FANTASTIC VOYAGE (1968)
(ABC, September 14, 1968-January 4, 1969)
Filmation Associates, 20th Century Fox
Television
MAIN CAST:
Marvin
Miller – Busby Birdwell, Guru, The Chief
Jane
Webb – Dr. Erica Lane
Ted
Knight – Commander Jonathan Kidd, Professor Carter, Narrator
Devised by Otto Klement and Lewis Bixby, Fantastic Voyage
is a 1966 science fiction film directed by Richard Fleischer about a crew
of explorers that utilized shrinking technology. Originally meant to be set in
the 19th Century with a heavy influence from Jules Verne
stories, all of that was abandoned for a more contemporary Cold War
setting by screenwriter Harry Kleiner.
Both the United States and the
Soviet Union had developed shrinking technology that can only be utilized for
an hour at a time before the shrunken objects revert to their original size.
Soviet scientist Dr. Jan Benes (Jean
Del Val) figured out how to keep things shrunken indefinitely and attempted
to defect to America. However, he ended up placed in a coma during an
assassination attempt. To save his life, the Combined Miniature Deterrent
Forces (C.M.D.F.) shrank a submarine populated by pilot Captain Bill Owens (William Redfield), Dr. Michaels
(Donald Pleasence), surgeon
Dr. Peter Duval (Arthur Kennedy)
and his assistant, Cora Peterson (Raquel
Welch) and sent it into Benes’ bloodstream to remove a blood clot from his
brain. Despite racing the clock and dealing with the dangers natural to the
inner workings of the human body, the crew also had to content with the
potential that one of them was an assassin sent to finish the job.
 |
| The movie crew navigating the blood stream. |
The film was released by 20th Century Fox on August 24,
1966. Despite favorable reviews and a box office of $12 million, the film ended
up taking a loss overall. It was nominated for five and won two Academy Awards. Isaac Asimov was
retained by Bantam Books to write
the novelization
of the film, and was allowed to deal with several plot holes he found in
the original script. Because of his writing speed and the film’s comparatively
slow production, the book ended up coming out 6 months before the film.
 |
| The cartoon crew: Guru, Erica, Kidd and Busby. |
Two years later, Filmation Associates
acquired the rights to make an animated series based on the film. However,
instead of being a direct continuation, they only took the basic premise and
introduced an all-new line-up of characters as well as several overall changes.
The name of the organization was changed to the Combined Miniature Defense Force;
which used their shrinking technology to infiltrate and investigate things that
normal-sized agents couldn’t. Instead of just the single hour, each episode of
shrinking could last 12. The team was comprised of scientist Busby Birdwell
(Marvin Miller), who created their special transport vehicle, the Voyager;
special agent Commander Jonathan Kidd (Ted Knight); doctor and biologist Erica
Lane (named for Erika Scheimer,
voiced by Jane Webb); and Guru (Miller), master of strange mystic powers. They
answered to a mysterious shadowy being known only as The Chief (Miller) and the
shrinking apparatus was overseen by its inventor, Professor Carter (Knight).
 |
| The Voyager preparing for shrinkage. |
Fantastic Voyage debuted on ABC on September 14, 1968. Each episode saw the team
tasked with dealing with strange biological life forms, radio waves, super
spies and master villains. The episode “The Mind of the Master” played out in a
similar fashion to the original film. The team’s mission would be laid out for
them in the opening minutes by the Chief and Carter before cutting to the show’s
introduction, which featured a descriptive narration by Knight. The series was
written by Ken Sobol, David Melmuth, Eric Blair and H.F. Mauberly, with Sobol
serving as story editor. Robert Allen
and Ray Ellis (as Spencer
Raymond) composed the series’ music.
 |
| Professor Carter watches the missions from HQ. |
The show only ran for a single
season. While it was in production, Aurora Model
Company was contracted to produce a model kit of
the Voyager. It was released months after the show’s
cancellation, and as a result only one press run was made. Due to the limited
availability and the generally poor care of sold models being treated as toys,
it has become an incredibly rare model and expensive on the secondary market. Polar Lights
(whose name was an homage to Aurora) had acquired the rights to reproduce the
kit, but passed on it citing a prohibitive cost for what was essentially a
niche item. Moebius Models would
eventually retool an original kit and put it back
into production. Milton Bradley released a board game based on the show in 1968, and Gold
Key Comics, who published the film adaptation comic, published a comic
series for the show that ran for two issues in 1969. To date, the
series has only been released
to DVD in 2011 by Revelation
Films in the United Kingdom.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“The
Gathering of the Team” (9/14/68) – The CMDF assembles a team and sends them on
a test mission in a drop of water, which becomes deadly when their ship becomes
damaged.
“The
Menace from Space” (9/21/68) – The team investigates how a rocket crew died
from oxygen loss.
“The
Magic Crystal of Kabala” (9/28/68) – The team heads inside of a magical crystal
ball to destroy the evil within.
“The
Atomic Invaders” (10/5/68) – The team investigates mysterious butterflies that
cause explosions at power plants.
“The
Master Spy” (10/12/68) – A spy infiltrates the CMDF and impersonates Carter to
sabotage the team’s mission.
“The
Mind of the Master” (10/19/68) – The team has to go inside Guru’s mind to
repair the damage of an enemy attack, unknowingly bringing with them the very
person that attacked him.
“Gone
Today, Here Tomorrow” (10/26/68) – The team finds themselves up against a
legion of miniature toys.
“The
Day the Food Disappeared” (11/2/68) – The team investigates an outbreak of rapidly-growing
weeds that destroy the nation’s crops.
“Revenge
of the Spy” (11/9/68) – Busby ends up trapped in an enemy base but manages to
send the ship back so that help can find and save him.
“The
Hobby House” (11/16/68) – Something disrupts the CMDF radio beam and causes the
ship to crash between the toys of Jacob’s Hobby House.
“The
Spy Satellite” (11/23/68) – The team is sent to sabotage a satellite capable of
taking pictures through walls.
“First
Men on the Moon” (11/30/68) – Commissioner Upjohn’s bratty son steals the ship
and strands himself and the team on an artificial moon used for missile
testing.
“The
Great Busby” (12/7/68) – Erica shrinks Busby to use as a puppet in a children’s
hospital show only to have him stolen by a jealous puppeteer.
“The
Barnacle Bombs” (12/14/68) – The team heads out to find a missing bathysphere
full of Navy soldiers investigating an evil professor.
“The
Perfect Crime” (12/21/68) – Kidd steals the portable miniaturization machine
and joins a criminal mastermind.
“The
World’s Fair Affair” (12/28/68) – The team has to save the World’s Fair from
being blown up.
“The
Most Dangerous Game” (1/4/69) – When radioactive ore is found in a mine the
team heads in to prevent it from contaminating the state.
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