By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Watch enough science fiction and you’ll encounter a few themes that each series ends up delving into, from And then there was none murder mystery bottle episode to evil twins or parallel universes. Among these themes is the recently somewhat forgotten but once popular idea of a miniature journey into the human body.
Long before Ms. Frizzle took the Magic School Bus to one of her students’ homes and the Futurama the crew traveled into the bowels of Fry, Fantastic trip explored the inside of a Soviet defector. The film won numerous awards, featured an all-star cast and, to this day, provided the visual language of every movie or TV show you’ve seen that enters the circulatory system.
Where no one has gone before
Released in 1966, Fantastic trip is a technical marvel. The film’s original trailer billed it as “a new kind of cinematic experience” and for once, that wasn’t hyperbole. It was a fact.
In order to save the life of a Soviet defector named Dr. Benes, who invented the science of miniaturization, a crew of five board the submarine Proteus. The submarine and its crew are then shrunk to the size of a microbe (one-tenth the size of a human cell) and tasked with a mission to attempt to remove an inaccessible blood clot.
The journey to reach their destination takes them through an unknown universe inside the human body. It’s a place filled with things never seen before, and they only have an hour to survive.
The crew performing the dive consists of brain surgeon Dr. Peter Duval (Arthur Kennedy), his assistant Cora (Raquel Welch in her first role), circulatory specialist Dr. Michaels (Donald Pleasance), captain Owens (William Redfield), of the Proteus. ‘ pilot, and finally, CIA agent Charles Grant (Stephen Boyd). Grant was sent by the United States’ Combined Miniature Deterrent Force (CMDF) to prevent another attempt on Dr. Benes’ life. Which, of course, is precisely what happens.
All you have to do is look at the cast, and you know exactly who the traitor is now, but that was a year before Donald Pleasance made his debut as James Bond’s nemesis Blofeld . At the time, it was a drama.
A trippy visual showcase
A traitor aboard the Proteus adds tension when acts of sabotage begin to arise, but the story could have been about saving a life without the Cold War subplot, and it would have been just as good. Fantastic trip is at its best when the crew explores the inside of Dr. Benes’ body, traveling through the circulatory system to the heart, which must be stopped in order to allow him safe passage.
They travel through the lungs to collect oxygen, into the ear and even into the nervous system. Each new body part is another incredible visual playground for the actors to explore, and even though the special effects are incredibly rudimentary compared to the VFX showcases of modern blockbusters, there’s a kitsch appeal to the “antibodies” that are clearly thick pieces of string. thrown by the crew members from off-screen.
The backgrounds and visual effects of the Proteus traveling through the body were enough to Fantastic trip to win the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and a second for Best Art Direction, now known as Best Production Design. It was a well-deserved victory, and even with the ’60s special effects, the scary white blood cells look like monsters from deep space instead of a functional, necessary part of the human body.
A must-see, genre-defining film
As innovative and revolutionary as Fantastic trip Visually, it was the story, which uncovers conflict and danger from the simple act of exploration, that helped it become a genre-defining film. Isaac Asimov, one of the greatest science fiction authors of all time, wrote the novelization of the film, released before the film. This led the public to believe Fantastic trip was an adaptation when in truth the film was developed first.
Asimov was a little frustrated with some of the scientific elements in the film. While honoring her in the novel, he later wrote a sequel, Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brainit was more scientifically precise.
Today, Fantastic trip constitutes a turning point in science fiction films by exploring an entirely new setting that had never been done on this scale before. History focused on exploration and discovery, something that Hollywood films, even back then, had replaced with aliens and monsters. It’s a simple plot, but even if there were no external conflict, the timer of just one hour to complete the mission added enough tension to make it compelling throughout.
You can broadcast Fantastic trip today thanks to video on demand via Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google PlayAnd Fandango at home. It’s worth the detour.
