Fantastic Voyage (1966)

In Richard Fleischer's and 20th Century Fox's classic science-fiction adventure film (the most expensive of its time) and Cold War thriller - it was one of the most influential sci-fi films of the 1960s, until Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Its tagline described its premise: "A Fantastic and Spectacular Voyage...Through the Human Body...Into the Brain."

Much of the CinemaScopic film's $5.1 million budget was spent on post-production special effects, animation and the sets. Director Fleischer's previous and similar sci-fi film was another 'voyage'-type film: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), and he would later go on to direct Soylent Green (1973). Scriptwriter Harry Kleiner's high-concept plot contained original story elements from sci-fi writers Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby, and was adapted by David Duncan.

The big-budget, escapist film's basic 'fantastic' premise was to miniaturize a team of humans to take a voyage in a shrunken, nuclear-powered submarine (the USS Proteus, Model U-91035) into inner space - into the body of a comatose patient. (The full-size of the Proteus was 41 1/2 feet in length, 23 feet wide, 15 feet high, and weighing 4 tons). There were four smaller versions of the sub, ranging from one and one half inches to five feet in length.The micro-pioneers' mission, seen as an adventurous travelogue, was to journey through the body via an artery to the man's brain and relieve a life-threatening blood clot with an experimental laser beam - within 60 minutes. They would run into oxygen supply problems, turbulent environments in the lava lamp-like currents of blood vessels, and white-blood cell attacks, plus suspicions of a saboteur and a one-hour ticking clock before miniaturization reversed itself.

In addition to the special effects, various sets and blue-screens, different-sized models and miniatures were used to depict the submarine in the film, and the interior of the scientist's body. The life-like, imaginative reproductions and visualizations of internal human organs, the human anatomy and physiology, and various other components were based upon medical illustrations provided by UCLA to the studio's art department.

As the "voyage' proceeded through the patient's body and its alien worlds, there were highly-detailed encounters with each of the main human organs or systems - the heart (circulatory system), the lungs (respiratory system), the lymphatic system (a protective system of fluids to protect against bacteria, including white blood cells), and the brain, plus interactions with the inner ear and several veins and arteries. Through various techniques, the explorers were seen 'scuba-diving' (swimming) through the body (the actors were suspended on wires).

The iconic film was followed with a TV series also titled Fantastic Voyage, airing for only one season from 1968-1969, and starring Marvin Miller, Ted Knight, and Jane Webb. The film was very reminiscent of Fox's and Irwin Allen's earlier smash hit Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961), that also was adapted into a TV-series spinoff from 1964-1968.

A novelization of the film's screenplay was penned by Isaac Asimov and released a few months prior to the film. It first appeared in a serialized, abridged form in The Saturday Evening Post, and then as a popular hardcover book. One variant of the film was director Joe Dante's comical Innerspace (1987), starring Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. A few years later in 1989 (lasting through 2007), Walt Disney World's (or Epcot's) Body Wars, a 7-minute motion-simulator ride attraction, took guests through the human body and presented the same ideas of shrinking down and journeying through. A complete rip-off of the 1966 film was director Christian McIntire's direct-to-video action-horror film Antibody (2002) starring Lance Henriksen and Robin Givens.

From its five Academy Award nominations (including Best Film Editing, Best Sound Effects, and Best Cinematography (for Ernest Laszlo)), it won two Oscars: Best Special Visual Effects (for its cutting-edge designs and special effects), and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration. The scenes requiring the most special effects included four set-pieces: the miniaturization and injection into the blood stream, the emergency route through the heart, the attack of the antibodies, and the final battle with white corpuscles.

• before the opening credits, a prologue subtitle was presented: "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"
• in the opening sequence set in the year 1995, noted Communist Czech scientist Dr. Jan Benes (Jean Del Val) who was defecting from behind the Iron Curtain (with the CIA's assistance), arrived on a TWA jet in Los Angeles on a night-flight; he was accompanied by American government secret agent Charles Grant (Stephen Boyd); shortly later during an assassination attempt, his motorcade caravan of Secret Service agents and motorcycle cops was ambushed when his car was rammed; after changing cars, he was then shot at by snipers, causing severe and possibly fatal head injuries to the scientist; Dr. Benes was subsequently hospitalized and in a coma
• the opening title credits appeared above the unconscious patient's forehead; there was no accompanying musical score, except for electronic pulse sounds, as the cast and other credits were presented in typewritten, lower-case white letters; during the credits, the unconscious, bald-headed Dr. Benes was undergoing a thorough medical examination (X-rays, an electroencephalogram (EEG), etc.) using the latest technology; the patient was in a secret and highly-secure underground military complex, known as the C.M.D.F. (Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces) controlled by the military
• agent Grant was summoned to the military headquarters; inside the Medical Division, he was met by military brass lead commander General Alan Carter (Edmond O'Brien); in the multi-tiered control center of the complex included a complete operating theatre, they looked down to observe the nearly-dead Dr. Benes being prepared for surgery, to repair a blood clot in his brain; he had been attacked by "the other side" (i.e., the Communists), but had not divulged any secrets before his life-threatening injuries
• General Carter informed Agent Grant why Dr. Benes' life was so important, with a cryptic statement: "He's the only scientist who knows the answer to what we're after"; it was determined that the comatose scientist had valuable secret information to share with them
• Grant had been summoned to lead a team of experts who were chosen and recruited to engage in a mission to save the scientist's life; Grant would provide "security" and prevent either "sabotage or surgical assassination"; he was introduced by TV monitors to the others: skillful brain surgeon Dr. Peter Duval (Arthur Kennedy) and his attractive and curvaceous technical assistant Cora Peterson (Raquel Welch in her first major screen role), and the Chief of the Medical Section - medical consultant-professional Dr. Michaels (Donald Pleasence)
• during further conversation, Gen. Carter revealed the main focus of study by the CMDF - the process of miniaturization ("We can reduce anything down to any size, people, ships, tanks, planes…") to change the nature of warfare: ("We can shrink an army with all its equipment. Put it in a bottle cap"); Carter also explained how Benes could be saved by unconventional means; there was a competitive and deadly Cold War struggle to obtain Dr. Benes' newly-discovered secret about how to prolong the miniaturization process indefinitely, beyond 60 minutes; the attempt on Benes' life by the "other side" was to try to silence him before he was about to divulge his findings to the West; it was suddenly clear that the mission would be a miniaturized effort
• Gen. Carter then described what the "trip" or mission would entail; the patient was to be saved within one hour's time by the miniaturized team of five specialists (four males and a female) on a microscopic mission in a shrunken submarine that would be reduced in size and injected into the patient's artery
• before a briefing of the mission, in a conference room, a heated argument was heard between operational commander Col. Donald Reid (Arthur O’Connell) and Dr. Duval over whether a female should be included in the dangerous, top-secret mission - Duval was advocating his "technical assistant" and volunteer Cora Peterson who had worked with him for over 5 years; Dr. Michaels persuasively agreed with Duval, and she was approved; Grant also met the experimental submarine's designer and pilot Captain Bill Owens (William Redfield)

General Alan Carter (Edmond O'Brien)	Col. Donald Reid (Arthur O'Connell)	Dr. Michaels (Donald Pleasence)
Dr. Peter Duval (Arthur Kennedy)	Cora Peterson (Raquel Welch)	Captain Bill Owens (William Redfield)

• 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

Entering the Sub - The USS Proteus

Five Crew Members Awaiting Miniaturization

Fears During the Miniaturization Process

• 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)

The Actual Injection	Tracking The Sub During the Injection	The Injection-Ride Into the Bloodstream
The Miniaturized USS Proteus Injected Into Benes' Bloodstream

• 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

Grant With the Snorkel Tube To Replenish Air in the Sub's Tanks

Gauge Showing Increased Air Pressure

• 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"

Entering the Lymphatic System

In the Sub's Dome, Capt. Owens Viewing Seaweed-Like Fibers Within the Dome

Passage Blocked and Slowed by Reticular Fibers in the Lymphatic 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

The Attack of White Blood Cells - and The Rescue of Cora

• 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)

Dr. Michaels' Death Sequence - Consumed by White Corpuscles

• 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

Extraction: Crew Ejected from Patient's Tear Duct in Eye, Before De-Miniaturizing on the Zero Module

• [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.]