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From: milne@uci-icse
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: (SPOILER) Inconsistency in "The Fantastic Voyage"???
Message-ID: <3289@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: Thu, 15-Aug-85 03:04:52 EDT
Article-I.D.: topaz.3289
Posted: Thu Aug 15 03:04:52 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 17-Aug-85 16:16:31 EDT
Sender: daemon@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
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From: Alastair Milne 


>  Just the other night I watched the movie "The Fantastic Voyage".  
>  . . . Now, almost 10 years later, I finally got to see it
>  again and found what may be a mistake on Isaac Asimov's part.

   Several matters that were rather loosely handled in the film were explained
   much better (or even worked completely differently) in the book; for
   example, does a multi-ton submarine normally many metres long still weigh
   several tons when it fits inside the needle of a syringe? and if it does,
   how is the syringe handled?.  Careful, non-technical explanations are given 
   to Grant, and thereby to the reader.

   Personally, I recall 2 blatant mistakes from the film, which is quite
   remarkable given the restrictions of the time at which it was made.
   1.  The Proteus was left in Benes after Grant sliced its flank open and the 
       white cell consumed Michaels.  In the book, Grant makes certain that
       the white cell, having engulfed Proteus, follows him out: he does not
       want several tons of metal, however corroded, returning to normal size
       in Benes' skull.
   2.  Far too few red cells in Benes' blood.  They should have been like a 
       swamp around Proteus.  As it appeared, he would have been too anaemic
       to survive.

>  . . .  Well, wouldn't there be a problem with
>  the size of the air molecules?  I mean, when the sub was
>  miniaturized, the air inside it was shrunken also.  Now, wouldn't
>  there be at least a bogus air pressure reading when they fill up
>  with normal air that hasn't been miniaturized?  For that matter,
>  would the air molecules even be able to fit into the sub?

   You are talking about something so fantastically small that, even
   un-miniaturised, they would have been too small for the Proteus' crew to
   see.  I think even the lipoproteins (which are macromolecules) comprising 
   the surface of the red blood cells would have been just on the limit of
   miniaturised sight.  As for how effective they would be, I doubt that they 
   would make any difference unless one had to breathe them; and as far as 
   I'm aware, it was, just as you say, the ballast tanks that were being 
   replenished.  It probably is true, though, that atoms so enormously 
   different in size could not be assimilated into miniaturised metabolisms.

   Also, I seem faintly to recall something about Captain Owens' extending a
   reduced miniaturising field along the snorkel.  They obviously couldn't do
   a full effect, since the entire capacity of a man's lungs couldn't begin
   to fill a sub's ballast tanks if they are on the same scale; and they only 
   had access to a single alveolus.  But they could probably get a decent
   compromise size.


   Hope this helps.

   Alastair Milne