecting a pig with a computer chip in its brain. And what of tomorrow? Human beings?

As the human race reaches further out into interstellar space, there is also another universe for us to explore, that of Inner Space through which we will no doubt embark on another kind of........

Fantastic Voyage!

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©Chris Christopoulos 2020