Product Details

• Actors: Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Edmond O'Brien, Donald Pleasence, Arthur O'Connell
• Directors: Richard Fleischer
• Writers: David Duncan, Harry Kleiner, Jerome Bixby, Otto Klement
• Producers: Saul David
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: February 11, 1997
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301744160
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,206 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific reissue from Fox of sci-fi Cold War gem, June 11, 2007

By 

WTDK "If at first the idea is not absurd, the... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fantastic Voyage (Special Edition) (DVD)

Fans of 60's science fiction will appreciation the deluxe terrific reissue of "Fantastic Voyage" put out by Fox. While very much a product of the mid-60's, "Fantastic Voyage" holds up surprisingly well in just about every area. I doubt that fans need a recap of the plot but I have one at the end of this review if you're interested.

First up we get a brand new marvelous looking transfer for the film. It isn't perfect but it couldn't be because of the source material. Some shots appear soft and a bit blurry due to the process photography/visual effects added to shots but that's unavoidable and fairly typical of films from this time before digital video. Colors are bold and as bright as I remember them.

Unlike the previous release we get some really good extras as well. The featurette on visual effects has Richard Edlund ("Close Encounters", "Blade Runner") discussing the difficulty of shooting a visual effects film like "Fantastic Voyage" in 1965 (it was releasedin 1966). Like "Forbidden Planet", "Fantastic Voyage" pushed the barrier of visual effects for its times something NOT appreciated by a lot of viewers. Edlund points out that building the Proetus both in full size and miniature allowed director Richard Flesicher opportunities that most directors wouldn't have in being flexible in his shooting. Also, the Proetus full scale exterior had an interior set mimicing the set for the inside of the ship which allowed them to shoot through the windows and not worry about having to do mattes as often creating a convincing environment.

We also get an isolated music score with a commentary track as well featuring Nick Redman, Jon Burlingame and Jeff Bond discussing Leonard Rosenman's marvelous music score. They are quiet about 40 minutes in when Rosenman's score kicks in but the first 40 minutes these music/film historians focus on everything from the casting, to bits of trivia about the shooting of the film. We also get storyboard to film comparison of the whirlpool scene as well as a deleted scene from the script with storyboard illustrations. The electronic press booklet includes the original press booklet. My only complaint is its a bit too small to read at times even on a big screen TV but otherwise looks quite good. We also get some of the movie-tie-in's including a mention of Isaac Asimov's novel adapted from the script (where he fixed some of the holes in the script and science gaffs). We get lobby cards, posters, radio and TV ads as well as the original theatrical trailer. The interactive portion of the gallery also allows us a 360 view of the 5 foot model of the Proetus as well as its smaller (just a couple of inches)version used for long shots and designed for visual effects mattes.

Fox has done a very nice job on this 40th Anniversary Edition (even if it is a year late)of this classic Science Fiction film. Sure, the dialogue is occasionally awkward but it's a film very much of its time and holds up remarkably well with strong performances by Stephen Boyd, Donald Pleasance (in one of his first roles as a villain), Arthur Kennedy, Raquel Welch and others.

***
Plot: Set during the Cold War, Grant (Stephen Boyd) is called in to escort Jan Benes (Jean Del Val) a man with information vital to the safety and security of the United States. When their motorcade is attacked, Benes is injured and goes into a coma. Grant is again recruited this time to accompany a team of a surgeon (Arthur Kennedy), government doctor (Donald Pleasance), nurse (Raquel Welch) and Navy pilot (William Redfield) on a journey of tiny proportions. They are going to be miniaturized be injected into Benes and travel in a state-of-the-art sub called the Proteus to destroy the blood clot threatening Benes life. Complications arise, however, when it appears they may have a saboteur in their midst.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Often-overlooked classic finally gets its due on DVD, April 21, 2007

By 

A. Gammill (West Point, MS United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fantastic Voyage (Special Edition) (DVD)

FANTASTIC VOYAGE has always puzzled me a bit. Well, not the movie itself, but the seeming lack of critical or popular accolades it has been given. Growing up in the seventies, I recall it was a staple of "All Nite Movies" on the only channel we received that stayed on all night. And the film was just a marvel to my young eyes: A team of scientists, including the incomparable Raquel Welch, is miniaturized and injected into the bloodstream of a comatose patient. What follows is a colorful and thrill-packed journey inside the human body. The crew of the Proteus encounters the body's natural defense systems, nearly gets smashed by the awesome force of the beating heart, and has to repair damaged blood vessels in the brain.

Doesn't that sound great?

It is, but like I said, for some reason the film is rarely talked about, even among hardcore classic science fiction fans. Be that as it may, 20th Century Fox is finally giving this often-overlooked film the deluxe treatment. Previously availabe in a double-feature disc with Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - Global Warming Edition--which is also getting a bonus-filled overhaul to coincide with this release--Fantastic Voyage can now be enjoyed and appreciated with a wealth of supplemental materials.

Except for the theatrical trailer, all the extras included on this disc were created especially for this release. There's a documentary on the film's production, audio commentary track, isolated music track, and a cool feature (comprised of both video and still picture segments) on the film's props.

Whether, like me, you're revisiting some great childhood memories, or just discovering this intelligent and exciting film for the first time, this is one VOYAGE worth taking.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The first film to portray the vast world of inner space..., December 29, 2006

By 

Roberto Frangie "Robert" (Leon, Gto. Mexico) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fantastic Voyage (DVD)

After his successful direction of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", Richard Fleisher tried his hand with a new kind of submarine... His "Fantastic Voyage" ventured upon the unfamiliar seas of the human bloodstream, and carried the magic of miniaturization to its logical limits-the shrinking of four men and a woman to microbe size, making the voyage entirely rough and hazardous...

The plot follows a team of three scientists: a surgeon (Arthur Kennedy); his technical assistant (Raquel Welch); the chief of the mission (Donald Pleasance), plus the skipper of the ship William Redfield and a security agent Stephen Boyd for a possible "surgical assassination"...

The interesting submarine ("The Proteus") is miniaturized by a secret branch called CMDF (Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces) and injected into the bloodstream of a defecting Russian scientist who has suffered brain injury and a coma from an assassination attempt... The crew must navigate to the scientist's brain and destroy the point of damage with a laser blast within a 60-minute time period...

Although the plot is a tedious matter of implausible sabotage, "Fantastic Voyage" is a film of authentic wonder: The fascinating environment of tissues and organs of the human body through which the actors move are life-sized sets exquisitely reconstructed in great detail with amazing artistry...

The plot creates a constant era of suspense... The ship and its crew are continually threatened by the system's natural defenses... Leonard Rosenman's futuristic score nicely complements the bizarre on screen happenings: the strange sound of the human blood rushing through arteries; the rhythmical muscular movements of the heart where 'every beat separates the human being from eternity.'

With two Oscar Awards for Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction, 'Fatastic Voyage' is certainly the most unusual journey into the human body, the first film to portray the vast world of inner space...