Fantastic Voyage: Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Edmond O'Brien, Donald Pleasence, Arthur O'Connell, William Redfield, Arthur Kennedy, Jean Del Val, Barry Coe, Ken Scott, Shelby Grant, James Brolin, Ernest Laszlo, Richard Fleischer, William B. Murphy, Saul David, David Duncan, Harry Kleiner, Jerome Bixby, Otto Klement: Amazon.ca: Video

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2001: A Space Odyssey took the world on a mind-bending trip to outer space, but Fantastic Voyage is the original psychedelic inner-space adventure. When a brilliant scientist falls into a coma with an inoperable blood clot in the brain, a surgical team embarks on a top-secret journey to the center of the mind in a high-tech military submarine shrunk to microbial dimensions. Stephen Boyd stars as a colorless commander sent to keep an eye on things (though his eyes stay mostly on shapely medical assistant Raquel Welch), while Donald Pleasance is suitably twitchy as the claustrophobic medical consultant. The science is shaky at best, but the imaginative spectacle is marvelous: scuba-diving surgeons battle white blood cells, tap the lungs to replenish the oxygen supply, and shoot the aorta like daredevil surfers. The film took home a well-deserved Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Director Richard Fleischer, who turned Disney's 1954 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea into one of the most riveting submarine adventures of all time, creates a picture so taut with cold-war tensions and cloak-and-dagger secrecy that niggling scientific contradictions (such as, how do miniaturized humans breathe full-sized air molecules?) seem moot. --Sean Axmaker

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

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4 star:		(3)
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Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME., Oct 9 2002

By

Luigi (NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fantastic Voyage (VHS Tape)

Great special effects for his days and awesome captivating storyline.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Great fun for the whole family, Mar 14 2002

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"weirdo_87" (Rancho Cucamonga, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fantastic Voyage (VHS Tape)

"Fantastic Voyage" is certainly worthy of its name, with imaginativeness, creativity and beauty (From Raquel Welch in particular). It also has a rather simple plot, which I shall outline for you. An eastern bloc scientist, who holds the knowledge to perfecting miniaturization warfare, is defecting to the Americans. However, an attempted assignation leaves him with brain damage. The only way to save the scientist's life is to miniaturize a team of surgeons and send them into the body. But they have only one hour to complete the mission and have to face threats such as the body's natural defenses and sabotage from within.

If there are complaints with "Fantastic Voyage", it is in some plot holes (Smart Alecs, in my opinion, should stay away and look elsewhere). Firstly, although it's extremely obvious who the saboteur is (He tries constantly to get the mission aborted and is always frantic), no one on board really seems to suspect him. The ending was also somewhat empty and unsatisfying (We never learn what happens to the scientist). Some will also love pointing out the plot clichés (The people in the control room always seem to know what the Proteus crew is thinking, even with no radio, and the sub crew always finds a way out of a problem). Many will also find scientific inaccuracies (My dad pointed out how well lit the human body was depicted) Then there is the impossibility of shrinking matter and placing it in other matter. Also, in terms of ideals, this film shows age. People in the 1960's believed that the future would be like it was in here and Kubrick's "2001". They thought one-day that humans would have established bases in space and would be able to miniaturize. How could they have known that computers and the World Wide Web would be the tools and thoughts of the future?

Some reviewers have suggested that "Fantastic Voyage" should be remade. I think that is a lousy idea. Sure the special effects and set design would be better. But a new version would be colder, darker, more violent and full of foul language. The heart and joy of the original would be gone. Also, notice that despite being the only woman onboard, Raquel Welch never seems to have interest with anyone else on the sub (Most of them are past her age, anyway). While she may not give the best performance, at least she is professional and knows her priorities. Would that stay the same in a remake?

So, while not without some problems, I wouldn't mind owning this movie. But I would especially love to see a widescreen edition (DVD preferably) released sometime soon.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Another Landmark Science Fiction Movie., May 20 2001

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Joe Mac Guy "NA" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fantastic Voyage (VHS Tape)

Before 2001 and Star Wars, Director Richard Fleischer made a very well made science fiction movie with Fantastic Voyage. With a cast starring Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Arthur Kennedy,and Edmond O'Brien, a team of scientists are reduced to sub-atomic size and placed aboard a small sub, then injected into a man's body to save his life before it's too late. Oscars were well won for best work in visual and artistic effects. A movie with substance and puts many of today's so called big effects pictures to shame. Also featuring a good musical score by Leonard Rosenman (who would go on to compose the music for the movie; STAR TREK IV; THE VOYAGE HOME).

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Voyage
This is one of the most imaginative science fiction films ever. No Martians or UFOs in this one, just a medical crew traveling through the body of a dying man in a miniaturized... Read more

Published on Nov 17 2000 by Beverly Kaynes

4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining piece of sci-fi for the time it was made.
I saw Fantastic Voyage for the first time when I was still a kid on the TV. I liked it a lot and went on to read Asimov's novelization of the movie 's screenplay. Read more

Published on Nov 9 1999