Ikarie XB-1
| Voyage to the End of the Universe | |
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Original Czech poster
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| Directed by | Jindřich Polák |
| Screenplay by |
Pavel Juráček Jindřich Polák |
| Based on |
The Magellanic Cloud by Stanislaw Lem |
| Starring | Zdeněk Štěpánek Radovan Lukavský František Smolík Otto Lackovič Jozef Adamovič |
| Music by | Zdeněk Liška |
| Cinematography | Jan Kališ |
| Edited by | Josef Dobřichovský |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures (USA) |
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Release date
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Running time
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86 minutes |
| Country | Czechoslovakia |
| Language | Czech |
Ikarie XB-1 is a 1963 Czechoslovak science fiction film directed by Jindřich Polák, based loosely on The Magellanic Cloud, a novel by Stanisław Lem. It was edited and dubbed into English for release in the United States, where it is known by its alternate title, Voyage to the End of the Universe.
In the year 2163 the starship Ikarie XB-1 (Ikarus XB-1) is sent to the mysterious "White Planet" orbiting the star Alpha Centauri. Travelling at near-light speed, the journey takes around 28 months for the astronauts, although the effects of relativity mean that 15 years will have elapsed on Earth by the time they reach their destination. During the flight the 40-strong multinational crew must adjust to life in space, as well as dealing with various hazards they encounter, including a derelict 20th century spaceship armed with nuclear weapons, a deadly radioactive "dark star" and the mental breakdown of one of the crew, who threatens to destroy the spacecraft.
Ikarie XB-1 was a hit at the 1963 Trieste Science Fiction Film Festival and it is now widely regarded as one of the best Eastern Bloc science fiction films of the era, boasting impressive production design, above-average special effects, a strong ensemble cast and an intelligent screenplay (although much of the subtlety of the original is lost in the English-language version).
While it shows some influence from earlier American ventures such as Forbidden Planet (1956), the film was also influential in its own right — critics have noted a number of similarities between Ikarie XB-1 and Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and it is believed to have been one of the many 'space' genre films that Kubrick screened while researching 2001.
Like several other high-quality Eastern Bloc sci-fi films of the era — e.g. the Soviet film Planeta Bur (Planet of Storms), aka Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet — Ikarie XB-1 is best known internationally through an edited and English-dubbed version which was given a limited theatrical release in the USA in 1964 by American International Pictures. The AIP version also occasionally screened on television in the USA and other countries at various times over the ensuing years but, apart from its screening at Trieste, the original Czech version was rarely seen in the West until its release on DVD in 2005.
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