Fantastic Voyage

[ZenGalacticore]

I just watched my copy of the movie 'Fantastic Voyage' based on the book by Asimov. Probably the 20th time I've seen it, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Donald Pleasence was great as the sinister, scheming bad guy. And Raquel Welch, well, Raquel speaks for herself!

I wish they would do a re-make of this film. A viable re-make. I know they did one a few years back with what's-his-name from 'Aliens' who played Bishop the 'artificial human'. And that re-make was pretty bad. (Can't remember if they used the same title 'Fantastic Voyage'. I don't think they did, but it was essentially the same story.)

With all the great visual special effects tech and CGI they have these days, I imagine they could do a really tripped out journey through the human body with a "micro-sized" crew. That plus the incredible amount of KNOWLEDGE we have learned about the human body since 1966 when the original was made. Knowledge that artists and writers I'm sure would have a great time drawing from. (It could be educational as well as entertaining.)

The story is already there, and that's the hardest part. Good acting and direction are hard too, and I would pray the director would have his heart in it. Maybe Eva Mendez could replace Raquel Welch!!!!! Maybe Matt Damon or George Cluney could play the good guy stud dude main character. And what's-his-name that played Hans Luger in 'Die Hard' could be the sinister mole. (He also played the sheriff of Notingham in 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.)

 

[darkmatter4brains]

I've never heard of this movie before ... science fiction, I"m guessing. Sounds like I need to check it out!

 

[ZenGalacticore]

I've never heard of this movie before ... science fiction, I"m guessing. Sounds like I need to check it out!

Um yeah dude!!! If you are a science-fiction fan, you definitely need to check it out!! I'm not positive, but I'm fairly sure it has been re-issued on DVD. I have a great VHS copy I got from a friend of mine in the TV business, where, every 20 minutes it displays the words "Put commercial here".

Oh, I forgot to mention that it was a MADE FOR TV movie!! Which is all the more incredible or unusual that it was a GOOD movie, especially for science fiction.

Definitely check it out!!

 

[MeteorWayne]

I've always enjoyed the movie, it is a minor classic (Raquel helps with that ).

And why I usually hate the idea of remakes, for the reasons pointed out above, if the story stayed perrty close, this might be one I'd like.

Of course remake can always turn a classic into crap; See "Andromeda Strain"

 

[drwayne]

I *think* I remember seeing something not too long ago about a remake, but I am old and senile.

Actually, I remember getting to / having to watch it in High School.

It does have Irwin Allen's touch all over it...

Wayne

 

[ZenGalacticore]

No doubt about the crap-factor of the 'Andromeda Strain' remake. I don't where in the heck they got off going where they did with that! I have the original on d and it's a good film.

The thing about a Fantastic Voyage remake is that I think the modern generation of screenwriters could handle it because they could rely primarily on the visual effects, which seems to be all that many film makers are good at these days!!!

It seems to me that they wouldn't have to change the story too much. 'Don't fix it if it ain't broke', as they say. OTOH, what they did to Serling's 'Planet of the Apes' is inexcusable. Do the words "Theatrical" or "Cinematic" have any meaning to these people?

The original Planet of the Apes was cinematic, grand and panoramic. And the one and only 'Logan's Run' was theatrical and cinematic as well.(Like the scene where they are approaching the ruins to Washington D.C.) Today's films often seem flat by comparison, especially in science fiction, despite all the great technology they have to work with.

 

[ZenGalacticore]

I *think* I remember seeing something not too long ago about a remake, but I am old and senile.

Actually, I remember getting to / having to watch it in High School.

It does have Irwin Allen's touch all over it...

Wayne

Yeah, I think that was the one I mentioned that had what's-his-name that played the android in the second 'Alien' movie. It was a few years ago. I rented it out and got through about 20 minutes of it and took it out. It was pretty bad. Again, I don't think it was called 'Fantastic Voyage', probably some copyright wrangling there, but it was still based on Asimov's story.

 

[drwayne]

I think it's a little more complicated than that

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Voyage

Fantastic Voyage is a 1966 science fiction film written by Harry Kleiner. Bantam Books obtained the rights for a paperback novelization based on the screenplay and approached Isaac Asimov to write it.[1] Because the novelization was released six months before the movie, many people mistakenly believed Asimov's book had inspired the movie.[2] According to Fred Schodt's The Astro Boy Essays, FOX also approached NBC to get the rights to an Astro Boy episode which had the same premise, but they never contacted the manga artist or credited him in the final product.

Isaac Asimov, asked to write the novel from the script, declared that the script was full of plot holes, and got permission to write the book the way he wanted. The novel came out first because he wrote fast and because of delays in filming. [1]

 

[ZenGalacticore]

Learn something everyday. Thanks Dr-wikipedia-Wayne!

 

[darkmatter4brains]

The original Planet of the Apes was cinematic, grand and panoramic. .

Not too mention how HOT Linda Harrison (as Nova) looked in that film!

 

[crazyeddie]

Oh, I forgot to mention that it was a MADE FOR TV movie!! Which is all the more incredible or unusual that it was a GOOD movie, especially for science fiction.

Definitely check it out!!

Um, I'm quite certain it was not a "made for TV" movie. I remember seeing it in the theatre, and it won two Academy Awards, one of which was, not unexpectedly, for Best Special Effects.

I loved the movie. I loved Isaac Asimov's novelization of the screenplay even better, since he really fleshed out the characters, which were a bit shallow in the film. He not only gave a reasonable explanation of how the miniaturizing technology worked, he fixed the most glaringly obvious scientific gaffe: the fact that, in the movie, the Proteus (as well as Dr. Michaels) was depicted as having been devoured by the white cell, and did not emerge when the crew de-miniaturized at the end of the film. This was an absurdity. Even if the white cell had reduced the ship to splinters, each would have de-miniaturized just as surely as the human crewmembers. That represented tons of metal and plastic that would not simply have disappeared, even if it had been reduced to individual atoms. Each fragment of the ship would have returned to normal size, exploding the scientist's body and killing him. In the book, Asimov had the remaining crew stimulate the white cell that devoured the Proteus into following them as they made their desperate escape along the optic nerve and out of the eye. The remains of the ship de-miniaturized along with the rest of them, in the form of a pile of rubble.....and protoplasm, which was all that was left of Dr. Michaels.

Asimov was never happy with the story, however, and re-wrote it in the 1980's as "Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain", a story that I did not find nearly as satisfying, somehow....which surprised me, since everything he wrote was so good.

 

[ZenGalacticore]

Ed- My mistake, it probably was not made for tv. I just remember it that way because I didn't see until it was on tv when I was a kid. Ooooooooops, brainfart!!!!!

 

[StarRider1701]

I just watched my copy of the movie 'Fantastic Voyage' based on the book by Asimov. Probably the 20th time I've seen it, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Donald Pleasence was great as the sinister, scheming bad guy. And Raquel Welch, well, Raquel speaks for herself!

I wish they would do a re-make of this film. A viable re-make. I know they did one a few years back with what's-his-name from 'Aliens' who played Bishop the 'artificial human'. And that re-make was pretty bad. (Can't remember if they used the same title 'Fantastic Voyage'. I don't think they did, but it was essentially the same story.)

Zen, with movies and remakes one simple rule seems to apply: The better the original, the worse the remake!
If they would leave the story alone and just update the special effects with mod tech and the med knowledge we have now that they didn't have in '66, it might work. But you gotta know they wouldn't do that. The current director would without a doubt put his own spin on the story. And of course some Hollywood boob would likely screw up the science.

No Zen, MeteorWayne is right about remakes and this one would likely end up not worth watching.

 

[jim48]

Y'all have covered this fairly well. I read just recently that several studios want to do a re-make. The original won an Oscar for visual effects but they are badly dated today. I saw it when it first hit the theaters when I was a kid. For years I thought it was a really kewel movie but now I just don't have the nostalgia for it that I do other films from that era and before. Yes, Asimov didn't like the movie. That and One Million Years B.C. released the same year put Raquel Welch on the map! What a gorgeous woman!

 

[ZenGalacticore]

Well, I don't know. I agree with M.Wayne, Starrider, and you too Jim, but, having said that , it might be kind of cool to have them go in and, instead of zapping the tissues of a brain tumor, go in to knock out a bunch of cancer cells.

Remember that cancer fools the body into thinking that the cancer cells are normal cells(or something like that). So when they start laser-blasting the cancer cells, the body rebels and starts attacking the micro-molecular humans that are actually trying to help the stupid body! :lol:

Then, somehow, something goes wrong with the 'micro-zapper' effect and our intrepid heroes are miniaturized further down to the atomic level! Now they're so small, not only does the body's immune system not recognize their presence, but they can't find their way out.

Think of the visual effects on the atomic scale in the biological human body. Then, they are reduced further to the sub-atomic scale, and........

Okay. I can see how directors these days get carried away doing remakes! :geek: :lol:

 

[jim48]

Well, I don't know. I agree with M.Wayne, Starrider, and you too Jim, but, having said that , it might be kind of cool to have them go in and, instead of zapping the tissues of a brain tumor, go in to knock out a bunch of cancer cells.

Remember that cancer fools the body into thinking that the cancer cells are normal cells(or something like that). So when they start laser-blasting the cancer cells, the body rebels and starts attacking the micro-molecular humans that are actually trying to help the stupid body! :lol:

Then, somehow, something goes wrong with the 'micro-zapper' effect and our intrepid heroes are miniaturized further down to the atomic level! Now they're so small, not only does the body's immune system not recognize their presence, but they can't find their way out.

Think of the visual effects on the atomic scale in the biological human body. Then, they are reduced further to the sub-atomic scale, and........

Okay. I can see how directors these days get carried away doing remakes! :geek: :lol:

Who should get Raquel Welch's part?

 

[ZenGalacticore]

Jim48 wrote- 'Who should get Raquel Welch's part?'

'Dammit Jim!', you don't really read others' posts thoroughly do ya!

EVA MENDEZ!!!! That's who!!! It's suggested in the OP. HELLO!!!

 

[jim48]

Jim48 wrote- 'Who should get Raquel Welch's part?'

'Dammit Jim!', you don't really read others' posts thoroughly do ya!

EVA MENDEZ!!!! That's who!!! It's suggested in the OP. HELLO!!!

I actually have a couple of pictures of her in my own computer! I don't know much about her, besides her looks! Can she act?

 

[ZenGalacticore]

Yes. Eva Mendez can act. (ha :lol: ha!). Not only that, as you have probably noticed in your private sessions with her pictures, she looks like a cross between Raquel Welch and Cindy Crawford.

And a girl can't lose looking like either one of those two!!

 

[drwayne]

One tangential noted about dated special effects. *Sometimes*, to me at least, dated can work better.

The best example I can come up with is this. I really prefer using my imagination as to what Spock
is looking at when he is looking in the sensor hood (or at his tricorder) to actually seeing what he
is seeing.

Wayne

 

[ZenGalacticore]

One tangential noted about dated special effects. *Sometimes*, to me at least, dated can work better.

The best example I can come up with is this. I really prefer using my imagination as to what Spock
is looking at when he is looking in the sensor hood (or at his tricorder) to actually seeing what he
is seeing.

Wayne

I agree. Less is more. As exemplified by the original 'Alien' movie. All the visual effects tech in the world won't make that much of a splash if the art director and the artists under his direction lack imagination. Great visual effects combined with top-notch acting, ie, their REACTIONS of awe and wonder at what they are seeing, might work pretty good though.

More is too much is exemplified in those latest Star Wars movies. God-darth-damn, who in their right mind would want to live in a Super-City with tens of thousands of flying cars and other craft whizzing by your 334th story penthouse veranda 24/7!

 

[jim48]

In the blooper reel Spock is watching the green Orion slave girl dancing. That always got a laugh at the cons!

 

[ZenGalacticore]

In the blooper reel Spock is watching the green Orion slave girl dancing. That always got a laugh at the cons!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Spock 'n Roll!!!

 

[mj1]

I've never heard of this movie before ... science fiction, I"m guessing. Sounds like I need to check it out!

Um yeah dude!!! If you are a science-fiction fan, you definitely need to check it out!! I'm not positive, but I'm fairly sure it has been re-issued on DVD. I have a great VHS copy I got from a friend of mine in the TV business, where, every 20 minutes it displays the words "Put commercial here".

Oh, I forgot to mention that it was a MADE FOR TV movie!! Which is all the more incredible or unusual that it was a GOOD movie, especially for science fiction.

Definitely check it out!!

An Imax or 3D remake of this movie would be awesome. I'm surprised no one in Hollywood thought of this as of yet.