. . . I don't know who to say "by," actually. It's an Isaac Asimov novel, but I never realized the novel is an adaptation from an earlier screen play. So this is a weird example of the film coming before the book—which technically means I've broken my "consume the original first" rule, but eh. Film isn't really my medium of choice for fiction consumption.

Spoilers follow for Fantastic Voyage. There is one major spoilery plot point, so if you're at all interested in reading it, don't read any further.

About a year ago, I went on a completely unnecessary and wasted Jules Verne kick. (Wasted because apparently the English translations of his stuff are terrible translations, so I may not even have gotten the stories and Verne intended anyway.) Having a vague idea of the plot of FV due to the many 90s cartoons that ripped off its plot, I was expecting a very whimsical and light-hearted shrinking journey in the name of science! Boy, was I wrong. FV actually takes place in a war setting, and opens with the tail end of a rescue mission, followed by an assassination attempt. Plus, the reason for the shrunken surgery is to get even more shrinking technology from the victim's head, which would basically have allowed for all-out shrunken warfare. Having just seen Ant-Man and the Wasp, I couldn't help but picture an entire battlefield of Ant-Man suits . . . and of course, there's the espionage aspect, too.

The novel is showing its age. The dialogue gets very awkwardly formal is some spots, especially since it must yet take place in our future. But the biggest sore thumb in that regard is the one female member among the main cast, and how much attention is focused on that. I'm used to casts that are way more diverse than that without it being commented on . . . yeah, just really dated-feeling.

All the little details about the human body, and experiencing them on such a small scale, were really cool, despite being in very technical language for the most part. Especially interesting was the detail of how vision would be distorted when looking with light passing through normal-sized air molecules, but with eyes shrunk down much smaller than usual. It must have taken the original screenwriters and/or Asimov quite a bit of research!

I was very pleased at the reveal of who the "traitor" was. Going by in-text clues, I actually wouldn't have said there was a traitor on board, but I thought for sure it was Doctor Duval. The narrative was clearly trying to set up Grant and Peterson as the designated requisite couple, and it would have been sooooo convenient of Duval to turn out to be a bad guy in the end, so Peterson could stop her professional dedication to him. I was legitimately surprised when it turned out to be Michaels instead. I also liked that he actually wasn't a turncoat working for the enemy country, but actually just a pure scientist through-and-through who didn't want a medical discovery to be weaponized.

I feel like this was short review, but I need to get to sleep soon. Tune in next time when I probably read another decades-old novel with no active fandom that only one or two others in this entire community have read anyway. And everyone, feel free to add reviews of your own recent media-feedings onto this thread as well!

—doctorlit, late for bed for sure this time

"They've passed through an arterio-venous spoiler, sir." "They've passed through an arterio-venous spoiler, sir." "They've passed through an arterio-venous spoiler, sir."