Ikarie XB 1 (1963) / “Voyage To The End Of The Universe”

Ikarie XB 1 is an overlooked compelling science fiction film that was ahead of it's time and which focuses on complex human drama instead of cheap sci-fi razzamatazz

Directed by Jindřich Polák
Screenplay by Pavel Juráček, Jindřich Polák
Based on “The Magellanic Cloud” by Stanislaw Lem
Cinematography: Jan Kališ
Edited by Josef Dobřichovský
Music by Zdeněk Liška
Production company: Filmové Studio Barrandov
Distributed by: Ústřední půjčovna filmů, American International Pictures (USA
Release dates: July 26, 1963 (Czechoslovakia); September 1964 (US)
Running time: 86 minutes
Country: Czechoslovakia
Language: Czech

Cast

Zdenek Stepánek: Captain Vladimir Abajev
Frantisek Smolík: Anthony Hopkins - mathematician
Dana Medrická: Nina Kirova - sociologist
Irena Kacírková: Brigitta
Radovan Lukavský: Commander MacDonald
Otto Lackovic: Michal (coordinator)
Miroslav Machácek: Marcel Bernard
Jirí Vrstála: Erik Svenson (pilot)
Rudolf Deyl: Ervin Herold (pilot)
Jaroslav Mares: Milek Wertbowsky
Martin Tapák: Petr Kubes (biologist)
Marcela Martínková: Steffa (Wertbowsky's wife)
Jozef Adamovic: Zdenek Lorenc (coordinator)
Jaroslav Rozsíval (The Ship's Doctor)
Ruzena Urbanova: Eva (historian)
Svatava Hubenáková: Rena (MacDonald's wife)
Jan Cmíral: (crew member)
Vjaceslav Irmanov : (Coordinator)
Marcela Batková: Clenka posádky
Karel Duba: (crew member)
Miroslav Abrahám: (crew member)
Nadezda Blazícková: Danseuse
Zdenek Jelínek: Pianist
Bohumil Klika: Danseur
Jan S. Kolár : Dead man
Vera Kresadlová: crew member
Alena Martinovská : Danseuse
Ladislav Mrkvicka: Romeo in movie
Vladimír Navrátil: coordinator
Olga Navrátilová: crew member
Marie Popelková: dead women
Hana Prazanová: Julie in movie
Olga Schoberová: crew member
Gustav Vobornik: crew member

Trailer

Year: 2163

Starship Ikarus XB 1: a giant spaceship carrying 40 people to Alpha Centauri.

Mission: the mysterious "White Planet" orbiting the star Alpha Centauri & search for signs of life.

Duration: 28 months at near light speed (15 years time elapse on earth due to relativity effects)

Adjusting to life in space.

Encountering a derelict 20th century nuclear armed spaceship.

A radioactive dark star.

Malfunctioning computers.

Tensions among crew and passengers.

A crew member’s mental breakdown threatening the entire mission.

These are the hazards & dangers to be faced by the passengers and crew of…….

Icarus XB 1

as they

Voyage To The End Of The Universe!!

(Read on for more.....)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

An important and innovative sci-fi classic film but one that is often overrated

Trailer

Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke
Produced by Stanley Kubrick
Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth
Edited by Ray Lovejoy
Production company: Stanley Kubrick Productions
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Running time: 142 minutes
Budget: $10.5–12 million
Box office: $146 million

Cast

Keir Dullea as Dr. David Bowman
Gary Lockwood as Dr. Frank Poole
William Sylvester as Dr. Heywood Floyd
Daniel Richter as Moonwatcher, the chief man-ape
Leonard Rossiter as Dr. Andrei Smyslov
Margaret Tyzack as Elena
Robert Beatty as Dr. Ralph Halvorsen
Sean Sullivan as Dr. Roy Michaels[3]
Douglas Rain as the voice of HAL 9000
Frank Miller as mission controller
Edward Bishop as Aries 1B lunar shuttle captain
Edwina Carroll as lunar shuttle stewardess
Penny Brahms as stewardess
Heather Downham as stewardess
Alan Gifford as Poole's father
Ann Gillis as Poole's mother
Maggie d'Abo as stewardess (Space Station 5 elevator)
Chela Matthison as Mrs. Turner, Space Station 5 reception
Judy Keirn as voiceprint identification woman (Space Station 5)
Vivian Kubrick as Floyd's daughter, "Squirt"
Kenneth Kendall as BBC announcer

Opening sequence

The film opens with pitch blackness – a complete absence of light and matter as if at the moment before the universe came into being. On this science and religion can agree: in the beginning there was darkness until...until….until, and that is what the sustained musical note sets us up for as it gradually rises to a crescendo of sound.

Our expectation is then met with the view of our planet suspended in the inky void of space with the sun seeming to emerge from behind and above it. Celestial gases and gravity have long worked their magic gradually coalescing to form light and life-giving stars and planets and solar systems, so many of which come together to form constellations.

By some miracle, this single planetary jewel (perhaps one might be forgiven thinking - the only one in the universe) has been blessed with the addition of a single seemingly unique and miraculous element – LIFE!

Read on for more