The Original Fantastic Voyage Is Still Way Better Than Its Countless Parodies
You've seen it parodied on Rick and Morty, Futurama, and dozens of other shows, but Fantastic Voyage is, well, fantastic.
You may not have seen Fantastic Voyage, but the classic '60 sci-fi flick has such a huge legacy that you've certainly seen a fantastic voyage. The movie, which follows a team of scientists as they shrink down to microscopic size along with their submarine in order to perform a delicate operation from inside a human body, has been parodied many, many times — especially in TV cartoons. If you haven't seen the original, which turns 60 years old today, it's not something to shrink away from.
Fantastic Voyage, which was released on August 16, 1966, is not the first work of fiction about shrinking. It's not even the first movie about size-change. The surprisingly existential '50s sci-fi movie The Incredible Shrinking Man came out nine years earlier, and Dracula director Todd Browning made The Devil-Doll, a horror movie about a scientist who gets revenge on those who wronged him by shrinking them down to minute size in 1936. Alice shrank down in Wonderland a century before Fantastic Voyage in Lewis Carroll's novel. And yet, there is something so unique about Fantastic Voyage's specific use of shrinking, as a means to explore inside the human body, that makes it a subgenre all its own.
There have been many parodies of Fantastic Voyage, though overwhelmingly most of them are in TV cartoons. If there's a cartoon with even a slight sci-fi inclination and it runs long enough, chances are there's going to be a Fantastic Voyage parody. Here is an incomplete list of shows that have spoofed the movie: The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Angry Beavers, Batman: Brave and the Bold, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Codename Kids Next Door, Dexter's Laboratory, The Fairy OddParents, Family Guy, Invader Zim, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Pinky and the Brain, Phineas and Ferb, Regular Show, Rick and Morty, Rugrats, The Simpsons, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Venture Bros., Young Justice, Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go! Live-action shows like Doctor Who, Legends of Tomorrow, and Wizards of Waverly Place have also gotten in on the action.
One of the best parodies of Fantastic Voyage was "Parasites Lost," one of the best episodes of Futurama. After Fry eats a sketchy egg salad sandwich from a gas station bathroom vending machine, he becomes infected with worms that make him smarter and stronger, allowing him to win Leela's affections. Fry, however, wants her to love him for who he is, not because of some worms, and he does battle inside his own body to evict the beneficial infestation. Archer, another series that has done plenty of parodies of retro movies and shows, tackled Fantastic Voyage for the two-part season six finale, "Drastic Voyage." Archer's parody is notable for being almost an explicit remake of the source material down to the '60s aesthetics, only with Archer and his secret agent co-workers aboard. Naturally, the voyage goes poorly. One of the most beloved of Ms. Frizzle's field trips on The Magic School Bus was a Fantastic Voyage riff.
Archer gets miniaturized in the spy spoof’s parody of Fantastic Voyage.
Because Fantastic Voyage is such an iconic bit of genre moviemaking with a concept that lends itself to fun visuals, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that the film about a tiny adventure looms so large. But before it was a parody source material, it was an earnest, boundary-pushing adventure. The opening text at the start of Fantastic Voyage helps explain why the human body was a natural next frontier for speculative fiction. "In this world of ours where going to the moon will soon be upon us and where the most incredible things are happening all around us, somebody, perhaps tomorrow, the fantastic events you are about to see can and will take place," the text promises. We haven't actually mastered the technology required to scuba dive in someone's bloodstream, but the sentiment tracks. What's left to do after visiting the heavens but explore inward?
The scientists in Fantastic Voyage have a very pragmatic reason for their minuscule mission. America and the Soviet Union have both figured out how to shrink people and objects to microscopic size; the catch is they can only stay small for an hour before they return to normal. A scientist who has cracked the secret to indefinite shrinking defects and escapes the Iron Curtain, only to be nearly slain in an assassination attempt upon arriving in the States. A CIA agent, Navy submarine captain, a medical chief, and a surgeon and his assistant (the latter played by Raquel Welch in her breakout role) must shrink down in an effort to remove a potentially fatal blood clot from inside the defector's brain.
Their voyage is, as the title promises, fantastic. Starting with the extremely stylish title sequence, Fantastic Voyage boasts an aesthetic that is perhaps the archetypal '60s sci-fi look. The futuristic technology has mid-century modern angles; the scientists are dressed like Mad Men characters. The special effects used to bring the inside of the human body to life are astounding. One of the most expensive sci-fi movies ever made at the time, Fantastic Voyage's depiction of the bloodstream is surreal and dreamy. The characters and their sub float through dazzling colors and observe cells as they dance by. Far from being gross or gruesome, it's a wonderland. (Fantastic Voyage was nominated for five Oscars and won two, a much-deserved Best Special Effects trophy and an award that's now called Best Production Design.) Even though the Cold War-era stakes are high, and the miniaturized sub does deal with mechanical issues and a pint-sized saboteur, it's ultimately a very relaxed movie. It's almost like a sci-fi visualizer, and it's delightful to let the now-retro vibes wash over you.
How sure are you that your insides don’t look like a lava lamp?
Fantastic Voyage has been spoofed so many times that it almost works to the film's detriment. It's become genericized, as evidenced by the wide range of shows that have lovingly made fun of the film. Do not make the mistake of thinking that you've seen the movie just because you've seen the parodies, though. While many of these spoofs are great and many get a lot of hilarious mileage out of poking at the more kitschy elements of Fantastic Voyage, the original film holds up as a marvel. The plot may be about a technology that shrinks, but the movie is a wondrous time machine that brings you back to an era of sci-fi when nothing was too big (or too small) to imagine.
