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Voyager
- Nuclear powered submarine in the sci-fi animated series
FANTASTIC VOYAGE/ABC/1968-70.
The Voyager belonged to a secret
government project named the Combined Miniature Defense Force (C.M.D.F.).
When required, the ship collapsed in size to microscopic levels to
fight the enemies of our government and the world.
The Voyager had a
bubble canopy on top of the ship to provide a 360 degree view and a
forward observation deck to see what was up ahead.
The members of C.D.M.F. included:
- Jonathan Kidd, the mission commander (Ted Knight)
- Guru, a turbaned mystic (Marvin Miller)
- Busby Birdwell, the ship's pilot and designer (Marvin Miller)
- Professor Carter (Ted Knight)
- Erica Stone, the team's physician (Jane Webb)
Crew of the Voyager
The series was
based on the book "Fantastic Voyage" written by Isaac Asimov. In the
book/movie, the submarine was called the "Proteus" (USN #U91035.
Exp. Oceanographic).
The story revolves around a crew of scientists
aboard an atomic submarine named Voyager who are miniaturized and
injected into the bloodstream of a dying man (a scientist injured by
assassins) so they can travel to his brain and perform delicate
surgery on an inoperable blood-clot.
The film starred Stephen Boyd
as Grant, Proteus Communications Officer; Arthur Kennedy as Dr.
Peter Duval, Surgeon; Raquel Welch as Cora Peterson, Dr. Dr. Duval's
shapely medical assistant; William Redfield as Captain Bill Owens,
Proteus Commander; and Donald Pleasence as Dr. Michaels, CMDF Chief
of Medical Section.
A similar plotline can be found in the sci-fi
comedy Inner Space (1987) starring Dennis Quaid as a test pilot and
his ship who were miniaturized and injected into the body of a
hypochondriac. (played by Martin Short).
TRIVIA NOTE: Historically the name Voyager
has been attached to a number of vehicles. The United States
spacecraft Voyager 1 flew by the planet Saturn in November 1980 and
transmitted photographs back to Earth through 1 billion miles of
space.
A year before, the film Star Trek: The Movie (1979) set in
the year 2271 speculated that robot space probe Voyager VI had
merged with an alien race of living machines who believed Voyager
had been send by God to their planet ("Learn all that is learnable
and return that information to the Creator."). They, in turn, built
a huge space craft to house the remains of Voyager and sent it back
to Earth in search of its Creator. Due to damage to its memory
banks, the aliens interpreted Voyager name as "V'Ger."
The first
airplane to circumnavigate the earth nonstop on a single load of
rule was also named Voyager which took off on December 14,
1986 and circled the earth in nine days after traveling 25, 012
miles. Designed by Burt Turan, the plane weighed 1,858 pounds
(without fuel) and had a wingspan of 110 feet. Dick Rutan and Jeana
Yeager piloted the two-man craft to its historic conclusion.
See also - LARGE
SPACECRAFT - "Voyager"
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