Fantastic Voyage (1966)
from Reel Deep Dive Hosted by Ryan Valentine
Taking place in a world where the United States and the Soviet Union are engaged in an arms race over shrink ray technology, Fantastic Voyage has the premise of a low budget B movie. 20th Century Fox, however, cast the film with prominent movie stars, spent lavishly on special effects, and promoted the film with an aggressive marketing campaign. While it didn't quite make it to profitability during its initial box office run, Fantastic Voyage easily made up for that shortfall when it came to television broadcasts and theatrical rereleases. Its basic plot, where a crew of scientists are reduced in size so they can enter the body of an injured man and perform delicate brain surgery from within, has been imitated and lampooned in countless films and TV programs. Ryan is joined by Cheryl, Pete, and Sylvan for a roundtable deconstruction of this interesting time capsule of mid-60's Hollywood. Discussion topics include the general history of size changing in fiction, the film's reliance on Cold War paranoia, the historical context that informs the narrative of Fantastic Voyage, and why shrinking stories appeal to audiences across a wide array of historical eras and cultural dispositions.
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