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Tom Joyner Foundation

Tom Joyner Foundation Fantastic Voyage Cruise

November 7, 2019 by KC Burks

The Tom Joyner Foundation Fantastic Voyage was created as a fundraiser to support students in schools at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the long-running  music and empowerment-themed event generally features more than 50 plus live entertainment acts, seminars, daily inspiration, celebrities, and fun theme nights.  Cabins are going fast!

We will be sailing aboard ROYAL CARIBBEAN’s Independence of the Seas, departure is from Miami, Florida on Saturday, April 27, 2024 returning on Saturday, May 4, 2024

For more information, interested travelers can visit www.FantasticVoyage.BlackAmericaWeb.com or call (214) 495-1963 to get on the cabin waitlist.

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44 Facts About The Movie Fantastic Voyage

Written by Minny Towne

Modified & Updated: 05 Mar 2024

Reviewed by Jessica Corbett

In 1966, the science fiction film "Fantastic Voyage" took audiences on an extraordinary journey into the human body, captivating them with its groundbreaking special effects and imaginative storytelling. As we delve into the fascinating world of "Fantastic Voyage," we'll uncover 44 intriguing facts that shed light on the movie's production, impact, and enduring legacy. From the visionary concept of miniaturized exploration to the remarkable behind-the-scenes innovations, this cinematic adventure continues to inspire and enthrall both science fiction enthusiasts and movie buffs alike. Join us as we embark on a remarkable voyage through the captivating universe of "Fantastic Voyage."

Key Takeaways:

• “Fantastic Voyage” is a timeless classic that takes audiences on a thrilling journey into the human body, inspiring curiosity and wonder about science and the marvels of the human anatomy.
• The film’s innovative storytelling and captivating premise have left an indelible mark on popular culture, sparking discussions about the intersection of science, adventure, and the boundless potential of the human spirit.

The movie "Fantastic Voyage" was released in 1966.

This science fiction film, directed by Richard Fleischer, takes viewers on a mesmerizing journey into the human body, where a team of scientists and a submarine crew are miniaturized to microscopic size and injected into a dying man in a desperate attempt to save his life.

The film features an outstanding cast.

"Fantastic Voyage" stars renowned actors such as Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Edmond O'Brien, and Donald Pleasence, who deliver captivating performances that bring the thrilling narrative to life.

The movie won two Academy Awards.

At the 39th Academy Awards, "Fantastic Voyage" received recognition for its exceptional visual effects, earning Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Special Effects.

The film's unique premise captivated audiences.

The concept of miniaturizing a submarine and its crew to navigate through the human body struck a chord with viewers, sparking their imagination and curiosity about the inner workings of the human anatomy.

The production of "Fantastic Voyage" was a technical marvel.

Crafting the intricate visual effects to depict the inner workings of the human body posed a significant challenge, but the filmmakers successfully brought this imaginative concept to the silver screen with stunning realism.

The movie's legacy endures.

Decades after its release, "Fantastic Voyage" continues to captivate audiences and inspire discussions about the intersection of science, adventure, and the human body.

"Fantastic Voyage" has left an indelible mark on the science fiction genre.

The film's innovative storytelling and imaginative premise have solidified its place as a timeless classic in the realm of science fiction cinema.

The film's impact extended beyond the silver screen.

"Fantastic Voyage" sparked a renewed interest in science and medicine, prompting discussions about the potential for miniaturized technology to revolutionize medical treatments.

The movie's success led to novel adaptations.

The captivating narrative of "Fantastic Voyage" inspired literary adaptations, further expanding the reach of the film's compelling storyline and captivating characters.

The film's visual effects set a new standard for cinematic innovation.

The groundbreaking visual effects showcased in "Fantastic Voyage" pushed the boundaries of what was thought possible in filmmaking, earning accolades for its pioneering approach to storytelling.

"Fantastic Voyage" continues to inspire future generations of filmmakers.

The film's enduring legacy serves as a testament to its profound impact on the science fiction genre, influencing subsequent generations of filmmakers and storytellers.

The movie's compelling narrative resonates with audiences.

The gripping storyline of "Fantastic Voyage" continues to enthrall viewers, drawing them into a world of adventure, discovery, and the awe-inspiring wonders of the human body.

The film's success paved the way for future explorations of the human body in cinema.

"Fantastic Voyage" set a precedent for exploring the mysteries of human anatomy in cinema, inspiring subsequent films to delve into the intricacies of the human body with newfound creativity and imagination.

The movie's enduring popularity is a testament to its timeless appeal.

Decades after its release, "Fantastic Voyage" remains a beloved classic, captivating audiences with its timeless tale of adventure, exploration, and the boundless potential of the human spirit.

"Fantastic Voyage" continues to spark discussions about the intersection of science and storytelling.

The film's thought-provoking premise has ignited conversations about the fusion of scientific innovation and cinematic artistry, prompting audiences to ponder the limitless possibilities of storytelling within the realms of science fiction.

The film's impact on popular culture is undeniable.

"Fantastic Voyage" has left an indelible mark on popular culture, influencing various forms of media and inspiring creative endeavors that explore the wonders of the human body and the marvels of scientific exploration.

The movie's legacy lives on through its enduring influence on the science fiction genre.

"Fantastic Voyage" has solidified its place as a pioneering work in the realm of science fiction, leaving an indelible legacy that continues to inspire filmmakers, writers, and audiences alike.

The film's imaginative premise continues to capture the imagination of audiences worldwide.

"Fantastic Voyage" remains a source of wonder and fascination, inviting viewers to embark on an extraordinary journey into the microscopic world within the human body.

The movie's themes of discovery and exploration resonate with audiences of all ages.

"Fantastic Voyage" transcends generations, captivating audiences with its timeless themes of curiosity, bravery, and the unyielding human spirit in the face of extraordinary challenges.

The film's enduring appeal lies in its ability to transport audiences to a realm of scientific wonder and adventure.

"Fantastic Voyage" offers a captivating escape into a world of scientific marvels, inviting viewers to embark on a breathtaking expedition through the inner workings of the human body.

The movie's impact on the science fiction genre continues to reverberate through cinematic history.

"Fantastic Voyage" remains a touchstone of cinematic innovation, leaving an indelible imprint on the landscape of science fiction storytelling and inspiring future generations of filmmakers to push the boundaries of imagination and creativity.

The film's legacy is a testament to its timeless relevance and enduring impact.

Decades after its release, "Fantastic Voyage" remains a beacon of cinematic excellence, captivating audiences with its visionary storytelling and groundbreaking exploration of the human body at a microscopic scale.

"Fantastic Voyage" has inspired a sense of awe and wonder in audiences worldwide.

The film's portrayal of the human body as a breathtaking landscape of scientific discovery has sparked the imagination of viewers, instilling a sense of wonder and appreciation for the marvels of biological intricacy.

The movie's innovative approach to storytelling has left an indelible mark on the history of cinema.

"Fantastic Voyage" stands as a testament to the boundless creativity and ingenuity of filmmakers, pushing the boundaries of cinematic storytelling and inspiring future generations to embrace bold, imaginative narratives.

The film's enduring popularity speaks to its universal resonance with audiences around the world.

"Fantastic Voyage" transcends cultural and geographical boundaries, captivating viewers of diverse backgrounds with its universal themes of exploration, courage, and the unyielding pursuit of scientific discovery.

The movie's impact extends beyond the realm of entertainment.

"Fantastic Voyage" has sparked a renewed interest in scientific exploration and medical innovation, prompting audiences to contemplate the remarkable potential for advancements in miniaturized technology and biomedical research.

The film's legacy continues to inspire curiosity and fascination with the wonders of the human body.

"Fantastic Voyage" serves as a source of inspiration for scientific curiosity, igniting a sense of wonder and appreciation for the intricate complexities that exist within the human body.

The movie's enduring legacy is a testament to its enduring relevance and impact on the science fiction genre.

Decades after its release, "Fantastic Voyage" remains a touchstone of cinematic excellence, leaving an indelible mark on the landscape of science fiction storytelling and inspiring future generations of filmmakers to push the boundaries of imagination and creativity.

The film's legacy endures.

"Fantastic Voyage" continues to captivate audiences with its timeless tale of adventure, exploration, and the boundless potential of the human spirit.

The film's impact on the science fiction genre continues to reverberate through cinematic history.

The movie's enduring legacy is a testament to its timeless relevance and enduring impact..

In conclusion, "Fantastic Voyage" has left an indelible mark on the science fiction genre, captivating audiences with its groundbreaking visual effects and imaginative storytelling. The movie's enduring legacy is a testament to the creativity and innovation of its creators, as well as the timeless appeal of its premise. With its awe-inspiring journey into the human body, "Fantastic Voyage" continues to inspire wonder and fascination, reminding us of the boundless potential of the human imagination.

What makes "Fantastic Voyage" a significant film in the science fiction genre? "Fantastic Voyage" is considered a significant film in the science fiction genre due to its pioneering special effects, compelling narrative, and innovative premise. The movie's exploration of the human body on a microscopic scale was groundbreaking for its time and continues to be revered for its imaginative storytelling.

How did "Fantastic Voyage" influence subsequent science fiction films and popular culture? "Fantastic Voyage" had a profound influence on subsequent science fiction films and popular culture by setting a high standard for visual effects and pushing the boundaries of imaginative storytelling. Its impact can be seen in the way it inspired filmmakers and storytellers to explore new frontiers in science fiction, leaving an enduring legacy in the genre.

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Fantastic Voyage

Where to watch.

Rent Fantastic Voyage on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

What to Know

The special effects may be a bit dated today, but Fantastic Voyage still holds up well as an imaginative journey into the human body.

Audience Reviews

Cast & crew.

Richard Fleischer

Stephen Boyd

Raquel Welch

Cora Peterson

Edmond O'Brien

General Carter

Donald Pleasence

Dr. Michaels

Arthur O'Connell

Colonel Donald Reid

More Like This

Movie news & guides, this movie is featured in the following articles., critics reviews.

• a large anatomical map was projected, as Dr. Duval identified the location of Dr. Benes' deadly blood clot; he explained how it would be "impossible to get at without damage to the intervening tissue which would prove fatal to Benes"; the only way to reach the blood clot would be through the arterial system (via the carotid artery); the surgical crew-team would be placed inside a high-tech, bubble-domed, nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Proteus ; they (and the sub) would be reduced to "about the size of a microbe," and would then be injected into the arterial bloodstream of Benes' body; they would travel through the patient's arteries (in red) to the brain to dissolve the clot with a laser beam to relieve pressure on his brain; meanwhile, Benes would be placed in "deep hypothermia" to freeze him and slow down his bodily processes
• Dr. Michaels interjected that the only area of danger from turbulence inside a blood vessel was within the heart; after reaching the blood clot, Dr. Duval would dissolve the blood clot with a laser beam, and then the team would return by way of the venous system (in blue) - reaching the base of the neck to be removed with a hypodermic needle
• the entire mission would be monitored in the main operations room; a giant life-sized model of the interior circulatory system of the comatose patient would be viewed to monitor and precisely pinpoint the location of the submarine's 'fantastic voyage'; the nuclear-powered submarine's location was communicated wirelessly to observers in the military complex, and also monitored and tracked by navigator and circulatory specialist Dr. Michaels; the crew could be extracted by medical surgeons if an emergency developed; they needed to be wary of natural defensive attacks by white blood corpuscles or antibodies
• the team was led into the Sterilization Room and then to the Miniaturization Room, where the sleek submarine craft (fitted on top with a transparent plastic bubble dome) was positioned on a supportive cradle above a honeycomb-patterned Zero Module; in a small lead box, a minuscule particle of radioactive material would be used to atomically-power or fuel the sub after it was reduced in size; the crew was strapped into the sub before it was miniaturized
• a POV shot from inside the vessel looked out to illustrate its shrinkage; the microscopic sub was then carefully placed and submerged into a gigantic hypodermic needle filled with a saline solution; Dr. Michaels suffered an attack of claustrophobia and cried out: "I can't breathe. I've got to get out"; a few moments later, he recovered and explained that he had been buried alive for two days during an air raid in England
• in Phase 3, the hypodermic needle was also miniaturized; a count-down began from 60 minutes now that they were fully reduced in size; in Phase 4, the vessel - amidst the turbulent fluid and similar to a roller-coaster ride - was injected via the hypodermic needle into the arterial bloodstream (via the carotid artery) of the patient through a targeted spot on his neck - seen from various perspectives; the sub entered the body and was now surrounded by globular red blood cells (looking like multiple lava-lamps)
• as they beheld the colorful sights of the bloodstream (viewing corpuscles carrying oxygen) in front of them in an "ocean of life," Dr. Duval philosophically speculated: "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"
• due to strong currents, a whirlpool, and a rare artery-vein connection, the sub was set off-course into the jugular vein instead of the carotid artery; they realized they had been detoured by the changed color of the cells surrounding the sub - now blue instead of red; they determined that there had been a "forced joining of a vein and an artery" (an arteriovenous fistula) that probably occurred when the patient was injured; they realized that they were now headed on a course toward the superior vena cava (SVC) in the direction of the heart, where they would be crushed by thumping heartbeats; 9 minutes had passed since miniaturization
• in order to survive the turbulence of the heart (and prevent the utter destruction of the Proteus ), they needed to induce cardiac arrest momentarily, for no more than 60 seconds, to allow the submarine to detour through it - but it risked killing the comatose patient; according to slide-rule calculations by Gen. Carter, at top speed, it would take the Proteus crew 57 seconds to navigate the route; during the passage, it was noted that the sounds of the heart were like a barrage of heavy artillery; Dr. Michaels described how the heart was a marvelous organ, capable of "four million beats" in a lifetime; Dr. Duval marveled gloomily: "And every beat separates a man from eternity"; the maneuver was successful - the crew progressed into the right atrium and out through the pulmonary semilunar valve into the pulmonary artery in 57 seconds, in time to revive Benes' heart
• on the way to the left lung, they entered a narrow capillary and had a close-up view of the oxygenation process (corpuscles turning from blue to bright red); Cora marveled: "We're the first ones to actually see it happen" - and Dr. Duval was in awe: "The living process" and labeled the process as one of the "miracles of the universe" - evidence of a Divine Creator and Intelligence ("the engineering of the cycle of a breath"); during a brief philosophical debate between intelligent design vs. evolution, Dr. Michaels downplayed the process as only an evolved or rational phenomenon: "I wouldn't call it a miracle. Just an interchange of gases - the end product of five hundred million years of evolution"
• the two were interrupted by a warning buzzer-alarm; the ship's pilot-commander Bill Owens notified the crew that the Proteus was losing air pressure in its floatation tanks; Grant found that the left-side tank had lost pressure and had mysteriously failed; it was possibly attributable to a short in the electrical valve circuit system; their progress would be impeded for the remainder of the mission
• Grant proposed that everyone on the team, except for Owens, exit the sub (wearing scuba-diving gear) and replenish the sub's oxygen supply; they would use a snorkel tube attached to the patient's lungs to extract and force oxygen into the sub's tanks
• while preparing for the trip outside the sub, at about 42 minutes of remaining time, Cora simultaneously discovered that the surgical laser rifle that was to be used to perform the blood-clot procedure was damaged - it was not strapped down to its mounting and had become dislodged; Dr. Duval suspiciously suggested it must have come loose during turbulence - evidence of a enemy saboteur in the group that had tampered with it
• during the repair mission of increasing the sub's air pressure, Dr. Michaels noted "rocks" or impurities embedded in the lung, due to carbon from smoke and specks of dust; after successfully completing the mission, Grant's safety tether line attached to the sub snapped (was it sabotage?), and he was sucked into the lungs and buffeted around; he was able to get back into the blood stream with the other crew and return to the ship; they then proceeded through the pleural cavity
• upon their return, Cora - during a closer examination - discovered that the laser gun had a broken trigger wire; Dr. Duval also found a smashed transistor - meaning they had no way to "fire" the laser's lamp; the solution was to repair the laser by cannibalizing parts (one transistor and a circuit wire) from Grant's wireless radio
• leaving the lung's pleural sac, the Proteus then entered the lymphatic system (and one of its lymph nodes), functioning in the body to drain off excessive fluid from the tissues; there, Grant and Dr. Michaels noticed that seaweed-like reticular fibers and antibodies appeared to ominously multiply; the reticular fibers could easily clog the sub's vents and water-jet intakes, causing overheating; Dr. Michaels warned: "Antibodies destroying bacteria or any other foreign invader that threatens the system"
• due to the slow progress of the sub, Dr. Duval proposed that the best way to now proceed was to change course and pass through Dr. Benes' left inner ear and then go by way of the endolymphatic duct; during the more hazardous passage, another 'scuba-diving' trip was required to clear and remove the fibrous material in order to halt the sub's overheating (resulting in a lack of propulsion)
• back in the control room, Gen. Carter reached for another cup of coffee and noticed an ant crawling around on spilt sugar specks; he resisted the temptation to squash the insect with his thumb, and Col. Reid remarked: "You'll wind up a Hindu. They respect all forms of life, however small"
• at about the 21 minute mark, during the successful vent-clearing mission outside the sub performed by Grant, Cora and Dr. Michaels, a destructive shock wave of vibrations was produced when one of the nurses in the operating room accidentally dropped a pair of surgical scissors - and the ship and all of its crew were violently jostled; in a memorable sequence, Cora was thrown about and into some cilia fibers due to the shock waves - causing damage and prompting antibodies to attack her body after regarding it as a foreign object; the skittish Dr. Michaels warned: "If the antibodies reach her, they'll attack as if she were bacteria"
• as she was brought back to the ship and through the reflooded airlock and into the ship, the antibodies continued to attack, and she screamed: ("They're tightening up - Please, I can't breathe"); the crew rescued her by groping her chest and throat and pulling the seaweed-like antibodies from her body as they crystallized
• with only 12 minutes remaining, from the middle ear, the sub passed through the endolymphatic duct and back into the vascular system before it entered into the brain and the location of the clot; as they entered the base of the brain, Dr. Duval again went into a reverie: "Yet all the suns that light the corridors of the universe shine dim, before the blazing of a single thought…" - and his thought was completed by Grant: "proclaiming in incandescent glory the myriad mind of man"; Dr. Michaels was more sarcastic: "Let me know when we pass the soul"; Duval answered him: "The finite mind cannot comprehend infinity, and the soul which comes from God is infinite"; they came upon a "dark spot" - recognized by Dr. Duval as the site of the injury that needed to be healed
• the crew determined that it had only a total of six minutes to complete their mission before de-miniaturization began (four minutes to perform the blood clot operation with the laser and two minutes to get to the removal point); the crew was under tremendous pressure outside the ship to succeed
• once the operation to relieve the pressure was completed in about four minutes by Dr. Duval (with Cora and Grant), the mission was meanwhile being sabotaged by twitchy on-board crew member Dr. Michaels who wanted to abort the mission; he knocked out pilot Owens with a blow to the head, took control of the sub, and attempted to crash it at full speed into the clot area of fragile brain cells (the central nerve) to kill the patient
• the remaining crew members were saved by heroic Commander Grant, who grabbed Duval's laser and shot at the high-tech sub to incapacitate it; after it was diverted and crashed into some dendrite tissue, puffy, jelly-fish like white corpuscles converged to envelope, consume, and digest both the submarine and Dr. Michaels who was physically pinned and trapped inside the bubble-dome
• before the Proteus was entirely injested, Grant returned to the Proteus to rescue Owens, and he watched as the saboteur Dr. Michaels was engulfed and suffocated by a gigantic white corpuscle (macrophage)
• the four surviving crew hurriedly swam along the optic nerve and were able to emerge safely from the tear duct at the corner of the patient's right eye to be rescued - they were viewed in a magnifier and lifted out of the teardrop on a microscope slide by Col. Reid, and placed on the Zero Module in the Miniaturization Room just before they reverted back to normal size
• [Note: One of the scientific flaws or plot holes of the film was the fact that the Proteus remained in Benes' body, as well as Dr. Michaels' digested corpse, the laser gun and hundreds of gallons of saline solution in the huge hypodermic cylinder used during the initial injection; at the end of the 60 minutes, there would have been enough left-over elements that had the potential to expand, and ultimately would have exploded and killed the patient.]

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Saturday, April 27, 2024 – Saturday, May 4, 2024

Departure Port:  Miami, FL

Ports of Call:  Labadee, Haitia, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic and San Juan, Puerto Rico

Photo Credit:  Royal Caribbean International

Independence of the Seas

Independence of the Seas is the third and final of Royal Caribbean’s ground-breaking Freedom-class ships — once the largest in the world before the launch of Oasis of the Seas and its sister ships.

Independence of the Seas is a large cruise ship with a maximum capacity of 4,515 guests, its deck plan is well laid out. Cabins are spread over multiple decks, but bars, restaurants, pools and entertainment venues are on decks 5 – 11 to 15. This keeps most  areas within a quick elevator ride or a couple flights of stairs away from having a great time.

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Beachside meets mountainside on the shores of Labadee — a Royal Caribbean® private destination on Haiti’s northern coast. Here you’ll find pristine sands, coral reefs and jungle-covered hilltops nestling lagoon-like bays. There’s no shortage of places to relax and recharge across five stretches of beach. Or dial up the thrills on an active adventure like a half-mile-long zip line ride over the ocean.  There are also plenty of water activities and tours available like fishing charters, luxury sailboat trips, snorkeling excursions, and catamaran cruises. Maximize your day by hopping on the free tram to get around. December through April are good months to visit for pleasant weather. And fascinating culture, history and the natural beauty of Haiti’s spectacular coasts wait to be discovered around every corner. Escape to the Western Caribbean for a wilder way to experience paradise.

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Puerto Plata , officially known as  San Felipe de Puerto Plata , is a major coastal city in the Dominican Republic, and capital of the province of Puerto Plata.  The city is a major trading port. Puerto Plata has resorts such as Playa Dorada and Costa Dorada, which are located east of the city proper. There are 100,000 hotel beds in the city. The first aerial tramway of the Caribbean is located in Puerto Plata, in which visitors can ride up to the Pico Isabel de Torres, a 793-meter (2600-foot) high mountain within the city.

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Fantastic Voyage 2023: Represent Night

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Fantastic Voyage

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Brief Synopsis

Cast & crew, richard fleischer, stephen boyd, raquel welch, edmond o'brien, donald pleasence, arthur o'connell, photos & videos, technical specs.

In 1995 Czech scientist Jan Benes escapes from behind the Iron Curtain and is brought to the United States for interrogation. U. S. scientists are able to reduce objects, including people, to the size of bacteria, but the miniaturization can be sustained for only 60 minutes. The Czech scientist has learned the secret of prolonging the miniaturization; but before he reveals this knowledge, he sustains a severe brain injury which can be treated only from within his body. A plan is conceived whereby a crew of five will be placed in an atomic-powered submarine, miniaturized, injected into the scientist's bloodstream, and set on a course through the arteries to the brain. In addition to American secret agent Grant, the crew consists of Dr. Duval, the surgeon who will perform the operation; Cora Peterson, his assistant; Dr. Michaels, a circulatory expert; and Captain Owens, the sub's pilot. To save some of the 60 minutes, the group decides to stop the scientist's heart to allow the submarine to pass through the heart. Then Grant and the crew leave the sub, and by means of a snorkel tube attached to the patient's lungs, replenish their oxygen supply. As they near their destination, a nurse in the operating room drops a pair of surgical scissors, and the sound causes tremendous vibrations in the sub that hurl the crew from their positions. With only 6 minutes left, Dr. Michaels reveals himself to be an enemy agent intent on sabotaging the mission. The remaining crew members escape as white corpuscles envelop and digest both the submarine and Michaels. The operation is successfully performed by removing a blood clot with a laser beam, and the four survivors leave the scientist's body by swimming along the optic nerve and emerging through a tear duct.

William Redfield

Arthur Kennedy

Jean del val.

Shelby Grant

James Brolin

Brendan fitzgerald, l. b. abbott, jay lewis bixby, art cruickshank, david dockendorf, margaret donovan, david duncan, bernard freericks, harper goff, dale hennesy, ollie hughes, harry kleiner, otto klement, emil kosa jr., richard kuhn, ernest laszlo, doris mchale, michael mclean, william b. murphy, national screen service, stuart a. reiss, leonard rosenman, ad schaumer, marvin schnall, walter m. scott, jack martin smith, eric stacey, bruce walkup, fred zendar, photo collections.

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Best special effects, award nominations, best cinematography, best editing, best sound editing, best sound effects sound editing.

Yet all the suns that light the corridors of the universe shine dim before the blazing of a single thought - - Dr. Duval

- proclaiming in incandescent glory the myriad mind of Man... - Grant

Very poetic, gentlemen. Let me know when we pass the soul. - Dr. Michaels

The soul? The finite mind cannot comprehend infinity - and the soul, which comes from God, is infinite. - Dr. Duval

Yes, well, our time isn't. - Dr. Michaels

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. - Dr. Peter Duval

Isaac Asimov was approached to write the novel from the script. He perused the script, and declared the script to be full of plot holes. Receiving permission to write the book the way he wanted, delays in filming and the speed at which he wrote saw the book appear before the film. Asimov fixed several plot holes in the book version, but this had no effect on the film (see the Goofs entry).

The scenes of crewmembers swimming outside the sub were shot on dry soundstages with the actors suspended from wires. There was some additional hazard involved because, to avoid reflections from the metal, the wires were washed in acid to roughen them, which made them more likely to break. To create the impression of swimming in a resisting medium, the scenes were shot at 50% greater speed than normal, then played back at normal speed.

As a college student, director Fleischer was a pre-med student for a time.

When filming the scene where the other crew members remove attacking antibodies from Ms. Peterson for the first time, director Fleischer allowed the actors to grab what they pleased. Gentlemen all, they specifically avoided removing them from Raquel Welch's breasts, with an end result that the director described as a "Las Vegas showgirl" effect. Fleischer pointed this out to the cast members -- and on the second try, the actors all reached for her breasts. Finally the director realized that he would have to choreograph who removed what from where, and the result is seen in the final cut.

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States July 1966

Released in United States Winter January 1, 1966

Released in USA on video.

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Screen: 'Fantastic Voyage' Is All That:Science-Fiction Movie Opens at 2 Theaters

By Bosley Crowther

• Sept. 8, 1966

TALK about "underground" movies, wait until you see the first of the "inside" movies! "Fantastic Voyage" is its tag, and it opened yesterday at Loew's State and the Festival Theater.What is it? Well, it is the latest in sheer science-fiction fantasy about a group of adventurous people who take a way-out trip—a CMDF trip, you might call it, meaning a Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces trip—inside Dr. Benes (which might be a better tag).That's right. This team of scientists, including a woman technician, played by Raquel Welch, a newcomer who is the most pneumatic-looking thing in a skin-diving suit that has yet appeared on the screen, are shrunken to microscopic proportions by a new scientific means. Then they are injected into the bloodstream of an injured Czechoslovak scientist to do an inside job of removing a threatening blood clot from his highly knowledgeable brain.Snugly contained in a tiny capsule that bears a comforting resemblance to that wonderfully neat diving saucer of Capt. Jacques-Yves Cousteau, these voyagers through the arterial system find themselves in a kind of Mammoth Cave, filled with transparent liquid in which float squashy colored balloons."That's plasma," somebody mentions, and now we presumably know what the blood in the human body looks like, from the point of view of a germ.Inevitably trouble develops. It just couldn't be a nice safe trip from that point of injection above the clavicle to the injured area of the brain. A violent fistular disturbance in the region of the throat diverts the tiny capsule into the jugular vein. With the pilot, William Redfield, wrestling with the controls, and CMDF officers, Arthur O'Connell and Edmund O'Brien, giving directions in the operating room, the capsule is delicately guided through the perilous caverns of the heart, which has been stopped (by the operating room) for one precious minute to let the vehicle pass.But that's not all. There is dangerous trouble in the area of the lungs. The air pressure tanks have been leaking. Stephen Boyd has to leave the capsule and, with an air hose, refill the empty tank from the abundance of vapors roaring through this mighty cave of winds.In the arteries of the nose, the frightened travelers are forced to get out of their capsule to remove heavy mucous substance from the nuclear intake valves. In the ear chamber, cotton-candy crystals form on the skin-suit of Miss Welch and the fellows have to strip her to save her."Antibodies," somebody says.The climax comes when the good guys—Mr. Boyd, Arthur Kennedy and Miss Welch—are out of the capsule, clearing the blood clot with a handy laser ray, and the evil saboteur, Donald Pleasance, tries to run them down. Just then a white corpuscle, a great cotton avalanche, looms to engulf the operation. What a predicament!Yessir, for straight science-fiction, this is quite a film—the most colorful and imaginative since "Destination Moon." Harry Kleiner's screenplay and Richard Fleischer's direction combine to make it amusing and exciting, and the interior decorations have a bubbly, fantastic quality you won't find this side of Disneyland.Are they reasonably authentic? A couple of lads who I suspect were from the Bronx High School of Science were arguing that point behind me yesterday. I wouldn't know. All I can tell you is it is quite a trip.Fortunately, all of the voyaging is done in the northern hemisphere.

The CastFANTASTIC VOYAGE, screenplay by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jay Lewis Bixby; directed by Richard Fleischer, and produced by Saul David for 20th Century-Fox release. At the Loew's State Theater, Broadway and 45th Street, and the Festival Theater, 57th Street west of Fifth Avenue. Running time: 100 minutes.Giani . . . . . Stephen BoydCora Peterson . . . . . Raquel WelchGeneral Carter . . . . . Edmond O'BrienDr. Michaels . . . . . Donald PleasenceCol. Donald Reid . . . . . Arthur O'ConnellCapt. Bill Owens . . . . . William RedfieldDr. Duval . . . . . Arthur KennedyJan Benes . . . . . Jean Del Val

The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review

Fantastic Voyage (1966)

Rating: ★★★★.

Director – Richard Fleischer, Screenplay – Harry Kleiner, Adaptation – David Duncan, Story – Jay Lewis Bixby [ Jerome Bixby ] & Otto Klement, Producer – Saul David, Photography – Ernest Laszlo, Music – Leonard Rosenman, Photographic Effects – L.B. Abbott, Art Cruickshank & Emil Kosa Jr, Art Direction – Dale Hennesy & Jack Martin Smith, Submarine Design – Harper Goff. Production Company – 20th Century Fox.

Stephen Boyd (Charles Grant), Raquel Welch (Cora Peterson), Donald Pleasence (Dr Maxwell Michaels), Arthur Kennedy (Dr Peter Duval), William Redfield (William Owens), Edmond O’Brien (General Carter), Arthur O’Connell (Colonel Reid)

Scientist Jan Benes defects to the West but an attempted assassination by the other side places him a coma. Agent Charles Grant is recruited by the top-secret organisation Combined Miniaturized Deterrence Forces. He learns that he is to be part of a crew aboard a submarine The Proteus. The crew and submarine will be reduced to microscopic size and injected into the Benes’s bloodstream in order to operate on the surgically inaccessible clot in his brain using a laser. Injected into the body, Grant and the surgical team travel through the bloodstream in the submarine, marvelling at the wonders of the human body seen on a microscopic level. They must reach the brain within 60 minutes or else the effect will wear off and they will return to full-size. However, the voyage is undermined by one of the crew who is an enemy saboteur and is prepared to risk everything to stop the mission.

Fantastic Voyage is one of my all-time favourite science-fiction films. It is one of the most ingenious pieces of pure conceptual science-fiction poetry that the genre has ever created. One can ridicule its problems and holes, which are manyfold, but it is impossible to argue with the conceptual brilliance of the film, the sheer imaginative splendour of the idea of conducting a journey by miniaturised submarine through the human body. The script, which comes in part from science-fiction writer Jerome Bixby, knows exactly what a sense of wonder is. The film creates an amazing view of the human body as a veritable Aladdin’s cave of marvels, more wondrous, colourful and lit up than it could possibly ever be in real life. Even if the superb sets and effects are occasionally beset by grainy mattes lines and the visibility of wires, the imagination of the exercise soars. It is a pure celebration of science-fiction as conceptual poetry rather than as science. Indeed, Fantastic Voyage is an object lesson in what science-fiction can do on screen that the written page can never replicate.

Jerome Bixby originally envisioned the film as a Jules Verne-styled period piece a la the fad for retro-Victorian science-fiction created by Fantastic Voyage director Richard Fleischer’s own 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). This would have been fascinating – but it was changed during rewriting and the film updated into the Space Age. Now it echoes with the sense that humanity was on the frontier of taking a quantum leap forward and conquering the whole universe. “Maybe the ancient philosophers were right – man is the centre of the universe. Man stands between inner and outer space and there is no limit to either,” says Arthur Kennedy’ Duval during one of his many such pronouncements.

The film is almost a hymn to Space Age technology. Richard Fleischer follows the operation with wonderfully methodical exactitude – the journey through the vast labyrinth by golf cart, the operation being monitored by characters in lab coats on blinking, whirring computers, the submarine slowly being placed on an hexagonal dais, the pickup trolley being wheeled in and the submarine being shrunken in a glass tube and then connected to a syringe. The sense of detail and detached clinicism to the operation is enthralling. Contrast this to the wave of hand that usually produced marvels of super science in 1950s science-fiction or the heated fervour of madness under which discovery was conducted in 1930s and 40s mad scientist films – there is the sense that the future is here right now.

Once inside the body, Fantastic Voyage is dramatically construed as a series of set-pieces involving journeys to a particular part of the body whereupon something goes wrong with regular predictability. It is the things going wrong that makes the story dramatically gripping. The scenes navigating through the temporarily stopped heart, the manned venture into the lungs, and especially the seat-edge suspenseful passage through the inner ear as everybody in the operating room has to remain absolutely still and not make a sound lest they cause the inner ear to vibrate are utterly gripping.

Unfortunately, in the numerous re-writings the script clearly underwent, not much attention was paid to the characters. These are all written to type – the square-jawed jock hero, the curvaceous token female, the atheistic traitor. Stephen Boyd and Raquel Welch, in her first leading role, are both wooden, although this is not a film where one has come expecting penetrating character depth. What is worse is the character of Duval the surgeon who has no other purpose than to stand around and delivers ponderous pronouncements about “the miracle of life.” “40 million beats a year,” someone comments in reference to the heart, to which his reply is “All that stands between man and eternity.” It is a not particularly subtle debate – the side of good shows religious awe at the miraculous nature of the human body, while the contrary opinion represents godless atheism and is ultimately revealed as being a Communist traitor (even if Communism is not directly referred to in the film), not to mention is also the perpetual voice of cowardice and defeatism on the mission.

You cannot deny that there are numerous logic holes in the film. One can forgive minor quibbles such as the impossibility of squeezing normal-size air molecules into a micro-sized snorkel, or how surface tension would make it extremely difficult to swim inside a tear. However, there is one gaping hole that you could drive a full-size submarine through and that is this:– the film establishes that it is necessary that the operation be completed within a 60 minute limit otherwise the crew and submarine will return to full-size. (Interestingly, the dramatics of the journey take longer than 60 minutes to occur on screen). However, at the end of the film, the crew return to full-size but somehow leave a submarine and the body of the traitor behind in Benes’s brain after both have been consumed by a white blood cell. Do the filmmakers somehow think that being consumed by a white blood cell will fail to cause them to return to full size?

Not to mention the fact that at some point between when they complete the operation and swim out, the crew also discard the laser inside the brain. Everybody also seems to have forgotten about the fact that a six foot tall cylinder of water was reduced to the size of a syringe and injected into Benes – indeed, the amount of water injected into Benes’s body is far more than his body mass, which would surely cause him to literally explode when it too returns to normal size.

At least, the producers had the good sense to recruit science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov to write the novelisation Fantastic Voyage (1966), which is one of the finest in the usually creatively impoverished arena of film novelisations, wherein Asimov patched up many of the scientific and plot holes. For all its logical failings, Fantastic Voyage is still one of the most ingenious pieces of total Hollywood bunkum.

There was a short-lived animated tv series Fantastic Voyage (1968-9). There have been plans in the 1990s and sporadically throughout the 2000s to mount a remake as directed by Roland Emmerich of Independence Day (1996) fame. James Cameron also expressed interest, although apparently Roland Emmerich rejected his script. The film was parodied in Joe Dante’s Innerspace (1987) and the Futurama episode Parasites Lost (2001). The basic premise of the miniaturised journey inside a body has been used in two Doctor Who stories The Invisible Enemy (1977) and Into the Dalek (2014), as well as the film Antibody (2002).

Richard Fleischer has directed a number of other genre films – Disney’s classic Jules Verne adaptation 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), the musical version of Doctor Dolittle (1967), The Boston Strangler (1968), the psycho-thriller See No Evil/Blind Terror (1971), the true life serial killer film 10 Rillington Place (1971), the over-populated future film Soylent Green (1973), Amityville 3-D (1983), and the Robert E. Howard adaptations Conan the Destroyer (1984) and Red Sonja (1985).

The story comes from Jerome Bixby, a writer who dabbled in a number of genres and different media during his career. Bixby wrote several novels, although is mostly known for his short stories. He delivered several scripts for genre movies, including Curse of the Faceless Man (1958), It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958), The Lost Missile (1958) and The Man from Earth (2007). He also wrote several episodes of Star Trek (1966-9) and the famous It’s a Good Life episode of The Twilight Zone (1959-63), which was later remade as a segment of Twilight Zone – The Movie (1983). David Duncan was also a regular genre writer with the screenplays for the English-language version of Rodan the Flying Monster (1956), The Black Scorpion (1957), The Monster That Challenged the World (1957), Monster on the Campus (1958), The Thing That Couldn’t Die (1958), The Leech Woman (1960) and The Time Machine (1960). The actual screenwriter Harry Kleiner also wrote a number of classic films including Miss Sadie Thompson (1953), Carmen Jones (1953) and Bullitt (1968).

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Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

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FANTASTIC VOYAGE

• Post author: eenableadmin
• Post published: August 5, 2019
• Post category: Uncategorized

(director: Richard Fleischer; screenwriter: adapted from a story by Jay Lewis Bixby and Otto Klement/Harry Kleiner; cinematographer: Ernest Laszlo; editor: William B. Murphy; cast: Stephen Boyd (Grant), Raquel Welch (Cora Peterson), Edmond O’Brien (General Carter), Donald Pleasence (Dr. Michaels), Arthur O’Connell (Col. Donald Reid), Arthur Kennedy (Dr. Duval), William Redfield (Capt. Bill Owens), Jean del Val (Scientist, Jan Benes); Runtime: 100; 20th-Century-Fox; 1966) “Fantastic Voyage is an absurd but entertaining trip into inner space.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Fantastic Voyage is an absurd but entertaining trip into inner space. It’s a sci-fi adventure boasting some neat special effects and art direction. It won two Oscars, one for Art Direction (Jack Martin Smith and Dale Hennesy) and one for Special Visual Effects (Art Cruikschank).

A leading scientist (Jean del Val) defects to the West and is immediately shot in an ambush. He’s rushed to a secret military hospital in critical condition. He’s very important to the military team running the top secret operation CMDF (Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces), headed by General Carter (Edmond O’Brien) and supervised by Col. Donald Reid (Arthur O’Connell). The scientist is the only one in the world who has valuable info on how to control those who are miniaturized from growing back. At present, they can only be shrunk for not more than 60 minutes.

The only way to save the scientist’s life is to have a medical team in a miniaturized submarine be injected into the bloodstream of the patient and to operate from within his brain on the clot in the one hour time frame they will remain reduced in size. The voyagers will be reduced to the size of a microbe. The mission members include: the best brain surgeon in the world, but someone who is not supposed to be reliable, Dr. Duval (Arthur Kennedy). Duval will perform the delicate operation; while, his medical technician for the last 5 years, Cora Peterson (Raquel Welch), will assist him. The one in charge of the ship and its navigator through the circulatory system will be Dr. Michaels (Donald Pleasence). Michaels will also make sure that Duval operates correctly when using the laser beam, and his decision will count if there are any disputes. The uptight Captain Bill Owens will steer the nuclear powered submarine; and, the James Bond wannabe, Special Agent Grant (Stephen Boyd), will be in charge of security (Dr. Duval might be a traitor) and he will also run the wireless to maintain communication with the control tower.

The voyage landscape is a beautiful trip among the corpuscles and fibers and antibodies. This is totally a tacky special effect film, as unfortunately the dialogue is asinine and the characters are uninvolving. The fun is in trying to find which one is the traitor, but the traitor is too obvious. He’s sweating profusely and twitching from the onset, so much so that he offers no challenge in being discovered. This is one of those films that could have been great if… . Unfortunately the film is too stiff and too full of medical briefings to amount to much more than a feast for the eyes. Raquel is along so she can get into a wet suit and we could see what she’s stacked up to be.

Warning: spoiler to follow in the paragraph.

Conflicts on the voyage concern turbulence from an unknown source that takes the submarine off course into the jugular vein instead of the carotid artery. The traitor messes with the laser beam and causes a short in the electrical valve circuit system. The submarine gets stuck because of fibers clogging the vents, so it must journey to the inner ear. Absolute silence is demanded in that area, but a nurse drops a scissor in the operating theater and there is a temporary shattering effect. Also, antibodies attack the submarine and when that’s repelled, the submarine will eventually get destroyed by the actions of the traitor. The four remaining survivors swim out through the optic nerve of the eye just before the hour is up and they return to their normal size.

REVIEWED ON 5/10/2001 GRADE: C+

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ

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Film / Fantastic Voyage

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A 1966 Science Fiction film, directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Stephen Boyd , Raquel Welch , Edmond O'Brien, and Donald Pleasence , about a shrinking machine used to send a mini submarine and its crew inside the body of a defecting scientist.

During the Cold War , both the United States and " The Other Side " have discovered the shrinking technology, which is limited in practicality because of how short-lived the effect is. But the scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val) had discovered how to overcome the limit, and enemy agents will stop at nothing to prevent the secret from escaping from behind the Iron Curtain. Benes, wounded in an attack, is comatose and dying from a externally inoperable bloodclot, so the U.S. miniaturization taskforce organizes an expedition to be shrunken to remove the clot from the inside, operating on it at the cellular level.

But for the same reason they need to save the scientist, they have a time limit to get out of the body (or they'll grow back to normal size while inside of it). Even further, an enemy agent is trying to stop them; the protagonist Charles Grant (Boyd), who smuggled the scientist from behind the Iron Curtain, has to make sure the mission succeeds while not knowing who he can trust on the crew.

The film also received a novelization by Isaac Asimov , as well as an Animated Adaptation . Very often homaged or parodied — see "Fantastic Voyage" Plot .

This film and its novelization provide examples of:

• And several years later he wrote a from-scratch "remake"-slash-"sequel", Fantastic Voyage 2: Destination Brain , that attempted to clean up even more of the science and plot problems.
• Asimov also wrote an essay discussing the science problems brought by the premise of the movie, as among others how to miniaturize the sub and its crew, to be able to see when wavelengths of visible light are larger than the eyes of the crew, and getting air from the lungs when molecules are not much smaller than the submarine.
• All for Nothing : In one version of the script, the team saves Benes, but Benes suffers from amnesia and does not remember how to achieve unlimited miniaturization .
• all lowercase letters : The opening and closing credits for the film.
• It isn't clear if the whirlpool was a freak accident or if Michaels knew about it somehow and navigated the Proteus there on purpose.
• Grant insists his snapping safety line in the lungs must have been tampered with. This serves to increase the suspicion around Duval. But it could have been an accident, especially since the forces were described as "incredible," and because it's not clear when (or why) Michaels might have tampered with it.
• Did Michaels deliberately navigate them through the lymph system, hoping that it might clog the engines? Or simply slow them down? Or did it have nothing to do with sabotage, and Michaels was earnestly concerned about the (justified) dangers of going through the ear?
• One sexist example: antibodies tend to flood an area and attach themselves at random to anything they can. They wouldn't distinguish Cora from Grant, and would attack them both. Apparently, they wanted a Damsel in Distress moment instead.
• Bald of Evil : Michaels
• Bigger on the Inside : Played With — The Proteus was built as a single set, with removable exterior panels to allow filming. However, some have argued that the remaining volume is insufficient for the air tanks, engines, etc.
• The Big Board : A vertical diagram of the scientist's body, where the location of the Proteus is marked.
• Big "NO!" : Carter gets a few of these when things look bad.
• Blob Monster : The White Cells
• The Brigadier : General Carter, the commander of a scientific research division, who sends them into the body to save Benes and his knowledge.
• Buried Alive : Michaels attributes his claustrophobia to having been trapped beneath rubble during the Blitz.
• The Chains of Commanding : Carter is determined to have them get through the body, and takes some great risks to do so, but is clearly torn up over it.
• The Coconut Effect : Deoxygenated blood is actually maroon , not blue. Blue is simply how systemic veins look from the outside when seen through human skin, and how deoxygenated blood vessels are illustrated to distinguish them from their oxygenated counterparts. But of course the film's lava lamp blobs - er, erythrocytes - turn from blue to red as they pick up oxygen in the lungs...
• Communications Officer : Grant's cover
• Cool Ship : The Proteus
• Defector from Commie Land : Benes, who holds the secret to unlimited miniaturization.
• Determinator : It's far more pronounced in the book, but Carter will do anything within reason he can to see the mission succeed, even induce cardiac arrest so they can travel through Benes' heart safely.
• Elaborate Underground Base : CMDF HQ
• Energy Weapon : The surgical laser, it has a constant beam and slices cleanly through what it's aimed at — but would a doctor really be using a rifle for brain surgery?
• Fanservice : Raquel Welch is in the movie, wearing a skintight Latex Space Suit . 'Nuff said.
• "Fantastic Voyage" Plot : The Trope Namer
• Future Spandex : Under the neat white jumpsuits. Justified, both for the Fanservice, and because they're neoprene diving suits.
• Giant's Droplet, Human's Shower : A variation. The crew inside Benes's body must make a quick exit before they grow back to their normal size, taking one of the tear ducts as their only possible route. The supervising scientists then discover them swimming in Benes's tears as if they are in a pool.
• Got Volunteered : Grant is not happy to be selected for the mission once he finds out what it entails, but he isn't given much choice.
• Government Agency of Fiction : C ombined M iniature D eterrent F orces (CMDF).
• Hammer and Sickle Removed for Your Protection : The Soviet Union and its allies are only referred to as "The Other Side".
• High-Tech Hexagons : The shrink ray room had hexagons all over the floor. The ship rose up on one of them once it got small enough, so that it could be shrunk one more time, and then readied for insertion into the guy's body.
• Hollywood Atheist : Michaels. Does it come as any surprise to the 1960s audience that the non-believer turns out to be the traitor?
• If I Wanted You Dead... : In the novelization, Grant eventually figures out the identity of the mole by realizing that the acts of sabotage that seem to implicate various crew members would have been far more effective if those crew members had in fact committed them using their specialized skills note  Owens could have sabotaged the ship in a way that could not be fixed, Cora could have sabotaged the laser in a way that would not be visible, but would either prevent its use or make it so inaccurate that Benes would be killed, Duval figures out a way to save Grant when he is lost in the lungs, and could have just let him die . The one exception is Michaels, the only one who could have mis-navigated them into a circulatory whirlpool that nearly destroyed the ship.
• Incredible Shrinking Man : The whole plot to the story involves a surgical team and their sub being shrunk to microbe size to laser away at the life-threatening clots Benes developed.
• Insufferable Genius : Duval, the surgeon. In the novel he's more of a Dr. Jerk with No Social Skills .
• Latex Space Suit : As Homer Simpson has been known to observe, the crew get to wear skintight diving suits when venturing out of the sub. This is actually quite justified, in that wetsuits are less complex than space suits and do indeed have to be quite figure-hugging — but any movie that gets Raquel Welch into a costume on those lines may be suspected of fanservice .
• Played straight, however, in the heart scene. "60 seconds" of cardiac arrest actually lasts for over 3 minutes of film, probably to draw out the dramatic tension and the special effects.
• Mega-Microbes : Inverted — Tiny Humans, normally sized Microbes...
• The Navigator : Dr. Michaels, who steers the vessel through the body, being the member of the group who is most aware of what goes where in anatomical terms.
• No Ending : The film ends with the Proteus destroyed, Michaels gobbled up by a white blood cell, and the rest of the crew escaping the scientist's brain through his tear duct, de-miniaturising on a microscope slide. There is no explanation for what actually happens afterwards. There was an extra scene at the end of the film that explained what happened next but for whatever reason it was cut out. See "Shaggy Dog" Story below.
• No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup : Benes apparently did not keep any notes of his process. Justified in that he probably destroyed any notes he took to keep The Other Side from getting hold of them before he defected.
• Nothing Is Scarier : Specifically, a lack of soundtrack is frequently used to build suspend. The first bit of "soundtrack" music comes after Acts I and II. There is no soundtrack at all in the ship's approach to the dangerous heart. The soundtrack is similarly absent while the crew are in the ear, to heighten the suspense around needing "complete silence."
• Race Against the Clock : After miniaturization, the team has 60 minutes to complete their mission before they start to de-miniaturize.
• The Radio Dies First : Technically, the laser dies first — the wireless is cannibalized to fix it.
• Scenery Porn : The body interior sets, built full scale.
• Seeker White Blood Cells : White blood cells are mentioned but not seen until the near end; antibodies make an earlier appearance.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story : In the original screenplay, Dr. Benes awakens from the operation having recovered, but is unfortunately unable to remember how to make the shrinking process work indefinitely due to the blood-clot , rendering the heroes' efforts all for naught (other than having saved his life). This was included in the Asimov novelisation and surviving production stills suggest this was how the film was supposed to end as well, but it was removed - perhaps to prevent audiences from feeling that the heroes' efforts - and therefore the audience's time - had been wasted.
• Shrink Ray : The non-portable variety, used chiefly as a research tool due to the time limit making military uses non-viable (it's also the variety that can expand as well as shrink note  The novel notes the potential of entomologists using the tech - "Ants blown up to the size of locomotives for easier study" ).
• The Smurfette Principle : Cora is the only female member of the team (and the only female speaking part in the movie). Colonel Reid complains that a woman has no place on such a dangerous mission.
• Square-Cube Law : Why Isaac Asimov was initially reluctant to write the novelisation — he thought that being miniaturised was impossible because of this. Nevertheless, he decided it would make for some good writing and came up with a novelisation that is almost as hard as science fiction can be, ignoring the physical impossibility of miniaturisation.
• Stating the Simple Solution : It takes a bit before Carter thinks to put cotton in Benes' ears to lessen the risk when they are traveling through the eardrum.
• In the novelization, the mole is played with more subtlety. Michaels avoids the blatant panic attacks of his movie incarnation, and serves as Grant's mentor about miniaturization; the two even discuss possible suspects throughout the story — including themselves. (Grant admits that Michaels' theory that The Other Side could have let Grant escape with Dr. Benes to build his reputation is reasonable, if nothing else.)
• To the Batpole! : The Elevator to CMDF HQ.
• The War Room : The CMDF Operating Theater
• What Happened to the Mouse? : A number of elements that should be problematic are ignored: the wreckage of the Proteus , and Dr. Michaels' body, after being eaten by the white blood cell — somehow that keeps them from re-enlarging once time runs out. This is one of the most memorable plot holes of the film, and Asimov made sure to close it in his novelization. Massively averted by the novelization, which accurately depicts, as well as we know (or, at least, as well as we knew in 1966), what it would be like if humans could in fact be miniaturized to this degree. Even Brownian Motion (random molecular motion of a fluid or gas) is noticed and commented on. Most of the flaws of the movie are explained or elaborated on so as to be acceptable to reality, making the book as much a corrective Retcon as a novelization.
• The World Is Just Awesome : Well not the world , but this describes Duval's feelings about their journey though the body.
• Zeerust : Varies — Being set 20 Minutes into the Future in 1960s, some elements, like the laser rifle don't hold up well, while the Proteus itself varies from a sleek futuristic but practical exterior, to an interior that could be considered Used Future . What dates the film most of all are the '60s contemporary elements, such as computers, cars and uniforms.
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After years in corporate and owning several businesses, I decided it was time to see the world and have more fun than spending all my time working! After several years of traveling, I decided to share my knowledge and help others plan and book their dream vacations.  

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